nothing to talk about

click the pics

Barrel race. These girls make this look so easy, but its not. Chances are these girls were raised on horseback, and have been riding horses longer than most kids have been riding a bicycle.

Another day in paradise!... Well, it's not exactly paradise, but compared to the weather in the rest of the country, it's pretty close. Bright blue sunny skies, temperature in the 70s, and humidity in the teens in the middle of January sure feels like paradise when I'm outside.

I bring that up mostly because I'm not doing anything but relaxing, so I have nothing to write about. And having nothing to write about means that I could ...

Skip writing my blog post for the day...or even the week.

 Write nothing at all, but throw in a few pictures.

Get a more interesting life, so I've got something to write about.

Or write a bunch of senseless, boring drivel about what I'm thinking of doing that is so bland and uninteresting,  I can't even bring myself to reread it!

But you gotta do, what you gotta do, so I will do what I always do.

I've been thinking...Now there's a surprise... about where I will go when I leave here, and curiously enough, I'm not planning on heading to Oregon since the gas stations there don't let you pump your own gas. Or New York City, where it's hard to find a place to boondock, and at the same time, manage to live through the night. No, actually I was thinking of heading west on I-8 and spending some time in Yuma.

I like it in Yuma, mostly because I can boondock for free, and I've never seen anyone kicked out of the BLM land there; it's only about 5 miles to a Walmart, and "glory be" Yuma is usually warmer than even Ajo.

Now, there is a downside: the BLM dispersed camping area there is rather small, popular, and therefore crowded. but despite that I've always been able to find a spot that was semi-suitable to stay in, but it does take more effort than say the huge areas in Quartzsite.

After Yuma, I'll stop in Quartzsite for a while, but then I will have to think about whether I should head east to Wickenburg or continue north up to Lake Havasu or even Laughlin, Nevada. I have a hankering to visit Lake Havasu, but I've got some fairly substantial reasons to go to Wickenburg that have to do with finding a replacement for the Pima County Fairgrounds... And I'll write about those reasons tomorrow since I'll probably have nothing interesting to write about the whole time I'm in Ajo.
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Theboondork

 Barrel racing times for these high school girls is somewhere around 20 seconds to get around all three barrels and back to the starting line, and I know that because the announcer calls out each time, for each rider.

Looking like this bull riders going to take off like Superman and fly away to safety is an illusion, in reality he's well on his way to a face full of arena floor,  and remember arena dirt is made up of one part dirt, one part manure, and one part tears.

This is what cowboys do best, they sit on a fence telling each other lies and war stories.

If you look between all those guys you will see a barely noticeable little partner that's not quite old enough to sit on the top rail, he hasn't earned that privilege...yet.

But he will. With enough rodeos he will build up a repertoire of lies and war stories, scars, and slow healing bruises, that will give him a seat next to the big guys on that coveted top rail that separates those that do, from those that watch.

If you were walking down the sidewalk in some big city and you saw a guy wearing two hats and yelling at the top of his lungs, you would probably try to avoid eye contact and walk away as fast as possible. But at a rodeo he doesn't get a second look... Why?

Because this is a bull riders dad, and dad is behind the chutes where his teenage son is getting on the bull. And since his son put on a helmet dad is proud to take care of his boys hat and still keep his hands free to help his son mount up while yelling all the encouragement he can muster between bouts of fear, dread, and panic.