My First Rodeo

I’ve run all over the great state of Georgia. Taking to the streets with the rising sun in Swainsboro, GA, shouldn’t therefore have seemed too shocking. For the most part, things appeared the same as most. I breezed passed the main high school, through a retail area--okay this was somewhat different as 85% of the businesses were local non-chain shops and restaurants--and even spent some time in a local park. Swainsboro’s Kiwanis Park holds four lakes, one of which housed a stately couple of geese and four extremely cute goslings. Mist rose off the water and the day’s first light streamed through like teleporters from a Sci-Fi movie.

Back on the road, I enjoyed the local sights. Outside of the Moose Lodge a well-used marquee advertised for two bands scheduled to play over the weekend. I don’t even know where a Moose Lodge is in my neck of the woods. I knew I had escaped the metropolitan area when I read another sign. “May 14. Fairgrounds. Wrestling. Pine Cone Match.” Pine cone match?  Google didn't have returns for that.

Swainsboro provided a fun and terribly interesting run. With little less than four hours in the car, we had entered a world very different from our own. Truthfully, I'd been feeling it since we arrived the night before and attended our first rodeo. Wow, what a treat! Riding, roping, racing, and showcasing a very specific set of skills, these cowgirls and cowboys ruled the night. I quickly came to appreciate the rodeo as a magnificent tradition and cultural heritage that is kept alive by the young people we watched. But, still I wonder, what is a pine cone match?

Run. Ride! Wrestle?

Tom