Rodeo Action

I have a decision to make tonight.   The Rodeo is in town.  Well, it’s in a small town about 200 miles from here.  It is comparably the most exciting annual rodeo in the state.  Thousands of folks descend on this quiet, sleepy town on the Salmon River, and cowboy up the whole weekend.  Dotted along the main streets, there’s campers, and coolers, and BBQs, music, and mayhem.  It is like Vegas crossed with a spaghetti western.  A party every couple of feet.  The bars are stocked with old timers, and old jukeboxes, maybe even karaoke this time around (a microphone-lover like me would hope). 

I remember “Chris” telling me a story about her first time going to this rodeo.  Her and our friend “D” had just got done partying at a local watering hole, and hopped in “D”’s rig.  When they were backing out of their parking space, who did they almost bump into? Demi Moore.  The queen bee herself.  Demi flies out of her vehicle and bombards them with a rated-r verbal assault.  Anyone who knows “D” knows that movie star, or not, she loves a good tussle.  Her family owns the largest guest ranch in the state, so she’s no star gazing, celeb-whore.  “D” gave it to her right back.  Great rodeo story.  And guess what, “D” is a Scorpio, haha.  I think all of our friends have a distinct alpha streak to them.  If there’s booze, boys, and bars, won’t be long before we’re duking it out.  It’s partly boredom, partly attention, mostly boredom.

This year, Dar invited me.  A sweet lady, in her late 40s.  So much fun!  We’ve been camping a few times.  She is very young at heart, which can sometimes be her curse.  She does not find common ground with people her own age, and has a difficult time connecting with a younger crowd.  As to the latter, so do I.  However, at least I look the part.  On trips, she always over-packs, she loves to bring her beat-up old car, and she has tendency to pass out early (except for last time, that award went to me, I was nursing a bad break-up as usual).  I did try to get other friends to go.  The Golsons are in France in two weeks (not interested), “S” is going south on the fun bus to gamble, ”V” just started school online and has homework, Deja Voo Doo might still be down (this would be awesome because we haven’t hung for ages), Leggs is on domestic duty (and has sworn my plans off forever since the last adventure I sponsored), Sali would want to bring her b-boy, wankster husband (aw hell no, right?), and I suppose there’s a couple others I could pull at the last minute…but there’s nothing like your best girls to make the event special.

Wonder if our Gourd friend up north ever got picked for an ABC reality show she was a finalist in.  I call her our Gourd friend because she was talented in drying these hard fruit shells and making them into beautiful decorations for her home.  No one I can think of would do a better job making reality TV than this woman.  Dramatic, funny, manipulative, gossipy, excitable, judgemental, fun, crazy, exciting, she’s really cut out for this type of stuff.  You have those friends that ponder and pose with a quiet intelligence, the ones with whom you can talk about things with depth and honesty.  She’s not one of those.  Haha.  Yet, we love her for what she is not.

So the rodeo.  To save or a horse and ride a cowboy, or to not?  That is the question.  I’m thinking on it still…