A State Fair and a Rodeo (11-6-11)

               The Rodeo was the main attraction of the state fair, as far as I am concerned.  I’ve never  been to one before -which literally shocked some of the people I have met here in Shreveport- until I told them I grew up in Boston.  We got to the fair several hours before the rodeo, so we’d have time to check out the exhibits and test out the food.






 Ordinarily I don’t eat much “carny” food, but this time I  found a website that listed the Top 20 food items at the fair.  Some of them were of no interest to me- crab boudin, Rocky Mountain Oysters (deep fried lamb testicle) and alligator, but others sounded different, and worth trying.   The first thing we tried was Cookie Dough on a Stick- chocolate covered, with pecans.  It was SO sweet, even Paul thought it was sweet.  After wandering the fair for a while longer  we  came across deep fried Jalapeño cheddar cheese sticks, which were delicious, and deep fried macaroni and cheese, which was good as well.  We were up for trying the Stuffed Jalapeños, but every time we walked by, they were out of them.  Just before going in to the rodeo, we forced ourselves to try the Red Velvet Funnel Cake.  We felt stuffed for 2 days!

The Rodeo started in a darkened arena with a single horse and rider carrying the American flag, as a prayer was said and the National Anthem was sung.

There were multiple roping events, which as it turns out, I didn’t enjoy at all.  I liked watching the cowboys trying to rope a calf, right up until they did.  Then I felt bad for the calf.  This picture is of team roping- they both have to get their lasso on the calf in order for it to count,

I did enjoy the bull riding, bronco riding and the bareback bronco riding.  The music that was played during each attempt was fast, loud, and upbeat, adding to the fun of watching.  There was also some great interaction between the announcer and the rodeo clown.

                                                                                                                                                               After bucking off the rider, not all of the animals calmed down quickly-some of them continued to leap around the arena until the cowboys could convince them to exit out the open gate.

The only competition that women can participate in is the barrel racing.  The contestants are timed as they race their horses around 3 barrels and back to the end of the arena.
We stuck around Shreveport this week because we have been too long without our mail and I wanted to get it shipped to us.  Everything arrived today, so we’ll take off on Saturday for our next destination, wherever that is.

Love/Hate (11-04-11)

There are things I love about this lifestyle, and things I hate about it.
What I love about it:  2 days ago, I had my phone in my hand,  and was punching in the numbers to call an RV park in Texarkana, TX to make a reservation. As I am doing this, Paul says “Hey, there is a commercial on TV for the Louisiana State Fair- do a quick google and check it out, will you?”   So I do a quick “google” and I discover that the State Fair is in progress, and it’s in Shreveport, LA, a mere 130 miles from our current location.  After finding an RV park that has room for us, the decision was made, so, here we are in Shreveport, LA. 
   I am pretty excited about being here.   There is a Rodeo on Saturday night, and since I’ve never been to one, it’s been high on my list of Wants.  We now have box seat tickets to tonight’s rodeo. Sweet!  The other bonus is that by being stationary in a commercial park, I was able to get something shipped to me here- which leads me to what I (used to) hate about this lifestyle:
What I hate about it: Lack of internet.  This is one of the biggest issues that full time RVers have to address in some way.  There are many options, some cheap and somewhat unreliable, and some pretty expensive (satellite Internet), with several options in between.  Up to this point, Paul and I have chosen to rely mostly on campground Wi-Fi systems, and when that is unavailable, we tether to my AT&T cell phone. Lately that’s been a problem because apparently I have dropped my phone too many times and the connections are too loose to use to connect it to the PC.  Add to that the fact that AT&T coverage is not what we would like it to be, and my frustration level increases dramatically. AND, the speed of campground Wi-Fi systems slows to a painful crawl as more people try to use it.
    As I mentioned in my last post, at Devil’s Den we had neither cell coverage,nor internet.  Not that I think Verizon is perfect, but I do believe it’s much better than AT&T.  Devil’s Den was last straw for me.  I got on the phone with my personal Verizon Wireless Sales Consultant (who I have been reviewing options with for several months) and told him to ship my new IPAD II!  
The Ipad solves several frustrations for me.  Within hours of receiving it, I had activated a data plan for it through Verizon.  So, last night when the campground Wi-fi slowed to 1mbps, I switched over to my personal Verizon plan and I was back in business!  The other perk is that I will have a better internet connection to do research, as we travel down the road.  No longer will I have to rely on the small screen on my  phone.
And so begins our migration over to Verizon and Apple.