Aug/091
Day 35 – AMERICA Day (81 miles)
Yesterday we turned onto State Route 96. The maps that we bought come in sections; 12 in all for the Transamerica Trail, plus two more for final cheeky nip down the coast. Each section lasts about 300 miles, but it depends on how much they can fit on the maps. Section 7, from Alexander, KS. to Pueblo, CO. is 292.6 miles and it is all on ONE road – the 96. One of the things which has kept me sane so far on this trip is needing to keep an eye on the maps and not get us lost or miss a turn. For the next 300 miles there is only one direction – west on SR 96. Despite this, I’ve lost count of the times that Reidy has asked which way to turn after we stop for some food. Callum is truly brilliant at some things, but sometimes he…lacks awareness, bless him.
So, we headed west on 96, stopping in Dighton for breakfast at the only restaurant that was open – a bowling alley – and continued on to our planned stop for the night at Scott City. We got a call from Blake on the way, who had found out that there was a rodeo in the next town, Leoti. It was only 20 miles away so we decided to continue on.
We were glad we did. After the baseball yesterday we didn’t think we’d experience anything more stereotypically American, but the rodeo was… incredible.
The only restaurant in town was packed so we were forced to eat food from the stalls at the fair. I was trying everything, no matter how disgusting and ridiculous it looked. In fact I was deliberately choosing the most strange stuff – corn dogs, funnel cakes, whatever.
Funnel cake
The announcer requested silence for the Cowboys’ prayer, which was immediately followed by a tragically tone-deaf girl singing the national anthem.
Then loads of people in big hats fell off horses, threw cows around and, when the crowd was fully warmed up, fell off some big bulls as a finale. It was pretty much every American stereotype thrown into one big display. It was spectacular.
Buck Earnheardt Jr. shows us how it’s done
Intermission – redneck clown
This guy fell off