San Antonio and NRA Finals

In the top pictures are Miss Rodeo Texas, Joanna Blackwell, Margarie Murphy, Texas National Director, and Julie my hostess.

Boy I am glad to be home! I was gone for 8 days but it felt like a month! I have just returned from Billings where I flew down to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and the Northern Rodeo Association Finals in Billings. I am beginning to get this traveling and packing thing down. I drove to Billings on the 11th to fly out to Texas. I was hoping it would be really nice weather but it turned out to be only about 40 or 50 degrees. I thought it wasn’t too bad but those poor Texans are so used to the warm weather they were out in their ski masks and beanie caps! I was fortunate enough to have a hostess to stay with. Julie picked me up from the airport that night; I ended up getting to know her very well and we had a lot of fun together. The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo takes pride on being voted two years in a row the Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year and is the first regular-season rodeo to offer $1 million in prize money! Needless to say, I was in the big time! I got to see my favorite cowboy, Trevor Brazile up close and in action! Once again Montana was very well represented, Rod Lyman made a run in the bull dogging, Shaun Stroh, Shelly Anzick and Will Stovall also made impressions in Texas. I can’t go without mentioning the stock. A spectator would hear Hadley Barrett announce the state of Montana countless times during the rough stock events because both Sankey and Kesler rodeo brought their best stock to town. After each rodeo performance was a concert and I was there during what I thought were the best three concerts! I got to see Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, and Neal McCoy. I definitely can not choose a favorite from those three! Miss Rodeo Texas, Joanna Blackwell and I spoke at daily school tour events, visited sponsors and shopped at the huge trade show and signed hundreds of autographs after each rodeo. Joanna is a real class act and after getting to know her throughout the week I know I have gained a new friend!

The rodeo and stock show were only a fraction of my experience in San Antonio. Since I was staying with Julie she knew all the really cool places to eat and all the sight seeing experiences I needed to see. On this trip there were a lot of firsts including trying caviar for the first time and experiencing valet parking. I don’t think I have ever been to a zoo before either and San Antonio’s zoo is ranked 3rd best in the nation! You can bet I was going to see that zoo! San Antonio’s leading industry is their tourism so I had plenty to see. I spent some time on the beautiful Riverwalk, did some local shopping, and ate at the Tower of America’s restaurant. The Tower of America’s was built in 1968 during the World’s Fair. It is a close resemblance to the Space Needle in Seattle and when you are eating in the restaurant the floor rotates around so you can see every angle of San Antonio as it stretches for miles in each direction. If you’re afraid of heights this is a restaurant you probably want to skip when you’re in San Antone. I had such a blast and once again met a ton of people all wanting to connect with Miss Rodeo Montana in some way.

A slight damper in my trip was missing my plane because of a mix up with the gate numbers so once I finally got back to Billings of course my luggage was no where to be found. Well, thankfully it came in and it was all undamaged so I survived more rough traveling accommodations.

I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I had the NRA finals right there in Billings for the weekend. I was so excited to be at a Montana rodeo and I was able to carry flags with Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, Lorissa Harris for the first time since we were crowned together in Great Falls. I also had the chance to meet Jessica the Ravalli County Queen. She traveled 10 hours to carry flags at the NRA!! The two girls and I had a blast. Lorissa and I had a small radio spot on Friday and we all signed autographs after the rodeo with the bullfighters and announcers. Many of our family and friends traveled to Billings just to see us in the rodeo! It was a weekend of great entertainment and fast action rodeo. For all of our work the committee was generous enough to give us girls free NRA finals vests!

I have a nice break before I enter a pretty busy month of March. I will be talking on 100.7 XL Country here in Bozeman on Wednesday about my travels. Until next time Montana, Happy Trails!

Rapid City Stock Show and Rodeo

Well it has been a most interesting and busy week for Miss Rodeo Montana. After a quick day to recuperate after the weekend in Billings and Lewistown I was off to get my Double H custom hat from Jimmy Harrison in Darby. Just so you all know, this small town Montanan girl relies heavily on mapquest.com and not to mention the fact I am just not the best with directions. In order to get to Darby the quickest (in miles) was to go through tiny little western Montana towns like Wisdom according to the all knowing mapquest. I soon found out this is not the best way to go as it took me well over four hours to arrive at my final destination. For a day trip it was quite a drive! But I made it safely and I got my custom hat! It is bone colored with black bound edging. On top of that, Jimmy whip stitched over 500 black Swavorski crystals into the bound edging. He had a silversmith put two custom cut outs on each side: the state of Montana with my initials and a crown with MRM 2007. This is a one-of-a-kind hat you won’t find anywhere! While in Darby, I visited the elementary school and showed a class of third graders my neat hat; they were all very impressed. After finishing up in Darby I traveled up the highway 60 miles to meet with Laura Bakker and Terri Boyer in Missoula; we put our heads together to come up with some good ideas for sponsors and fundraisers. I retreated back to Bozeman that night and it ended up being a much easier drive from Missoula. After the trip through Wisdom I started a list of highways in Montana NOT to take in the winter and if anyone is interested Highway 43 is included in that list, although I would love to take it sometime in the summer!
Next I was off to the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo in Rapid City, SD. Once again I had traveling problems. I planned on taking I-90 the entire way and getting to Rapid with several hours to spare before the first rodeo performance since the drive was only going to be about seven hours. Silly me, I got to Billings where I was to turn south to Wyoming and wouldn’t you know the roads were all closed! After a lot of time on the cell phone with people checking road maps and weather conditions I found out I had no choice but to go the long way. When I say long, I am not exaggerating. I went all the way to Belfield, ND and south from there resulting in a 12 and a half hour drive rather than the “quick” seven hours that I had planned. Of course I didn’t make it to the rodeo in time and thankfully the folks in charge in Rapid City understood completely. I arrived late at night and met Miss Rodeo Oregon and Miss Rodeo Idaho who I roomed with all weekend. We were up bright and early the next morning for the Old Timer’s Breakfast. This was a modest event to attend. I talked to many South Dakota natives ranging from old cowboys, farmers and ranchers or just members of the community. They loved to be among the royalty as about eight state queens attended the breakfast. There was cowboy poetry, country music, and achievement awards presented. What an interesting event to have! Our next stop was Landstrom’s Black Hills Gold. We were taken through the shop where all of the jewelry is made. A person finds a new appreciation for Black Hills Gold after seeing the process each piece goes through to be made. Off to the rodeo! Two performances every day ensured us queens for a lot of good rodeo entertainment and that’s what we saw. Montana was very well represented during each performance. Curt LaDuke, Donna Leibrand, T.K. Leibrand, Colt Gorrell, and Andy Bolich were just some of the Montanan’s who made the Rapid City Stock Show and rodeo from Montana. One of the highlights to the weekend was getting to meet some of the other state queens for the first time. Idaho, Oregon, North and South Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Nevada were all very welcoming to me being the “new queen.” Saturday we helped with the auction that sold off old western items for the scholarship fund. I was proud to be from Montana as the historical items that were made here in Montana sold the highest every time! I returned to Bozeman “the short way” this time and it only took me eight hours. Man was I glad to be home! As I survived my first out of state trip I look back and I just never cease to be amazed of the wonderful state I stem from. Everyone I came in contact could relate to someone or something in Montana and was eager to tell me their story. I am so honored to represent this great state and most of all, the people in it; that’s the key ingredient in an honorable state: the people.
I have a week to work on sponsors and other miscellaneous things until I fly off to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. I am hoping it will be warmer there and my travels go a bit smoother since I am flying and not driving! Until next week, best wishes Montana!