Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo

March 10:

Frontier Rodeo Company was the stock contractor and they sure brought a good pen of bucking horses! Wow! The Arcadia rodeo itself was probably the best rodeo I had been to in the state of Florida as well. The bleachers were huge and they were packed! The rodeo set a single-day attendance record with an overflow crowd of about 8,000 on March 9 and also broke the overall record with more than 21,000 spectators for the three days

Cort Scheer, two-time NFR qualifier, rode Maple Leaf for 89 points to win the saddle bronc riding. Other bucking stock that was there included Full Baggage, Horse of the Year, and Delta Ship who holds the arena record at the NFR. Donny Gay was the announcer in the bull riding, where three rides scored 90 points and the win for 91. It was an impressive group.

I really had a head-ache for this performance, though, so I didn’t get to enjoy the great rodeo action as much as I should’ve. After the grand entry I just took a seat in the shade and watched, then left a little earlier than it got over with the people I was catching a ride with. I made sure to call ahead to the hotel where I had previously left my car. I asked if they had any cars towed from their parking lot over the past week, and the receptionist said she didn’t know! I then asked her where they might have the cars taken if they were towed – and she did know that information. So, I took the phone number down and called the towing company. Luckily, they didn’t have my car in their possession – so the chances of it being in Tampa at the same location I left it was looking pretty good!

Riding with a couple of bareback riders was far more entertaining than simply traveling alone. I thought I might want to sleep until Tallahassee, but there was no chance of that. Blade & Tanner kept me laughing almost the entire way. We talked about all kinds of things – but the most memorable topic of conversation came after the question was raised, “What’s the coolest thing that you’ve ever done?” My response was about flying in an F-16 and also being in the lead for the opening of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. I will never forget Tanner’s response, though. He talked about having the perfect bareback ride and how awesome it felt. He went into how much he loved the sport of rodeo and not just the bareback riding, but every aspect. Every event would be something fun to compete in, and even the job of a bullfighter or stock contractor would be an interesting job. I couldn’t help but agree with him, and have an overwhelming feeling of pride in the sport that I was lucky enough to represent.

When we finally arrived in Tallahassee, I crossed my fingers and prayed to have a car to put my things in. By this time it was about 11 at night, and I still had three hours to go and the guys I was riding with had about 7 more hours to get back up to Alabama – so we didn’t need any more delays. We pulled in and I was so relieved to see my little black Mazda sitting exactly where I had left it. What a relief! I threw my bags in, said my goodbyes and was ready to hit the road. I put the key in, turned it, and absolutely nothing happened. Not even a click. Not one single light. Great! My battery was dead.

By the time I realized what had happened the boys had already left, and since they had so far to go I just called AAA. About an hour later, I was back in commission. I guess I need a new battery, but I made it home just fine and was able to get at least a couple hours of sleep before going in to work the next day.

Running Time in a Car: 90h 36m
Running Mileage: 6121