7/19/16 Mark was the rodeo driver for
the Tuesday rodeo to Washington Iowa. He has made many trips to Washington
Iowa, more than he ever cared too, in being part of the Biodeisel board. Today there
were heavy storms and flash flood warnings in southern Iowa, but Washington was
still under drought conditions. Mark, Jake, and Jayden headed down the road for the 3 hour
drive. I watched the radar and weather channel showing tornado watches
and warnings. While in route, Jayden called and said rain came down hard in
Washington and the rodeo got cancelled. They made it an hour and a half and
had to turn around. They did stop for some good ice cream. A long haul to turn around and go back. That is just part of the rodeo road.
Wednesday the heat came on with temps in the 90’s and humidity. It was just the start of many hot steamy days ahead. We all
were up early in the morning with plans to get a lot done for the day. It didn’t matter that it was early,
it was already hot and humid outside. Jayden and Jacob cleaned stalls. Then
Jacob mowed the yard. At 10AM Jayden gave riding lessons to the two little
Spencer girls. Right after we grabbed a quick sandwich, then Morgan came. Morgan Nelson
stayed with us from Wed until Sunday morning while her parents were on a trip.
They asked if she could stay with us. It was a good week
for her to come as we didn’t have a ton going on. She rodeos with Jayden and runs IRCA too. She needed to bring her horse to compete in the Thursday Lenox
rodeo. We thought her parents are very trusting to have her and her horse stay
with us and for that long. We really haven’t known them all that long or all
that well. Morgan is 11 years old and very sweet and mature. She admires Jayden
and was her little side kick the whole weekend. It was like the little sister
Jayden never had. They even look alike with their blonde hair. Morgan blended right in with our family. She tagged along with Jayden. She took care of her horse and did her own chores. The girls rode horses and gave them baths. One day she went with Jayden to get ice cream, another with us to see Alivia show her calf at the fair. She went to church with us on Sunday, even borrowed a dress from jayden. She teased the boys like her own brothers. She has two younger brothers that are very onrey, so she can handle boys.On Thursday, I took Jayden all the way to her appointment in Des Moines with the chiropractor/holistic doctor. Morgan went along with us and we ate at Chik-fil-A and did some light shopping at Koh'l. That was a lot of driving for one day, but I had a longer drive that night. Mark and I drove the girls to their rodeo in Lenox, a little over 2 hour drive. It was miserable hot. I kept thinking, if Morgan were not along we would have drawn Jayden out of the rodeo. Both girls were entered and we were responsible for Morgan getting there. It was just way too hot. Too hot to be hauling horses down the road. Too hot for them to be competing. It had to be the hottest day of the summer. There were heat index warnings advising people to stay in. The heat index across the state would reach from 108 to 115. I was worried about the girls overheating. I was worried about the horeses, worried about them in the trailer. In fact, somebody told me a trick to try to help the horses in the trailer, add bags of ice to the sawdust. I bought big bags and mixed it into the saw dust, parked the trailer in the shade at home before loading. It was an evening rodeo, but it was so hot and sweat ran down you. We unloaded the horses, paid entries, got a bite to eat, then sat in lawn chairs until rodeo time. The two girls and their blonde hair could have passed for sisters. Morgan is Jayden's little side kick for sure. The girls were both up in the performance, which would help us get home earlier than if in slack. It was a rodeo that had a short-go on Saturday night. we didnt know what we would do or how it would all work out. What if Morgan made it back and not Jayden, or Jayden made it and not Morgan. We just decided to take it as it goes. Jayden knocked a barrel and Morgan just wasn't fast enough. When Morgan's horse ran home, it dodged hard left and she came out of the saddle. She had one foot caught in the opposite side with a rubber band holding her foot in. She was hung up. She had the saddle horn, but her whole body was hanging on the right. Her horse kept making circles trotting, then gaining speed. It was scary to see and finally the timer judge had to give her a shove back up onto the saddle. Morgan was pretty shook up when she came out and fighting back tears. It wasn't the best night for the girls, but they were in it together and both didn't make the short-go. It was a long late drive home. Mark gets so tired and grumpy driving home on the late nights.
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