Day 57: The "Daddy of 'em all" (Mon 22nd July)

Cheyenne sits at an elevat of 6,600ft. Its the capital of Wyoming, the 44th State and my 15th, Wyoming was the first state in the world to officially sanction equal rights for women. Even while it remained a frontier town the people were pushing back many frontiers. Another railway town, Cheyenne was founded in 1867. From an original population of 600 construction workers, entrepreneurs and camp followers of 'dubious character and rowdy habit. The town now has a population of about 53,000. Laid out on grid system it has a well defined, compact centre.

This week the town hosts the 112th Cheyenne Frontier Days, a week long rodeo and festival of the wild west that attracts attendances of over 400,000 to its events. The
"Daddy of 'em all" is the largest rodeo in the States. I got up early and strolled through the town to Frontier Park where all the events take place. The rodeo kicks off at 1pm. I was there for 11am to see an Indian village which had set up for the week. There were performances of traditional dance, music and storytelling, and stalls selling artwork, jewelry and leather work.

A dance troupe of, mostly, Arapahoe Indians performed, explaining the symbolism and context of each dance. It ws really good. It felt almost surreal sitting there listening to the songs and watching the dancers swirl in their traditional costumes. At one point one of the elders was introducing a dance when a jet flew by overhead drowning out what the man was saying. When the sound faded the indian jokingly referred to loud the plane was. A smart arse beside me shouted out "Thats the sound of freedom"! I rolled my eyes and shook my head and thought "Jaysus, here we go again". There's always one. The rest of the performance passed by without interruption.

Afterwards I had a quick look around at various stalls and displays before heading over to the stadium. It felt like going to a football match. Big crawds, big stadium, cars parked in all the streets leading to the ground. However, intead of football tops and scarves, the fans wore cowboy hats, long sleeve shirts, wrangler denims, large leather belts with big brass buckles and leather cowboy boots. Even the kids were decked out like this with their own miniature lassoos.

The events were really good. There was always something happening in the arena with two guys commentating on the action. Instead of running off one event after another, the organisers arranged that a portion of an event was followed by a portion of the next and so on. You could see each event a number of times without getting tired of it as the action was changing every 10-15 minutes. It felt like everything was moving fast. The pace was fast with bullriding and bronco riding only lasting a maximum of 8 seconds per competitor. The horsemanship was great as cowboys chased steers, jumping off the horse to grapple the steer to the ground. It was intense and highly dangerous. One lad got thrown off a horse and landed head first into the ground. He did not move and got stretchered off to hospital.

For four hours the events kept rolling. These were preliminary rounds. The serious stuff would take place later in the week. Throughout the afternoon I kept thinking Dad would have loved this. The horses, the skill of the riders, the bulls, the danger, the adrenaline buzz. It was a real highlight. I got some great shaots and footage but the security settings on this PC won't let me post them. I'll try the next time.

When it finished I strolled back through town for a look around. I had a meal and a pint of 90 shilling in the old refurbished train station. Two pints and I would have been out of it!! I can't drink at all these days. Back to the room. The "Daddy of 'em all" was great.