Malmstrom Air Force Base

After the DNCFR I didn’t even return to Bozeman before I was off to another appearance. I drove from Pocatello straight to Great Falls for the Wing Standup for the Wild Wild West Event on Malmstrom Air Force Base. I wasn’t sure what awaited me because I am very unfamiliar with most military branches so I was a little out of my own element. I had two ladies that work in Services on the base, Joann and Staci, who chaperoned me around the base all day. I was introduced at the weekly Wing Standup meeting which is a meeting where the different squadrons report their weekly duties and what’s been going on to the Colonel of the base. Along with that, Services usually have a presentation on what is going on for extracurricular events on base. That is why I was there! I announced the Wild West event and gave out the Buckaroo Bucks they would be playing with on Friday. The Wild West event is a social event for the air men and their families; basically it is a fun poker night with Black Jack, Roulette, and Texas Hold ‘Em and the best part is you gamble with fake money! At the end of the night they auction of items with their fake money and I just happened to be an item. So on Monday I was bussed around the base and participated in several different tours as I promoted Wild West night.

On Friday I returned to Great Falls for the event. I had some spare time so I visited an assisted living home in Great Falls. Things like that is one of the many reasons why I love my job. To know that I can touch a person’s life in just a few minutes of talking with them and giving them a picture of me is such an amazing feeling. I also stopped in to Grizzly Saddlery to pick up a fun little roping toy called “Lil Blue Heeler” that Lorissa and I will be using at our booth at the Montana State FFA Convention Trade Show. I am sure it will be a hit! Once I arrived on base I checked into the cowgirl suite. This was by far the best hotel room I have stayed in so far this year! Dedicated to a Miss Rodeo Montana theme, this room was decorated in the utmost western fashion! I was truly treated like a queen! The Wild West event was a hit among the air men on base. I ended up winning $375,000 playing Black Jack!!! Too bad it was fake money and since I was an auction item I had to give it all away. At the end of the night they sold off a dance with me for almost $400,000!

During the few short days I was home this week I was running around Bozeman like crazy promoting my fundraiser. Pete Hanson let me talk on XL Country again. On Thursday I had an awesome time in Miss Tollefeson’s 5th grade class at Longfellow Elementary. I brought my saddle in and talked to them about the qualities of a real cowboy and showed them what the saddle does and how it works. They were so intrigued! Everyone liked my presentation so well that I have three more teachers getting back to me on when I can come in to talk with their class! It was a blast and a great start to what I hope to be a very successful school tour.

This coming week is a busy one for me. I get to read to the 1st graders at Longfellow Elementary on Monday, I do a quick radio spot for my coronation on XL Country on Tuesday morning and then I am off to Billings for the FFA trade booth set up. I get back on Friday night just in time to meet up with the guys from XL Country at the Western Underground concert. Western Underground is the late Chris LeDoux’s band and I get to be a guest! I am going to plug my coronation and I get to introduce the band! For some reason, I am incredibly nervous for this event! And of course, Saturday is the big day! Don’t forget my coronation is at the Rockin’ TJ Ranch here in Bozeman and everything kicks off at 5pm. Call me or Sarah Capp if you need directions, everyone is invited and it is going to be a lot of fun! My number is 406-209-1931 and Sarah’s is 406-539-4386.

More at the DNCFR

I left off last time on my exciting experiences in Pocatello. I am back in Bozeman and am attempting to catch up on my rest. The events in Idaho continued to be exciting for me. I left off on Wednesday so…Thursday was another early morning as the 17 queens (local queens included) broke up into groups to tour the Pocatello and surrounding communities schools. I was grouped with Miss Rodeo Arizona, Elizabeth Scott and Miss Rodeo Arkansas, Brittany Sing. Dennis Helstad the rodeo clown also joined us and had some funny tricks up his sleeve for the younger students. I felt right at home in the schools because that has been my field of comfort for so long. In front of 2 groups of about 40 to 60 kids I led a discussion on what it takes to be a cowboy and what happens at the DNCFR. They were full of questions!

The next event was skiing up on Pebble Creek ski hill outside of Pocatello. There wasn’t any snow in town so we were all questioning what kind of skiing it would be. Well there were several days of 60 degree weather so it was extremely icy. Many of the girls had never even seen snow before! Needless to say, they were a little shaky in learning, but everyone at least tried! Myself, I am not the most seasoned skier but I mastered the bunny hill so I ventured to the second out of the three chair lifts and went to a more intermediate slope with Miss Rodeo Arkansas. She was about the same level of skier as I was so we felt comfortable going together. Things started a little shaky because of the ice but I gathered my footing and was going along just fine when somehow I fell (I do that often) but this time I couldn’t stop. I lost both my skis and slid right into the thicket of trees on my rear end. I hit at least three trees on my way down and still couldn’t stop! I am not sure how or what stopped me but finally I did stop. I was hurting pretty good but I seemed to be all right. After laying on the slab of I ice for awhile a nice man came to help me up and search the mountain side for my skis. We finally did find them somewhere in the trees. After he came up to hand them to me he asked if I was “one of those queens”. I said yes and when he asked me which state I sheepishly said Montana, embarrassed because the queen from Montana should have been able to ski better than she did! He laughed and said “Well I had better introduce myself then.” It turned out to be Dave Wiefrich from Brookman Rodeo! He said he’s sorry we had to meet this way but he’s glad I am ok. It was extremely difficult to ski down the rest of the hill because I was so scared but I felt it was kind of like getting back on your horse again not to mention I was too stubborn to let them cart me off on a snow mobile as long as I could still walk! I went down the bunny hill once more to ensure I wouldn’t be too scared to ski again and after that, I was done for the day! My new nicknames are “ice burn” and “digger” amongst the stock contractors from Montana and by the time rodeo rolled around everyone had heard about the queen from Montana. I promise I represented Montana much better on horseback than on the ski hill!

Friday we all went to Wal-Mart to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Together we raised over $700 in just three hours. I met a little angel by the name of Anna who is only three years old. She was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and just finished treatment a few months ago. She won’t be completely clear of her cancer for at least 4 more years of checkups every three months. She was a courageous little girl and has never complained a day in her life. She was amazing and I felt like I really made a difference because of all the money we raised for the hospital that treats children like her.

Other than that the weekend was full of incredible rodeo! Sadly the Montanan’s didn’t take home a national championship from any of the standard rodeo events but JC Mortenson did come back on Saturday for the mutton bustin’ and came back to Montana $1000 richer! He won more money than the cowboys that walked away with a Dodge pickup won! What an honor that must have been for him. Dale Stoller, Brett Fleming and Ryan Seimsen were the cowboys that made it to the Wrangler Round and made a really good run for the national championship. Well that is a pretty good review of my trip to Pocatello. It was definitely a trip I won’t forget. And for those of you who are concerned, my bumps and bruises from my skiing accident are healing beautifully!

DNCFR

I couldn’t wait to share all of my amazing experiences from the DNCFR with everyone that visits my blog so since I bring my laptop on the road and had some down time I thought I would let everyone know what has gone on so far this week. The DNCFR is the crowning rodeo of the PRCA circuit system of regional competition. National circuit champions are determined in the elimination-style event. The rodeo consists of five performances and is broken into preliminary, semi-finals, and the finals or the Wrangler Round. The top eight contestants in each event qualify for the semi-finals round, all of the cowboy’s scores are erased. After that, the top four contestants from that round qualify for the Wrangler Round where again, their previous scores or times are erased. This is when your national champions are determined! Each event champion will receive a one year lease on a brand new Dodge pickup and will automatically be qualified in the first two rounds of the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Playoffs later in the year. Pocatello, Idaho has hosted this event since it’s beginning in 1987!

There were 14 state queens selected to appear for their circuit and I was one of the lucky ones. Every state queen hopes to represent their circuit in March at the Holt Arena. I can not describe the feeling as Tim Fuller introduces me as Miss Rodeo Montana carrying the Montana Circuit flag every night. It is an honor to be here for Montana representing the entire state and its people. I can easily say I was able to touch the lives of many people while I was in Pocatello. I spent the week visiting sponsors, the assisted living homes, schools, and hospitals and I feel I left a piece of Montana with them and made a special place in my heart for all of the people I encountered during my visit. Thank you Pocatello!

I arrived safely in Pocatello on Tuesday evening in time to get checked into my hotel room with Miss Rodeo Oregon and Idaho. We quickly changed into our dresses and headed to the kick off party for the rodeo. I got to meet a lot of the other state queens I haven’t gotten to meet yet this year. After getting to know them this week they are really great girls and we all had such a great time together.

On Wednesday we woke up early for rehearsal at the arena. We rode Sutton horses and luckily I was already familiar with them from the Rapid City Stock Show. They are great horses to ride and some of the horses have been there almost every year since 87! They know the routine! After lunch all of the queens split into groups as our “official queen drivers” drove us around to different sponsors. We signed a lot of autographs and did some shopping. Next, my group was off to the assisted living home and then the hospital. It was a difficult but very touching afternoon. We met elderly people that didn’t have much to look forward to in their days but to have a group of 3 or 4 rodeo queens come in to visit and sign pictures pretty much gave them hope for another day. One man cried and another woman who could not move from her bed said she no longer had to pray to sleep because she could look at our beautiful pictures as she lay in her bed.

The Montana cowboys have been going strong! Curt LaDuke, Steven Lambert, and Andy Bolich are some of our best cowboys and are here to compete. Some of them will be making it back tonight (Friday) for the semi-finals round. We are so close to home there are plenty of Montana fans to help me in cheering them on to a National Championship! I will let everyone know how it turns out on my next blog. I can not forget to mention we already have a champion that will be returning home and he is J.C. Mortenson, one of Montana’s up and comings, he won the Mutton Bustin’ last night! I was once again proud to be from Montana! Check back on my blog soon and I will update everyone on the rest of the results and more of what I have been up to this week in Pocatello!

Outdoor Show and Coronation Preparation

It’s been a pretty busy week for me here in Bozeman. I worked a lot of the week to get some cash flow into my bank account! I never realized how much time it takes to keep up with the paper work I have to take care of and follow ups on things like sponsors and getting auction donations. I’ve been making some real progress in getting sponsors for my year, thanks to all the generous friends and businesses out there that want to support me throughout my year. I have to admit at the beginning it wasn’t all smooth sailing and I thought I would never be able to raise any money outside of my coronation. Thankfully I turned out to be wrong!

Plans for coronation are still going well. The invitations came in last week and they will be sent out this coming week. Because the prices for invitations are so high, we cut down the mailing list so we are doing more public invitations. So, if you don’t get one, don’t worry, you are invited!!! My coronation committee and I have been putting up posters like crazy and I have some advertisement on 100.7 XL Country. We also plan to put invitations in free ad newspapers. In case you didn’t know already my coronation will be held on Saturday, March 31st at the Rockin’ TJ Ranch in Bozeman. Social hour starts at 5pm and you can get tickets online or at the door or by RSVP to myself or Sarah Capp!

After the crazy week of working at the store and working on coronation I was off to Kalispell on Saturday. Miss Teen Rodeo Montana met up with me in Bozeman and we left the morning and returned that night. It made out for a pretty long day being a 5 hour drive from my house. We were going to the Outdoor Show at the Majestic Valley Arena to be guests at the Montana Trappers Association booths. We didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised at what was in store for us! I am just a beginner hunter so I don’t know a whole lot about the hunting, fishing, and trapping kind of thing but I was amazed at all the different booths they had. We walked around, visited, and signed autographs. Lorissa and I learned more than we expected about fur trapping. Ask me anything, I feel I could answer any question after this weekend! Fran, Bill, and Ed the 3rd were very nice and told us great trapping stories!

The trip didn’t end with the fur trappers though. Lorissa and I got two auction items for us each out of the trip and matching bobcat tail key chains! Of course with it being our first official road trip together we had to come up with some kind of crazy story and Lorissa thought on the way to Kalispell it would be “funny” if we got pulled over to see if the crown really worked to our advantage. Well someone forgot to knock on wood because on the way back to Bozeman we did get pulled over! Just outside of Townsend I must have missed the sign that said 65 at night. I won’t say how fast I was going but the officer was nice enough to give me a citation and lowered my fine so, in way I guess the crown did work in our favor.

I have a couple of very busy weeks ahead of me so I will probably have plenty of exciting stories to come! Thanks for visiting my blog and happy trails!

Kids Care Fair and Preparation for Coronation!

Well it’s been about two weeks since I updated on what I have been doing since the NRA finals in Billings. I have actually had about two weeks of down time, if you could call it that! After returning home from the NRA finals and San Antonio I caught up on sleep and laundry and I have had a little bit of time to work. My bosses appreciate me coming in every now and then to justify me keeping my employee discount! I am very lucky that they have agreed to be so flexible with my schedule. I can pretty much call in on Monday’s and ask if it’s all right if I work a couple days this week. It’s pretty nice!

This past Saturday I made a quick day trip to Helena for a kiddie rodeo at the Kids Care Fair and I finally got a hold of my first printing of autograph sheets! Jody and I were in question that it was never going to happen. The Kids Care Fair was held at the mall in Helena where different organizations around the state set up booths aiming towards the kids. Booths such as Eagle Mount, dental hygiene and healthy diets were on display. Between booths and exhibits was the event room where every hour there was a presentation by a “celebrity.” I happened to be one of the celebrities! I put on a kiddie rodeo and although attendance was down the children and parents that were there loved it! The girls (and some boys) got paper Miss Rodeo America crowns and I signed autographs after the rodeo. It was a fun day!

In a week I head off to Pocatello, Idaho for the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. I am really excited for this event because it’s not a long drive for me and I will get to meet some of the state queens I haven’t met already. Not to mention that the DNCFR is like second to the NFR. There is a selection process for the queens that actually get to go and this year I was selected so that’s exciting in itself! I am sure they will keep us very busy throughout the week.

The rest of March is pretty busy for me so I am spending this week working hard on my preparations for my coronation fundraiser. Finding silent and live auction items is a time consuming and sometimes difficult task. If anyone has an idea for an auction item or knows someone who would like to donate please contact me! My coronation committee and I need all the help we can get! Happy trails everyone!

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!

A weekend in Lewistown and Billings

Greetings! I think the realization is finally hitting me that I am Miss Rodeo Montana! I’ll be honest, it seemed like just a dream even a week after everything happened so fast in Great Falls! But I can easily say this week I “got my feet wet” with a couple different events and I am off and running!
My week started out with trying to find some sponsors during any free moment I had. The search for sponsors is going….slow but it has plenty of potential!
On Thursday night I headed to Billings for my first photo shoot on Friday morning with Kara and On the Move Photography. I was driving from Bozeman and by the time I got to Columbus (for those of you who don’t know the area it is only about 25 miles from Billings) I realized I forgot my buckle. Needless to say, I need the Miss Rodeo Montana buckle for my photo shoot! I had no choice but turn around and back track an hour and a half to meet a friend who was nice enough to meet me in Livingston with my buckle. Don’t ask me how I managed to forget such a thing; I even have a checklist I go over! On the positive side, I don’t think I will forget my buckle again the rest of the year. The photo shoot went great though. I wore several different outfits and Kara was a riot. We shot the pictures in the brand new Best Western in Billings. They were generous enough to donate their facilities for a day because they have a beautiful lobby with very nice western décor.
Saturday was a busy day. Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, Lorissa Harris, qualified for state speech so she was not able to travel this weekend; therefore, I drove to Lewistown for the morning and part of the afternoon. It was their winter fair and every year they put on the best kiddie rodeo in the state by many standards. The winter fair was impressive in itself. The small community of Lewistown really reaches out to put this on. The kiddie rodeo had about 85 entries and had everything from a grand entry to cow milking. The kids loved it and each time they finished an event they got a prize. I wasn’t able to stay for very long unfortunately because meanwhile in Billings, I was being inducted into the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame! Among the Montana cowboys, past Miss Rodeo Montana’s came for the honor as well and I even got to meet some of them I didn’t already know. The banquet was a scholarship fundraiser and a quite successful one at that. There were so many people there; I felt like Cinderella at the ball! We ate an incredible dinner and mingled with people from every area of business and rodeo. I helped with the live auction which was able to raise a great amount of money for scholarships and got my picture taken with Dan Mortenson. I was star struck! That pretty much summed up my week on the Miss Rodeo Montana trail! Thank you to all of you that are keeping up with my blog. Feel free to leave me a message if you are wondering what I am doing this week! Best wishes until next time!

Miss Rodeo Montana 2007 Megan Hardy

Hello everyone! Coming to you from Bozeman, Montana as your newly crowned Miss Rodeo Montana 2007 I would like to welcome you all to my blog! First and foremost thank you for all the kind calls, emails, and cards many of you have sent over this past week. They have all meant a great deal to me and I am so glad I can share my dream of being Miss Rodeo Montana with as many people as possible by keeping up with the Miss Rodeo Montana travel blog. As one of my goals for this year is to try and keep everyone updated on my travels throughout the year. I have my Mom to thank for coming up with this great idea and putting everything together for me.

Well, my first week as the newly crowned Miss Rodeo Montana was hectic and somewhat overwhelming but I survived! My year kicked off with the last performance of the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals where I carried flags, chased cattle, and handed out awards. I got through the rodeo without any major road blocks. The next morning was an early one; I was interviewed on about five different radio stations and had one TV interview in Great Falls. I am that girl that continues to have problems with driving directions thus I found that one thing I can see myself struggling with this year is getting directions to the different functions because I proceeded to get myself lost in Great Falls at 6:30 in the morning trying to find the radio station. It turns out that the radio stations were “hidden” in the upstairs of a retirement home. Who would have thought! All in all, the many interviews I had in the days after I was crowned ran very smoothly. After I returned to Bozeman I had a very long list of things to be done in just a few days before I was back on the road again headed to Great Falls for the M.A.G.I.E. I have gotten off to a great start and thanks to XL Country here in Bozeman I have already gotten some calls from businesses wanting to sponsor me. I was the co-host on Friday morning on the country morning show and I can now include playing the tambourine to my list of “talents.” It will be just one of the many impromptu things that will happen to me throughout my year as Miss Rodeo Montana I am sure. I spent the weekend in Great Falls for the industrial expo where I met some more potential sponsors. Meeting even more people that day, Cassidy and I then went to “A Night at the Mint” at the Charlie Russell Museum. Continuing to try and find sponsors, plan my coronation, and get some rest when time allows I am now back in Bozeman for a few days before I am off to Billings and Lewistown next weekend. I have already been blessed by so many people offering to help me in however they can and I truly am excited about representing our beautiful state of Montana in the coming year. I will look forward to reading everyone’s responses and emails! See you down the road!