DNCFR

DNCFR

The time has finally come, time for the Dodge National Circuit Finals rodeo in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I was so very excited for this rodeo; the DNCFR is the top two cowboys in each event from each circuit across the country. There are 12 circuits so cowboys from each end of the country were there to represent their circuit. The trip started by leaving Wednesday March 30^th. Brooke Owen (Miss Rodeo Illinois) came over to Ames to ride along with me. We loaded up my mom’s van and headed south towards Kansas City. We didn’t leave until around noon because along the way we were picking up Alyssa Morrison (Miss Rodeo Kansas) and she didn’t get done with class until later in the afternoon. Once we had Alyssa piled in we continued south towards Oklahoma. I have never been through Kansas or Oklahoma so it was very enjoyable to see those states (though it was dark when we got to Oklahoma, I knew I would see it on the way home.) Since we got a late start to the day we missed the activities for the night and decided to grab some dinner before heading to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel, we unloaded our things and got settled in our room with our other roommate Tricia (Miss Rodeo Idaho.) The four of us spent some time doing our usual chatting and catching up but were soon off to bed, for we knew we would have a long day on Thursday. 

                After getting ready in the morning and having a wonderful breakfast provided by the hotel, all the queens set off to the arena for practice. We would be figuring out details such as who was riding which horse, which flags each girl would carry and who would ride which night. Once we all had a chance to ride the horses we had the opportunity to help “light break” the horses. That got a bit interesting. Some of these horses have never been in an arena when there were a lot of lights moving around, music and even smoke.  We just knew we had to cowboy up and work with the horses.

                When the practice was done we split into groups and went to a couple different Wal-Marts to sign autographs. It is such an amazing experience and so heartwarming to see people so excited to meet you. I had a wonderful time talking to the locals about rodeo and let them know that the DNCFR was in town that weekend. We stayed at the Wal-Mart for about an hour or so and then headed to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. They served us a fabulous lunch and we had a chance to walk around and see some of the museum. Some of the girls had to leave because they would be riding in the special Military themed opening and had to practice. I was not in that group so I had a chance to tour the museum a bit. I was so intrigued by everything they had. I really want to make another visit to Oklahoma City and spend more time in the museum; such wonderful things could not be seen in just a half an hour. 

Back to the hotel we went to get ready for the rodeo. I was up to ride that night and carry flags. We had some switching around and instead of all the girls riding each night we broke it up into groups and one group would take care of all the flags for that night. I rode a wonderful roan horse named Rooster. He was a great horse, just needed a little more gas! It was so incredible carrying flags at the DNCFR! It just felt so surreal. I had watched girls do it when I was younger and always thought how cool it would be to have the chance to be part of something so great; I was there living out those thoughts! Thursday night went well and we headed back to get some rest before Friday.

Friday morning started out once again with getting ready and great breakfast at the hotel. Our activity for the day was my favorite on the trip. We were having a Shoot Out competition! A local skeet shooting range was hosting us and allowed for all the queens and any of the cowboys that wanted to, to come out and shoot guns. We started with practice before we went on to the actual competition. I have never shot at clay pigeons before so was very shocked when I got the first three in a row! After practice they broke us up into teams.

I was with Brooke and two cowboys. I thought our team looked like we would do pretty well. The rest of my team, well, they did their part! Me on the other hand, I only ended up hitting one! I did so well in practice I couldn’t believe it! I shot some more that didn’t count and I ended up getting 5 out 6! I guess the pressure must have gotten to me. But we all had so much fun. It was great to have a relaxing atmosphere and just have fun with the other queens and the cowboys. 

Our next stop was lunch at Pop’s. Now when I first heard that we would be eating lunch at “Pop’s” I assumed it would be a diner, like Ma and Pop’s type of place. Well I was wrong about that! It wasn’t Pop’s like grandpa, it was Pop’s like soda pop! The restaurant was so neat. It had different kinds of glass pop bottles all over the place! And when you ordered your ‘pop’ you could add all different flavors to it. For example you could get a raspberry rootbeer if you liked. 

So we had a great lunch there and the people riding in the rodeo for that night headed off to practice and assign flags. The rest of the girls that rodeo on Thursday night split into groups to do autograph signing at different Wal-Marts again. After signing autographs we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the rodeo that night. Since I had rode in the performance Thursday night it was the other group’s turn to ride and the other girls and I got to enjoy the rodeo from the stands and do some shopping. It was great to cheer on the cowboys from the Great Lakes Circuit!

Saturday morning we got to sleep in a little bit. We had our usual morning meeting and then split into our group for the day to sign autographs. I was in the group that would be heading to the museum again. We had the chance to sign pictures for people that were visiting the museum that day and promote the rodeo for the weekend.

After the signing we went over to the rodeo. The girls that rode Friday night rode again Saturday afternoon. After the rodeo we went back to the hotel to get ready for the performance Saturday night and supper. We had supper at On the Boarder; it was a great time with all of us laughing and joking together! I was riding that night at the rodeo so once we got there and greeted people for a while we went on got on our horses. It was so great being able to carry flags again; it’s such an adrenaline rush!

Sunday morning was started with us packing up our things, our meeting and who would like to go, heading off to Cowboy Church. I was so glad I decided to go. It was put on by Susie McEntire and her husband. She looked and sounded so much like her sister Reba. They put on such a great service! I also had a chance to meet Clyde and Elsie Frost, Lane Frost’s parents. 

After Cowboy Church we headed over to get ready for the rodeo. I had a chance to ride again and carry flags on Sunday afternoon. Once the performance was over Brooke, Alyssa and I loaded up in the van for the ride home. We left that afternoon and hoped to miss the storms that we were hearing about. We made it to Olathe to drop off Alyssa and the rain started. Not long after we got out of Kansas City the rain got a lot harder and the lightening started! It was a beautiful storm; one that I would love to sit on a porch and watch but not be driving in. It slowed us down a little bit but we were still able to keep heading home. We rolled into Ames about midnight, unloaded the van and crashed for the night. It was an amazing trip to Oklahoma and it got me very excited for all of my travels this summer!