Bentley, Alberta

So we bid farewell to Mum and Kate on Wednesday 6^th August as they headed off in their hire car back to Calgary airport. It was very strange saying goodbye to them for the 2^nd time in 2 months. But this time I think they walked away knowing (instead of just hoping) that this trip is indeed the trip of a lifetime and that we are all absolutely loving it all!!

We only just managed to leave Panther River ourselves having debated endlessly whether we should stay on another couple of nights and do some more horse riding. We prised the kids away from the stables and headed out.

Having missed the Calgary Stampede by a few weeks we were determined to experience a rodeo. Over 100 towns in Alberta alone hold Rodeo events and John had found one in a place called Bentley just north of where we were staying. When we mentioned it to Laureen at Panther River she laughed and told us that Bentley was a wee dot of a town and so our expectations were very very low!!

On our way out of town we called in at Lamme’s, Cowboy Outfitters. Kate and Mum had stopped there hours before on their way to the airport so the staff seemed unsurprised by our arrival and the kids insistence that they wanted to be dressed head to toe in Western Gear. We settled on a hat each and Charlie used his birthday money to get a pair of boots. We had to talk him out of the belt and whip that he felt were essential to really set the outfit off properly. He has pretty much slept in the boots ever since!!

We had 2 nights booked in a campground at Gull Lake just outside of Bentley. After the peaceful setting of Panther River it was an assault on the senses. We were parked up so close to our neighbours we could have held hands out the window. Although I guess that did come in handy when a huge thunderstorm broke out and John had to run next door to help rescue their awning.

We had one very quiet day here while the kids swam in the lake and biked into ‘town’ to scope out the Rodeo. The campground insisted they were fully booked for the Friday and Saturday nights, which were the days of the Rodeo. So even though as we departed on Friday morning half the campground was now deserted they would NOT let us stay another night.

As it turned out the whole town of Bentley was full of people parked up on side roads and various patches of grass. We followed a 50’ RV into the car park of the school and spent the night there. They turned out to be lovely neighbours and we joined them for beers on their ‘patio’ set up complete with 2 BBQ’s and outdoor furniture.

The Rodeo was brilliant. 3 different groups – under 12’s, 13-16’s then adults. Some of the kids were absolutely tiny and yet were riding enormous horses at breakneck speeds. Also doing the Steer riding (bucking bronco to you and me!). For a tiny town they had attracted quite the crowd and we were reliably informed (by our Car park camping neighbours who have attended loads of Rodeo’s) that the standard was very high!!!

To be honest it was all a bit crazy if you ask me. William was particularly inspired by the Bull Fighters, the 3 chaps dressed in brightly coloured clothes who distracted the bulls and wild horses once their riders had ‘dismounted’!!

Truly amazing the skill and ease with which they all handled their horses and the cattle. Put our very short and tame ‘ride’ to shame. Not that you could tell that to Butch Cassidy and Brother who are now determined Cowboys!!

The next day there was a Pancake Breakfast where the whole town had turned out to cook and consume pancakes, bacon and eggs in the town centre. (Just to be clear the ‘town’ was a row of shops on either side of the main road, appropriately named the Cowboy Trail).

Then on to the Car Show. I was significantly less excited about this than John and the boys and thought there couldn’t be more than a couple of old bangers in a town of this size.

In it’s 40^th Year the Show and Shine was incredible. There must have been over 100 cars, loving restored and on display. I did fall in love with a 1950’s red Chevy Truck which I think would be just the thing back in Churt but John and the boys were in boy heaven!! Corvettes, Mustangs, GTO’s, T Birds, Firebirds……