SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Suburban Cowboys Saddle Up, Move Out

With a going-away tune from a singing cowboy and blessings from the Mission San Juan ringing in their ears, 200 horsemen rode through the downtown streets of San Juan Capistrano and out into the wilderness on Friday.

A celebration of South County’s original Spanish settlers and massive exercise in male bonding, the 32nd annual Viaje de Portola will make a 30-mile circle over about three days.

“It’s a great tradition, but it’s a lot of fun too,” said Joey Tafoya, a second-generation Portola rider. “We get together with friends in a way you don’t normally see them in the real world. It’s an escape.”

These are the bankers, civic leaders, developers, rodeo cowboys, ranch hands and assorted local characters of the community, all invited friends of the Rancho Mission Viejo, a 40,000-acre cattle ranch east of San Juan Capistrano. No women or members of the general public are allowed.

“Just a bunch of us getting out and having a good time, that’s all,” said Rancho Mission Viejo manager Gilbert Aguirre.

There are just enough real cowboys along to keep the greenhorns out of trouble.

“There’s no valet parking for your horse out there,” said cowboy humorist Baxter Black. “This is as close to roughing it as most of us ever get.”

In the three days of trail-riding and campfires, tall tales flow as freely as the liquid spirits. Ride veterans say that so far, everyone has made it back in one piece, more or less.

This year, the group spent $10,000 on a statue of a riderless horse, “The Empty Saddle,” a tribute to Portola riders who have died. It will be erected in the Mission San Juan courtyard that was renovated by Viaje de Portola organizers in recent years.