The End of the Fourth Run

On Wednesday evening, after our adventures through Yellowstone, we decided to make camp in Jackson, Wyoming.  We had a long day of exploring and we were pretty exhausted by the time we made it to the arena. We wish it would've been daylight, because everyone says how beautiful Jackson Hole is.

On Thursday morning, we headed out pretty early.  We stopped in Alpine, WY at Yankee Doodle Cafe for an early lunch.  Everyone had been telling me about the special "fry sauce" that is unique to the northwest.  Without even knowing, the special sauce came accompanied by my lunch.  It was pretty great.  Needless to say, I am a fan!

Along the route to Oakley, UT we stopped in Evanston at the Martin Ranch.  Ace and the Martin kids ran a few calves.  It was neat watching them all and watching Ace give some tips on how to shave off a little time for a quicker run.  It made for a pretty quick practice and we were back on the road to Oakley, UT.

Ace was first out in Oakley and tied his calf in 8.9 seconds.  Being first out gave him a little disadvantage with the barrier and he ended up splitting ninth place.

Click HERE to watch Ace's run at Oakley

That evening, we headed to Pleasant Grove, UT to stay the night at the fairgrounds.  Mexico was pretty excited to have a huge pen to himself and Ace and I were pretty excited to have water and electricity available to us!

On Friday morning, the Fourth of July, we began our travels to Window Rock, AZ.  I logged about 3 hours of driving the rig and even successfully pulled up to a gas pump.  I must say, for not driving something that big ever I think I did a pretty good job for my second shift of driving! Once we got close to our destination, there were so many cattle and horses on the open road and the scenery was very different than Utah. 

Ace and Mexico had a great start in Window Rock, but Ace's jerk line wrapped around Mexico's foot causing him to drag the calf when Ace started tying. The result was a 10 second run and an 8th place finish. 

Click HERE to see Ace's run at Window Rock

On our drive to Prescott, AZ we saw so many fireworks along the interstate.  We hope everyone had a safe Fourth of July! 

We made it to Prescott at about 1am on Saturday morning.  We got Mexico situated in a pen and we both crashed pretty fast.  At 10am, Ace got up to go tie calves.  I decided to surprise him and get the trailer nice and clean.  Amongst all the dust and dirt that accumulates in the trailer, I feel bad when I can't manage to clean up all my long blonde hairs!  I took the rugs outside and swept up all the mess. Ten minutes later, it starts raining... just my luck!  Ace returned to the trailer with muddy boots, but we managed to keep it clean enough!

Ace ran his first calf in the afternoon perf.  He drew a really huge calf and was relatively satisfied with just getting him flanked!  His 14.2 second run was too long to place, but he was hoping to draw better for the second perf.

Click HERE to watch Ace's first run at Prescott

In between the afternoon and evening perfs, the weather cleared up just enough.  We went into Prescott and Ace decided he wanted to play a quick round of golf.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I know absolutely NOTHING about golf and have really never played golf, besides putt-putt.  I told him that I would drive the cart and he convinced me to "practice" short shots and putting with him.  

We got back to the fairgrounds and had dinner at the hospitality tent.  We started getting ready for the perf and headed up to arena.  Ace and Mexico were off cue at the start and broke the barrier.  He tied his second calf in 11.1 seconds, with a 10 second penalty added resulting in 21.1 seconds. 

Click HERE to watch Ace's second run at Prescott

On Sunday, we left Prescott, AZ and were heading to Casper, WY.  Along the route, we stopped in Flagstaff, AZ to have lunch with my friend, Shalice, and her little family.  I was so happy to finally meet her husband and her little boy!  We drove to Moab, AZ and decided to make the rest of the trip on Monday. 

Monday morning we got an early start on our daily travels.  We grabbed breakfast and left Moab, UT.  Ace and I had a game of Yahtzee going on the entire drive (I'm currently the reigning champ!).  As we neared Casper, WY we decided to stop at Independence Rock.  We hiked to the top and were fascinated with the view from above.  We were even moreso fascinated with all the names carved on the rock from travelers from many decades ago.  The route down from the rock was a little challenging, but thankfully we made it down alive! 

We made it to Casper, WY around 7pm yesterday evening.  We built Mexico a pen by the trailer and headed into town for a quick game of basketball.  Ace is up this afternoon in the perf, so we are out and about running some errands!