Parking problems
I left Wickenburg this morning about 8 o'clock, after stopping at the Safeway for a few groceries. As I was leaving Wickenburg, I passed by an arena that was packed to the gills with horse trailers. I don't ever remember seeing that many horse trailers in one place in my life. I figured there must be a horse thing going on, so I pulled in to see what was happening.
This particular arena, located closest to town, is called Rio something or another, and often features team roping contests, so I figured I would park and take a few pictures, since I was in no hurry to get to Congress, since there is plenty of boondocking available.
Going into the arena area the place really was packed with people, horses, and horse trailers. I drove around and around, and up and down the aisles of trucks, trying to find a place to park, but found absolutely nothing available, and this arena is a really huge place, with lots of trailer parking.
Seeing that parking was rather hopeless, I pulled into a spot near a dumpster, where I shouldn't have been, but it gave me a couple of minutes to walk around and take a few pictures and rush back before my truck was mistaken for a dumpster full of trash and hauled away.
After an uneventful drive, I got to Congress, turned on my computer, and found out that the arena where I couldn't find a place to park had some kind of championship team roping thing going on that lasts for four days, and cowboys come from all over the country to attend..... Which explains my parking problems.
Theboondork
Sunrise this morning….. A nice way to greet the day.
One tiny part of a very large parking area.
I wasn't the only one looking for a place to park. I could see there were semi trucks full of horses driving around, looking for places to park, but I figured since I was so small by comparison, finding a parking spot wouldn't be all that difficult……I was wrong.
If you haven't been to a horse event before, you might fall victim to this unwritten rule. This looks like an easy place to pull my little camper into, but the Cowboys like to tie their horses onto the side of the trailer, which gives them plenty of room to work on their horses, fix a horseshoe, brush their teeth, or do a front-end alignment without bumping into somebody else's trailer. So they try to leave a clear spot where everybody can work on their horses.
Now, if I were in the contest and pulling a horse trailer, the Cowboys would make room for me, mostly because they are some of the finest people you'll ever meet, but it would be very rude of me to pull my little camper in there and take up a spot that may be needed by someone in the contest.