Anyone else remember the old show “Hey Dude”? Aired on Nickelodeon around 1990? Starred David Lascher and Christine Taylor (AKA Mrs. Ben Stiller)? Took place on a dude ranch…
From the East Coast, Sam is westward bound as she goes to Wyoming.
Oh hey, this is from when the show was still known as “Passport to Great Weekends” so we’re doing an early show.
Sam heads to Shell, Wyoming for a dude ranch there. The town’s population? Fifty. Well, that must’ve been very easy to count for the 2010 Census. Don’t have to bother with the mail-in questionnaire or enumerators. Just have one person stand there, gather everyone to one spot and just count heads on April 1st! Anyway, Sam says that she’ll be spending this weekend living out that old cowgirl fantasy you know you all had…particularly during that “I want a pony” phase every girl goes through. (You know, somewhere after the “I want to be a ballerina phase” and before you discovered boy bands/teen idols. May coincide with the “I want to be a princess phase” because every princess has her own horse. Duh). She’ll even be in a rodeo!
Friday morning: Sam watches Sean wrangle some horses. He shows her how it’s done, with Sam bonding with a horse. Sean calls what the horse does next a “tickle,” Sam determines it was a sneeze. Sam takes the horse out anyway for a cattle drive. Stuart tells Sam that they are moving the cattle to another location for fresh grass and water. They herd the cattle along some beautiful landscapes that spring to mind when someone says “The (American) West.” Sam learns herding cattle is hard as cows don’t always do what the cowboys want and it’s a hard ride. She’s placed in charge of the little cows as she orders one back to it’s mother like it’s a child who has decided to wander away in the mall. We get some shots of…Are those the Painted Hills?
(No, they aren’t. The National Park Service website confirms that the Painted Hills are actually in Oregon. I just learned something!)
Sam and the cowboys leave the cattle to enjoy the watering hole but the cowboys head home as there’s a storm a-brewing.
Friday night: Sam decides to treat herself for a job well done and goes to Cody to eat at Cassie’s Supper Club, which has a sign proclaiming that gambling and loose women are allowed into the establishment. Cute. Sam finds out that Cassie’s was opened in 1922…But as a brothel. No wonder they let in loose women! But now it’s gone back on the right side of the laws and has a dance floor. Sam takes a few spins on the dance floor. She asks if they do the Macarena and the residents stare at her. Sam thinks it’s because no one knows how to do it. I think it’s in horror that she would even suggest doing that dance! It died as 1996 came to a close for a reason!
Coming up: Sam, smoke and a rodeo!
Saturday morning: Sam shovels the manure and learns the proper procedure, which I’m sure she’ll use next time she has to shovel out of a snowstorm. Once the stables are clean, she goes to visit Jared to learn how to shoe a horse. Sam straddles a horse’s leg as Jared shows her how to pull off a shoe. In the end, he gives her a little hand. He shows her how to clean out the dirty and tells Sam the horse doesn’t feel a thing. The horse seems to agree. Jared throws the shoe in an oven and goes back to get another shoe. When the oven dings, Jared hammers it a bit and then BURNS it on to the horse’s hoof. Sam comments that she hasn’t been in a room filled with so much smoke since college. Ahh, dorm life. I love the looks I get when people realize I recognize the smell of pot. But the fact I dormed explains EVERYTHING.
Saturday afternoon: Sam goes river rafting! Even if the river is a balmy 46 degrees. She enjoys the scenery before being pulled into a white rafter. Sam moans the lack of beer before getting entirely soaked.
Coming up: Preparing for that rodeo.
Saturday afternoon: They put Sam on kitchen detail. The chef makes her draw but she drops her ice cream scooper. She helps Chris cut up steaks for that night’s barbecue. She also mashes some potato while the other chefs watch her. This segues into…
Saturday evening: Everyone at the ranch gathers round to enjoy Sam’s dinner. She meets some people from New Jersey, just across the river from Sam in New York. They enjoy the scenery as the sun sets.
Sunday morning: Sam gets rodeo lesson from Jim and Buster. They teach her the lasso on a stationary plastic steer. She almost manages to lasso a steer but is still just shy of her mark.
Coming up: The Rodeo!
Sunday afternoon: Sam heads back to Cody, Rodeo Capital of the World. It’s rodeo is 70 years old! There is bull riding, lassoing and barrel racing—a woman’s sport. So that will be Sam’s competition. She is coached by seven-year old Cindy, who lets Sam ride her horse. Cindy doesn’t seem seven. Are you sure Cindy isn’t really ten? They set up the barrels and out of the gate, one contest completes it in seventeen seconds. Sam heads out of the gate on Starlight. She trots around a barrel, two barrels and around the third barrel. She gallops back home in 30.03 seconds. Sam lets Starlight bring her to the bar.
Apparently an oldie, but a goodie. While I’m not much of an outdoors-girl, so a weekend at a dude ranch may not be my ideal weekend. But even this city slicker needs to escape into the wilderness every so often and the views in Wyoming looked beautiful. The West still intrigues, excites and challenges America. Forget space, we’re still not done with that frontier!
Exchange of the Episode:
“That’s the best mash potatoes ever.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re not doing any of the work.” –The chefs and Sam.
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