Galena Rodeo

We decided on a whim this summer to go back to a rodeo in Galena (about 2.5 hours away) that we'd been to several times with our good friends the Andersons before they moved away. We hadn't been in 7 years and decided it was time to go back. A few weeks after we decided to go, JaNae texted me and said they'd be in town in early July and wanted to stop by and say hi. I told them we'd love that, and in fact, they'd been on our minds lately because we were going to the rodeo...and she responded that they were going to be there too! It was SO MUCH FUN to be there with them again after all those years! They're the kind of friends that it seems like no time has passed when you see them again. Even the kids, who barely remember each other, fall back into easy conversations. 

Oh, Jake.

The first half of the rodeo was so fun and we had beautiful weather. But then, out of nowhere, it started to rain. We were sitting on tarps because the ground was wet from the previous day's rain, so we just pulled them over our heads and waited. After maybe 10 minutes or so it stopped- no big deal, right?

But then about 30 minutes later it started raining again, and then kept raining, and then rained harder...Jake couldn't handle it after a few minutes so he and I walked back (in the pouring rain) to our car where we waited a long time for the rain to stop. We'd come all that way, and we wanted to see the bull riding and the fireworks show, so we waited it out.

Well, it turned out the ground was now a muddy mess and was too dangerous to bull ride in, and the fireworks show was not that impressive. And then it was time to leave, from the pastures we'd all parked in, that we also now a muddy mess. LOTS of cars were stuck, including the Andersons. Logan and Jason helped them (and a few other cars) get unstuck and then we all tried to not get mud all over the car as we got in and drove the 2.5 hours home, still soaking wet.

Funny enough, we all agreed we'd had a good time, though not for the reasons we expected to. Seeing the Andersons and getting to spend all that time with them was a huge tender mercy, and pushing out the cars was actually kind of fun...  it was memorable for sure! When the Andersons stopped by Sunday, they brought us a bag of Muddy Buddies they'd stopped at the store the night before (despite their own wetness), to thank us! Oh, how we love these good friends!

(Also, it was Jason's birthday the day we went! Happy birthday to the love of my life!)