Where to even begin! I have racked up the frequent flyer miles in the past two weeks. I first boarded a plane to head to Tulsa and then onto the Atoka Trail Riders Rodeo. Hopping in my rental car, I headed to my host family house. I met Paula and we visited downtown Atoka and an Italian restaurant. Friday brought a day filled with sponsor and school visits. I visited each classroom at Atoka Elementary and had a great time interacting with the students! They really enjoyed learning about rodeo and all of the fun events! The next school visit was to the town of Lane. As you can guess, this is where Lane Frost lived. It was assembly style with kindergarten through 8th grade.
To drive me around and accompanying me through the day was Mrs. Alice Foran, sister of Reba McEntire. In fact, I met almost the whole McEntire family during my stay in Atoka. Reba is no stranger to the Atoka community and is a proud supporter of the Atoka Trail Riders Rodeo. One look at Alice when I met her and it was obvious they were family with the beautiful red hair! I arrived at the rodeo a few hours prior to find my horse, meet the announcer, stock contractor, and get ready to meet the crowd! Part of my speaking at the schools is to advertise to the students that if they come to the rodeo, to be sure to stop by to see me and I’ll give them an autograph. By doing this, I have learned that it’s proof the students really do pay attention because I signed several hundred autographs! The grand stands were filled and the rodeo kicked off with a fire routine involving the bucking stock. I carried Old Glory in and to this day, I still get chill bumps when presenting the colors. I loped around the arena on my grey horse and took in the crowd smiling and ready for the rodeo. A great rodeo was put on both nights and I am so blessed to have been a part of their rodeo tradition. Late Saturday night I packed my bags and then left around 1:30 in the morning to catch my flight in Tulsa. It has pretty much become a tradition of no sleep on Saturday nights because I usually have early travel plans. I made it back to Kentucky to catch a bigger plane headed across the world in less than 24 hours. I quickly repacked, grabbed my parents, and headed to the airport in Indiana. This is what I have been planning for ever since January, a once in a lifetime trip to the land down under in Australia. If you recall from my blog posts earlier in the year, this year is the first time that I have ever traveled commercial on airlines. So you can imagine that I had to make sure I had my ducks in a row for this international trip! Making sure I didn’t leave the house without my passport, American hats, Ariat jacket, and Painted Legend Apparel bags, I was ready to embark on this aussie adventure! We flew from Indiana (which is only about 30 minutes away) to DFW on the first leg of the trip. After a 5 hour layover and plenty of time to wander around Dallas airport, it was time to board our 17 hour Qantas flight to Sydney. One good thing about the night flying is sleeping is at least halfway normal. I knocked myself out with Benedryl and settled in with my two pillows and blanket. I slept well for only about 4 hours and spent the rest watching movies and tv shows. After touchdown in Sydney, it was a puzzle for both my parents and I to figure out how to go through customs. Although they had been out of the country before, it had been several years ago. Luckily, we met a friendly aussie couple on the flight who walked us through all the steps. First step was to go through the automated passport photo check. My parents and our guide couple all went in front of me so I was the last to pass through. I placed my passport in the appropriate slot and looked at the camera for it only to say that my photo did not match me. I was sent through a series of complicated lines to speak with an actual person who asked for a form that I had filled out on the flight. Unfortunately, that form was with my Dad who had already passed to the other side. Back I went through the crowd to fill out another form and then finally back to the guards. Meanwhile, my parents had no idea where I went and were actually quite worried. I made it to them and they were obviously glad to see me! We claimed our luggage and found our way to the domestic flight to the Gold Coast. We had about three hours in Sydney and thought that was plenty of time to make our connecting flight. When we arrived at our gate, we only had about 15 minutes to spare! Time flies when you are traveling from one end of a foreign airport to another! Our last flight brought us to the beautiful Gold Coast. While flying into the airport I had already noticed that the cars drove on the wrong side of the road and there were round-a-bouts. Save this information for a funny story that I will tell you later in this post. I walked out of the airport and was greeted by a group of lovely ladies, the Australian Rodeo Queen Quest contestants! They weren’t hard to spot with their beautiful matching outfits and cowboy hats! I met Bessie Smits, the current Miss Rodeo Queen of Australia for the first time after following her journey throughout her reign. Along with meeting the contestants, I spotted the lady behind it all, Sharon, who I had communicated with for the last 8 months on planning this trip. I was happy to have made it to the Gold Coast in Australia with my awesome parents by my side. The queens helped us collect our luggage and then piled into two separate cars. It was only natural to go to the “passenger” side of the car but instead I found the drivers seat. This was going to take some getting used too! We took a little drive to our hotel, got checked in and then loaded back up to start our busy schedule. First up was the Gold Coast River Cruise with the contestants. We boarded a double decker pontoon boat to see the wonderful scenery of the area. When you fly in somewhere and hurriedly get from point A to point B, you don’t actually get to see where you are. This cruise allowed us to view the area. Photos were taken with the girls and we all had a blast driving the boat and cruising the river. Dinner for the night took place at the tallest building on the Gold Coast called Skypoint. Piling into the elevator, we ascended 73 floors in 40 seconds or less (I forget what the actual time frame was). From this tall view, you could see anywhere on the Gold Coast. The view was spectacular and so was the atmosphere of the building. The next day we went to Movie World where you can find rides named after movies and the characters walking the streets. We took pictures with Batman, Superman, Marilyn Monroe, and so many others. A few of the brave girls and I decided we wanted to ride roller coasters. We rode a few and I decided that we don’t have roller coasters like the ones we ride in the US. Most went flying fast and upside down multiple times. I know that sounds normal, but trust me it was different! After our theme park adventure we rushed back to do a few media interviews and take pictures on the beach in Surfers Paradise. We quickly moved onto dinner at what they call a Football Club. Everyone said the food was amazing, but honestly, I was still feeling like I was on the rollercoaster so I didn’t eat much of it! Horsemanship day was next! All of the six contestants rode the same horse for their pattern. This is where I started judging. I enjoyed watching all the girls ride and display their horsemanship skills. There I met Australian rodeo legend Mr. Colin McTaggart, winner of many championships and part of a long line of rodeo history. By this point in my trip, I have figured out that aussie’s love good food. We didn’t miss a meal but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the food was. Everything was so fresh and you didn’t find hardly any processed food. The food had different names and can sometimes be very confusing. For example, if you ordered chips, you received fries. Fish and chips (fries) are a staple item in Australia. Not only was the food different, but the every day terms were. I loved hearing the aussie accent but did have trouble understanding a few of them, especially when they use slang. Words like g’day mate, no worries mate, mackas, brakky, roo, bull bar, and Boot were used quite frequently. During one car ride I taught a group of the girls a little bit of the American accent and they taught me aussie slang! We made several funny snap chat videos and laughed until we cried. The contestants all had personal interviews and it was my time to jump in on the judging in this category too. Later in the evening the coronation dinner was scheduled. Everyone dressed up and I wore the perpetual Miss Rodeo USA Barbara Ware dress. It seemed only fitting to proudly where the American flag colors! After a fun judging week, it was time to crown the new Miss Rodeo of Australia queen. I would like to extend congratulations to the winner and 2018 Miss Rodeo Queen of Australia, Rebekah! Everyone did a wonderful job and it was great getting to know all of the wonderful ladies! My time with the queen quest came to an end on Saturday. My parents and I were off to our next aussie adventure: the rental car. Remember earlier when I said the traffic drove on the wrong side of the road and there were round-a-bouts? Yes, now I had to navigate on the roads!! Upon getting in the “midsize” tiny crackerjack box, we quickly wondered how we would even fit all of our luggage in. I sat in the drivers seat on the right and Dad took out his phone for pictures of course. I put the car in gear and turned on the road very slowly. It wasn’t too much longer on the road when it was time to turn and I found the windshield wiperes instead of the turn signals. I probably hit the wipers 30 times before I figured out that the turn signal button wasn’t going to be on the left! It took some adjusting too, but we made it to the hotel. Now came the real challenge of getting 6 big suitcases in a car that didn’t have much of a trunk plus three people. It took a lot of organizing, but we made it work. We drove off to Tenterfield in New South Wales to Wangrah Wilderness Lodge. The director of the pageant, Sharon, owns the lodge and invited us to stay a few days with her. We were really excited to get out of the city and visit the “bush” as they call it. Our drive let us see the beauty of Australia and the agricultural side. There were large amounts of horses covering properties all over. We went through the Great Dividing Range Mountains and rolled down the windows to hear the birds sing. It was truly beautiful to hear and see. As we rolled through the mountains, the temperature dropped into the 50’s. Six hours later we arrived at our destination. Five miles down a dirt road we arrived at the gate of the Wrangah Wilderness Lodge located on 10,000 acres. We started a fire in our little house and settled in. The next day I met the rest of the family and Sharon’s husband, Carl. Carl had “morning coffee” with us and took us on what I call a safari adventure in the “yute”. We climbed a mountain up to 3,000ft. On the way up and down we spotted all sorts of wildlife. From wild deer (that are very different from what I have seen) to wild goats and sheep. And wait for it… KANGAROOS! Giant lizards could be found amongst the rocks. What an adventure we had in the bush! We awoke early the next day to watch the sunrise on a morning walk which took us through their cattle herd by the river. Everywhere we looked we spotted “roos” as the aussie’s call them. The lodge also had a rodeo arena and we walked up to it. We spent the day looking at the beautiful land and learning more about life in the bush. That night we all had family dinner with about 15 of Sharon’s family. I was so thrilled that she had prepared something that Americans like! We had steak, garlic bread, and salad for dinner! I thought we had already returned back to the U.S. with food that good! Late at night is when all the fun started. We loaded in the back of the yute to go spotlighting for roos! I’m sure that we saw well over 500 roos! It was so much fun driving through the bush and experiencing first-hand the wildlife. The last part of our trip was to make the long drive back to the Gold Coast to have dinner and a show at the Australian Outback Spectacular. This show showcased the outback of Australia and had trick riding, barrel racing, and told of the great Australian history. The food was good too! Dad and I were asked to participate in the show and of course we said yes! We raced lawn mowers around the arena and it’s funny that I can’t recall exactly who won….. either way we had a blast! For our last day in the Land Down Under we took a tour to a little island called Lady Elliott. This tour included a private flight in a Cessna Caravan. Dad and I enjoyed sitting up front and following along on the flight plan, speed, and altitude. When we arrived at the island, I was surprised that there was any room for a runway on it. It was very small but was the start of the Great Barrier Reef. We took a glass bottom boat tour to see the beautiful corral reef and the marine life. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the reef in fear that I would miss something cool! We hopped out of the boat to do some snorkeling in the ice cold water. I can say that this was seriously the best part. I was snorkeling within inches of beautiful fish and even massive green turtles! It was so majestic to float there and watch them in their natural habitat. From bright purple and green fish to zebra fish we viewed over thousands of different species of marine life along the Great Barrier Reef. Thursday was our departure day. We woke up super early to pack, return the rental car, and make it to the airport. At this point, as I am writing this blog, we have already taken one flight and have been on board our Qantas 17 hour flight for over an hour waiting to take off. It turns out that when the jet bridge was retracted from the plane, it did damage to a probe. The pilot came on the PA system and said that he “believes that we can fly without it”. No worries, mate. Overall, this Australian experience has been something that I will never forget. I can’t explain the feeling I have as I leave a country that was truly amazing. From the friendly atmosphere, the hilarious tour guides, Australian accent video sessions, to making memories with friends that I will never forget, it has all been amazing. I am forever grateful to have represented the IPRA all the way in the land down under in Australia. G’day mate!
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My endurance for driving sure has built up this year. I completed driving 11 hours straight to Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Earlier in the year, I would have said there is no way that I could stay awake that long! Now, it’s simply no big deal with coffee and good music! My mom was able to come with me to the annual Miss Rodeo USA Clinic. It was wonderful to have a traveling partner and even better that we were able to spend the weekend together.
I arrived on Thursday evening to help set up the room in which the clinic was held. My forte is certainly not decorating, so I let the pro’s handle that! We all formed an assembly line to put together the clinic binders for the participants and observers. This task was done in a few short hours with the help of everyone. On Thursday I also invited the participants to dinner if they arrived in time. We had a total of 4 clinic girls and 1 observer attend. It was a great dinner at Trails End BBQ where we all made new friends and chatted about the upcoming clinic. The clinic schedule started at 8 AM Friday morning with 20 participants and several observers! Ice breaker games were played and then we dove in to the material. We spent over 13 hours in the classroom but the girls learned so much! Saturday brought horsemanship day. Thanks to one of our great sponsors, 5 Star Quarter Horses for bringing a load of horses for the participants to ride! We greatly appreciate all that you do! Horsemanship was conducted by none other than the talented former Miss Rodeo USA, Trisha Shields! Trisha is amazing at what she does and helped each girl one on one with their horsemanship skills. During the horsemanship portion, Trisha let me sit on Foxy. Many of you may know who that is, but if you don’t, she is the horse that Trisha trained in a mustang competition. Foxy is truly a once in a lifetime horse and I can’t believe that she let me sit on her! Trisha’s parents were there and came over to me on Foxy. We were talking and all of a sudden, I notice Foxy doing something but didn’t know what. Next thing I knew, Foxy laid down! I figured it was time to just step right on off. Meanwhile, Sherry (Trisha’s mom) was saying, “Give me your phone!” She knew this was the perfect kodiak moment and didn’t want me to miss the documentation! Trisha has trained Foxy to lay down with a certain cue, although I didn’t even know what that was! After our fun on Foxy and at the horsemanship arena, it was time to head to lunch at the Chickasaw Cultural Center. Earlier in the year, I had the opportunity to stop by the cultural center to be a spectator and learn about the Indian culture. I had so much fun and loved meeting all the wonderful people there so I wanted the clinic group to come back. The plan worked out for the clinic group to eat Indian food for lunch and then take a tour of the beautiful facility. Thanks to Donnie, our pageant director for helping us get in on this awesome experience. We were able to watch a stomp dance, view the influential statues, play a game of stick ball, and learn all about the Indian culture. Our tour was a great break from the classroom that we all enjoyed. We continued on with our study material to end the day. Sunday was mock interview day where all the participants were able to do interview, impromptu, speech, modeling and receive critiques on them. I had to skip out early as I was booked for the Youth Finals Rodeo held at the 2017 Doxa Extreme Rodeo in Alex, Oklahoma. I arrived at the rodeo where I found that this was a big annual event and that there were 151 youth contestants entered for the 10,000 added Youth Finals Rodeo! My job was to be a part of the buckle presentations to the youth. I met Cord McCoy and he was definitely my entertainment for the day. The rodeo lasted for about 9 hours, but it was great getting to see the youth excel in each event! Monday night I was invited to the local Senior Citizens Center to support the center and band of Wynnewood. I met up with Allie Burgin, who I met earlier in the year with the Thunder in the Valley Committee. It was great to visit with Allie and his wife and to meet new faces. I also met the Mayor of Wynnewood. Tuesday I headed to one of the Miss Rodeo USA Sponsors, the Norton’s with Norton’s Jewelry in Pauls Valley. They invited me to lunch and we all had a wonderful time catching up. They shined my diamond ring that they sponsored me and we said see you later! My next stop was to Henryetta, Oklahoma. I took the couple hour drive on Thursday to meet up with Tammie, one of the founding partners in the Living Legends Rodeo. We visited a couple different schools in the area to hand out tickets and spent time with the students. I had a blast talking to the classes and visiting the special needs students. They are the sweetest and make you smile constantly! We also stopped by a few sponsors in the area including the dealership and a local veterinarian. It’s always a great time when I get to experience things from the veterinary industry. Dr. Collquett gave me a tour of his facilities and equine surgery suite. The highlight of the day was stopping at the Henryetta Chamber of Commerce. Upon arriving, I saw the charming outdoor patio setting that displayed much of the town’s cowboy history, I stopped for a photo and then headed on inside to find something that I had no idea was located inside. There it sat, the IFR Gate 2 with the legendary Tornado’s horn mount on top of it. After reading the proclamation and taking in all the other memorabilia, it was photo time again. This time, I had to get a picture touching Tornado’s horns! I remember at the pageant this past January, the contestants all took a visit to the Cowboy Hall of Fame where we toughed the bitter cold and walked to see where Tornado was buried. We all stood in awe for a brisk few minutes and then headed back inside. I never even thought about his horn mount being displayed in the cowboy historic town of Henryetta, Oklahoma. Saturday night brought the first performance at the Living Legends Rodeo Arena. At this time, Hurricane Harvey has been flooding Texas for a solid week or more. It was only fitting for the rodeo committee to decide to do a tribute to Texas. I carried the American flag on Willie the Wonder Horse from Hampton Rodeo Company first and then came back after the saddle bronc riding with a different flag. As Monty began to talk about the effects of Hurricane Harvey, I made my way to the alley way and entered in the arena where all eyes were on me as I walked in with the Texas flag. It was a moment like this that I could tell that every person in attendance was thinking of those in Texas. A high school rodeo family had been displaced due to the hurricane and was given tickets to the rodeo. It was great to see the community reaching out to help and recognize others in a time of need. Between both nights at the rodeo, I probably signed over 150 autographs. When I had visited the schools earlier in the week, I told the students to come see me at the rodeo. It turned out that the kids actually listened and they ALL came to see me! It was great to see so many exciting faces at the rodeo! I want to say a big thanks to Teresa at Southern Sass for keeping me outfitted in the latest fashion trends! I ran into her at the rodeo with her boutique! I finished up the rodeo and then it was time to drive 700 miles back to Kentucky! Stay tuned for my next blog to feature my travels to the land down under!! During my drive all across the United States, I pass through many towns that our wonderful sponsors are located in. Okmulgee, Oklahoma is the home of The Eye Center. I stopped by for a sponsor visit and a check up on my eyes in the beginning of the week. I met Dr. Ward and learned of his history in the equine industry. It was great getting to know the real people behind the sponsorship! He checked out my eyes in their state of the art facility, and found that I needed glasses for at night. I used to wear contacts/glasses for many years of my life, but I was thankful to have had Lasik eye surgery 3 years ago. Although that fixed 99% of the problem, night vision tends to be a struggle for those that have had the corrective surgery. So I joined the club and am back to wearing glasses!
My next stop was in Pawnee, Oklahoma! I have heard so many wonderful things about Pawnee and how their rodeo carries such great history with it. I arrived into Pawnee and started the day with check-in for the queen contestants. I met the lovely ladies and then we all moved to Camp Crossway, a church camp where we made our home for the week. When the sun went down, I headed to the kids rodeo. When I drove up, I was surprised by the amount of cars lining the arena and the large amount of people present. It was only Tuesday of rodeo week, but man, was the crowd ready! The kids rodeo was an awesome event that let kids ride sheep, calves, and steers. There were two rounds in each event and the amount of talent that the kids brought was top class! I helped hand out prize money and the buckles to the winners and watched them walk away with smiles on their faces! Wednesday brought the interview portion of the pageant along with sponsor visits around Pawnee. We loaded up and headed to Ranch Burger, a local restaurant and sponsor of the Pawnee Bill Memorial Rodeo. A few more visits around town for sponsors and then back to the rodeo grounds for the Ranch Rodeo. To many this may surprise you, but I have never seen a ranch rodeo and I for sure didn’t want to miss this one! Next up was the speech and style portion of the pageant in Teralton, Oklahoma. I had the opportunity to emcee the event for the contestants modeling, speech, and impromptu judging categories. I loved getting to see the girls beautiful outfits and stories behind them! The evening brought the first performance of the rodeo. We had a beautiful flag presentation and started off with queen laps by all the contestants and then visiting rodeo royalty. I led the grand entry with the American flag with well over 100 contestants behind me. The opening ceremony was beautiful with honoring veterans and the military. The first performance went great with all the standard events plus wild cow milking, the wild horse race, and the ring of fear. More sponsor visits were in the schedule for Friday and Mock Brothers Saddlery was on the list. When I first walked in, I saw the huge inventory of Ariat clothing and boots. I was impressed with all the merchandise that they carried and noticed how many of the things that I wear everyday were Ariat! This store happened to be one that my good friend, Dakota, takes care of! It didn’t take me long to see all the hard work that she puts into her customers. During my trip in Stillwater, I passed through Oklahoma State University’s campus. I lucked up and got a spur of the moment tour with one of the ag students there. I toured the popular spots on campus including The Union, Theta Pond, the nooks, and the prestigious water fountain in front of the library that is dyed orange for homecoming. The nook is a hangout/reading place outdoors that looks like a net and a cool place to be! During my walk around campus, I got to see the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Of course, this always interests me and I was able to take a tour! I met Dr. Burba, a sweet professor and equine surgeon. We shared common ground in that he also attended school in Kentucky! He took me to see the anesthesia induction room, exotic room, small animal ER, Large Animal treatment and surgery rooms and so much more! I met Dark Vader, a rare chicken that is black in color and has black bones! I also saw a 20 month old kangaroo that had orthopedic surgery! One of the doctors that was giving me a tour of the exotics also showed me a baby wallaby! Another part of my tour included the Large Animal facilities. I met a few of the permanent residents, including Daisy, a Jersey cow with a rumen fistula! This is something that I learned about in college and it was awesome that I actually got to see it! I could go on and on about all the awesome things that I saw at the teaching hospital, but just know that if you are ever in the area, you should definitely stop by and see the facilities! The weekend had rolled around and it was time for one of the top 5 IPRA rodeos to take place in Pawnee, Oklahoma. It was a three day performance with many of the top cowboys and cowgirls competing. I carried the American flag, did queen laps, and signed autographs for several kids. I also had a great time getting to visit with the queen contestants the entire time. There was quite a bit of rain on Saturday, but that didn’t stop the crowd from coming! The stands were packed all three nights and now I know why the Pawnee Bill Memorial Rodeo is one of the top 5 in the IPRA! I headed home from my three weeks of adventures in Oklahoma to my old Kentucky home. Fortunately, my route passed right through Sikeston, Missouri. Of course, that’s the home of throwed rolls at Lamberts! My family and a few friends flew into the local airport and we all had lunch together. It was a great day to see friends, eat good food, and then drive the rest of the way home. My next adventure was something that I thought would seem like forever to roll around, but it sure didn’t. It was time for the Miss Sunbelt Rodeo Queen Pageant! My mom and I headed to down to South Georgia to help decorate and do last minute things. We had a total of 15 girls competing for the titles on Saturday. It was a fun and very hot day (but who would expect anything else while in south Georgia!) At the end of the day, I can say that all the girls did a wonderful job and it was time to crown the new winners. Before we started the crowning, myself and the current queens wanted to present the pageant director, Cindy Wynn, with her gifts. Cindy was given a name tag from Red Bluff Buckles with the Sunbelt Ag Expo logo on it. She loved it and it turned out beautiful! I can’t thank Red Bluff enough for putting together this beautiful piece and being a wonderful sponsor of Miss Rodeo USA. Before I read the names of the winners, I also wanted to share to the family and friends in the room, how much it meant to me to represent Sunbelt for the few short months that I did. Last year, not only did I win a crown, buckle, sash, and other gifts, but I gained a Georgia family. I gained a supportive committee and friends that I was so happy to see this past weekend! It wasn’t goodbye, but see you later! “Now, what you all have been waiting for...” I had always wanted to say that and finally had my chance as I read the names of winners and crowned the lovely ladies. I wanted to say congratulations to all the winners and to everyone that competed. I consider every girl a winner because they all have worked hard and stayed focused! Here is where the story gets interesting. We didn’t finish up with the pageant till about 11pm. By the time I made it to the Wheeler’s house it was 12:30. I had about two hours of sleep and then left at 2:45 in the morning to beat the Eclipse traffic. The town where I am from is the spot where totality would be experienced the longest at 2 minutes and 40 ½ seconds. The influx of people was expected to be around 100,000 added to our town of 20,000. Hopkinsville, KY was the main tourist spot and of course, that’s where my route to home took me through. 8.21.17 a date to be remembered with the Total Solar Eclipse! You know me, I had to go to where all the action was predicted in Hopkinsville to view the eclipse. In fact, the neighboring towns had all advised business to close due to the high volumes of traffic expected. The stores were left with empty shelves where the bread, milk, and eggs reside. Camping essentials were placed up front and heavily stocked for all the tourists that might have forgotten something. I just wanted to make sure that I had cheese sticks in the fridge. My family volunteered to help with the air traffic crowd that was expected to arrive at the Hopkinsville airport. I was up bright and early to help my dad conduct a safety meeting for the 150+ reserved aircraft flying in that day. The craziness began when the planes started to flood in. I helped wherever I could either with parking airplanes, answering questions, and I even learned how to take fuel payments. Planes were parked on the taxiways in the grass and wherever they could fit. Some people even flew in the day before and camped underneath their wings in tents! The area began to look a lot like Oshkosh, home of the world’s largest air show! A few well known individuals flew into the airport including the Lieutenant Governor and the Kentucky Governor, Mr. Matt Bevin. I was able to meet the Governor and get a few photos. I also met people from Italy, Connecticut, New York, and many other states. Somehow I found a monkey to say hi too. I am not even kidding; someone flew in with a cute little monkey on a flight in a backpack! When it became time for the eclipse to start, the crowd gathered up and down the taxiways for the viewing party. When it became a total eclipse, the crowd went wild! Everybody was clapping, whistling, and snapping photos like no other! It had become an eerie feeling outside. The sky before and after the eclipse looked an odd color, the temperature had begun to drop, and the wind was calm. The street lights came on and we endured a period of darkness in awe of what was taking place in history. I was blessed to have witnessed this amazing event with my family in the little town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I arrived Wednesday night July 26th, to my host family at Double R Farms in Huntsville, Arkansas. I met the wonderful family and settled into my “home away from home.” Thursday morning I kicked off rodeo week with several sponsor visits and radio interviews. I toured every corner of Huntsville multiple times and then we ventured over to Springdale for a few sponsor visits. From car dealerships, banks, to feed stores, we stopped in to say our thanks to the sponsors!
During our sponsor visits, we made time to shop at Marble Gypsy, a western boutique. Of course, there were so many adorable things that I could add to my wardrobe there. It was so nice of the owner to sponsor me a beautiful wild rag! After our visit in the store, it was time for kid’s night at the rodeo grounds. The community had many booths set up for the kids, including inflatables, face painting, games, pony rides, and so much more. I had a blast with the kids as I found the bouncy horse that was going to be used during the rodeo. Kids climbed on and we took pictures and signed autographs. For this rodeo, the committee was raising money for ALS. During my time there, I learned of their previous rodeo director that had passed away due to ALS a few years ago. The committee had it in their heart to give to the ALS Foundation and they did so with a bouncy horse competition that took place during the rodeo. There were people nominated to ride and buckets set around at different businesses in Huntsville. The top 8 people with the most money collected were selected to race. By Thursday, at the conclusion of kid’s night, a total of $2,600 was raised for ALS!! Also, at kid’s night, I had the honor of meeting Steve, a Veteran who is living with ALS. Steve wasn’t able to talk, but could show some communication. He wanted a photo with us and the bouncy horse! That is just what we made happen! The crowd was amazing on Friday night and we kicked off with a beautiful flag presentation to honor the veterans. There is literally nothing like flying in the arena carrying the American Flag. It gives me chill bumps every time and is such an honor! Not to mention that I had the best horse, Willie the Wonder horse to carry me around the arena! Thanks Hampton Rodeo Company for bringing him! The competition was tough in every event, including the bouncy horse race. The riders got on their “horse” and were informed that there were no rules. You could push, shove, rope, or even use a hotshot on your competitors. Just kidding, they all played nice and just rolled in the dirt at least once per race! Saturday brought the annual rodeo parade in downtown Hunstville. I was privileged to lead the parade on Willie with the American Flag. I bet there were over 100 horses that participated in the parade. After that, I had some time to hangout with my host family. I went to visit their turkey houses and see the bluff nearby. The bluff was really cool and Danny told me of the cave that went underneath part of it. We then stopped by to see their turkey houses. They had just got birds in and were 21 days old when I got to see them. Saturday night performance was really good as well! They held the finals for the bouncy horse race for ALS and the finals for mutton busting. One thing that I thought was great about this rodeo was the fact that every kid that came through to ride a sheep for the mutton busting, had help from 3 different guys and were told how to ride correctly. I thought this small gesture was wonderful and will help start the youngsters off the right way. The winners were given buckles and left with a huge smile on their face. Sunday morning I left bright and early to do a photoshoot with Sherry Smith, our official Miss Rodeo USA Photographer. We met at a location in Springdale, Arkansas and started dragging everything out of my car so that we could see what all we had to work with. The street became my closet for a few hours. After we had all the fun we could stand, I headed back to my host family’s house to hangout for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up going to Beaver Lake to have fun on the dock, paddleboard, and cruise around on the boat. Turns out, it takes a lot of talent to balance on the paddleboard, but I sure had lots of fun! We cruised around on the beautiful lake and I enjoyed seeing the mountains that surround it. I watched brave souls jump off the bluff and people out enjoying the Sunday afternoon. I am very thankful to have met this wonderful family who I will always remember! Although we took a lot of pictures with Sherry, we still had more to go! Back to the photo grind we went! This time we went to the farm for photos! Let me tell you, you never know where you are going to end up when you have a photo shoot with Sherry! She works so hard to find the best place to shoot. That could be stranded on a tree trunk, standing in the creek, climbing in a tree, and so many other places! Not going to lie though, it is very hard to cross tree roots over a creek in heels! She helped me to my spot, abandoned me to take the photos, and I am glad she came back to help me out! I have to give a shout out to Bethani for letting me use Reuben for the photo shoot. The bay roan gelding has been in the MRUSA photos for a few years now and I think he is officially a part of the gang! I took a day trip to Amarillo, Texas to visit Bustamante Boots, a wonderful sponsor of Miss Rodeo USA. Vidal was glad that I stopped in and it was great to see his boot shop! I met the shop cat, a black cat that had to be wherever you stood! Vidal showed me that if he moved from one counter to the next, the cat was right behind! I looked at all of the beautiful boots displayed on the wall, along with my autograph sheet that I had sent in the mail! I was glad to see that it made it on the wall with a few more past MRUSA’s. We spent the rest of the time designing my first ever custom pair of boots! I cannot wait to see what he comes up with! I traveled 600 miles for a roundtrip, but it was totally worth it to see the beautiful views on the drive and see the craftsmanship of Bustamante Boots! Next stop was the Yukon FFA Rodeo in Oklahoma! It was great to see a few familiar rodeo faces, including the announcer, the contractor, and the judges. At this point in the year, I am halfway through and it is wonderful to see the people that I have gotten to work with before, hence the term “rodeo family”. I borrowed one of the judge’s horses to carry the flag for grand entry. Afterwards, I had a great time signing autographs, meeting kids, and taking photos. I ventured out into the arena to help with mutton bustin’ and then I hear Goobie, the clown, over the speaker yell to the crowd, “who would like to see Queenie here ride a sheep?” The crowd of course loved that idea, thank goodness the next kid comes rolling out of the bucking chute to claim his win! As you can tell, it has been a fun past two weeks! I have covered 1,600 miles in less than two weeks and many states. And the rodeo road trippin’ is still going! My schedule for the next two is going to be just as fun! |
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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