When you think about team roping head quarters the first place that pops up is Wickenburg, Arizona. I received a call to come be a hired gun for a big team roping back in early December. I couldn’t pass the opportunity up to mark another arena off of my list and to get away from the Colorado winter, little did I know it wasn’t going to be much warmer down south.
I always pack for the worst and really hope for the best, thankfully so. It was chilly in the mornings prepping our gear for the day. The clouds hung around the week so they didn’t give the sun much of a chance to heat us up. Then came the rain.
I shot the Legends Team Roping at the Wickenburg Fairgrounds. The people were friendly and if I’m being honest, life moved a little slower at the top of the hill. It rained me out on the last day of the arena I was covering. My papers were soaked. My make shift rain cover was starting to sag. I finally got everything packed up to head for cover. I had to stick around for winners photos so I sat with the car heater blasting for quite some time. Thankfully the rain let up in time for me to catch a smiling winning team and I busted out of there.
The team I get to work with at the team ropings are some of the most unique people I have met. The way of life down south is unlike the rodeo crowd I spend most of my time with. The crew is silly with a little bit of twang. We enjoyed evenings out in the booming town of Wickenburg watching the NFR and maybe a bar fight and some live music. It was never a dull moment.
We had a day off between roping events and we decided to visit the Granite Mountain Hot Shot Memorial. This was an emotional hike up a mountain reading about these incredible men who fought this fire. The hike was foggy so we didn’t get to see much of a view but it was nice to be out and stretch our legs before we went back to work.
I had a blast as always and can’t wait for my next trip to see this crazy crew in Florida and who knows what our next adventure will be.