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NTRWA'S 2004 NATIONAL
CONFERENCE
RESISTOL ARENA EXCURSION
by Carolyn Williamson
You haven’t really
experienced Texas until you’ve been to a rodeo. I’m sorry I waited so
long to go. (I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.
The weather sure beats Michigan’s winters which last from November to
the end of April.) When NTRWA planned a trip to the Mesquite Rodeo the
day before the RWA®
National Conference in 2004, I just had to go.
Sonny Bryan’s Barbecue
meal of barbecued beef, sausage, potato salad, rodeo beans, rolls and
old fashioned peach cobbler at picnic tables set up next to the arena
was delicious. It hardly seems like a picnic in Texas unless there’s
barbecue beef and beans.
We were treated to a
tour of the horse and bull pens, complete with barnyard smells. Then it
was on to the arena to sit on wooden benches to watch the show.
Those brave or shall I
say reckless, men who vied to see who could stay the longest on a
bucking bronco or an onery bull didn’t last more than a few seconds, but
they got their moments of glory before being tossed to the dirt like
some pesky horsefly on the animal’s back. I’m sure it would be thrilling
to be bounced like that if I didn’t have to think about being dashed to
the ground any second.
It was fun to see how
fast a cowboy could lasso a calf, then jump to the ground and tie his
feet together. Some calves almost managed to get loose, but in the end,
all of them were subdued. Of course the cowboy who did it the fastest
won the prize.
During intermission I
perused the shop with souvenir hats, mugs, belts, and fancy belt buckles
for sale.
They had cowgirls too,
in the chuck wagon races. They had to maneuver their horses around the
arena so the wagons wouldn’t hit the walls and do it faster than anyone
else.
Kids could sign up for
the Mutton Bustin event. Eight were chosen at random to wear helmets and
see how long they could stay on a frisky sheep. All kids whose parents
would allow it could take part in the calf scramble, where they tried to
catch one of two calves running loose.
Now that I’ve been to a
rodeo, I can claim to be a real Texan even if I don’t eat chicken fried
steak and guzzle iced tea all year long. And pretty soon, I’ll be
hankering to go again.
The
NTRWA National Conference Excursion Packages were hugely successful. All
those attending had a great time.
NT
is planning more excursions when
the National Conference returns to Dallas in 2007. Send us an
email
if you'd like to be notified.
Championship Rodeo . . .
BRONC BUSTING . . .
BULL RIDING . . .
EIGHT SECONDS OF . . .
CHAMPIONSHIP FUN.
 More Dallas interests
Mesquite Rodeo
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