Over the years, I have always heard that July is our crazy month. Boy those girls were not joking! I think I was home maybe a total of seven days the whole month! I spent fourth of July weekend at home running errands for my fundraiser. I planned my fundraiser for August 6th which sounded like a good idea until I realized that I would not be home the whole month prior. My first big summer trip was to the Calgary Stampede. I can certainly tell you those Canadians know how to put on a rodeo! I arrived on a thursday and met up with Tricia Crump Miss Rodeo Idaho and Kellsie Purdy Miss Rodeo Colorado. We waited for what felt like hours for our shuttle to arrive then finally headed to check in to our hotel. We had the day off so we decided to walk around, grab some dinner and see what the town was like. The next morning was the Calgary Stampede Parade. Kellsie and I watched from the side lines as our fellow queens rode in the parade. At first we were disappointed that we didn't enter until we realized that we would be able to see Prince William and his new bride Kate Middleton. We were only a few hundred feet from them as they watched the parade!! The rest of our time was spent watching the rodeo and taking part in community events. After the rodeo there was a Cirque du soleil style show. It was absolutely amazing! In Calgary I learned how to square dance, was able to watch an amazing rodeo as well as spent time with some wonderful people. A special treat was the day we flew out Miss Rodeo Canada, Kezia Morrison and her mom took us to Spruce Meadows to watch the North American Tournament. I come from an english background so it was really awesome to be a part of that.
I flew home for one day to wish my mom happy birthday then packed my bags for an eight day trip to Colorado Springs. I met up with nearly all of the state queens that week and it was pretty neat to be able to spend the week together. I was so happy to be roomed with Paige/minnesota, Amanda/washington, and Ty/Tennessee. We had never met Ty but were so happy that she was in our room. She is an awesome girl! Our first night there we had the parade in which we rode in a wagon. It was great up until the weather changed and it poured down rain! We were soaked all the way through. The rest of the week was spent doing events in the community as well as helping with the rodeo each night. I was pretty happy to say that my mutton buster won nearly every night! The kids got to pick which queen they wanted and I was chosen by some really great kids. They sure do raise them tough in Colorado! Thank you so much to Becky, her wonderful daughter, Tom and the whole Pikes Peak Committee for having us. We loved our time at your rodeo!
Sunday kicked off our Miss Rodeo America Seminar. The next four days were spent taking notes, practicing each phase of a pageant, and getting some inside knowledge from people I consider the best in the business. I have to say that I truly learned a lot that week and invite any girls who are serious about going far in this industry to attend the clinic next year. Thank you so much to all of the instructors as well as the Miss Rodeo America Board for putting on such a wonderful clinic.
I flew home late wednesday night to attend my home town rodeo, the California Rodeo Salinas. I went to watch horsemanship Thursday morning and was very pleased to see the level of competition inside the arena. That night started the rodeo. Considering this was the only few days that I would be home I spent my time confirming last minute details for my fundraiser. Each night I rode in the grand entry, did the YMCA and signed autographs for my sponsors. Congratulations to Miss Kendra Brennan on her success as Miss California Rodeo Salinas. I know you will have an amazing year! It was a few short days at home but I got nearly everything accomplished and hit the road again!
I drove up to Chowchilla to Jodi Branco's ranch where I was asked to speak on what it takes to be a rodeo queen. There were kids attending her rodeo camp from ages 2 and up. They were thrilled to have me there and I gave them all of the details of my job as well as signed pictures for them. They had been riding and learning all about the different events so it was pretty special to be a part of their camp.
That thursday I left for the Daddy of 'em All, Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo! I met Paige in the airport and waited 3 hours to catch our shuttle from Denver to Cheyenne! Once we got there we were greeted by Dick our wonderful driver who took us to the concert. The next morning we got up early to be down at the famous pancake breakfast. We were able to help flip pancakes and some of us even got to be the catchers! We fed over 13,000 people that day. It was certainly an amazing event to be a part of. That day we had multiple autograph signings before the rodeo. Once at the rodeo we were able to eat in the VIP tent then we had to get on our horses for the "fly bys." I had always thought it was funny to call a queen run a fly by but now I completely understand the term. The order that you do your run in the order in which you get your application into Miss Arlene Kensinger. I was lucky number 1 so I was on Simon who I was told was the fastest horse in the group. As most of you know or have seen, I'm not too keen on speed. So I was pretty anxious to see what this horse would do. Also being lucky number 1 I was able to blaze the trail in-between the cowboys who line up across the track. Needless to say those cowboys don't want to move... Well when the gentleman gave the signal I turned my horse and kicked him forward. He lunged into a dead run. I'm pretty sure I was terrified the whole way down! All I could think was I cannot be the girl who t-bones a cowboy! Luckily they must have seen the look on my face because there was a good gap once I got down there. We were running so fast that a tear had started running down my cheek. After the first run they became a lot more fun! I think I learned to cowgirl up that weekend and I am so happy that I was on Simon. Not only was he wonderful in the parade but he definitely had the best brakes in the group! Thank you so much to Harry Vold and his crew for allowing us to use their amazing black horses. That was certainly a once in a lifetime experience! I was able to see some pretty neat concerts while I was there, Darius Rucker, Zac Brown Band and Toby Keith were all fabulous! Thank you so my awesome host family the Spencer's, Arlene Kensinger, Ester Moore and the entire Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo Committee. I absolutely loved my time there!
Impressive blog! -Arron
Posted by: rc helicopter | December 21, 2011 at 04:34 AM