Friday morning of the first performance of the Dayton, Iowa rodeo, I was up bright and early for a radio interview in Des Moines at 97.3 the Hawk with committee members Amy Rohe and Jim Heckman. We all had a fun time with Andy and Lindsay in studio and I finally got to see Lindsay's video of her dreams of becoming the Dayton Rodeo Queen. Also, while in the studio, I got the chance to meet rising country star Justin Moore and got to listen to him play live on air. That afternoon, I headed towards Fort Madison to begin the festivities for the Tri-State Rodeo.
Saturday morning I flipped pancakes for the pancake breakfast on the rodeo grounds, then made my way to the arena to help out at the Special Kids' Rodeo. I made several new friends and was impressed that they drew 182 participants! All of the volunteers and committee members who helped put on the event did a wonderful job.
That afternoon, I headed back north to attend the Dayton rodeo. I made it just in time for the performance and borrowed Shelby's horse, Tucker, to ride for the night. We rode in the grand entry and helped the Dayton Queens, Whitney and Erica, clear cattle out of the arena. Sunday night, I switched up horses and borrowed Roxy, a mare I used to own, from tie-down roper Skylar Moore. After both performances we made our way up "The Hill" to sign autographs.
Early Monday morning, Mom and I made our way back down to Fort Madison for the Lil' Spurs Rodeo. I had fun helping out and watching all of the pint-sized contestants and got to experience the "greased pig" for the first time. That night I got to judge the Little Miss Rodeo and All-Around Cowboy. All of the contestants were absolutely adorable and it was definitely the hardest pageant I've had to judge all year! Tuesday I spent the day at Lincoln Elementary talking to the kids and answering all of their questions about rodeo. 
That night I attended the committee dinner to kick off the rodeo and got to sit at the head table between Binion Cervi, the stock contractor, and Boyd Polhamus. Wednesday was back to school again, this time at Richardson Elementary. While I was there, Binion and Chase Cervi brought one of the pick-up horses for the kids to see and bullfighter Corey Wall was also on hand to talk to the kids. That night kicked off the first performance of the Tri-State rodeo. Miss Rodeo Illinois, Rebecca Kloker, and I were announced and watched from the arena as Bobby Reid landed his parachute in the arena with Old Glory flying. We spent the rest of the night running the sponsor flags and clearing cattle out of the arena. I headed to West Point Thursday morning with Shelby along for the final school visit of the week. That afternoon we went to Sunnybrook assisted living and visited with residents and a couple of horses were even brought in to visit as well. We then went to visit a new MRI sponsor, Quarry Creek, to sign autographs, sample some of their delicious elk and buffalo meat, and were interviewed on the radio. Afterwards we headed back up to the rodeo grounds for the second performance of the rodeo.
Friday morning started off early with the horsemanship competition for both the Miss Rodeo Iowa contestants as well as the Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa contestants. Blue and I set the pattern for the Miss Rodeo Iowa horsemanship and I must say I was quite proud of my little horse! After horsemanship, the contestants and judges went out to the B-Bar-T western store so the contestants could pick out an outfit to model in our fashion show and I did a little shopping of my own. Back in Ft. Madison, we had lunch at Hy-Vee and headed back to the Comfort Inn to prepare for Speeches. All of the girls did an excellent job and I got a chance to talk about my busy year. There was no time to waste when we finished because we had to hurry to dinner and then to the rodeo grounds for the rodeo performance.
We kicked off the last day of the rodeo with the parade in the morning. I was surprised at how many of the kids whose classrooms I had visited earlier in the week actually remembered not only my name, but also Blue's! After the parade we hurried back to the Comfort Inn to do one last run through of our fashion show and eat lunch from the Sub-Arena. Then it was time for a lil' fun and dancing as Shelby and I performed with all of the contestants and they answered their final impromptu questions. The scores were sent off and the final tally was made and our new Miss Rodeo Iowa, Jordanne Blair, was crowned with Hannah Hilsabeck being named her new Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa! Congratulations to all of the girls for all of the hard work and dedication they put into the pageant and hope to see all of them back next year! The final performance went very well, even though I was sad to think that this would be my last night as a queen at the Tri-State rodeo.
I would like to thank the rodeo committee for making me feel right at home in Fort Madison, it was great to see some of the same faces year after year. I also thank Jeff and Kelli for letting the blonde sister stay at the "Metcalf Motel". Finally, thank you to all of the Miss Rodeo Iowa board members for putting on such a wonderful pageant and for being so supportive of me throughout my year. This year has definitely been a wild ride!
Until next time, Happy Trails!
Lindsey
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