We put on a little event a few weeks ago, The McClain County Grodeo—a gravel team time trial bonding experience. I couldn’t be happier with how the event went, the amazing volunteers we had, the feedback we received, and the beautiful weather, we lucked out on.
The Grodeo was a western theme, and several race staff, volunteers, and participants had all decided it’d be super fun to dress up in some western wear.
The McClain County Grodeo riders meeting.
All of this took me for a trip down memory lane. So, here we go. Not to date myself, but forty-ish years ago you’d find me waking up in the morning, picking up our landline phone, and calling my Grandpa.
The conversation was usually pretty quick, “Grandpa, what hat are you wearing today?”
Was it a ball cap day, or a cowboy hat day? My Grandpa was my best friend. My family has forty acres, and for most of my childhood, my mornings were spent working with my Grandpa. Driving posts, stringing fences, hauling hay, riding along on the tractor, and shoveling shit (yeah, that’s also where I said my first curse word). When you’re five years old, all those things seem pretty “cowboy” and my Grandpa was a cowboy, which made me a cowboy.
That damned old Grodeo.
Fast forward forty years and a lot of things have changed. But getting ready for this event reminded of my Grandpa. I took a trip to Langston’s in the Stockyards of Oklahoma City. I picked out my Wranglers, my boots, a belt, and of course a hat. But here’s where the magic happens, I choose my hat and notice a gentleman behind the counter shaping another man’s hat. I waited until he was finished, made sure no one else was approaching the counter, and then walked up and asked him if he could help me with my hat. He took one look at the hat I had chosen and said, “son, people your age shape their hats a little differently now days” and then preceded to steam my hat, shape my hat, steam it some more, shape it some more. He handed me my hat a couple times and quickly said, “put it on, look at me, not in the mirror yet.” The third time he handed it back to me, he said, “put it on, and now look in the mirror.”
I did just that. I put it on, turned around, looked in the mirror, and I couldn’t help but smile. There he was, that kid 40 years ago putting his cowboy hat on to work with his Grandpa. I turned to the gentleman hoping for approval. He grinned great big, and said, “son, we just made you a cowboy.”