Dear Wyoming:

Happy Valentine's Day!! Love is certainly in the air and as I travel around the state, I fall deeper in love with the great state of Wyoming!! This weekend, I had the opportunity to travel up to Gillette for the Winter Western Pro-Rodeo. What a trip!! My mom accompanied Louie and me and I greatly appreciated her help and companionship during the 8 hour drive!! 

We left Alta early on Friday morning in a snow storm. I have always liked to live on the wild side so we took a tour of Wyoming by going up through Thermopolis, Ten Sleep and Worland on our way to Gillette. I absolutely love that part of the state and we got to see a multitude of wildlife as we drove through the canyons!!

The funny part of our journey was when we decided that Louie needed a bath before arriving in Gillette... So my mom and I took him through a touch-less car wash in Worland. It was quite an adventure to begin with, but to add to it, we either didn't notice or didn't pay attention to the storm clouds that loomed ahead of us... Well, we got a few miles up the road with Louie looking nice and shiny and before we knew it, Louie was caked with mud and ice from the snow storm that we drove through! I guess we learned a valuable lesson: Don't wash the truck until we get to our destination!! 

The rodeo on Friday night was excellent!! I enjoyed riding a horse named Mick, owned by Hank and Lori Franzen, and I was honored to carry the American flag in the grand entry! I was joined by three other queens: Tashayla Storbeck, Wyoming High School Queen, Caitlyn DeNayer, Miss Rodeo Crook County and Laramie Noyce, Crook County Princess, and we had  a blast carrying sponsor flags and clearing cattle for the timed events! We also enjoyed watching some of Wyoming's finest cowboys and cowgirls compete on the great Wyoming stock provided by the Powder River Rodeo Company!!

My mom and I were able to stay with a friend of ours, Donna Ricks, who lives down the road in Moorcroft. Donna is a former 4-H leader and was our neighbor in Alta before she moved to Moorcroft. She lives on the Burch Rodeo Ranch and she gave us a tour of the operation which is run by her brother and nephew. It was cool to see what it takes to be a top stock contractor for the PRCA!

Donna also took us to see Devils Tower on Saturday morning!! My mom and I had never been to Devil's Tower so it was a great experience!! Especially since it was snowing like crazy!! We even walked all the way around the tower... trudging through the snow!! I took some great pictures and I will look back at this experience for a long time!!

I am grateful for the wonderful hospitality that we received in Gillette both from the Powder River Rodeo Company and the community of Gillette!! I look foreword to my next trip to that part of the state!! In the meantime... I am thinking warm weather and sunglasses as I gear up for my trip to Florida!!  

Until next time...

God Bless,

Erin Heffron

Miss Rodeo Wyoming 2010

Dear Wyoming:

It may be cold here in Rapid City, South Dakota, but we have been cooking up a storm at the Black Hills Stock Show!! I have been here in South Dakota for almost a week and we have been busy!!

We started the week off with the Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour Stop. It was two nights of action packed bull riding as we watched South Dakota native Clay Hindman win the event. It was fun to see the South Dakotan fans cheering on a hometown cowboy! I helped carry flags along with three other state queens, Miss Rodeo South Dakota (Mckenzie Haley), Miss Rodeo Iowa (Jordanne Blaire), and Miss Rodeo Virginia (Anita Moorehead). 

The rest of the week has been very eventful as we went from school visits and hospital tours to visiting Mt. Rushmore!! We even went to an indoor waterpark and splashed down the waterslides!! There are a total of 9 state queens here for the rodeo this weekend. South Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa are all represented by some great young ladies of rodeo! We have had a blast getting to know each other!!

Tonight was our first rodeo and it was very exciting!! It was Tough Enough To Wear Pink night so it was cool to see a sea of pink both in the arena and in the stands. The T.E.T.W.P. program is a great program that provides breast cancer awareness and research. With the help of the rodeo community, we have raised over 5 million dollars!!

We had the opportunity to carry flags after each event. My horse's name is Petey and he and I are good buddies!! The Sutton Rodeo Company supplies each of us with great horses and has provided us with rooms to stay for the week! During the rodeo we got to watch great competitors like Jason Havens and Taos Muncy and we were entertained by the one and only Keith Isley. It was a great rodeo and I look foreword to a fun filled weekend at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo!!!

Cheers!

Erin Heffron

Miss Rodeo Wyoming 2010