C.M. Russel Stampede - Stanford

After having a short weekend break I was off once again to a rodeo, the C.M. Russel Stampede in Stanford Montana. I was very excited to go off to a new place where I had never been to before, and as an added bonus I would get to attend the rodeo with my comrade Lesli!!!! :)

My family and I hit the road early Saturday morning planning on getting there for the Stick Horse rodeo just before four o'clock in the afternoon. Everything was going as planned and we were on the road in no time at all. As we were chuggin down the road in our truck we heard a loud bang come our horse trailer. We pulled to the side of the road and found out that one of our trailer tires had blown out!!! My mom and dad went to work right away trying to figure out to get the spare on the trailer and if it hadn't been for a sincere nice elderly couple we might just still be stuck there!! This couple pulled up and lent a hand in helping. Without them my parents would not have been able to get the new tire on the trailer. I greatly appreciate them and their help!! So that was that we we're successfully back on the road and only a few minutes late now.

I called Lesli to inform her I would be a few minutes late to the Stick Horse Rodeo. As I continued to get ready in the truck I noticed smoke coming from the other side of a hill that we were soon approaching. As my dad kept driving people drove the opposite way trying to get us to turn around. For those of you who haven't seen our truck and trailer it's not something you can just turn around easily on a two lane road, so we kept on driving. As we went around the bend in the road all I saw was a line of about ten cars backed up and a horrible crash up ahead. Just then a life flight helicopter flew over head and landed in a near field. At that moment I got a horrible feeling in my stomach and noticed that everyone had the same look in their eyes, sadness. We waited in a line of semi's for about two hours and finally got re-routed. My heart goes out to all the family and friends of the people injured in that horrible accident. I jope and pray all is well. Unfortunately I missed the Stick Horse Rodeo, but luckily I made it safely to Stanford.
I arrived just in time to help out with the auction on Saturday night. It was a great auction and they raised a ton of money!! The next day I awoke early with Lesli to help with slack. I had a lot of fun and it was a great warm up for my horse. That day for the rodeo I carried two sponsor flags and pushed cows in the performance. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed it. I also got to experience something I had never seen before. WILD COW MILKING!!!!! It was so funny, yet very scary but at least I had a good laugh before I hit the road to head back home.

The rodeo comittee in Stanford were so so nice and really helpful while I was there. Mick Kirby was a great host and I want to thank him and everyone else. That's it for now, see you soon!!! :)

Happy Trails,
Sam