My Sweetie and I saddled up and headed down the road to wonderful San Antonio, TEXAS! This trip was going to be a bit more special than most of our trips to San Antonio since we were actually going for two reasons. First, we were going on our annual pilgrimage to see the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Bass Pro Shop event where we would see the world's top bull riders and some of the rankest bulls in the U.S. Second, we were going to see our long-time friends, Barb and Dave.
You should know that my Sweetie and I have been attending PBR events since our first event in Raleigh, NC, sometime back in 2002 or so. My Sweeties's summer internship in 2001 consisted of spending 3 months in Casper, Wyoming where she attended the college rodeo finals and the Cheyenne Roundup. Having had no prior experience with rodeo, my Sweetie fell in love with it and transferred all of that to the PBR! So, going to see bulls and bull riders isn't special for us - it's mandatory!
But the best part of this trip was being able to spend a lot of quality time with our friends we first met while all of us were stationed in Augsburg, West Germany. Dave, my Sweetie and I were all U.S. Navy Sailors at the time (Dave and I were CTMs and my Sweetie was a CTT) while Barb was with the U.S. Air Force.
During the 3 days in San Antonio, my Sweetie and I are convinced that we've helped Barb see the bull riding light! It's really not hard when you're just a few rows away from the arena and it's really easy to see how big those dang critters really are!
On Saturday, between events, we all decided to take a side trip and headed over to Fredericksburg. Being as we all had met in Germany and probably at a fest over a beer and henchen, this just seemed appropriate. We toured the Pacific War Museum and had lunch at one of the many German restaurants in the town.
Of course, having a margarita or two is apparently mandatory in San Antonio and stopping in our hotel's bar seemed like the right thing to do. Evidently, I didn't know it was "show us your boobies" night. After the second or third occurrence, we decided to call it a night!
San Antonio remains one of my favorite cities in the entire world. And the area around it is a mix of stark contrasts - empty fields, beautiful rock formations, oomph-pa-pa bands, U.S. Navy Pacific War museum(!), and great hill country ambiance. I know we will be going back soon (in fact, in just about 2 more weeks to attend a conference!)
But the best part of this trip was realizing that Barb and Dave and my Sweetie and I are good friends still. We seemed to continue on as if it has only been a week, and not 30 years, since the last time we got together. Military friends are forever. Love you guys.
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