Timeout from Politics - Chicken Fried Bacon and Impromptu Bull Riding Report

Posted by admin on 2008 October 5

I have to say the Chicken Fried Bacon at the State Fair of Texas this year is quite tasty. It costs about 10 coupons, which is $5, and you get about 7 pieces of bacon for that, with a side of ranch or honey mustard sauce. A side of gravy, though, would be just perfect. We just bought one and split it between 4 people.

One thing I enjoyed that was cornier than a corn dog was the “Live Action Bull Riding” over in the Dodge Truck Zone. It was weird, man, like that scene in Apocalypse Now where the Playboy Bunnies are helicoptered onto a stage in the middle of the jungle.

We were headed in that direction, when we heard the barker with a thick, country Texas accent whipping up the crowd. It was back behind a huge arch towering over some Dodge trucks on display, one of which was some kind of turbo-charged-looking, cammo-painted thing. When we got up to it there was already a sizeable crowd, the Young Country music was pumping and some Coyote Ugly-style “cowgirls” were dancing it up and tossing beads to the audience.

The arena was just a tiny thing, compared to what I’m used to. It was like “Hey, Bubba, let’s thrown down some dirt righ’ch’ere and put up a fence and do us some bull ridin’ - wooohaaa!” Probably a 25 yard square. They had three bulls, three rodeo clowns, and maybe a half-dozen riders. One of them was the Texas circuit champion, I forget his name, but he was standing up over the bull pens like some kind of rodeo god while the announcer built him up.

They even had the flag riders, a couple of good looking women, one with the Texas flag and the other with the Stars and Stripes. Usually the flag riders come out pretty fast and kick up a lot of dirt as they tear around the arena, but there wasn’t enough room, so they just circled a couple of times at a leisurely gallop.

Buildup was so long, by the time the bull riders came out we were already pretty tired from standing in the Texas sun (yes, even in October). Only the first one lasted over the required 8 seconds. We watched three others get tossed into the dirt in 4 to 6 seconds, and left.

But aside from it lasting way too long, it was pretty good spectacle. I don’t even like all that Coyote Ugly/Young Country/Dodge Ram stuff, but I found the mood infectious.