Okeechobee Cattleman’s Spring Rodeo

March 9:

Eye surgery in San Antonio went great. I got it done on the 5^th, and normally it takes most people a full week to recover. But most people aren’t Miss Rodeo Florida ;)  I flew from TX to Tampa three days later so that I could attend the Okeechobee Rodeo. Regina, my National Director, drove to Tampa to pick me up. The weekend started out with a parade and then rodeo. I was glad to be there and be a part of it, but I did feel kind of dumb wearing sunglasses everywhere I went. Yes, even on horseback! The doctor said I was absolutely not allowed to expose my eyes to UV light and that it could do serious damage, so I did what I was told. If you see a picture of me riding around the arena doing a fly-by with shades on, now you know why! I wish I could’ve told everyone why I was wearing the glasses, I didn’t want them to think anything negative of me – but I just had to do it or I couldn’t be there at all! CarrieAnn & I tried on plenty of pairs at the western store in town before we headed to the rodeo - 

The rodeo was a great performance, and a record-breaking one at that! Biggin Gold was one of four horses that bucked in both the bareback riding and saddle bronc riding and he came through with wins in both. After the performance I was lucky to find a ride with some bareback riders, Blade Elliot & Tanner Phipps, who were headed to Arcadia and then back up to Alabama afterwards which meant they would drive through Tallahassee and would be able to drop me off at my car! I was excited to find some traveling partners. I was also a little nervous that my car wouldn’t really be in the spot where I left it, parked it at a hotel. The parking lot where I parked it said, ‘Guests only, violators will be towed.’ I figured that was just a scare tactic, because I looked at all the other cars in the parking lot to see if they had some sort of window sticker or tag somewhere and I couldn’t find one. Didn’t scare me - so I took my chances! This hotel had a shuttle to the airport where I was renting my car and I figured that would save me a lot of money if I didn’t have to park it in airport parking.

Running Time in a Car: 81h 49m
Running Mileage: 5541