Kool Time in Kansas

Monday night we drove until about 2am and stayed at the arena in Laramie, WY.  Tuesday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the Chuckwagon.  So far, the Chuckwagon is home to my favorite breakfast that I've had on the rodeo road (besides when Ace cooks breakfast, since he has perfected it).  This breakfast melt it so simple...croissant, eggs, cheese, sausage, and tomato.... I'm hooked!!

While we were eating, we noticed the Oscar Meyer Wiener-mobile parked at a gas station across the road.  When I was little, the vehicle was in Halletsville, TX and I was able to take a quick tour and pictures with this hot-dog looking apparatus.  They got my info and sent me pictures of the vehicle and its transformation throughout the years, along with a Oscar Meyer Wiener whistle.  Seeing this brought back a pretty cool memory from my childhood!

On Tuesday we spent most of the day driving in the rain to our next destination:  Kansas.  This is our tenth state to visit this summer, logging approximately 12,000 miles.  We stopped at IHOP at about 10pm for breakfast-for-dinner.  We got to the fairgrounds in Abilene and made Mexico a pen before we went to sleep.

On Wednesday morning, we awoke to rain.  It's never fun to compete in the rain and muddy conditions, but it let up just enough during the slack to let Ace and Mexico make a really good run!  Ace tied his calf in 8.5 seconds and won second in the rodeo.

Click HERE to watch Ace in Abilene

After the morning slack, we went to lunch at Mr. K's Farmhouse, before heading to Hill City, KS for the perf that evening.

Since it was raining in the morning,  I didn't wash my hair before the slack.   I decided that since we had a few hours to drive that I should hop in the shower (in the horse trailer) while Ace drives.  Luckily, he was driving on the interstate so it was too rough in the trailer.  Definitely a first time experience, but why waste time?

Ace had mentioned that Kansas was not the most beautiful state and that the heat would remind me so much of home.  We followed a small storm all the way to Kansas and were in and out of showers the entire drive.  So far we have had rain and cool weather and Ace told me that Kansas is spoiling me.... I'll take it!

After the perf in Hill City, we headed to Dodge City to stay the night.  We made it to the muddy arena and Ace got Mexico situated for the night while I made our couch into a bed for Chase Tryan. 

They woke up on Thursday morning to watch the slack, while I stayed behind and did some work. In the afternoon we joined a few guys and went to the golf course.  Ace said he needed to get a game in before the tournament he played in on Friday. 

On Friday morning we headed to the golf tournament.  I dropped Ace off and ran some errands and made in back in time for the back nine.  After the tourney we took a quick nap before heading to Phillipsburg, KS for the evening perf. 

Ace wasn't able to handle his slack quite like he wanted, but was able to make a pretty good run and split 5th in the rodeo.

Click HERE to watch Ace's run in Phillipsburg

After the perf we headed back to Dodge City, since Ace was up on Saturday morning.  The calves at Dodge City came straight from Cheyenne and still didn't get tied, so any run under 14 seconds was pretty good.  He did good on his first calf and came back to the perf that night.  After the slack, we had a quick lunch and Ace went to play golf with some rodeo guys while I got my eyebrows waxed and got conned into a little shopping...

A little jewelry for me and mostly groceries for my cowboy! Ace placed in the perf Saturday night and made it back for the short round on Sunday. 

On Sunday we went to the Cowboy Church service held at the arena.  After church we went to the Dodge City Country Club.  Ace met a very nice man on Friday in the golf tournament who happened to offer for us to use his guest number at the club to have a relaxing time before the short round. 

I couldn't help but giggle as we started walking to the pool and I noticed that our towels matched his outfit and he looked like the Fourth of July! 

Mexico gave Ace a little trouble in the short round, but he was able to overcome it.  Ace won fifth in both rounds and ended up second in the average behind Cody Ohl.

Click HERE to watch Ace's runs at Dodge City

I'd have to say that Kansas has treated us very well!  And I'm still not quite sure what all the hype about the heat was....  ;)