Wichita PBR BFTS - Event Review, Part 2

There are days when the alarm clock goes off and your first thought is - didn't I just go to bed? It was time to get up and start a new PBR day. This was Saturday and the second and last day of the Wichita event. At every BFTS event the Riding High Ministries has a church service. When it's a three day event, the service is on Sunday. If the event is a two day starting on Friday, the service is on Saturday. Since going to PBR events, we have not missed one, because it's such a blessing. This time was no exception, no matter how tired we may think we are.

We got up, got dressed and headed down stairs to head to the service at the arena. We saw Travis and Jessie Briscoe in the elevator. I inquired about his knee, and as we were leaving the elevator to the lobby and out, it appeared they were going to walk the .4 miles to the arena, for the church service as well. Keep in mind, Travis just tore an ACL in his knee the night before. If it were me, I would be trying to find every excuse not to go anywhere, much less walk that far to church. I insisted that they ride with us. The conversation was good and the more I get to know Travis, the more I respect his ability and his faith.

Todd Pierce, who normally would be the pastor, was not there. There was a tag team effort by three riders, Josh Koschel, Jordan Hupp and Mike Lee. They were all three great, but Mike was the last, the longest and the best. He not only spoke from the heart, but I loved how he puts things in his (as he says) redneck way. He was funny, spoke the truth and it was inspiring.

We left the service, headed to Sams to get some more of Tammie's pictures developed. Then went to Sheplers for some autographs and to meet up with some of our PBR buddies. While we were at Sheplers, we had the pleasure to meet a PBR fan that we had not meet before, krazykat (again using sign on names to protect privacy). Krazykat, it was a pleasure meeting you and hopefully, the next time we are at an event at the same time, we will all have more time to spend together and get to know each other better. As I stated on my previous blog, the PBR faithful have the best people you could ever meet.

There was a group of eight of us that went to eat lunch, and I don't think the waiter knew what he was getting himself into. The place was noisy, and I think we doubled the decibels. We saw Ryan McConnel and Caleb Sanderson there and talked to both briefly, we didn't want to disturb their meal. Ryan McConnel did something real nice and thoughtful, and although I can't say what it was, all I will say is, THANKS again.

Well, Tammie and I left the table a few minutes early, so we could go to another signing that Flint was at. Tammie had some special pictures of Flint that she really wanted to get signed. We drove the few minutes over there and talked to Shane Proctor, Travis Briscoe and Flint. As I said in a previous blog, to me, Flint is one of the best parts of the PBR "show". We talked to Flint for quite a while, then it was back to Sams, pick up the pictures, and then back to the hotel for an hour, before we head to the arena. You would think an hour is plenty of time, but it is amazing how little time it is when you lay down on the bed and try to catch a sort nap.

We meet Twiggy and her other half downstairs, and along with Ben Jones we all rode together to the arena. We did our usual walk around the arena, went down to the fan zone, got some signatures and then back up to get a chicken strip basket and sit in our seats. I like to eat before the event starts, that way I don't have leave my seat when the event gets going. It only seemed like a short time had passed before the lights dimmed, the music was blaring and the riders were being introduced. It was another great night of bull riding that was about to begin.

This night belonged to the bulls. There were only 12 rides in the long round, and 3 rides in the short go. The highest scored ride in the long round was - Austin Meier, 88.75. Austin went into the short go with the highest combined score, after two rounds. In the short go the highest scored ride was -Guilherme Marchi, 90.50. However, Austin was able to keep pace and win the event with a score of 90.00. Marchi finished second and Dustin Elliott finished third.


Tammie has had a good camera for her pictures, but we recently purchased her a "new and improved" camera, to feed her picture taking habit/hobby. She is very excited about the camera and the picture quality and will be posting them on her Facebook page. We made our way to the arena fence to get a few more signatures. I am amazed at some people and their comments to riders, while they are signing souvenirs. One lady (well maybe lady is not the correct term) told one of the riders to sign her arm. She then said that she was going to have him sign her butt, but he can just sign her arm. Just earlier in the day, Mike Lee talked at the church service about the temptations that these guys face from the female fans and how difficult it is. This was a good case in point.

We left the arena, and headed back to the same restaurant that we all ate at the previous night. We arrived at 11:00 pm and the placed closed at midnight. For the second night in a row, we closed the place down. Do you think we let that stop us from having a good time? Absolutely not! Tammie and I, Sannpow and husband and Twiggy and other half, left the restaurant and headed to the hotel lobby. There were jokes, stories, reminiscing, and plenty of topics covered. It is great to be able to get around people that you have met, don't get to see that often, and shares laughs with. All of you are good people, have good hearts and are just fun to be around. The night, or should I say morning, finally came to an end, at 2:30 am. We went back up to the hotel room, got on the computer for a few minutes and finally turned out the lights. The next day was going to bring a long 7+ hour drive and heaven knows I need my beauty sleep (although no matter how much I sleep, it doesn't seem to help). The next BFTS event we are going to is Tulsa, but we are going to several Touring Pro events, so the PBR withdrawal will not be as painful.








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