Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride?: A Novel

A down-and-out rodeo champion follows a mysterious woman on the run with half a million dollars back to the bright lights of Las Vegas in the sequel to Hey, Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?
 
“Baxter Black is Mark Twain served up with a little Groucho Marx.”—The Weekly Standard

Two years after he won the average at the Las Vegas National Finals Rodeo by riding Kamikaze, the world’s most unridable bull, Lick is down on his luck, working on a ranch in the remote Nevada desert with Al Bean, an ornery old cowboy. Then into their lives crashes Teddie Arizona—T.A.—a woman of mystery who crawls out of the wreckage of her plane with a $500,000 secret.

When T.A.’s “husband,” F. Rank Pantaker, dispatches his henchmen to retrieve the money—and the girl—Lick and Al find themselves trying to outrun the bad guys and protect a damsel in distress. Is T.A. out to cheat her cheatin’ husband, or is she really just trying to stop an illegal scheme cooked up by F. Rank and the infamous Ponce de Crayon, Vegas’s most glamorous tiger tamer? Is she playing Lick—or is it love?

Will Al Bean’s cockeyed schemes, an able assist from Cody, Lick’s cowboy sidekick, a brigade of old-time rodeo reunioneers, and twenty miles of duct tape be enough to stop F. Rank’s nefarious schemes, reform a career party girl, and change the hearts and minds of ten of the world’s most thrill-seeking billionaires? Can Cody keep Lick from climbing onto raging bull Kamikaze’s back one more time? Can true love triumph over shoot-outs at the not-so-okay corral and close encounters with white tigers? 

With its colorful cast of characters, rip-roaring humor, and inventive language, this caper will have you riding high long after it gallops to a thunderously satisfying conclusion.

Baxter Black was one of the bestselling poets in American history. In the tradition of humorists like Robert Service, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, he examined his corner of Americana and sheds light on the whys and the why-nots of humanity. He was a frequent NPR commentator whose syndicated column, “On the Edge of Common Sense,” appeared in more than a hundred newspapers. He was the author of Hey, Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?; Cactus Tracks & Cowboy Philosophy; Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet; Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride?; and numerous volumes of poetry. He lived in Arizona among the catclaw and Gila monsters. Baxter Black died in 2022.