Well, it’s a wrap. Another successful Grande Prairie Stompede is in the books. My, how time flies by. Seems like we just pulled into Grande Prairie, but it’s been two weeks, and now we are 95 per cent packed up and ready to head out for home early in the AM.

I spent the morning tidying and packing our home on wheels while the kids and Rick did up all the chores. My famous cheese bun ham and egger was on the breakfast menu. It’s a big hit down the wagon trail. Sometimes I change it up with real bacon.

Our farrier showed up to work on a few more horses. We had the pleasure of having another little visitor at the barns today. Our veterinarians Lana and Ryan Delaney popped by for a quick visit. Their little daughter Ash was excited to meet all the horses, sit in the chuckwagon with Rick and get a poster and a sucker to boot. What a little cutie she was.

My afternoon consisted of tidying up all my last minute bills on my office desk and packing away the printer and supplies to get ready for the trip home. Before I knew it, 4 o’clock chore time was up on me again and it was back out to the barn to prepare for the night’s races as well as pack up all our barn belongings. The crew worked diligently and I believe this may be one of the fastest times in getting ready to go. Looks like we should pull out of town at a very decent hour tomorrow.

I look forward to driving, as this is very much my down time to just sit, reflect and be quiet with my thoughts. Seldom do I turn on the radio. I also never have a travelling partner with me, so I just have me time. I am such a busy person, always on the go doing something, so all the travelling we do in the summer is good for me. We put on approximately 5,000 kilometres in a season, which consists of travelling mostly all across Alberta but dipping into Saskatchewan and British Columbia as well.

Cody raced tonight in heat 4 and had an impressive winning run, taking home second on the day racing Ranger, Sporty, Air and Mike’s borrowed horse, Cash. Cody had the third-fastest time in the aggregate over the four days of racing, which should have qualified him for the final dash for cash. But unfortunately, the Western Chuckwagon Association voted that you must compete in half or more of the shows or you’re not able to run in the Final Dash for Cash and win the prize money. Cody is only going to two shows, so they seeded him in the fourth heat instead. We are so proud of how he drives and how well he performed here at the Stompede. He’s going to win many championships to come.

As for our hook tonight, we did pretty good, picking up a seventh place win. We had Nickel on Left Lead, Speedy on Right Lead, Law on Left Wheel and Sneakers on Right Wheel. Such a great outfit. They all work together very well. They started great and ran hard, giving us a seventh day money in our pocket. Ace and Andy went with Rory and Dustin once again. Thanks to these two guys—they keep everything clean, no penalties.

The four finalists in tonight’s dash were Chad Harden on 1, Darcy Flad on 2, Obrey Motowylo on 3 and Kurt Bensmiller on 4. It was an exciting race right from the get-go. Chad Harden led the whole way, wire to wire, but looked back for his outrider and he was just too far back to catch the wagon. The outriders have to be within 150 feet to be penalty-free for their wagon. Unfortunately, one of Chad’s outriders was late coming out of the barrels and Chad was assessed a 1-second penalty. A 1-second penalty doesn’t sound like much, but it can cost you a show. So when the dust all settled, the Obrey Motowylo camp came shining through as the Dash for Cash champion. Congrats to Team Motowylo!

It takes teamwork to do what we do, and Team 23 did it again…we completed the first show of the season. Great job, everyone!

Sorry, but I gotta go now. My eyes are starting to shut and I can’t concentrate very well. And I don’t want to fall off my chair as I did three years ago writing my blog when I was in Calgary.

So until next time….

There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either you need them to change your life or you’re the one who will change theirs.