2023 Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon Reegan Bills!
The month of May wasn't as busy as some coming up, but I definitely had stuff to do.
First off, Mom and I took the long road to Pendleton for the Pendleton Cattle Barons. We arrived at Motel 6 pretty late at night. The next day Zoe, Morgan and I spent the day selling raffle tickets for the Cattle Barons Scholarship program. We also took pictures in the legendary Pendleton green mile and played tag in it! We're probably the only rodeo queens who can truthful say we did that. It was also really cool to see the cow horse exhibitions! Later that day we three Oregon girls went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. We also got to sell tickets to the ranch rodeo that night. During the rodeo we got to toss swag to the audience. Turns out I have a decent throwing arm.
The next day at the Pendleton Cattle Barons we sold a lot more raffle tickets. I sold 66 in two days! If I thought the cow horse exhibitions were cool, oh man, it couldn't prepare me for the cattle dogs. It was so awesome! We also got to judge the BBQ competition. It was all so delicious! There was also an auction where the horses and dogs we saw earlier were sold. Then we got to have dinner with the Pendleton court. They are all so generous and nice. It was great to spend some time with them.
I also got to go to mom's childhood hometown for the Linn County Lamb and Wool Fair in Scio, Oregon. My flower pack had its maiden voyage in the parade which was a lot of fun. But the best part of the day was watching my little brother shine in the pet show. Before the show, however, we had to get Fletcher and his dog Scrubby ready. For the show there was an option to dress up in costume. Fletcher dressed up as Asher and Scrubby as Pikachu. Scrubby didn't even mind too much that we spray painted her yellow. We then drove to the show. Scrubby and Fletcher had been practicing their agility course for a week to prepare. They went up on stage and performed for the judges and got Best in Show! I may have cried a little. Ok, a lot. They did so good!
The following weekend I had my first rodeo of the season, the Spray Rodeo! It was a five hour long drive to get there but it was definitely worth it. The first morning I got to ride in the parade and that night was the rodeo itself. I got to do a hot lap for grand entry. JJ Harrison, the rodeo clown, zip lined in with the American flag. Then during the National Anthem a lot of Fireworks were set off. I was nervous about what my horse Rocket would do, but he was an absolute champ. Mom and dad got to chat with friends from college who they haven't seen for 20 years. As they were chatting, the heavens opened up. It started POURING DOWN RAIN. My wonderful purple hat was not impressed, so we ran back to the LQ.
The next day was pretty much the same except there was no parade or rain. The truly wonderful thing that day was the drive home. Only thirty minutes out of our way was the Painted Hills. It was so cool to have a photo shoot in front of them. Also on the way home we stopped by Walgreens for road trip snacks and to let Rocket stretch his legs in the parking lot. Dad led him around the trailer. Rocket was probably thinking that we take him some weird places, which we do. Shortly after that we were driving again and I fell asleep, which concluded the excitement for the month.
Joyfully yours,
Junior Miss Rodeo Oregon Reegan Bills
