You cain’t miss it
By
Julie Carter
Whether is dark or light, day or
night, cowboys have an unerring sense of direction.
Seldom will you find them
walking but their inner GPS serves them well as they navigate by horse or by
pickup.
Not long ago, a cowboy was set
to go to a roping in a town about 400 miles from home. He called a friend in
that same town to get directions to the arena.
“No problem,” was the response,
“You just take one of them roads just outside of town, go down couple miles,
and it’s right there. You cain’t miss it.”
There is no telling how many
miles, for decades, have been traveled on that very same reliable information. The
topography of the land is always figured into the information given and is
clearly thought to be helpful.
In the flatland farm country
where there are miles and miles of wheat, the driving instruction will almost
always include: “You just go down to that wheat field, turn west, and it’s
right there. You cain’t miss it.”
In that same part of the world, directions
could include “You go down past the elevator, down to where that feller was
changing a tire last time I was down that way, and take a hard left. You cain’t
miss it.”
Rodeo cowboys are no exception
to this phenomenon. One set of ropers had a plan to go to the million-dollar
roping in Las Vegas.
Their directions were to head to El Paso and
take a right, with the guarantee they couldn’t miss Las Vegas.
Another likely pair went to a
roping down the road a ways. They had gotten safely to the correct town but had
no clue as to the whereabouts of the arena. They, collectively, as it took both
of them to form a reasonably intelligent thought, hit on the idea of just
finding a pickup and horse trailer on the move and follow that rig to the arena.
It wasn’t long until a
suspiciously authentic looking rig with just the right specifications came by. The
semi-lost duo pulled out from the local Dairy Queen parking lot and fell in
behind the authentic looking cowboy rig.
The targeted rig stopped at the
Quik Stop, stopped at the tire store, stopped at the feed store, the bank, the
Co-op, and then finally headed out of town. The trailing ropers were quite relieved
because it was nearing time for the roping to start. They followed him along until
he pulled off the highway and up to a ranch gate.
When they walked up to his truck
and asked him if he was headed to the roping, the man advised them he had just
taken his horse to the vet and was now on his way home.
However, he did give them
directions to the arena. “You just go on back up this here road a ways, take
that left by that big oak tree and go on down a couple miles. You cain’t miss
it.”
Do you think the fellas at NASA
in Houston told
the astronauts something similar?
“You just strap this rocket to the backside of
your spacecraft, and just point that sucker toward Mars. It’s right up there a
ways. You cain’t miss it.”
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