bull riders, a clown and a cowboy poet

February 20, 2010- In addition to cowboys and Indians, Pecos' current obsession is Professional Bull Riding (PBR). He's always enjoyed a rodeo but after watching a few episodes of PBR on tv he was hooked. He even has a toy bucking bull arena set that stays in his room. He plays with it EVERY day. And after watching an episode on tv he goes directly to his room to re-enact everything he just saw including riders, bull names, scores and injuries.

So you can imagine the excitement when back in November we purchased tickets to see it live in Arlington at Cowboy Stadium. We watched the PBR World Finals on tv which were broadcast from Las Vegas. And at every possible moment it was mentioned that they were in Las Vegas. When we told Pecos we were going to see the PBR he was so excited that we would be "going to Las Vegas!!" of course!

Turns out this event was only days after Pecos was released from the hospital following his accident. When he was released the doctors said it would be fine to take him to PBR and to just be sensible about how much we did....in other words, if he gets tired then call it quits.

Our good friends, the Walber's- and Pecos' best buddy Jace, were also planning to attend and were even able to get us all seats together as part of an invitation they had from RFD-TV. We somehow managed to get our vehicle into the parking lot that most of the PBR staff and riders were using. Within 10 minutes of arriving we saw J.B. Mauney who happens to be one of the top riders. J.B. was late for an appearance in the fan zone but was nice enough to pause for a photo. At that point Pecos was so excited I think we could have gone home and he would have been just fine with that. Following that thrill we started to make our way to the fan zone and en route saw Renato Nunes. Pecos says he's "the one who does the back flip". Pecos and Jace were both excited to see him.
Over in the fan zone we stood in line for a very long time hoping to meet another of Pecos' favorite riders- Kody Lostroh. But Kody had to leave for another appearance and we saw Brian Canter and Flint the clown instead. But that was okay, Pecos likes them too.

After that we made our way back to the parking lot before heading inside the stadium and ran into Skeeter Kingsolver. Now this rider is a recent favorite for Pecos. A few weeks before this PBR extravaganza in Arlington we were able to attend a smaller PBR event in San Antonio in conjunction with NCBA convention. It was at this event that Pecos took notice of Skeeter and then started paying more attention to him on the various PBR recordings we have. If the thrill of J.B. Mauney wasn't enough this one nearly sent him over the edge. Skeeter was such a nice guy and genuinely thankful that Pecos was such a big fan. He told Pecos he liked his bull riding belt buckle and told him he'd be riding Pinball Wizard in the first round....you've got it- now when Pecos plays PBR at home Skeeter always rides Pinball Wizard. I kind of think they have the same expression in this photo.

In addition to PBR, Pecos is a big fan of Red Stegall and his show "In the Bunkhouse" on RFD-TV. So imagine the joy when Pecos saw Red walking through the crowd over in the fan zone. Cowboy Stadium is unbelievable. I can't even describe it. But I can say the enormous HD-TV screen is as good as they say and then some. The biggest disappointment was the volume of the event- extremely LOUD. At first I thought it was just me in my old age but when stadium staff started walking the concourse area distributing ear plugs I knew I wasn't alone! Thank goodness they had them because I don't think Pecos would have been able to enjoy very much of the performance without them.

Needless to say, this experience at PBR was above and beyond for Pecos getting to meet so many of his heroes. I don't know if there is a fan zone to meet the riders at other PBR events. And of course Pecos will expect this level of interaction with the bull riders if we ever go again so maybe we should just end it on a good note and not attend any more!