Yeah, that's a Garth Brooks song. Sue me.
I got an email reminder this week that the Carbondale Wild West Rodeo will be starting up June 2nd, and I couldn't be happier. I love spending Thursday nights down there, eating amazing buffalo burgers and brownies, and watching an old school tradition get a new school twist. One of the best things about living in a place like Carbondale is its solid connection to its roots, and rodeo is a part of that. I love wandering through the crowd and hearing the kids saying "Yes Ma'am", "No, Sir", and remembering their please's and thank you's. There is very little sass at a rodeo. Hat's are removed respectfully for the National Anthem, and riders in spurs getting ready for their 8 seconds of reckoning get a little misty while Lee Greenwood sings "God Bless the U.S.A." over the P.A. system. Must be all the dust. And whether it's the smell of manure and hay mixing sweetly with the wood smoke, like the county fair in Upper Michigan every September, or the way everyone seems to smile at each other, for me it's like being home for a couple of hours a week. And maybe that is why, more than any other reason, I can't stay away.
