Flaming Tires

Hello everyone… seems like we’ve been gone so long, but it’s actually only been a week. I’m happy to report the roping has finally picked up and Hunter is roping like a champ again!! We left out last Wednesday, the 17th with Ryan Jarrett. Houston was pretty excited because were in the “big truck”, RJ drives one of those international semis and he loves it. Anyway after much packing we were finally off to North Platte, NE, where we were up the next morning. We hit some pretty bad weather along the way but managed to swing around it thankfully. The next morning (18th) Hunter and RJ roped both calves and both did really good. Hunter was 9.1 and 10.5 and was good enough to win second in the whole thing right behind RJ. After we roped we got back on the road to go to Cedar City, UT about an 840 mile trip. We stopped in Evanston, WY for the night and it was about 45 degrees, needless to say we weren’t in Oklahoma anymore. The next day we stopped at Clint and Robin Robinsons house in Spanish Fork, UT to rope a few calves before Cedar City. Unfortunately it didn’t go as planned and both Hunter and RJ missed their calves there. It was a short night and early morning as we were off to Reno the next day, (20th) as we pulled in we could barely contain Houston because he had been waiting on that day for quite awhile. It was “Riley Day”. Come to find out she and her new baby sister were napping so H would have to wait till later that night to see her. Hunter was up in slack before the performance that night and he was 14 on his first one. No good for the round or average, but in Hunter like fashion he came back that night with a blazing 7.8, almost a whole second in the lead. And Houston got to see Riley and they were so happy it was hilarious. They giggled and played and hugged all night and finally had to say goodbye. Of course we had to tell them a million times they’d see each other soon. Houston didn’t pout long because we got to stay in a hotel that night and went swimming the next day. We had a pretty big scare later that day, we were getting ready for lunch and I had just gotten out of the shower, H was watching cartoons and Hunter needed to go downstairs to grab us some stuff. Hunter walked out of the room, and I was blow drying my hair and H decided to follow Hunter out the door. Well I got done drying my hair and walked in to talk to H and he was nowhere to be found. My heart was racing and I just knew he had caught the elevator down by himself. I ran out of the room, thankfully flipped the latch so I wouldn’t be locked out, but the funny part is I was only wearing panties. I was so frantic I forgot I didn’t have a shirt on. Sure enough H was standing down at the end of the hall crying for his daddy. I’m sure the hotel security got a kick out of me running down the hall to save my poor baby. I’m telling you H has a way a finding trouble or vice versa because as we were checking out and heading out to meet the rest of our crew Houston got stuck on the revolving door and some couple had to pick him up and ride out with him. We managed to make it the rest of the night problem free and headed back to Spanish Fork later that night after Clint roped. We have spent Monday through today relaxing and roping. The guys left yesterday morning at 5:45 a.m. and headed for Ponoka, AB in Canada. They made it safely but had some trouble along the way…they were almost to Great Falls, MT and realized that one of the tires on the trailer had caught on fire. They got the rig stopped and put it out with a mini fire extinguisher. I’m sure it was quite a sight, 3 cowboys on the side of the road with one extra crispy tire. They all roped this morning, Clint was a 10 and his calf got up, RJ was also a 10 and Hunter was 7.5. They rope again tonight but the rounds won’t be over for a few days, so it’s not definite just yet!! Robyn, Houston and I will stay here until Sunday, then we’ll meet RJ in Salt Lake (he made the short round in Reno and is catching a ride back) and then we’ll head on to Greeley, CO.
Happy Trails until next time, we love and miss you all!!!!!!! Hunter, Ashley and Houston Herrin