Homestead Championship Rodeo

January 25-27th:

This weekend I traveled over 1300 miles on my journey to the southernmost Professional Rodeo in the United States: 64th Annual Homestead Championship Rodeo at Doc' DeMilly Rodeo Arena at Harris Field. It was truly a weekend I will never forget! Let's start from the beginning.

As work started wrapping up on Thursday afternoon at my squadron, the 745th SOS on Hurlburt Field, I turned in my leave paperwork and started to head out the door. Of course, I didn't make it very far without catching some grief from my coworkers about missing the following day. "Thanks for stopping in this week," the Chief Master Sergeant who also sits in my office room said, jokingly. I just laughed and shook my head. He didn't know the half of it, I thought - I'm just getting started, this is only weekend number two! I rushed out the door, jumped in my car and realized I might still take a while before I'm able to leave. I hadn't gotten everything packed just yet, so I knew I had to go back to my house to load the rest of my things. The gas light lit up as well, so add that to the list.

About an hour and a half later, I began my road trip. Getting a late start isn't fun, but I knew I could make it up by driving my Mazda 3 like a NASCAR driver. I still can't believe I've been in Florida for a whole year and a half and still haven't managed to get a speeding ticket, despite being pulled over multiple times (knock on wood). I arrived at Tracy Clement's house at about one in the morning where I would be staying for the night. Her daughter, CarrieAnn, is the Miss Rodeo Florida Princess and we had planned to be travel buddies for the weekend! I was grateful for the place to sleep for the night, it was much more hospitable than the backseat of my car - although I brought a pillow and blanket anyway, because you never know when you'll need it. I've spent the night in the 'ol Mazda before, but I won't mind if I never have to that again.

Upon arriving in Homestead the next day, a little behind schedule, I was nervous to find a horse to ride. I rushed around to find somebody who looked like they wouldn't mind letting me borrow their horse, and also for a  horse that looked like he wanted to carry a flag - a rather difficult combo, especially since I'm fairly new to Florida Pro Rodeo and don't know most of the contestants! Typically, a horse is provided for visiting state queens, but in this case it hadn't been set up yet so it was up to me. However, I was lucky to meet the Vice President of the Homestead Rodeo Committee, Ryan Krantz. He made my life a lot, lot easier. He was a younger, good looking guy that seemed to have all the 'in's'. He took me right over to the stock contractor's trailer where I got in touch with the pick-up men, and just like that my problem was solved. I was given another palomino, which must be my color because so far that's the only color of horse I've ridden as Miss Rodeo Florida this year.

The rodeo was about to get underway, when I saw a familiar face. Announcer Wayne Brooks rode up beside me on a beautiful, young bay horse. He is one of the friendliest and nicest people I've met down in the south so far. He always puts a smile on my face when I see him! Wayne said hello and we rodeo around a bit. He said he would be announcing the rodeo from horseback, and he showed me his holster for his microphone which I thought was pretty neat. We also hashed out when and how I would be introduced during the rodeo. I was a little disappointed I wouldn't be carrying the American flag for the opening ceremonies, but I was thankful to be on horseback, especially since none of the other queens were.

At the beginning of the rodeo I rode in the grand entry where I followed the flags carried by the Homestead Everglades Posse drill team. We rode in an interesting pattern, which seemed more like a mad horse race than follow the leader. We also only used half of the arena, which might sound strange - but if you've ever seen the Homestead arena you would know why: it's HUGE! It's one of the longest arena's I've ever seen. It had white sand and palm trees lining the back of the bucking chutes. Exactly how I would imagine a rodeo in Florida to look. I would absolutely love to run barrels on a pattern like this, but that's a story for another day. Back to the queen scene...

After the grand entry, I wouldn't come out again until right before the barrel racing. I had to get off my palomino horse and give him back to Spook, the pick-up man, until after Saddle Bronc and Bareback riding. I wandered around and said hi to people I recognized, and just generally tried to meet new people while staying out of the way at the same time - which can be a fine line. There wasn't a very good spot behind the chutes for the roughstock riders to get ready, so they filled up the fence by the warm up area as an alternative. I hung out in that area, it seemed like the place to be. That night was 'Tough Enough to Wear Pink' night, and I had on a brand new shirt made by Vivianna McDaniels which was just stunning, and I wanted to show it off, too.

Spook brought the palomino back to me sweaty and tired, poor ‘ol guy. I loosened him up and adjusted my stirrups, and decided to just stand beside him until it got closer for us to go on. When I finally made it to the arena for my introduction, the announcer Wayne Brooks did a really nice job of introducing me and telling the audience about my military background and service in both Iraq & Afghanistan.