With harvest wrapped up, we felt it would be nice to getaway for a night. It also happened to be the IRCA finals weekend. Jayden's friend Morgan had taken her horse Joker at the beginning of summer to tune up and ride. Morgan's horse had suffered an injury and she wasn't sure how much she would be competing on her horse. Joker had been in Iowa since December and wasn't getting much riding. The girls talked and it seemed like a win win for both of them. Jayden would have someone to get her horse in shape and tuned up and Morgan would have another horse to ride and compete on. Morgan is about the only person Jayden would trust her horse to. Morgan took him for the summer had been riding and competing with him. She has been doing great with him and we were told she would be running on him at finals. We thought it would be fun to watch her and support her. She chose her little grey mare Blueberry to compete on, who made a huge comeback after a full year off recovering from an injury. We were excited to see her run and cheer her on regardless. Making finals is a huge deal, she was holding on to one of the top positions going in. On the first night, however she knocked a barrel. Of course she was going for it all as anyone would. She was hoping to win the round, the day money, the finals, and the overall 2022 IRCA barrel champ. One knocked barrel and all those goals, and dreams are gone. It was hard, and it brought back all the could have, should have, would have runs Jayden made over the years. If only that barrel stayed up... she would have placed, she would have won, she would have.... I knew how Morgan felt. She has been on top for some many years, she hasn't experienced much at the opposite end. Her and Blueberry have won a tremendous number of rodeos, buckles, finals, and saddles. She has accomplished so much in her young years. At age 12 she was winning across the state and breaking arena records. She traveled out of state to qualify for the American, and competed in the Junior NFR in Vegas. Her and Blueberry were an amazing team. at the age of 18, she has had to watch Blueberry sit for a year not knowing if she could ever run again. She came back this rodeo season and in Blue fashion, she won her way to finals on top. I know this isn't how she wanted her year to end, but I reminded her how big a deal it was just to get that far! We also ran into Joe and Bubb the roping duo that we have known for years and watched compete many times. They are still going strong. While Morgan had Jayden's horse Joker, she took him to many barrel races and had some great runs. She did a little roping practice with him too. He caught the eye of a couple ladies, one asking 20,000, the other 25,000. It was a tough decision for Jayden to figure out what she wanted to do with Joker. She loves that horse, has had him since he was 3, and knows how hard it would be to replace him. She chose to keep him and have him hauled back down to TX. Morgan brought Joker back to us and I enjoyed some riding time before he was shipped through a hauler back to TX. Joker was so much fun to ride. He felt so good to ride, full of energy and ready to roll. You just put him in gear and he goes and goes. I enjoyed having a horse under the age of 17. Then I watched as he was loaded on a trailer and he made the trip back to his girl.
We booked a stay at the Black Hawk Hotel in Cedar Rapids. The Black Hawk Hotel is the second longest continuously operating hotel in the country and has undergone significant renovation and renaming since the dawn of Cedar Falls’ history in the early 1850’s. First known as The Winslow House (1853), the hotel began as a stagecoach hotel a half block from the town’s first mill race on the Cedar River. In 1858, the hotel was renamed The Western and the fourth floor was constructed. The Western served the community through the days of the Civil War. In the 1860’s, the hotel became The Carter House and was a successful hotel until it was destroyed by fire in the late 1870’s. The building was replaced by the four-story Second Empire architecture that stands today and reopened as The Davis House. By 1885, the ownership of the hotel was in the hands of the Burr family and it was renamed The Burr’s Hotel, which the family operated until the early 1900’s. In 1914, a group of investors hired Waterloo architect John Ralston to redesign the old structure into what it is today — a mix of Second Empire and Mission-style architecture — and The Black Hawk Hotel was born. The Black Hawk Hotel is now listed in the National Historic Register of Historic Places and was awarded the 2003 Redevelopment Investor Award among numerous other accolades and awards since that time. Mark is a big history buff, so loves staying in the older hotels. I enjoy them also and reading all the interesting history and seeing the details of woodwork to vintage. We woke up to cool temps of 50 and drizzly rain and headed home.
Comments