National Finals Rodeo...Take One (continued)

The Miss Rodeo America Pageant was being held at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, but there were events scattered around the city. One such event was a fashion show at Cashman Field, the large convention hall that was hosting Cowboy Christmas. Joanna was heading out there to support her friend Vanessa Owenby, Miss Rodeo Oregon, and so I caught a ride with her.

Looking over at her behind the wheel of the convertible, her blonde hair flying, I couldn't help but remember that the last time I saw Joanna was in Pendleton a couple months earlier. She had just taken a shower and came out of the bathroom in a small, white, hotel towel. The thought made me smile.

"What?" she said, glancing over.

"Huh? Nothing," I said.

"Mmm hmmm."

"How's Vanessa been doing?"

"Pretty good. She did great in horsemanship already," she said.

That didn't suprise me. I'd been watching Vanessa ride around rodeo arenas at full tilt on borrowed horses all summer. She was a good rider.

Only once did I ever see her take a tumble and that was only a couple weeks prior at an indoor rodeo in southern Oregon. She was on a borrowed horse again and when she was galloping along the arena fence and waving to the crowd, the horse was spooked by a flash and sent her flying. Anyone who thinks these rodeo queens are just pretty faces and tight Wranglers has never seen a girl get tossed ten feet into the dirt, land on their head, get up and fix their bent crown, grab a spooked horse and start riding again...all in front of a crowd of drunk rodeo fans. That's tough.

"Are they getting judged at the fashion show?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's part of their scoring."

We pulled into the Cashman Field, my press pass getting us right up near the door. Inside was a sprawl of booths. Rows and rows of cowboy this and cowgirl that. Saddles and tack, posters and calendars, ropes and piggin' strings, boots and hats. If it was cowboy, it was there.

The fashion show was deep in the heart of all this. On the stage, the girls were showing off western outfits, most of which were custom made for them.

It was no small undertaking to vie for the Miss Rodeo America crown. I knew Vanessa had thousands of dollars invested in outfits alone. The deep rust-brown, sueded-leather dress she had on now had probably cost around $500-600, her hat was easily another couple hundred and her boats about the same.

All the girls had similar investments. For an entire year they had all been travelling to rodeos in their home states, sometimes hitting as many as four in weekend. With every performance requiring a fresh change of clothes, that added up to a lot of Wranglers. Vanessa would travel loaded down with at least four pairs of jeans color-coordinated to each of her showy shirts, several pairs of boots, a couple of hats, her crown and sashes. And that was just her gettin' dirty clothes. The worst job in the world isn't fishing for crab or doing heavy construction, it's being the boyfriend, friend, Mom, or Dad of a rodeo queen. Who do you think carries all those clothes? Not to mention the tack, saddle and bag of beauty supplies.

The results of all the work were obvious up on the stage. These girls were beautiful. They modelled and answered a couple questions each. I was impressed by their poise. More impressed than I expected to be actually. I'm not sure what I expected, but what I found was a group of gorgeous, well-spoken young women.

When the fashion show was over, the girls were whisked off to sign autographs. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Vanessa before they darted away but I did get to talk to Jennifer Douglas, the reigning Miss Rodeo America. She had a rare bit of time off from the week's events so we sat down to chat for a while.

I had met Jennifer earlier out at the Thomas and Mack Center. I was there to get my credentials for NFR. We talked for a couple of minutes then I went down with her to the arena. They were rehearsing the Grand Entrance for the first performance.

It wasn't until we got to talk after the fashion show that I realized what a wonderful person Jennifer was. Some people are nice, others can act nice, but there are very few that just exude kindness. Jennifer is one of those people.

She told me a bit about her year. It was a long one. She had been across the country several times travelling from rodeo to rodeo without much of a break. I got to hear about wild boar hunting in Florida and the cute little cur dog the rodeo comittee out there tried to give her. She told me about Borger, Texas, where she grew up and how strange it was to have her own billboard there because the town was so proud.

It was nice to talk to her. It was like having a sister - a very beautiful sister. I honestly didn't want it end, but the time rolled by and we both had to go.

Joanna was still shopping and searching for bargains, so I caught a cab back to my hotel. I had won $10 on the first and only quarter I stuck in a slot earlier and that paid for my ride. Life was good.