To Austin to see our witty friends, the livestock show, and the RODEO

On the way to Austin there are “loose livestock”, so many oil wells (or iron horses, as they are called) and the vestiges of the German Immigrant Trail. At some point the desert gives way to trees and then more trees. And then eventually you meet the big, modern, traffic filled city of Austin.

Steven, Allison, Steve, and I at, you guessed it, Rodeo Austin.

If you are lucky, you have nice friends to see and stay with and you talk them into going to the RODEO and fairgrounds with you.

They dress more cowboy and cowgirl than you ever have  and you soak in the crowd, the sights, and the banter, and contemplate what it must be like to show a “heavyweight class” sheep as a youth when the animal is much larger and heavier than you are.

(Thank you, Allison and Steven!)

“Heavy weight class” of sheep at the Livestock show at the Austin Rodeo.

I cannot express enough what an interesting (and fun) event the rodeo, livestock show, and farm tents were.

There are so many interesting questions that come up, like why don’t the bareback bronco riders break their backs constantly? How do you remember to take pictures of the rodeo when you are sitting there mesmerized? Why is the rodeo clown and the humor so bad?

How are the horns on long-horn cattle so impossibly long? How does the Texas style prayer at the beginning of the rodeo seem so appropriate? How much do you get paid as a cowboy or cowgirl if you’re sponsored by Wrangler?

All the horses coming out at the end of the rodeo.

The impossibly long horns of the Texas Long Horn.