Cool Riding

A guest post by Blair Stringam.

Growing up on the ranch meant that we were busy.

Very busy.

We didn’t often get to visit the (pop. 39,000) Big City–the happening place for shopping or recreation.

In the summer we especially had little free time. Instead, we spent our days baling hay, building and/or fixing fence, herding cows and if we were lucky swimming in the river.

The big exception was when we traveled to the city for the summer fair. Of course, that usually meant we were accompanied by a handful of our best bulls, cows and heifers that took up most of our time with their washing, cleaning, combing and feeding. And show days that, if said bulls/cows/heifers placed well, would net us a colorful ribbon or two that we would proudly hang in our stalls. And later, our walls.

Still, the fair was a great diversion from the normal daily routine of the summer.

A visit to the fair also meant that we would be able to glimpse all the latest in farm equipment, walk through the crafts displays and most importantly, hit the midway—that place with the wonderful food (let’s not mention nutritional qualities) and the most exciting rides. Well…exciting for a ranch kid that had heretofore been engaged in normal ranch kid activities (see above).

I especially remember a visit to the fair when I was 10 years old…

It has been a fun few days, but, our much-anticipated trip to the fair was coming to a close. We were spending the afternoon of that final day in the midway trying to enjoy all that we could before resuming the daily routine back at the ranch (see above. Again).

This year, it just so happened that we were getting pelted with cloud bursts throughout the afternoon thoroughly dampening an otherwise exciting midway experience. We had been mostly able to keep out of the rain because many of the rides had large canvas canopies to keep their riders dry.

Now, this summer, the most desirable ride was called the SnowBobs.  It was decorated with pictures and structural highlights featuring bobsleds being pulled through the snow by horses; with a number of actual 'sleds' positioned in a sloping loop beneath--those that would hold two people (for the romantic experience) or those that would take 6. Maybe. If you were skinny.

Once everyone was securely seated, the ride would start and the sleds would run around the loop with the latest hits blasting from very loud speakers.

I should probably point out that riding a bobsled behind a horse in the winter is a different experience. For one thing, it is quiet. Peaceful. (And this was pre-boom-box, so listening to the latest hits was not possible.) But we didn’t care about the major disconnect. For us, the music was great and the ride was exciting.

By the end of the afternoon, I had spent all of my midway money and was waiting for my siblings by the bobsled ride with my equally-broke cousin. I knew that when they (said siblings) finished their ride, we would be going back to the cattle stalls to load our large pets into the cattle trailer and head for home. Our adventure at the fair was swiftly drawing to a close. Sigh.

It was at that moment the sky opened up.

All the kids standing around quickly bought tickets and got on the bobsled ride, leaving my cousin and me standing out in front. Getting soaked.

Even if we could buy tickets, the ride looked like it was filled beyond the legal limit.

We had to just wait and hope that the rain would stop.

It didn’t.

Suddenly, a big long-haired guy came running down to the front of the ride and yelled at my cousin and me to get on.

We happily and quickly obliged, walking around sleds that looked already overloaded.

Then we found my older siblings, who quickly made space for us. (Like I told you: Skinny!)

The ride started and the wonderful music began blasting.

I knew that 2 things were going to happen soon. The ride would end and we would be packing up and heading back to the ranch.

But, for now, it was raining, my older siblings were allowing me, their annoying younger brother, to participate and I was listening to the music: American Women, Magic Carpet Ride, Bad Moon Rising, Born to be Wild, Run Through the Jungle, etc., and enjoying the ride.