As the cowgirl asked us to pay “$10 a head, not ahead,” to enter into the chuckwagon races she also handed us a waiver to sign. Don’t all racing events have you sign a release of liability due to injury? We weren’t participating, simply there to watch! But, you see, this wasn’t ‘our first rodeo,’ and not our first chuckwagon race at Cherokee Hills Ranch and Trading Post — which sits on the Kentucky-Tennessee border in rural Calloway County in West Kentucky.

Last year’s show made such an impression that we shut down the farm for the afternoon to go, pretty sure there would be excitement — maybe not to the same level — which included a runaway team of 4 ponies with a driverless wagon in tow. Yep, they charged past us at about 45 miles an hour, busting through crowds, sending people screaming and running for their safety, overturning lawn chairs, careening around the announcer’s stage and then barreling across the valley and out of sight. And, that was within the first 10 minutes!

So, this year, we were not surprised to hear a cowboy yelling, “I ain’t got no brakes!” He was atop his horse, that he obviously lost control of and was whizzing right towards us. And, we were still toting our chairs, looking for a place to pop a squat. As horse and rider charge in our direction, chairs on our shoulders, we were in the path of destruction. That’s when some random cowgirl, sitting on her horse, enjoying a cool beverage, reigns around and places herself in front of the runaway, and, basically, shuts him down. (Pretty sure she had her name on the back of her belt.) Wow. We hadn’t even found a place to sit and this happens. Yee-Haw!

The real action starts a few minutes later with the chuckwagon races. It is wild and woolly; rough and rowdy. These teams, made up of the drives and out-riders, move at speeds on a dirt track that I wouldn’t want to ride on in a vehicle, much less in these little wagons. Not sure how they hang on as they round the track, many times slightly airborne. And, there’s the team that goes rogue, veering around the barrel barriers, maybe over the barrels, and sometimes even dragging the barrel under the wagon. They are tough cowboys and they don’t give up easily.

And, then, we have the mule races. Now, we know about the mule. Stubborn. Right? These guys are no exception. They can run pretty fast, but, sometimes, that “streak” kicks in. I’m not sure if they get tired, distracted, confused? So, it’s off track, possibly through the ditch. Maybe they sashay by the campers to look for a snack. They might cruise by the announcer’s stage, just to say, ‘Hello.’

Poet Ogden Nash penned, “In the world of mules, there are no rules.” That’s a mule. And, that’s the races at Cherokee Hills. Again, these cowboys and cowgirls hang on and stay the course — all the way to the finish.

Yes, it was dusty and dirty…

Yes, it was crazy…

Yes, we have marked our calendars for next year.