Notes

live. I am used to crowded streets of concrete, but Jolene lives on land that is all rolling hills.

The Country
The first signs of the country do not come until we’ve been in the car for an hour. Then, just past the city and the suburbs, the freeway changes and everything goes green. It's not long until Jolene's house comes into view. She lives as close to the city as one can be while still living in the country.
Jolene is my mother’s best friend. She owns a small ranch in Brentwood. Once every few months, she has us over to ride horses. I usually ride a black one named Sadie. My brother usually rides a chestnut one named Blondie. This trip, though, we did not ride either horse. Instead, Jolene took all of us to something I had never seen. She took us to the rodeo in the next town over to see her daughter compete.Rodeo

At the Rodeo
Jolene’s daughter competed in an event called barrel racing. In it, riders had to steer their horses around barrels and back to a starting point. The horses were timed, and the girl that finished fastest won. Sadly, Jolene’s daughter only took third, but she was less than a second slower than the winner.
We saw all the remaining events too. In one, people on horses had to rope calves. Judges scored them on time and technique.
Next came an event that was very strange. People would jump off of horses onto cows. I guess the goal was to wrestle the cows to the ground. It seemed foolish to me!
In the final one, men rode wild bulls and saw how long they could stay on. Judging by how loud the fans got, this was the most popular event.

Afterward
Once the rodeo was over, we went back to Jolene’s for dinner. After we all got full, we hopped back in the car for the long drive back to the city.
The drive back always seems harder than the drive there. But, I have to say, riding in a car is definitely easier than riding on a bull!