The heat from the Nevada sun radiates through your body and you find the warmth invigorating. Your horse walks through the sagebrush kicking up dust and your nostrils fill with the smell of sage, the smells of Nevada. Sounds fill your ears, the creaking of your saddle, the hum of the cattle and the horses and the occasional "Haw" yelled out to keep a steer in line. You feel as is you are part of some surreal scene, some role in a movie, but this is no movie, no fantasy but it sure is a dream!

Your dream of being a cowboy is fulfilled at the annual Reno Rodeo Cattle Drive in Northern Nevada. (After all, who as a kid dreamed of being a CEO?)

You'll spend five days horseback, learning the ways of the old West cattle drovers, living with new friends and old. And there's purpose. You'll help drive 300 head of steer 100 miles to Reno, right into the rodeo grounds, for the annual Reno Rodeo competition.

You'll feast on nightly gourmet camp cuisine, enjoy campfire entertainment and sleep out under the big Nevada sky, finally dozing off while watching a shooting star blaze across the skyline. You'll sleep deep and sound, like you did as a child and awaken to the smell of coffee, bacon and biscuits being prepared for your breakfast, while the sunrise greets the camp.

After you pack up your gear, you'll pull on your boots, tie your wild rag about your neck and get ready to ride. Your team will test you and you'll take it as a personal challenge to help your team keep the herd inline. You'll learn the definition of teamwork, all from the back of a horse.

Most importantly, you'll step back in time to experience the lore, the history and the grit of the real West. You'll hear stories about the way life was and learn about the buckaroo life today. This isn't the cowboy stories from the comics, it's the real stories of a fading way of life, brought to you by real cowboys and cowgirls who volunteer their time, and the "Wildest, Richest Rodeo In the West," the Reno Rodeo.

2010 Cattle Drive