More Japan...

I continued on Thursday with multiple media interviews and other appearances. I met the rest of the Montana delegation before my day started. There were about 10 of them including Lt. Govenor John Bohlinger and state Senator Greg Barkas. I was very relieved to see some fellow Montanans on the trip! After brief introductions, Myuki and I left for the International Center that was host to the Montana Club. The Montana Club is basically a bunch of Japanese that work for the trade office and this year we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the sister state relationship between Montana and Kumamoto City. I was pretty excited when I arrived because I found more people spoke English! I listened to a Japanese rendition of the Montana state song, watched Japanese line dancers and I even got to take part in the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Myuki and I had some extra time so she took me to a traditional Japanese craft store. I saw a lot of really unique things so I made sure I brought some back home with me for gifts. After a little shopping, I attended a briefing on Montana-Japan trade. It was an incredible feeling being involved in such an important meeting about beef trade in Montana and the US. I couldn’t believe I was taking part in something like that! In September of 2001, the first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed in Japan. The following month, the entire nation of Japan implemented 100-percent blanket testing on all of its cattle slaughtered for beef. Naturally, this halted the export from the US to Japan. Now Japan’s beef consumption has not only been cut but the majority of the beef they consume is from Australia. If you haven’t tasted the difference in beef between different countries, you should. You would be surprised the difference and realize just how lucky we are to have delicious US beef! The agriculture on Kyushu Island (the island of Kumamoto) is extensive—ranking number one in all of Japan’s prefectures (equivalent to state government) in the production of many fruits and vegetables, as well and rice. Most of the rice harvest was completed just prior to our trip. However, we were able to see harvested fields and the making of rice straw bales. The fruit tasted amazing! After dinner one night they brought in a platter of fruit for us to eat. Before I realized it I had eaten almost an entire cantaloupe. When someone pointed out how much I had eaten Mako noted that one cantelope cost 4,000 yen, that is $40!!!

By Thursday afternoon after the meeting I was beginning to feel sick again. The combination of all the new things I was experiencing started to get to my delicate stomach. I had more interviews that afternoon so I barred my teeth and got through them. It was my first experience going to a TV station in Japan. It was not what I had expected at all. Up to that point I noticed everything in Japan was colors of grey and black. That changes when you get to a TV station I learned. The walls and floors are all brightly painted and the TV anchors often where costume-like outfits. This particular TV crew was very interested in my outfit. During the live taping I looked up at the monitor at one point and noticed they were filming my boots! They had a map of the US and I pointed to where Montana was and was able to say a few words in Japanese. The television interviews would prove to get even more interesting as the week went on.
That night I missed a small social engagement with the rest of the Montana group because I wasn’t feeling well. I drank Sprite to settle my stomach and a little vanilla ice cream made me feel slightly better to have something familiar. At this point in the week I was really struggling because it was nearly impossible to find relief, someone or something that I could relate with. The next morning I experienced the relief I was hoping for. I was joined by the rest of the Montana delegation who could speak English, felt the same about the food we were eating, and they were all just as excited to be in a different country!

Japan Continued...

I awoke on Wednesday morning feeling like myself again. The extra day to adjust to everything really helped. It was a good thing because my schedule started getting pretty intense with interviews and other visits around Kumamoto City. My very fist thing Wednesday was a visit at one of the local High Schools. I would have 30 minutes to present which ended up being 15 minutes because of the translation. I had prepared a 15 minute speech before I left Bozeman to send on to my interpreter, Myuki. The speech was a very simple overview of rodeo, how it was started and what is involved in a rodeo. Most Japanese have never seen a horse much less seen a rodeo so to remain simple was key. I arrived at the school and the first thing I was not prepared for was to take off my boots! Good thing I am always very particular about making sure my socks match with no holes! As soon as I entered the room where the 100+ students were waiting I was greeted with cameras, video cameras, and newspaper reporters. I felt like the President!

My speech went well although by the middle of it the principal stopped me because he and the rest of the class just wanted to look at the pictures I had brought. I was relieved because giving a 15 minute speech sounded pretty boring, even to me. The students loved the pictures of me riding in rodeos, and of the different events of rodeo. At the end of my presentation they opened the room to questions. As a culture, the Japanese are pretty shy so no one really wanted to ask questions. I can say that Japanese High School boys respond the same to a pretty girl as American High School boys, I had a few requests for boyfriends that morning! The class presented a huge bouquet of beautiful Japanese flowers for me. This was just one gesture that showed just how gracious they were for having me in their school.

Later that day I had 2 newspaper interviews and one radio interview. The interviews are conducted in much the same way as in the US but of course I had a translator with me at all times! The most frequent question I got asked was what do I think of Japan. My response was always, everything is so much smaller here! During my interviews I always tried to learn a new word or phrase in Japanese which they always really liked. The one newspaper article showed up the next day on the front page of the newspaper I got at my hotel! Although, I didn’t realize it was the front page because they fold their papers backwards, so instead of opening the newspaper to the left you open it to the right.

Wednesday I also got to visit Kumamoto castle. It is this enormous castle right in the center of Kumamoto City where a Japanese Lord used to live. Unfortunately, because of time, I didn’t get to have a real tour of the castle so I didn’t completely understand the history but it was pretty cool to visit anyway. I also found a Starbuck’s coffee, I was very excited to see something familiar to me. We ate at a Japanese style Chinese restaurant which isn’t quite the same as American Chinese food but it had fried rice and shrimp so I didn’t starve during that meal!

Thursday was another busy day but it didn’t start until later in the morning so I could catch up on some needed sleep. Although I was getting used to the language barrier and not being able to communicate, it was still hard sometimes. For instance, I was in the elevator going to the lobby to meet my translator and there was a nice Japanese lady in there with me. She was instantly distracted by my Miss Rodeo Montana outfit and wanted to talk to me and of course she didn’t speak English. She was talking 90 miles a minute in Japanese and gesturing, I really had no idea what she was saying so I just smiled. I finally figured out that she wanted a picture with me and we met her husband in the lobby. We took 6 or 7 pictures all in different locations in the hotel with them talking Japanese the whole way like I could understand every word. I have no explanation as to why we had to keep moving other than they wanted a different background for each picture. You can just imagine me with a smile plastered on my face being tugged around the hotel lobby by a Japanese couple so excited to meet Miss Rodeo Montana. After that, I told my translator maybe she should walk me all the way to my door!

Japan

My trip began on October 14th where I was scheduled to fly out of Bozeman to Seattle and into Tokyo. I was a nervous wreck for my first international flight. Did I have enough snacks? Did I have enough entertainment? Did I forget anything? Those were just a few of the thousands of thoughts that ran through my head as I checked into the airport. For a queen to be gone 10 days would require a lot of luggage! I had 2 very large, heavy bags, my hat can, purse and a medium sized bag. Looking back on that I wish I had packed a bit differently because we would be changing airports and hotels many, many times; packing all those bags around got old, fast. Anyway, as I checked in the counter at the Bozeman airport they immediately told me there were no planes landing or going out of Seattle. I thought it was going to be the beginning of a very long trip to Japan. It turned out the cause was fog which burned off within 20 minutes and our plane left without arriving too late. I made my connection and I was on my way to Tokyo!

The flight to Tokyo was about 9 hours and wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. I entertained myself by reading, playing games and watching movies. Before I knew it we were in Tokyo. I met up with Marty Earnheart from the MT Dept. of Ag. She had just returned from another beef promotion trip in Russia. Marty and I spent the night in Tokyo and transferred airports to fly into Kumamoto City in the morning. There is a 15 hour difference from Montana to Japan. So Monday morning in Japan was Sunday night in Montana. The jet lag hit me as soon as I arrived in Japan. I wasn’t able to sleep so the mornings came pretty early. After breakfast Marty and I were on a plane to Kumamoto City where we met up with Mako. Mako is a Japanese lady that works for the Montana Dept of Commerce. She is the coolest lady!

I didn’t have to be in Japan long before I noticed the cultural difference. You must bow as a courtesy when you greet someone. The Japanese are very gracious people so there is generally quite a bit of bowing! I kept noticing things about the Japanese that seemed so strange to me but was very normal to them. Things like, the colors they wear are usually limited to greys and blacks, everything is smaller, people drive on the "wrong" side of the road, clocks on the walls and trash cans on the sidewalk are few and far between. I had to learn quickly to look right first before crossing the street or you will get flattened! The language barrier was more difficult to deal with than I imagined it would be. Not only because I can’t understand the spoken word but I can’t even sound out the written word. The Japanese characters used to spell are impossible to understand. As I walked down the sidewalk I would not know a bank from a restaurant. These are all things I learned to adapt to quickly. I soon realized I just had to be patient and my translator would tell me if she thought it was important otherwise, I asked questions when I saw something really outrageous!

Marty and I spent Tuesday with Mako and trying to get past our jet lag. I have never seen the ocean before and this was something the Japanese thought was pretty strange about me mainly because regardless of where you are in Japan it was 45 minutes at the most to the ocean. Mako was very excited to take us to the ocean where went for a hike in a national park that overlooked a city called Amaksa with a beautiful shoreline view. The ocean was everything I expected it to be!

By this time in my trip, Tuesday evening, I started getting pretty hungry; because the food was so different I hadn’t eaten a lot. The first thing they asked me when I got to Japan was “Are you a picky eater?” I refused to think I was but after my trip to Japan I can easily embrace the term! I don’t like a lot of fish and I don’t like a lot of pork; beef is not a common dish! The combination of the jet lag, which makes you feel like you have the flu, the lack of food, and just the adjustment of a new country resulted in me getting kind of sick, and it wouldn't be the last time during my trip that I didn't feel well. I was able to eat some of the snacks I brought with me and went to bed. In the morning I felt much better although I was still pretty tired. I had first wondered why Marty and I arrived a day earlier than the rest of the Montana delegation and I was informed that it is really nice to have that extra day to adjust to everything. Since I had such an intense schedule, I am really glad that it was scheduled that way! I will continue my trip, be sure to check back later!

MRM Update

First off, I apologize for not keeping you all up-to-date with my latest travels. It seems like things have been crazy busy since I have returned from Japan. I am currently preparing for my send-off party tour. This past weekend was the send-off to Vegas parties in Billings and Bozeman. I will be having one this coming weekend, the 10th, in Wolf Point at the Sherman and the following weekend, the 17th, in Great Falls at the Hampton. The parties are a preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. I model some of the clothes I will be wearing in Vegas, giving my speech, and answering impromptu questions. The Billings and Bozeman parties went very well. Thank you to Sarah Capp and Linda Rest for putting them on. All are welcome to my last two parties in Wolf Point and Great Falls!

I am sure everyone is curious to hear about my trip to Japan. To say the very least, it was the trip of a lifetime. I have hundreds of pictures and dozens of stories from the 10 days I spent there. I could type for days all of the neat things I saw and the new things I experienced. Being able to travel to Japan with a delegation from Montana was an experience in itself. I will be posting a new blog with a better day-to-day recap of my trip. I welcome you all to check back frequently this week to hear all about Japan!

Bon Voyage!

Hello everybody! I am vigorously preparing for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. Clothes are coming in and I am studying morning, noon and night. If you think you can stump me I always like a fresh question so send them on!
My good friend Miss Rodeo Wyoming, Crystal Rivers, came up to Bozeman to visit me and study together. We had such a great time hanging out. She had never been duck hunting so I made sure she got to experience the thrill of dressing in camo and hunting birds. She had fun and we made sure we both had all ten fingers and toes by the time the shot guns were put away!
In just a few days I will be leaving for Japan. I can not wait to experience my very first over seas trip! I am a little nervous about the flight but once I get over there I know I will have a blast. I hope to keep a journal while I am over there so I can fill everyone in on what I did. I will be gone for ten whole days. Bon Voyage!!

Billings Horse Sale

It turned out to be yet another interesting weekend for me in Billings. I spent all of last week at home in Wolf Point with my mom and dad. We got to ride, work with colts and of course spend some quality family time. It was nice because I have been traveling so much that I haven’t been able to see much of my family this year; they always seem to be going the opposite direction as me!

On Friday of this last weekend we were headed to Billings for their monthly horse sale. My mom was selling her weanling colts and some mares and I was auctioning off a Toby Capp bronze for a fundraiser. It was going to be a crazy weekend and that’s exactly how it ended up. Since we were selling so many horses we had two trailer loads to haul. I hauled one load and my dad the other. I was driving the Miss Rodeo Montana pickup that my sister and I fondly call Forest. Well Forest didn’t make it to Billings unfortunately. Now the load I was hauling was pretty heavy but there were semi’s passing me up a hill about ten miles east of Miles City, so I knew something was wrong. I found a place I could pull over in the middle of nowhere and turned my pickup off. When I turned it back on it was blowing white exhaust. Not a good sign! Thankfully my dad was with me and I left it in his hands not knowing what to do. It wasn’t safe to drive so we had to leave the pickup with my name and Miss Rodeo Montana written all over it stranded on the side of the interstate. A few phone calls were made (thanks to the modern cell phone convenience) and one of my sponsors, Rathert-Fox Ford, drove all the way from Wolf Point to where my pickup was stranded to not only bring us a new pickup to haul the trailer load of colts to Billings but also towed Forest back to the shop in Wolf Point to get worked on. A huge thank you goes to Bill Rathert for going out of your way to help me and my family out. We got to Billings much later than we wanted to but at least we got there! I am just glad it happened when I wasn’t traveling alone!

Saturday was the horse sale and I helped my family prep the colts to sell and we all had a pretty good time. We sell our colts there every fall and it’s almost a tradition for us. With my brother and my sister both living in Billings now the whole Hardy family was together! I had a table outside the main entrance where I advertised my bronze and signed autographs. Thanks to BLS and Bill and Jan Parker for letting me do a fundraiser during their sale.

For an update on my vehicle situation, after a large number of people saw poor Forest either stranded or being towed and then parked at the shop, it’s not as bad as we first thought. I am still without a vehicle here in Bozeman and will probably be that way for awhile. But my pickup will be repaired soon!

Montana Fur Trappers Convention

This was definitely an interesting trip to Lewistown. Lorissa and I were scheduled to leave Bozeman to go to Lewistown on Saturday morning at 9. It didn’t really work out that way because as Lorissa will tell you, she had a bad Burger King experience that kept her feeling pretty ill that morning. Due to our late departure I drove the necessary speed it took to get us there as close to on time as we could while Lorissa slept off her flu. Luckily I made it there just about at the time we needed to be there and went to the Yogo Hotel where we were told the convention would be taking place this year. Lewistown was flooded with Choke Cherry Festival go-ers so we had to take a detour to get to the hotel. Once we got there no one knew anything about the Fur Trappers so we were left to find the Fur Trappers in the small town of Lewistown amidst all of the Choke Cherry people. Finally we discovered they were at the Fairgrounds and when we arrived…we were early! Whew, thank goodness!

The convention was filled with fun activities for all ages. They had trapping contests for men, women, and kids. Unfortunately, Lorissa and I didn’t get a trap setting lesson before we went and since we value our fingers we chose not to partake in that event. But there were some pretty fast times! We also got to see a beaver get skinned which was fascinating, once you got past the smell. The ever-so-famous skillet toss was pretty fun. The skillet wasn’t nearly as heavy as I thought it was going to be so we were able to throw it pretty far.

After the games and demonstrations was the fashion show and banquet. Lorissa and I got to model fur coats from Paparazzi Fur. The coats we modeled would be up for a drawing later in the evening. My favorite coat was a white sheared and bleached beaver; it was even featured in the magazine Vogue! Neither Lorissa nor I won the drawing but it was a lot of fun to wear the coats. After we helped with the live auction we left the fairgrounds and couldn’t believe that it was snowing! Thankfully for me, I didn’t have to drive in a snow storm the next morning. The hotel we stayed out was a little old but the room was very big. Good thing Lorissa and I like each other because it was one small bed for two queens! The room was very cold and neither one of us knew how to run the propane heater so for fear we would turn it on and gas ourselves to death we decided to bear the freezing cold and bundle up in whatever we had in our bags! Both of us made it through the night but we were both ready to be back in Bozeman on Sunday. I had a great time and I think Lorissa did too, even though it was quite an interesting day. Thanks to the Hebbe’s for being so generous to us all year and all evening. It was so nice getting to talk to them and listen to all of their fun stories!

Ellensburg, Washington

What a week! I was in Ellensburg, Washington for eight days for the rodeo and Miss Rodeo Washington pageant. They kept me pretty busy during my stay. I arrived on Sunday evening in time for the pageant pajama party where I met all of the contestants running for Teen and Miss. There were 4 in both categories and after spending a week with them I am pretty happy that I am not a queen in Washington. These girls were amazing.

The pajama party was fun as always and everyone should be proud to know that I took 2nd place in the Chubby Bunny competition, fitting six huge marshmallows in my mouth and still being able to mutter “I’m a chubby bunny!” The next few days were packed with pageant activities. I got to do a queen buzz during their horsemanship competition. Unfortunately, I was put on the horse that was rejected to the queen draw because he couldn’t carry flags. Little did I know he doesn’t like queen buzzes either because I soon as I got in the arena he immediately started bucking. I was able to ride him and keep waving at the same time so he must not have been bucking that hard. Later in the week we all had lunch at one of the Miss Rodeo Washington board member’s house. We were fed great all week but this lunch was special because Santa happens to have a workshop in Ellensburg and this is his busiest time of the year. He requested the rodeo queens to help out wrapping presents! He is definitely a busy guy but a smart one too for asking 10 or so girls help wrap Christmas gifts! We wrapped a ton and felt like we were a really big help.

The girls competing had the most amazing clothes provided by Riding High USA from right there in Washington. They were all dressed fit to compete at Miss Rodeo America and I couldn’t believe how polished they were. The style show was incredible. Their theme was “Pink Acres” and the association donated most of the proceeds to a local girl diagnosed with cancer. I even got to tell a joke during the Hee Haw portion of the show, “How many Montana State Freshman does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “None, that’s a sophomore course!” That was my only line and I nailed it! I was pretty proud of myself and even though my role was small, it was definitely a crowd pleaser!

The rodeo started on Friday and that was also the day of coronation. It was the closest pageant I have ever watched; the judges really had a tough job throughout the week. Congratulations to Mandy Melovich, the new teen, and Jessica Crouch, the 2008 Miss Rodeo Washington, they will both do an outstanding job next year. The rodeo in Ellensburg was pretty big and it attracted the top cowboys in the standings. Each day I felt like I was at Tour Finale rodeo because of the cowboys and also the stock. There were a total of 7 or 8 stock contractors who brought only the best bulls and broncs. The day of the finals I got to see the 3-time bucking horse of the year, Grated Coconut and his mom buck.

The girls and I rode in the huge grand entry and had a queen buzz every day. There were at least 150 people in the grand entries. We would enter at a fast lope and make it all the way around the arena and then slow down a bit, following the person in front of you, doing a serpentine pattern around 4 people stationed with American flags. I was very well mounted all weekend. Gary Rempel was a pickup man there so I rode his horses all weekend and during the parade. Sunday served to be an interesting grand entry for me. I was riding Gary’s horse Quizno and as we make our first buzz around the arena, my stirrup leather broke! The stirrup fell clean off into the arena dirt and my fender was hanging, slapping poor Quizno in the knee. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we finished the buzz and serpentine with one stirrup. Thank goodness Gary had another horse saddled for me to ride for my queen buzz after bareback.

I was amazed at how many people showed up to the parade on Saturday! It was the biggest one, by far, of the year…including Cheyenne. Ellensburg is a town of only about 30,000 people but Seattle is only 100 miles away and Spokane isn’t real far either. Labor Day is the official end to summer so now I progress my preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. If you have any good impromptu questions, rodeo knowledge or something you think you can stump me on, I need all the practice I can get. Send ‘em on! Next week Lorissa and I go to Lewistown to visit the Montana Trappers Association. I am glad to be back in Montana!

Clothes for sale!!!

Hey everyone. Since I have a whole week to get some “housekeeping” stuff done before I am back on the road I am beginning to get my wardrobe ready for Miss Rodeo America. I have a lot of clothes that I can’t or won’t be wearing anymore or haven’t worn all year! If there is anyone interested in seeing what I have for sale please contact me! I have a variety of quality from princess on up and I have everything from dresses, skirts, jackets, and arena shirts and boots up to my neck! I wear a size 7-8 in boots, a size 7x36/34 or 9x36/34 in jeans, and medium jackets and shirts. I will try and start getting some pictures of some of the stuff I am selling and I can post them on here or email them to you. You can call me at (406) 209-1931 or email me at missrodeomt07@hotmail.com. Please help me get some of this stuff off my hands!!!!

Also, my family has a package deal on NFR tickets. We have 4 tickets for all 10 days of the rodeo and we are selling what we aren’t using to whoever would like them. They are balcony tickets and going fast! Please let me know what night and how many tickets you would like and we will reserve them for you. They will be waiting for you when you get to Vegas!

North Western Fair and Pro Rodeo

Well I am finally home now for about a week between events for Miss Rodeo Montana. I just returned from Kalispell where the Northwestern fair, rodeo and pageant took place. After traveling through the smoke where visibility was down to only a half a mile with some delays I arrived in Kalispell with a heavy heart from the sights of my beautiful state on fire.

Thursday night was the first night of Kessler rodeo in Kalispell. I met up with Bob Tallman, the talented NFR announcer, and we caught up since seeing him last in Calgary. The rodeo went great every night. All the Little Miss, Princess and Queen contestants participated and were announced every night which they all enjoyed immensely! Friday morning was the parade. What a turnout! Kalispell and the surrounding communities really take pride in their week of fair and rodeo and it is evident. After the rodeo that night the contestants, parents, committee members and myself had a pizza party where we all shared our most memorable and embarrassing stories of being a queen or queen contestant. It was a ball listening to all the girls’ stories and it was obvious that those girls were having a good time getting to know each other. I didn’t realize it but I have A LOT of embarrassing moments as Miss Rodeo Montana. I think everyone was pretty entertained that night!

Saturday the coronation was held and I have to say it was my first coronation that I have attended in a sale barn! It was a great venue to have it though because they got a pretty good crowd. Congratulations to all of the girls who won the titles and everyone who competed. The newly crowned girls were announced that night at the rodeo and I enjoyed showing them the “ropes” of chasing out cattle and helping where we were needed during the rodeo. Saturday night was also pretty special because once again Fred Whitfield made an appearance during the performance. He has made it to a handful of Montana rodeos this summer and each time he’s in the performance he is willing to meet fans and sign autographs. Overall I had a really nice time in Kalispell. Driving back to Bozeman I was again a little sad the fires have not let up. Please keep the people working on the fires in your thoughts and let’s all pray for rain!

Montana Fairs!

Oh my goodness I have been so busy lately I don’t know if I am coming or going! It’s been two weeks since I have even had time to write on my blog! In the past two weeks I have made a complete circle of the Big Sky state. You never know how big Montana really is until you spend the majority of the time on the highway. I was first in Great Falls for the State Fair, Big Sky Pro Rodeo Roundup and the Roundup Queen pageant. I was kept very busy but I had one of my favorite queens to assist me in my appearances, Miss Rodeo America, Ashley Andrews. Ashley and I have known each other since high school so it was great getting to hang out with her again. The girls running in the pageant had a great opportunity to ask her all sorts of questions about what she does and her experiences as MRA.

The rodeo went great each night. I was on my favorite queen horse, Cisco again and got to hang out with Sue and Bailey Thompson which is always a great time. Congratulations to Kirsten, Tiffany, and Jennika on winning 2007-2008 Big Sky Pro Rodeo royalty. Lorissa was there to help with the pageant too but unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of each other because our schedules didn’t line up the same.

I was home for one day until I drove to Missoula for their fair and pageant. I went a day early to be at the Auto Spa for a mini-fundraiser. They gave me $1 for every car that was washed that day. At this point in my year that is wonderful because every dollar matters! Thanks Auto Spa! I felt right at home staying at Laura Bakker’s house with her two little dogs. We had a great time while I was there. The contestants had a BBQ and kicked off the fair by all of us riding the Merry-Go-Round at the carnival. I am glad they picked that ride because I am pretty sure my stomach couldn’t handle anything faster than that! Wednesday night was the PBR and I carried the American Flag. It was an almost sold out performance and of course Flint Rasmussen was there to entertain the crowd.

The rest of the fair and rodeos flew by! Lorissa and I were kept pretty busy emceeing the style show and horsemanship portion of the pageant, hosting kiddie rodeos, signing autographs, and even handing out cake at the Wells Fargo bank. I tried my best not to raise to much controversy over the fact that I was in Grizzly country but I couldn’t help but say “Go Bobcats”, during the style show. I definitely wasn’t the most popular emcee at that point! Friday night was coronation for the contestants and congratulations to all the girls who won, Leslie, Reagan, Skylar, and Hannah. All of our new Montana royalty are going to represent the state and rodeo very well all year!

Saturday Lorissa and I drank a lot of coffee in order to drive all the way to Glasgow for their North East Montana Fair and rodeo. We witnessed a different kind of kiddie rodeo at the fair grounds. Instead of barrels and roping they had greased pig race and a chicken race where the kids had to catch a greased pig and chickens and put them in a barrel. It was pretty entertaining to watch but the best part was when a pig got out of the pen and ran through the arena and into the fair with a herd of kids chasing after him. Thankfully the pig farmer didn’t have to cut his profit because the kids finally caught him somehow. We put on a standard kiddie rodeo at the Elderly Home in Glasgow. One of my favorite parts of being Miss Rodeo Montana is visiting with the residents; they are always so happy to see a smiling girl. My sister, Vanessa, brought in her horse Topaz for me to ride during the rodeo so I was very well mounted once again! Kirsten, the new Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo Queen, Lorissa and I carried flags at the rodeos and helped Tessa Weifrich chase cattle out of the arena. I had a pretty good time because Glasgow is practically home for me being only 45 miles west of Wolf Point. So of course I ran into many people who were glad to see me so close to home again.

Last Chance Stampede

I am definitely in the middle of the busiest time of my summer. I am sitting in my hotel room in Great Falls waiting for the State Fair and Big Sky Pro Rodeo festivities to begin. The Last Chance Stampede just wrapped up this weekend and boy did I like that rodeo!

I drove up on Wednesday morning to help out with the stick horse rodeo that took place at Capital Sports and Western Wear. There were so many kids that showed up in the 90 degree heat; what a great turn out! They participated in the barrels, roping, and bull riding. That morning I also met Libby, Miss Last Chance Stampede Rodeo and Fair. She is only 15 but shows a lot of promise and interest in getting more involved with the queen pageants. Thursday morning was the official kick off to stampede weekend that started with a kid’s parade. I always enjoy the kid’s parades because you get to see everyone dressed up like its Halloween! At the conclusion of the parade they drew to give out brand new bikes! Another great turnout brought several hundred kids to the park to participate and Lorissa and I signed a lot of autographs. It was also good to see Kirsten, Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo Princess, who was in town for just one day.

Every night proved to be a great rodeo combined with Kesler stock, 2005 Announcer of the Year, Wayne Brooks and rodeo clown, Brian Potter. Sue and Bailey Thompson of Western Sky Equine brought down horses for all of us girls. I was reunited with Cisco and love him even more every time I ride him! The parade was on Saturday and I think I am getting used to being able to sit in the blazing sun with chaps on without feeling like I am going to pass out! After the parade I went to one of my favorite sponsors, Murdoch's, to sign autographs at their store in Helena. I think I did more shopping than signing!! That night at the rodeo Lorissa and I didn’t realize it but parked next to Fred Whitfield and his travel partner. It was great seeing such a legendary cowboy make an appearance in Helena. I returned to Bozeman that night after the rodeo.

While I was in Cheyenne I was very disappointed that I was going to miss the Thunderbirds air show. The queens got to go but I had to leave before the show. Well it must have been meant to be because this weekend the Blue Angels air show was in Bozeman and flying on Sunday; the one day I was going to be home! I wasn’t going to miss it for anything. They were well worth sitting in the 100 degree heat. I can not imagine what an adrenaline rush it must be to fly one of the FA-18 jets! If you ever have the opportunity to see an air show I strongly suggest taking advantage. It’s an experience I can’t describe in words. It’s truly amazing what those pilots and their planes can do!

The Daddy of 'em All

I only have a day to update everyone on my trip to Cheyenne before I am gone to the Helena Last Chance Stampede. I had a wonderful time in Cheyenne the past week. Before I went, Lorissa and I met up in Billings to attend the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame scholarship awards BBQ. We got to see top high school cowboys and cowgirls get awarded with scholarships from the Hall of Fame. They award opportunities for the seniors every year through these scholarships and the amount just get better every year.

I stayed with my brother in Billings that night and began the trip to Cheyenne the next day. You wouldn’t think it would be such a long drive but I felt much like I was driving across eastern Montana again as the only landmarks for miles were the mile marker signs and sagebrush! I arrived at my host family in time to unpack and pick up Miss Rodeo Tennessee to head over to a BBQ at Esther’s, the gal who would be taking care of us all week. I got to meet some girls I hadn’t met before, Miss Rodeo Florida and the NEW Miss Rodeo Texas, Alyssa. We bonded instantly! I told of the southern queens that they rubbed off on me every time I went out of state because when I return to Montana I find myself saying “y’all” and “fixin’ to”!

Friday morning was the rodeo queen luncheon. The Cheyenne Frontier Day’s queens were the hostesses. I have never seen so many queens in my life! There were only eight of us state queens and the rest were up and coming queens and princesses from Wyoming and Colorado mostly. Someone said that there would be 60 some girls there! What a great sight it was to see so many girls that are the future of rodeo. The rest of the day was open to us girls to do some serious shopping. I tried my best to stay away from the Rickrageous booth! It was a great beginning to soak in the fact that I was at the legendary Daddy of ‘em All.
Saturday morning was kicked off by the parade. Harry Vold brought in his black horses for us to ride for the parades and rodeos. These horses are FAST but you would have never guessed it if you saw us in the parades. There were thousands of people that made it out for the occasion and people from all over the country were there. The population of Cheyenne is about 50,000 and they say that doubles every day during the Cheyenne Frontier Days. I could definitely see that happening as I walked through the parade and saw so many people lined up against the streets. After having lunch with some of the committee members we were ready to rodeo!

All of us state queens were going to be introduced in the “running grand entry”. They call it that for good reason. The rodeo arena is set up on the infield of the track with the track running all the way around it. It’s the biggest arena I have ever seen! Well, they run the grand entry not in the arena but on the track. The state queens perform the infamous “fly by.” The name is fitting because that is exactly what we did. We were on the fast Harry Vold horses that have been on the track doing this for many years and they get faster as the years and the days go by. I was last and of course Spanky, my horse, did not want to be the last one to the barn! He ran at break neck speed and I waved, although we were going so fast you might not have noticed that I actually was waving! I have ran barrels and poles all of my life but never have I gone quite as fast as the fly by’s in Cheyenne and never have I experienced such an adrenaline rush as when they announced my name as Miss Rodeo Montana at the Cheyenne Frontier Days as I am zooming past the crowd of 15,000 people. The guy helping us with our horses, Kip, came buy after the second day of fly by’s and commented to me, “Most people try to hold this one back but you just kind of rode the speed. I have never seen him or any of these horses go quite that fast. WOW!” What can I say; I have a need for speed!

Saturday and Sunday nights were the Reba McEntire concerts. Trisha Yearwood was opening for her and it was my first time to see both of them so I was pretty excited. The ladies were amazing in concert; all of us girls had such a blast! Reba even let us take a picture at the front of the stage. While she was singing she bent down to take a picture with all of us girls. It was such an incredible experience for me as you all know I get kind of star struck!

My last day in Cheyenne was Monday and we were up at dawn for the pancake breakfast. It was no ordinary breakfast though! There were thousands of people waiting already as early as 7am for pancakes! All of us girls got to introduce ourselves and cook pancakes. I was well practiced after my trip to Calgary! Later that morning we got to visit the Cheyenne Frontier Days Museum. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. As expected there were tributes to two of my very favorite cowboys, Lane Frost and Chris LeDoux. It was time for me to return home after that. Thank you to Cheyenne and everyone involved in the great production for having me and allowing me to be part of a legendary event!

Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede

After what has probably been my busiest week so far this summer I am roasting in the heat in Bozeman trying to catch up on some sleep before I leave again. After Calgary I was home in Wolf Point for the much anticipated Wild Horse Stampede. As a rodeo competitor they always say that the toughest rodeo to compete in is your hometown rodeo. Even though I am a rodeo queen and not a competitor it’s not much different for us rodeo queens. I was overwhelmed with the attention I got in Wolf Point. Everyone who has ever met me or any member of my family was sure to say hello. It was so great getting to see so many of my neighbors, distant relatives, and old friends. I heard the phrases “You probably don’t remember me….” Or “Wow, you sure grew up fast, I knew you when you were in diapers” a lot!

On Thursday I did a radio spot and the rodeo that night. The Stampede has a history of being held on the hottest week of the summer and I think this year was no different. I think I sweat off an extra five pounds in the three days I was there. On Friday we had a parade and I had enough time to walk around and visit my sponsors before the rodeo. Many Wolf Point business have been so gracious in helping me out financially this year; one afternoon wasn’t enough time to thank everyone. That evening held another great rodeo by Brookman Rodeo Company. Everyone attending the rodeo got a pretty good laugh as once again my infamous ski story from Pocatello came up during the calf roping. I have to admit though, the story sounds much scarier when Dave Weifrich tells it the way he witnessed it! Saturday was the last day of the Stampede and in years past, Miss Rodeo Montana has not been able to stay for the last day because of the rodeo in Stanford. I was lucky and got to stay in my home town all three days. I am glad I did too because the Stick Horse Rodeo was Saturday. It’s always a pretty big event held at the Faith Luthern Elderly Care Home. I visited with some of the residents and of course the stick horse rodeo was a big hit. A special thank you to my A-Crew, Vanessa and Quinn, who helped me set up, tear down, and stay organized. It would have taken me twice as long if I hadn’t had the help! The daily parade was directly after the kid’s rodeo and the heat about did me in; I heard it got all the way up to 115 degrees! The last rodeo performance went smoothly and the weekend wasn’t over.

I was off at the crack of dawn again on Sunday for the Stanford rodeo. I was glad to see Lorissa and Jennika O’Neil there to help me with sponsor flags. It was once again an extremely hot rodeo but the queens survived! I would like to say a really big thank you to tie-down roper, Travis Caldwell for letting me use his horse and also to Dr. Gee for bringing in Lorissa’s horse and an extra horse if needed. I drove back to Bozeman that night and crashed immediately after my very long week. My adventures continue this week as I head down to “The Daddy of ‘Em All” the Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Calgary Stampede

What an amazing past couple of days I have had! I just returned from the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta Canada. It was quite the drive to get there and an even longer drive to get back to my home town of Wolf Point for my next rodeo. To see the legendary Stampede was well worth the drive though!

I rested for a day or two after my fourth of July weekend and was off and running on a start of what is going to be a very busy month of July. I drove up to beautiful Wilsall to present the American flag for the Montana Reining Horse Association. What an honor it was to be involved in such a prestigious association in Montana. They were truly thankful for having me there and I got to visit with some old friends and meet new ones who were very eager to hear about what I have been up to. Leaving early Sunday morning and meeting up with my family in Shelby, close to the border, got us in Calgary just in time for my sister and I to take in our first Chuck Wagon Race experience. Who better to learn about it than from Jody who has been going to the Stampede with her husband, Gary, for about 15 years now! I was allowed one companion pass that got that person behind the scenes pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. My sister, Vanessa, was the lucky one out of the family that got to come with me. We were in awe of all the activity, new sights, and big name celebrities that were in our presence.

Monday morning was a pretty early morning for Vanessa and me. We were hosted that day which meant we were going to be driven around to different functions meeting people and seeing Calgary. Well not only was it about 40 degrees outside and sleeting but there was a slight mix up with the courtesy car that was supposed to pick us up. We ended up waiting for over an hour because someone crossed me off the list to be picked up! Everything got straightened out but we did need some extra time to warm up and a special thanks goes to the courtesy car drivers that picked up and dropped off my family and I the entire time we were there. That morning our hosts brought me and some of the Canadian royalty around to different pancake breakfasts to meet the public, we saw the history of the Calgary Stampede queens and walked around the Roundup center that had lots of good shopping!

Off to the rodeo after that! The Calgary Stampede is such a prestigious rodeo that the cowboys and cowgirls compete on invitation only. So prestigious that the one and only Dan Mortenson came out of retirement for this rodeo only and I happy to report he won the performance on Tuesday along with bull rider Beau Hill from Montana as well. It is not a PRCA or CPRA sanctioned rodeo yet but is on its way. This rodeo pays up to $1.75 million after the competition is over!! The format changed slightly this year to a tournament style rodeo where there are two groups of 10 competitors that ride 4 days in a row. After both groups ride they take the top 12 to the semi-finals round and the top 4 contestants for the final round. With our VIP passes Vanessa and I got to be right down in the middle of the action…my favorite place to be! I was introduced on stage in front of over 20,000 people that afternoon; what an experience. Later on that evening we took in the chuck wagon races again and the night show. The night show was like nothing I have ever seen before. It was 3 hours long but felt like 30 minutes. I felt like such a little kid again watching my first fireworks show. They had so many fireworks that the entire metropolis of Calgary had a plume of smoke above it. The night show had every sort of entertainment for the viewers, comedy, drama, singing, dancing, daring stunts…you name it! I was in such awe!!!



After the long and somewhat overwhelming day on Monday I needed a little time on Tuesday morning to sleep but the city of Calgary would have none of it. At 7am our hotel hosted a Tough Enough to Wear Pink benefit concert…right outside our hotel room window. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep in that morning! My family and I took in the rodeo again on Tuesday afternoon and walked around the grounds to see more of what the Stampede had to offer. I saw a dog show, a marching band competition, miniature horse show, miniature chuck wagon races, a cutting horse show, a break dancing competition, 2-time World Champion Indian hoola-hoop dancer and ate some good fried food off the mid-way! The experience in Calgary was definitely a memorable one. I was so honored to be there and represent my state of Montana across the border. With all of that in mind nothing could overshadow the excitement in appearing at my home town rodeo, the oldest rodeo in Montana, the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede! Take care and God Bless.

Cowboy Christmas

During what is known as Cowboy Christmas there is a total of $2.5 million prize money available at 32 sanctioned PRCA rodeos across the country. I was only able to make it to two of the 32 but that kept me plenty busy! I started out in Cody Wyoming at the Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede. What a blast it was too! I got to hang out and room with Crystal Rivers, Miss Rodeo Wyoming. We have been at several rodeos together before but in Cody we had a lot of time for some quality rodeo queen bonding by shopping in down town Cody! Ashley Andrews, Miss Rodeo America also met up with us later on Saturday. Our first event was the kick off breakfast where we learned the Grand Marshall was none other than Donnie Gay. Later on that day Crystal and I felt like little kids going up to Donnie and asking him to take a picture with us. I don’t have it yet, but I assure you, it happened! Saturday night was the Extreme Bulls; I had a feeling of being star struck that night but that feeling seemed to follow me around the remainder of the weekend. Sankey Rodeo brought in some rank bulls and world champions B.J. Schumacher and Dustin Elliot made some pretty good rides. Although all of the queens were kept pretty busy there was enough down time to experience the local history behind the town named after Buffalo Bill Cody. On Sunday we were up early to do a little sight seeing and later that day was one of the highlight of my trip: white water rafting. The river our guides took us down was fairly tame as far as white water goes but Ashley, Crystal and I had such a good time and even got wet! That night was the PRCA rodeo and the only performance I would be able to stay around for in Cody. I rode in the Grand Entry and Crystal and the rodeo committee were nice enough to let me stay in the arena to chase out cattle. The other highlight of my trip to Cody was getting my picture taken with my favorite cowboy…Trevor Brazile! He was so nice to Crystal and I as once again we felt like small children wanting an autograph.

Monday morning I awoke early to get to Livingston in time for the parade; it was a blistering hot next few days in Livingston. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Katie Krouse the Miss Livingston Roundup queen and Chanda, Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo was also there to help out with sponsor flags. We survived the heat through the parade and rodeo in Livingston. (I was pretty excited when I saw that Trevor Brazile was up in the performance in Livingston that night too!) I got to talk on my favorite radio station XL Country 100.7 with Mark Longie, host a kiddie parade on Tuesday, and of course watched the fireworks every night. This coming week holds a very busy schedule for me. I can not wait for it to get under way because I am off to the infamous Calgary Stampede and my hometown rodeo the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede! Stay cool Montana!