But what more could you expect from a man who lives in a town with a population of one? My apologies for the less and less frequent blog posts. We've been super busy/exhausted/or without internet access. Also, my phone has run out of storage space for pictures so I have not been able to take many lately. Oregon is quite the western state, full of rodeos, cowboys, horses, rattlesnakes, and miles of nothingness. Southeastern Oregon isn't exactly the beautiful place I envisioned it to be - I've been told I've been envisioning western Oregon, which we are not biking through.
Highlights:
Christmas in July. One rider has organized 12 days of Christmas and been giving us all little presents each day. On Christmas day, we sat around a Christmas tree that someone found on the side of the road, listened to Christmas music, and exchanged our $5 or less secret Santa gifts, which were purchased mostly at thrift stores.
Getting to see a real rodeo in juntura, or. These people have been riding horses and roping all their lives. The community of about 50 people comes out once a week to rope steer and such. They showed us how to rope and I got to ride a horse for the first time since I was 10 years old!
Prom was very successful. My date and I went as jack and rose from titanic. We didn't win best costume, but I still think we deserved to!
Lowlights:
Well, I don't know how to ride a horse. I asked the cowboy what not to do that would make the horse mad. He failed to mention not pulling on the reins too hard. I was walking the horse, then tried to get the horse to stop and turn around. Evidently, I had a horse who is sensitive to rein-pulling. I pulled the reins, the horse started to buck, and I heard the cowboy say to give its head. I assumed that meant to pull harder on the reins, so that's exactly what I did. Next thing I know, Angel is full on on her hind legs, trying to throw me off. She bucks me off, and I watch in slow motion as I fall to the ground. Then, Angel loses her balance (intentionally, perhaps?) and lands on her side inches from me. Amazingly, I come out with hardly a scratch. Angel was fine, too. Not sure being bucked off a horse is something I want to experience again.
