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Day Tripper: Rodeos, Skoal and camping in Pilesgrove, N.J.
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Day Tripper: Rodeos, Skoal and camping in Pilesgrove, N.J.
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
In The Clog's infrequent feature Day Tripper, we'll chronicle our trips — most of them bikeable — to little-known gems in and close to Philadelphia.
"Real America," and all its charms and flaws, is only a 40-minute drive away.
Pilesgrove, N.J. is home to the Cowtown Rodeo, the longest continuously running rodeo in the country. It's also full of cowboy clothing stores, bucolic camping grounds, lakes to swim in and — one of my favorite parts of Real America — good ol' boys who wear Wranglers so tight you can spot their Skoal containers a mile away.
My friends and I originally planned to bike to Pilesgrove this past Saturday, but the rain wrecked our hopes. (You can check out the pretty simple biking directions we were going to use here. Biking would have taken 3 1/2 hours.) We drove instead.
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
Immediately upon entering our temporary home, the Four Seasons Family Campground, we were greeted with a depressing sign: "No Open Fires." Because of the drought, we weren't able to do the most virtuous of summertime activities: barbecuing. I suggest calling ahead of time to find out if fires are allowed, so you can plan your meals accordingly. Other than that, Four Seasons was pretty solid: It cost only $15/night for each person to pitch a tent on the grounds, and there was a beautiful sandy beach and lake to swim in. Apparently, there were also card games, a basketball court and karaoke on the grounds that we never got around to enjoying.
That's because we had a higher calling to attend to: Cowtown's epic rodeo. Starting at 7:30 p.m. every Saturday night throughout the summer, some of the nation's best cowboys and cowgirls ride gnarly bulls, rope calves, and — the best event by far — jump onto steers from their galloping horses and then wrestle them to the ground in a great Man vs. Beast duel (check out the image above to see what happens when you lose). It was all beautifully athletic.
Did I mention the event is BYO? That's fun. The pulled pork sandwiches available at the rodeo are also a joy.
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| Photo | Rachel Playe |
The only flaw of the event, as far as I could tell, were the commentators. (That and the Cowtown "flea market." Avoid it unless you're interested in buying BB guns or a trash bag full of cheap sunglasses.) The commentators employed a to-be-expected redneck sense of humor, which took fair swipes at liberals ("Why didn't so-and-so win? Cause of George Bush. Everything's his fault!") as well as corny, sexist swipes at women ("Why did the woman cross the road? Who cares?! Why was she out of the kitchen?").
But hey, what'd we tell ya? This is Real America, just 35 miles away.
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