The Rodeo

Last weekend, as an extension of Brian's birthday celebration, we went to the Elko Silver State Stampede Rodeo. In contrast to Winnemucca- our normal town for supplies (which some people call a glorified mine camp because about all you can do there is get supplies, get a meal, and go to a casino), Elko feels much more like a cowboy town. Its also bigger, has more things to do and see, and hosted a great Rodeo Saturday night.

It was about a 2 hour drive from Squaw Valley ranch to Elko, which if you can imagine, is the opposite corner of a triangle from Winnemucca on a map between Winnemucca, Squaw Valley, and Elko. (squaw would be like the top point between the other two). We could have gone back to I-80 the way we usually go to get to Winnemucca then headed east on the interstate, but instead we chose to take the dirt road through the Tuscarora mountains for a more "direct" route. We've been told that no one even takes this route in the winter, and the summer is questionable. It was a slow, rough ride, but nice scenery, and we went through a few other large ranches on the way.

Once we were in Elko, we went to a famous country western store that has a small museum of buckaroo gear and horse tack from the late 1800's and 1900's. Some of the spurs had very detailed and ornate silver carvings on them, and all of the tack was obviously handmade. That particular store/museum carries original work from Garcia, a famous buckaroo from the late 1800's whose family still produces very fancy (high dollar) gear. It was fun to look at,

but you could drop a lot of money in moments!

After a quick dinner we went on to the Rodeo to be there for the first event, mutton busting. The

spectator stands didn't completely fill up until later in the evening for the professional events, but it was definitely worth it to be there early enough for the mutton busting. For those who haven't seen it before, think of the county fair, and lots of kids, and big woolly sheep. Yep, the idea is to ride a sheep for at least 6 seconds before falling off, just like the pros ride a bull. Except the kids don't get any type of rope, the just hold on for all their worth.

The event started with about 40 entrants, I would guess ranging in age from 3- 8. About 10 of

the little cowboys and cowgirls never even left the gate, showing that obviously the parents were a lot more excited about the event than the kids were. It was entertaining watching parents trying to negotiate with crying children, then finally giving in and walking away. Of the kids that did do the event, the majority of them fell of before the 6 seconds, so it wasn't a qualifying ride, and most of them were also crying by the time their parents got to them after they fell off.

The little guy that won held on like glue, and finally the announcer had to just tell him to go

ahead and let go. The whole event was just pretty cute, and we laughed a lot. I don't think I've ever seen so many "little cowboys". There were sure a lot of little hats, little chaps, and little boots.....like most things in life, the parents obviously really get into dressing their kids for the occasion.

The rest of the rodeo had typical events: bronc riding, bareback, barrel racing, roping, and bull riding. It was nice to really get "off the ranch" and do something. Somehow, just going up to Midas for a burger with all the people we work with doesn't really accomplish the same thing! :-)

The final event for the night was called the "ring of fear". Anyone could sign up, then they drew 6 names to actually participate. The basic event is simple: 6 large circles drawn in chalk in the rodeo ring with one guy standing in the middle of each 8 ft (approx) circle. They released a bull into the ring, and the guy who stays in his chalk circle the longest wins $500.00. Before we went to the rodeo, Ricarda joked and said "Don't let Brian do the ring of fear!" He didn't, we were content to watch 5 other guys get thrown around by a bulls horns. The 6th guy, the one who one won the event and the money, just happened to be the last guy to get the bulls attention.

There was a dance with a live band after the rodeo and we stayed for a while to visit and take in a few songs on the dance floor. It ended up being quite a late night (morning) for us. After leaving the rodeo about 11 and taking turns driving for an hour, neither of us could stay awake enough to drive. (we'd been up since 3:30 that morning). We were going home on the interstate (not going through the mountains in the middle of the night) and pulled over in Battle Mountain to sleep for a few hours. When we woke up at 3 and started the rest of the drive home, we were laughing that if it was a work day, it would be time to get up anyways. We finally pulled in about 4:30 Sunday morning, and were blessed to have our second day off this month to sleep and be lazy all day. Happy Birthday to Brian, my best friend, my soul mate. ( and total props for falling in love with me when I still had braces and acne--you're the man).