One Wild Spring Break with the Guys

As I mentioned, this occurred during my junior year while I was on spring break with some friends of mine. My parents lived halfway across the country so I decided not to go home and stay with a buddy of mine named Tom. I had been doing calf roping and team roping around the rodeo circuit, but had my friend tom teaching me how to ride bulls. The weekend also involves other friends of ours.

It was simple enough there were some local rodeos coming up and bull riding jackpots so we figured we could make part of that into a nice little vacation. Tom and Bobby picked me up on Wednesday after my last final and we headed straight to the liquor store. I think we bought like a case of Jim Bean Bourbon Whiskey and were partially on our way. The first night was pretty simple we hung out and drank whiskey and cooked out. We went to Bobby's house and his Rob and Bill came into from a meeting they had been at for the local agricultural association or something like that. Bill mentioned that he was getting a place near Pensacola, Florida and spend some time Panama City since lots of hot ladies hang out there. We figured we could meet up with him after we hit a couple rodeos we had planned on going to.

There was a bull riding jackpot and team roping in Tuscaloosa that week so we entered that. Me Tom, Bobby and a friend named Andy headed out on the way. Andy did not compete, but was a buddy of ours so he came along. Tom got second in the bull riding and Bobby and I bucked off so there was no money to be made there. Next we headed to a charity rodeo in Birmingham. This was not one of the big rodeos, but there was some money to be won. Tom and Bobby entered the bull riding and I was entered in the calf roping and team ropint. I was not confident enough in my bull riding to enter at a pro rodeo. Tom and bill both rode their bulls but did not make any money. I placed fourth in team roping and got a little "fun money" in my pocket. Since our whiskey stash was running very low we got some more and some beer. We always like Coors Light the best. So we were on our way to Pensacola.

When we got to the Holiday Inn Bill already had the room checked into and all that. He had the place very well stocked with booze. This was the first time I ever drank Bacardi 151. This stuff you could actually light on fire because it was so strong. We preferred to drink it though. After that we went out to some cowboy bar in the area. It was pretty nice. We met some girls and hung out with them. There was a girl there with some friends from the same town that we went in. I ended up hooking up with this girl Michelle. Tom said I made one of my best rides ever the next week and I needed to get laid more often. I don't advise people to do this, but that was one of the wildest times I ever had. She was a real nympho. The next couple days were kind of the same stuff.

The next night we went out to another cowboy bar. Now this place was really a rough place. This was fine with us, but it was one of those places that are getting towards the bar from the Movie Roadhouse. We all struck out with the girls. Just some dances and flirting and feeling was about all that happened for me and Andy. Bill and tom picked up a couple buckle bunnies (girls who go after cowboys) and they went off with them so we went back with will to his hotel. We were really hammered. If we were not in the middle of nowhere we probably would have had problems since all of us were very drunk. I was not driving, but should not have let Bill drive. We could have just slept in the truck. We got back to the hotel and there were no parking spots so Bill just parked by the main door. We got a call from security in the morning and told to more it. Like a moron Bill said "go ahead and move it" and hung up since they said "it needs to be moved". He then took the phone off the hook. Next thing we know security was banging down the door. We had the hotel in bad shape. There were beer cans all over the place and a bunch of crawfish remains in trash bags all over the place. The tub was slammed full of beer and ice since we had no more coolers. We did not get kicked out but told not to pull anymore crap. The next day Bobby and Tom came back and told us they met and old girlfriend of Tom's and were going to hang out with her so me and Andy took his vehicle and headed home.

This trip taught me quite a bit. The first thing was that since I had not been a rodeo cowboy all my life I got to see life on the road. The drinking and hanging out was not that bad. The thing is though the hooking up with random girls was really unsafe and not a good idea. I did know the girl at least that polished my knob, but Tom was hooking up left and right. What was pathetic was that he had a girlfriend at home. He always justified cheating on her because she was a nag. Most people don't settle down after seeing a couple examples of excess but I did after that. The next weekend a guy that went to school with me was killed drunk driving. That really hit home since I was in a car with a drunk driver most of the trip. I decided never to drink and drive or ride with someone who was. You would figure that I would have known better, but its better late then never.

I also finally got away from being commitment shy and started dating a girl that probably would have been the one that I married had I not went back home after college. The trip really taught me about excesses. Now I always made Dean's and President's list but got to a point were I was just a tad in excess for that one year in my life. Today I am very happily married and don't even drink anymore. I would say that there is nothing wrong with having fun, but I would not encourage people to get as crazy as I did and don't try to hard to fit in. I wanted to show the other cowboys I could raise as much hell as they could. This was my first outing with just the guys and although it was not the best behavior at the time I thought it was fun. The main thing is you learn from your mistakes and I learned how I did not want to be.