The past two weeks have been so much fun! I flew out to Ada, Oklahoma for the first week to the Ken Lance Memorial Rodeo. I arrived to the airport and was met with a poster that read “Welcome Miss Rodeo USA!” That was such a nice touch that warmed my heart! Thank you to Dayna and Kobi Brown for the sweet hospitality! We took a short road trip to Ada and then had a slumber party with the local queens and contestants for the pageant. There was pizza, pool time, and lots of great conversation with everybody. The next few days brought many sponsor visits, radio interviews, and new friends. Jocee Neal, Miss UPRA, joined me for the remaining of the week and we had a blast together! We hopped on a few Razr’s at an outdoor adventure sponsor for photos and high hopes to obtain the keys for a few minutes. That didn’t happen, but we sure had fun checking out all the cool toys that were offered. We also judged the Ken Lance Rodeo Royalty Pageant during our time in Ada. Rodeo nights were both successful with a good crowd despite the high temperatures. Friday night I helped with the coronation of the new queens. I enjoy crowning the new girls and seeing the excitement on their face! During the Friday night performance, the clown asked Jocee and I to help with his act. Of course, we said yes and volunteered Donnie, the Miss Rodeo USA Pageant director to participate too. The clown had asked me which act we thought he should do; our choices were cowboy Olympics or dancing. I said cowboy Olympics because I can’t dance at all! All three “contestants” entered the arena and Turtle (the clown) went over what we are supposed to do. It started by one person sitting in the chair, running to the jumprope and jumping that 10 times, moving on to the hula hoop to spin 10 times, and then off to the dizzy bat and kick a ball. I was thankful it wasn’t much more than that! Jocee went first and had difficult with the jumprope, but made it through the course. I was up next and had trouble with the jumprope too. Turns out jump roping in deep dirt is more difficult than it looks! Not to mention that all I could think was how much dirt I was slinging on my white hat! Donnie went last and the clown made him rush through the pattern to beat us! Saturday Jocee and I headed to the Seth Wadley Chevy dealership of Ada for four hours of handing out free tickets. This dealership loved having us there and we had fun driving the golfcart, signing autographs, and taking photos. I think the most fun that we had was making boomerang videos! Both of us had never figured out how to do that until Saturday, and then we just couldn’t stop! We figured out how to both pop out of the truck sunroof with our big hats on in 4 seconds flat! I don’t think all the fun that we had at this sponsor visit will ever be topped! Donnie’s birthday was coming up soon on Sunday so I decided that we should celebrate early. I got a cupcake cake and 47 candles and surprised him at the rodeo with it! We all shared a cupcake and then gave many away before they melted! It was time for me to head back to Kentucky after a wonderful time in Ada. I had two hours of sleep Saturday night before heading back to Oklahoma City airport. I made it back to my hometown around 2pm and then Mom, Dad, and I jumped in our plane and flew to Cloverdale, Indiana to see my Sunbelt director, Cindy Wynn and friends! They were at the Ranch Horse show and it was awesome to see my “peach tribe” and watch Cindy compete! We had a smooth flight back to the house and I logged some serious flying time that day! During the week I attended the annual Kiwanis meeting in my hometown. I was asked by a dear family friend of mine to be their speaker for the Friday meeting. It was wonderful to attend a community organization meeting that was in my hometown! I really enjoyed seeing a few familiar faces and sharing my platform and rodeo queen story. What I really liked to share to my community is how wonderful Kiwanis (and other organizations alike) benefits the community. One thing that I can say that all my rodeos have in common, is most are put on by community organizations such as Kiwanis, Rotary Clubs, Exchange Clubs, etc. The rodeos are put on by the volunteers of the organizations who may or may not know anything at all about rodeo. The point is, the community as a whole benefits others either through sending proceeds to children’s hospitals, burn units, buying children bicycles or Christmas gifts, and so much more. I love seeing the impact a rodeo can have on all the communities that I get the privilege of visiting! My second rodeo that I attended was at the Wranglers campground in Golden Pond this past weekend. It was nice to be able to load up my horses and head to the rodeo to trail ride and camp at the rodeo grounds. At that rodeo I saw many of my college rodeo friends, including my rodeo coach, JD. It was great to catch up with everybody and catch some saddle time too. The weather was super warm and I actually sweated off my eyelashes, believe it or not! I didn’t know that was possible, but now I do! The next few weeks are going to be busy, but who would expect anything else!
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Miss Rodeo USAFollow the adventures of Miss Rodeo USA 2017 Brittany Howard as she travels the country representing the IPRA. Check back often for updates and new blogs! Archives
January 2018
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