Cowboy Christmas Lights Up

Photo: Bull rider, Bobby Welsh is one of Wyoming Travel & Tourism's sponsored cowboys

There’ve been some strong moves by Wyoming rodeo contestants spurring their way toward, and within, the top 15 spots and the chance at a national finals slot. The Greeley Stampede rodeo begins tomorrow and while it is the largest Fourth of July (Cowboy Christmas) payday the money really starts to help with the Reno Rodeo just completed last weekend.

Chet Johnson, a saddle bronc rider from Gillette, WY won Reno and $9,500 to vault into the #12 position with total earnings of nearly $26,000 so far this year.

Reno saw good outings from Mills, WY bareback rider Kelly Timberman who is now #2 in the world standings. Brandie Halls, a barrel racer from Carpenter, also left Reno with money in her pocket and upward mobility in the standings to #34. A barrel racer from Lusk, Andrea Clark, is within $600 of the top 15 in her event.

Luck seems to be turning for Casper team roper Jhett Johnson (heeler). He and his pard have picked up enough cash the last week or so to move Jhett just inside the top 50, at #49. Also in the top 50 and holding out hope for a big Cowboy Christmas is Lance Creek steer wrestler Jason Miller, currently 45th. Miller, like the rest of the Wyoming athletes, is busy on the cell phone horse trading and making the last-minute choices necessary on which rodeos to enter over the crucial next week. It’s all about the draw in this sport - and finding ways to get to the rodeos that pay the most. Remember, for those of you not familiar with rodeo, each contestant is charged an entry fee and they don’t get that money back unless they place high enough once the dust settles.

Wyoming bull riders Kanin Asay of Powell and Bobby Welsh of Gillette are 8th and 14th respectively. Both of those top pros, along with Gillette’s Cameron Castleberry, are going to compete in this weekend’s Dodge Xtreme Bulls tour event in Cody. The forty-man field also includes many of today’s best pro bull riders – B.J. Schumacher, Dustin Elliott, Cody Hancock and Zeb Lanham to name a few. You can check on seat availability by going to: http://www.codystampederodeo.com/ and clicking on “tickets.” The action starts at 6 p.m. this Saturday night (June 30). The show is being shot for broadcast nationally on ESPN, July 28. Announcing chores are being handled by Dan Miller and Donnie Gay. Miller, as previously noted here (June 1), fronts a nightly cowboy music revue in Cody. It’s a family hour of great music, poetry, and humor. I have to tip my balding pate to Dan. He’s worked hard to put this show together. Catch it when you can. Tickets at the door, nightly.

Douglas, Wyoming: Momentous moments in time

We’re getting ready to head up to Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo after a stop in Douglas. Mike and I are putting together a series of interview clips and video about the history of Douglas and are finding the town worthy of a lot of little known attributes. When it comes to Douglas and Converse County, Wyoming:

Did you know?

Sir Barton, the first Triple Crown Winner, was purchased by a Douglas doctor. The horse was put out to stud on a ranch near town and sired enough young ones that the bloodline remains active today. The tall, red, horse is immortalized by statue in a town park where his bones are interred. The local Jaycees could not get enough cash together for the statue for some time after Sir Barton’s passing and during that ten-year stretch the horse’s bones were kept in the basement of the town bakery. By the way their dinner rolls are superb. Ask for George and he’ll tell you all about Sir Barton. The service is really fast there. George calls the place Home Bakery and he and his wife have operated there for more than forty years. Me thinks “Homestretch” would be more in tune with its history.

You are most likely aware of our holding of Japanese Americans in camps around the country during WWII. We also had a number of POW camps for Europeans. German and Italian military captives were kept at a facility in Douglas where the men spent daylight hours doing ranch chores and other agricultural endeavors around the area. At night, three of the Italians painted their visions of the American West on several wall panels and in large murals. It’s clear the men were very talented artists but their views were built from Tim McCoy movies much more than their days toiling on Wyoming ranchlands. Preservation money is a little thin these days but a group of locals are trying to find a way to get the building spruced up and better suited for public tours. I didn’t even know European POWs of WWII were kept in this country let alone Wyoming. Douglas folks are pretty sure the building is the only one its kind left standing and functional. A community club uses it as a meeting spot.

Experts in Douglas describe it as a “going through” place because of the rich western heritage involving trails carrying freight and human cargo in the 1800s. You can learn all about those days at the Pioneer Museum on the grounds of the Wyoming State Fair. Some might also call Douglas a “getting caught” place. The notorious Charlie Starkweather and his girlfriend were captured there in the late 1950s after leaving a murderous trail across Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. The cold-blooded couple served as inspiration for a pair of motion pictures – Natural Born Killers and Badlands. All that they inspire in Douglas is disgust.

The Colorado Cannibal, Alfred Packer, was brought in from the range outside of Douglas. You can look up Packer on Google for details about his eating habits. Suffice it to say he grew to like his fellow man a bit too much – pass the Tabasco please. The canyon where Packer was caught was later named “Man Eater.”

2007 Summer Rodeo Season is Upon Us

The summer rodeo season is here and that makes a lot of us feel like winter blankets can go in the closet. A damp chill filled the air along with steady rain last night in Cody, Wyoming – home to the Cody Nite Rodeo and the Cody Stampede. The latter is one of the stalwarts of “Cowboy Christmas.” That’s the period from the last week of June through the Fourth of July when professional rodeo athletes cover thousands of miles sometimes competing at two different rodeos in a day. Most are in cars, pickups, and vans but those who can afford it jump a flight to make as many of the better paying rodeos as possible. It’s all about the draw in this sport so travel decisions, particularly for rough stock contestants, are based on the animals they’ve been allotted. Some cowboy has ridden almost all of the horses and bulls that will be sent out of the chutes in professional competition. There is constant cell phone chatter and texting amongst the cowboys trying to find out all they can about animals… “he’ll buck out big and go to the right….he hasn’t been spinnin’ like he used to….she’ll stay strong to the whistle.” Try your best to make a “Cowboy Christmas” rodeo. It’s when the most money can be made in the shortest period of time all summer so cowboy try is at a maximum. If you can get an angle to watch the parking lot behind the chutes you’ll also see a lot of dust kicked up by tires carrying cowboys and girls to the next rodeo.

Here in Cody we went to the Dan Miller Cowboy Music Revue last night and it is a really, great show (as Ed Sullivan used to say). Miller tells humorous stories on the history of the songs he and his band perform. Their versions of such gems as “Cowboy Sweetheart” and “Great American Cowboy” are precise, melodically brewed to perfection, and crowd-pleasing delights. Miller will look familiar to rodeo fans. He’s spent twenty years alongside Donnie Gay providing television coverage of rodeos from coast-to-coast. Dan is now back with Donnie doing the Dodge Xtreme Bulls events showing on ESPN. Cody will be hosting one of those events, June 30 – a first for Wyoming. If you get this way this summer be sure to see the Dan Miller show, evenings at 8 p.m. Dan basically rebuilt the interior of the old Cody Enterprise building himself and has the strong support of his wife and family. He handcrafted the stage on which he stands. The least we can do is watch him work on it.

Our Wyoming rodeo athletes sponsored by the state tourism office are hoping to gain some momentum heading into the heart of the season. Team roper Jhett Johnson of Casper feels like he’s found the right partner to carry through the year. Keven Daniel will be doing the heading work with Jhett on the heels. As you hit the road this summer you can’t miss Jhett. His horse trailer puts in 60,000 miles a year wrapped with beautiful Wyoming scenery and a family portrait. Gillette bull rider Bobby Welsh is on the edge of the Top 15, currently #17. Lance Creek’s Jason Miller is at #36 in steer wrestling and barrel racer Brandie Halls, of Carpenter WY, is in the #40 spot.

The 2004 world champion bareback rider, Kelly Timberman of Mills, is off to a big start in 2007. Kelly is in the #2 position and looking to close in on the top spot. Kanin Asay, a bull rider from Powell, holds strong at #7. And Andrea Clark of Lusk has nudged into the Top 15. She is holding that last hole in barrel racing going into June.