Barrel Horse World

NFR 2005 - On a budget.

by DaveM
Dec. 9, 2005

If you didn't get to go to the NFR this year, follow me.

I left Kansas City Monday night on a package I bought online from Expedia.com for $498 (hotel, airfare and rental car) I arrived Tuesday and returned home Wednesday. Some people travel like this for a living.

Here's what it took . . . and what I saw.

NFR Ticket - $60 After turning down a $150 ticket from guy with a pierced nose, some nice lady saw my attempts and tapped me on the shoulder for an extra ticket outside the front gate. Her husband's cousin was left behind in Tuscon, AZ so I sat with them.

Car Rental - included an economy car in the package but I sprung for the extra $15 a day to get a car I could actually fit my hat and big head into. A PT Cruiser - convertible.

Food - Who has time to eat. . . I did breakfast twice and grabbed pizza's in the casino's. Three days, four beers and a bag of chips for the plane. (and some orange Tic Tacs)

Gambling - I walked past them all. Amazing fortitude. Besides, the only one I know how to do is the slot machines . . . and even these were too complicated.

Trailer Dealers were first on my list to visit. Roe Patterson, owner of TMP Outwest - surrounded by ropers and roper wannabe's. Roe has put more NFR cowboys in trailers than any other dealer I know.	I also met one of our famous sponsors OXY-GEN and gave them the BHW flyer about barrel horse breeding by Tanya Randall. KiKi and Sharon Roberts are shown here studying the article you guys started on the board and Tanya wrote and I copied and passed out at the rodeo and in dark alleys . .pssst hey buddy, wanna know the inside scoop on barrel breeding? There were hundreds of these floating around.	The NFR is quite a show. Everything it geared toward the cowboy. EVERY thing.
Got there early and found a spare ticket.	Did I mention EVERYthing is geared toward the cowboy? Jack Daniels tent right by the entrance of Thomas & Mack kept their customers entertained while they served shots.	This gal had just been next door at the Jack Daniels tent. This is what a little "Black Jack" will do for ya.
Same girl that was riding the bull pictured next to her brave husband, who held her drink and told me he's never leaving Nebraska again - with her.	It was time to sit down and I met my neighbors of course. 1st timers from Oregon. Mom came too. Their mom . . not mine.	The arena was empty so I walked back out in the concourse to meet more people.
Two barrel racing fans! And their DAD. Wait whats in his bag?	My kind of guy. He was sneaking in his girlfriend. (see top of bag)	Got back to my seat for the start of the rodeo - Vegas Style. The music was pounding and never stopped.

I was up in the nose bleed section but my telephoto lens made it to the action - blurred but ok.	Can you name these finalists?
	So here it was for the night I was there. Tuesday Go Around. FUN STUFF.	Two girls behind me. . . . thought I had a big camera.
I'm driving back to my hotel after the rodeo. . People have been known to drive drunk, see the Statue of Liberty and drive for hours to get to Manhattan. They are found sleeping in their cars in the middle of the desert.	More through the windshield pictures as I click and drive. Very dangerous. I nearly hit the guy in front of me with my PT Cruiser.)	This was the view from my hotel room. I could actually see expensive hotels from my window. (Yes that says Caesar's Palace)
This is the lobby of my hotel. It was like this 24 hours a day.	After the rodeo I thought the show was over. Wrong. Cowboy Christmas is shopping at it's best.	Many of the vendors sponsor cowboys and get them to sit at their booths. Some vendors even give them trailers. Here you see a fan, Roe Patterson from TMP Outwest and his roping buddy Kory Koontz.

This guy was "Tryan" to get Kory's autograph. Get it? (The red shirted guy is actually fellow roper Clay Tryan)	Molly Powell - Signing an autograph for my daughter. Young Chani Payne is next to her and interesting enough - Molly's riding Chani's horse at the NFR. More on that later!	Todd Patton - From Central Arkansas Trailer Sales on left and Randy Bloomer on right. Joe Beaver in the center. (Joe qualified for the NFR 20 times in case you've been living in a cave - and if you have . . . watch where you step. That's my foot you're standing on.)
Cowboys stare and cowgirls get autographs of the barrel racing elite.	Perfect timing for the Perfect Bit. Darren & wife Owala Stoner doing their bit for the NFR	Martha is now promoting safe riding with Troxel Helmets. She's a sharp marketer and a wise woman. Bull riders are starting to wear helmets too. It's just plain good sense.
	Last but certainly not least, I snuck this picture in without Gail knowing . . . just kidding. Actually I had taken off my glasses to shoot the picture of the Bull Riding girl and this tall drink of water pictured here - stepped unknowingly on my spectacles I had carefully laid on the stage before she showed up. She mistook my squinting as admiration and I was obliged to snap her photo so she could continue dancing and I could retrieve my shattered lenses from where her boot had been.

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