Howdy pardners.  This here story's about two cowboys from Wyoming takin' the summer to mosey around the southern states, mostly Texas.  They've been teamed together for near on 10 years now, working together and drifting from job to job when the situation calls for it.  They live by the cowboy code and are contented with their way of life.   Hap, he's the outgoing one; he has a tendency to find trouble.  He's never looking for it, but it always seems to find him.  Then there's Laramie.  He's the quiet, withdrawn one.  He doesn’t share much of himself. See Laramie came from a broken home and it kinda broke him in the process.   One of the quirks about Hap, though, is that when he was 12 he met this purdy girl named Juanita and he's been sighing after her ever since.   Now the two cowboys are combing the southern states looking for Hap's Juanita, 18 years later, even though he only spent 10 minutes with her all those years ago.

One Step Over the Border has a very laid back feel to it, much like its cowboy characters.  Its subtle humor brings a smile to your face as Hap and Laramie drift from job to job, occasionally finding themselves in trouble without ever realizing it.  The book is a series of vignettes of the cowboy life, following these two drifters who spend ten years of their life as best friends and partners until, at the end, they both find women willing to take them on and decide maybe it's time to finally settle down. 

I enjoyed the camaraderie of the two men and their adventures were entertaining.  So if you like cowboys, if you like rodeos, if you like a man who can rope, or if you like "buddy" stories, then you'll like One Step Over the Border.

October 18, 2007