Previous Member: SamHouston and partner at First Homorodeo
SamHouston and partner at First Homorodeo
Aug 29 2009 at 03:51pm
Howdy to you cowboys and cowgirls from SamHouston in Joliet, Illinois!
My partner Jeff and I went to our first HomoRodeo last Sunday in Crete and had the time of our lives! Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I mean we really enjoyed ourselves! We are hooked!!!
Having just completed a drive across interstate 10 from Florida to SanDiego, my comfort level at being in boots and stetson was right up to the maximum. The southern states love their men wearing western gear (and so do I)! I grew up in a family of 8 kids with a southern belle for a mother, who had owned a ranch before meeting my Jewish dad from Chicago and giving up the country life for a suburban spread (truck farm originally) which she named "Rebels Retreat." We always had a dude ranch close by our vacations for some western riding and went to visit her brother in Texas at the ranch which he had purchased from her. Got our fill of horses (golden palominos) and cattle which then raised (I for one wanted to give up Elmhurst, Illinois and move to Texas). I took english riding lessons when in high school, but western is my style and HomoRodeo is like a drink of cool water to me. Refreshing and well met.
The skill events were so exciting! And as we caught on to the rules and judging for each event, we just found ourselves sucked into the vortex of rodeo fever and yelled our support to the participants, YeeHaw! Admit I will to being partial to the horse riding skill events. Whether it was barrel racing when the team are mostly parallel to the ground around the barrel, the flag racing at such breakneck speed trying to plant that flag back in the sand and remember the pattern you should be running with your horse or pole bending when that pattern is going by so fast you can loose track of the finish gate, man/woman and horse must become one to rise to the top of the heap and get that buckle.
Of course the "gay" events were highly entertaining as well! More so, because the drag contestants worked the crowds for help with a winning attitude (or some lipstick applied by a willing friend of the homo-entrant). But a drag falling off the steer (or thrown off as the case often is) into the horse shit and dirt can't possibly fail to bring a chortle from even hardened homorodeo crowd. It was a hoot.
I had trouble getting into the cheerleaders performance from Chicago, but they did a good job with their routines and the crowd was very entertained. However, the western line dancing/two-stepping group was so excellent! They have rehearsed their moves and the dancing was well conceived and highly entertaining. Besides, two men dancing and squirming together in rhythm with pounding music has a certain lure that is strangely familiar and satisfying.
On our way out was the final bit of joy to be sqeezed from the event for us. Now, there was lots of good looking cowboys around the events (some of whom I hope contact us for further friendship) but we were so impressed with a certain leather celebrity and stopped by his table to ask in respectful tones for the possibility of a photo with him. Fully expecting that he might refuse as "people always bother such good lookin studs" for photo opportunities, my partner was thrilled with his good grace in agreeing and eagerly participating in what turned out to be the best three pictures of our day (him squeezing and being squeezed by Jeff in each photo). We walked out feeling like the day had been completed and we could just drive home to a nice dinner and plan our week of work-a-day responsibility with calm dispatch.
Hope to hear from some of you guys, and sending a big cowboy hug your way, this here is Samhouston signing off.
My partner Jeff and I went to our first HomoRodeo last Sunday in Crete and had the time of our lives! Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I mean we really enjoyed ourselves! We are hooked!!!
Having just completed a drive across interstate 10 from Florida to SanDiego, my comfort level at being in boots and stetson was right up to the maximum. The southern states love their men wearing western gear (and so do I)! I grew up in a family of 8 kids with a southern belle for a mother, who had owned a ranch before meeting my Jewish dad from Chicago and giving up the country life for a suburban spread (truck farm originally) which she named "Rebels Retreat." We always had a dude ranch close by our vacations for some western riding and went to visit her brother in Texas at the ranch which he had purchased from her. Got our fill of horses (golden palominos) and cattle which then raised (I for one wanted to give up Elmhurst, Illinois and move to Texas). I took english riding lessons when in high school, but western is my style and HomoRodeo is like a drink of cool water to me. Refreshing and well met.
The skill events were so exciting! And as we caught on to the rules and judging for each event, we just found ourselves sucked into the vortex of rodeo fever and yelled our support to the participants, YeeHaw! Admit I will to being partial to the horse riding skill events. Whether it was barrel racing when the team are mostly parallel to the ground around the barrel, the flag racing at such breakneck speed trying to plant that flag back in the sand and remember the pattern you should be running with your horse or pole bending when that pattern is going by so fast you can loose track of the finish gate, man/woman and horse must become one to rise to the top of the heap and get that buckle.
Of course the "gay" events were highly entertaining as well! More so, because the drag contestants worked the crowds for help with a winning attitude (or some lipstick applied by a willing friend of the homo-entrant). But a drag falling off the steer (or thrown off as the case often is) into the horse shit and dirt can't possibly fail to bring a chortle from even hardened homorodeo crowd. It was a hoot.
I had trouble getting into the cheerleaders performance from Chicago, but they did a good job with their routines and the crowd was very entertained. However, the western line dancing/two-stepping group was so excellent! They have rehearsed their moves and the dancing was well conceived and highly entertaining. Besides, two men dancing and squirming together in rhythm with pounding music has a certain lure that is strangely familiar and satisfying.
On our way out was the final bit of joy to be sqeezed from the event for us. Now, there was lots of good looking cowboys around the events (some of whom I hope contact us for further friendship) but we were so impressed with a certain leather celebrity and stopped by his table to ask in respectful tones for the possibility of a photo with him. Fully expecting that he might refuse as "people always bother such good lookin studs" for photo opportunities, my partner was thrilled with his good grace in agreeing and eagerly participating in what turned out to be the best three pictures of our day (him squeezing and being squeezed by Jeff in each photo). We walked out feeling like the day had been completed and we could just drive home to a nice dinner and plan our week of work-a-day responsibility with calm dispatch.
Hope to hear from some of you guys, and sending a big cowboy hug your way, this here is Samhouston signing off.
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