Sunday 26th September 2010
So as we are in a self catering cabin we had the foresight to buy some bacon, eggs and bread for breakfast, what we didn’t think to do was check that the unit had any catering equipment at all.
Never one to let something like to get in the way of breakfast we quite proudly managed to make some plates out of toast and use the microwave to boil some water and do some poached eggs.... I'm just like Ray Mears me...
Today is our second story, it is the annual buffalo roundup in Custer State Park and the even has become something of a tourist attraction in the last few years. It's an opportunity to see real South American cowboys and girls round up the seasons buffalo on horseback (and 4x4) into the Corrals.
During the trip we have mentioned that the work we do does not only get us to some amazing places, but also access to things that most people don't get. The Buffalo Round-up was such an event.
Today is the day before the event but a really important one. There are 60 cowboys and girls on horseback during the event. Around 20 of these are selected from a ballot to take part ,so they may have never done it before and their horses may not be acclimatised to the buffalo or 4x4's.
The riders get a briefing of the grand plan by the man in charge, Chad Kremer. He then takes all of them out with experienced riders to take them around the fields to get them used to mingling with the buffalo. This also gets the buffalo used to having the horses around.
It's worth pointing out that every step of the way, the first priority is the welfare of the animals. The cowboys and girls are told there are not to stress the buffalo and if they break away and resist being rounded up they are to give up on them and let them go.
We go to go out on a 4x4 to go and see the buffalo grazing in their normal habitat and see the riders get used to riding the fields. The park rangers were great and took us wherever we wanted to go so we got to get some lovely filming done and a nice interview with the “Head of the Herd” in the middle of the field.
We saw the official tour vehicles whilst we were out and about so we were aware of how much closer we were able to go than the ordinary tourist.
We had a small break for lunch so we decided to drive a few miles down the road to an arts festival which was part of the round-up. This is where we discovered that Americans can do organised food really well.
The key is, One choice, several counters with a conveyor belt of people serving your food. The long queues move so quickly. The only negative is the amount of buffalo. When we started the week it was novel, now it's usually that only choice, and we're a bit done with Buffalo brisket and burgers, sounds so ungrateful as I write that.
In the afternoon we got a nice interview with the head Cowboy Chad. He is the most stereotypical cowboy, and if you have seen the pictures you will spot him in an instant. That moustache is a masterpiece.
We interviewed him outside of the stables with his horse. He was very popular with the ever growing media crews that were turning up but he did every interview with as much enthusiasm as the first. Everyone speaks highly of Chad and you can see that he just loves doing it.
Whilst waiting for Chad we were milling around the office when one of the cowboys asked if we wanted to have a go at using a whip. We all jumped at the chance and were given a masterclass. There are two ways to do it. The classic that most people can do with a tea-towel, I was quite good at this but have had lots of tea-towel practise in the past, but they also showed us the one where you swirl it round your head and whip it back, this is much more difficult, but I did manage one beautiful *CRACK*.
One fact for a boring dinner party.... The Crack of a whip has nothing to with it hitting itself, it is the end of it breaking the sound barrier and creating a pop. Cattle react to this as it sounds just like a pistol shot.
Whilst we were milling around the corrals we bumped into many park rangers, cowboys and media, and really enjoyed chatting to them all.
There was Mick our driver, Jason from the local paper, Bhaskar the photographer from Bangalore, Jason the cowboy and the most wonderful cowboy Dave Bolton, whose family ancestors came from.....yep... Bolton in England. He helped us out a lot.
When we were talking to the rangers about finding a cowboy to speak to, they were very kind in telling us to watch out as a lot of cowboys are full of BS. For the uninitiated that is “Bull Shit”. So we felt really lucky to find Chad and Dave who were lovely. We were advised that if you want to find a real cowboy/girl you should look for one with one finger missing, that is a true sign of a proper working cowboy/girl.
That evening we decided we would eat at the restaurant at the lake again more for speed and general easyness, but tonight we were earlier to avoid being last in the restaurant. For the second night in a row we all got salad, all being a bit fried food and buffalo'd out.
Sadly we were soon once again last in the restaurant and general hoovering and tiding up commenced around us. We took our cue and went home.
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