Day 7 The Wild Northwest (June 8th, 2024)

City to City: Sisters

Miles: 6

Miles Total: 346

Flats: 0

Henry and I eating milkshakes

Paul with his ukelele

Eating dinner in the rodeo parking lot

In our front-row seats at the rodeo

A cowboy on a bucking horse

    Our hosts, Paul and Caroline, cooked us a Mexican breakfast, and we even met their Airbnb guest that morning.  We went to the parade, and many horses were in the parade with their award-winning queens.  After that, we went back to Paul's and Caroline's house, replaced an old toilet for them, and weeded in their garden.  The night before,  Paul had mentioned that a toilet only flushed half of the time,  and my dad immediately jumped in and said that we could replace it for them.  In exchange, we had asked if we could stay for two nights, and they had graciously agreed.  So, that's what we did in the late morning after the parade.  

    In the afternoon, everyone did whatever they wanted for some alone time.  In the late afternoon, Paul sang us a few songs he had written and explained what they were about to us.  Paul and Caroline had also invited us to eat dinner with them, but we headed to the rodeo.

Their hospitality touched our hearts. 

    Later that evening,  we wanted to go to the famous rodeo in Sisters, but the website said they were sold out, except for the ones where you stood for three hours.  "Well, let's just see what happens when we ask at the ticket booth," my dad said.  So we biked five miles; three of the miles were gravel roads.  When we arrived,  my dad immediately jumped at the back of the ticket line.  While Henry and I were finding a place to park our bikes, an older man came to the back of the line holding up papers.  It turns out he was trying to sell his tickets to the rodeo because he had won tickets to a concert that night.  My dad asked what seats they were, and he said they were front row seats right next to where the riders come out.  And they were only thirty bucks each.  My dad immediately jumped at the chance and bought them.  We only needed one ticket still, and we were able to get a seat close to the other two tickets we had.  Henry and I got the front seats, and my dad got a seat up and over. Ironically, it turns out that Paul's and Caroline's Airbnb guest was in the same row as my dad but just on the other side.   After the national anthem was sung and prayers were said, the rodeo began.  

    With five or six big events, the crowd was pumped with every event.  All during the rodeo, the people around us kept getting up for more alcohol, and after their fourth cup, the crowd became wild.  A man in the arena, J.J., kept the crowd pumped and cracked jokes during breaks.  J.J. had a clown smile, a cowboy hat,  funny eyebrows, and a football.  All the little boys loved him and kept shouting at J.J. to throw the football to them.  Finally, the main event began, the bull riding.  Some riders stayed on for eight seconds, and others didn't.   One bull charged at J.J., who standing in a barrel.  J.J. lost his hat, and ducked inside the barrel.   The commentator of the rodeo said he had a video of J.J. getting bullied by a loose bull in the arena one time, to which J.J. squeaked, "You do?!!"  Later, they did show the video.  The bull had charged at him,  and when J.J. ducked, the bull had tipped the barreled and rolled him around right into an open bull chute.  

    During the the bull riding, one rider right in front of Henry and I, was thrown against the gate and was almost stepped on when the bull landed,  nearby cowboys immediately dragged the rider out of harms way.  The rider wasn't moving and had hit his head against the gate.  The cowboys opened the gate, and the bull went right in.  At the very end of the bull riding,  a loose bull was in the arena at the far end.   We didn't see it, but the bull had jumped the fence and landed on someone.  The loud speaker said, "Warning, there's a loose bull running around in the parking lot.  Stay in the grand stands. "  While seated in the stands, we watched as the bull ran around the outside of the rodeo in circles until they could finally herd him into a corral.  And that is the wild west.  After the unexpected excitement, they canceled the rest of the show for the night.

    We didn't want to ride in the dark with the cars on the main road, especially after seeing a wild crowd, and the way we came was very slow going with the gravel roads, so we waited for the shuttle buses that would take us into town.  We weren't sure if we could get on the bus without bikes in tow, but the bus lady was generous and allowed us to store our bikes underneath.  We hopped off the bus, rode a half mile to our tent, and immediately went to sleep after witnessing all the excitement, whether the excitement was expected or not.