Equestfest and the Rose Parade Jan 18!

If you didn't get a chance to watch Equestfest on Dec. 29 or the Rose Parade on Jan. 1, it will air on Monday January 18 at 8:00am (Equestfest) and 10:00am (Parade) on RFD TV.  Hope you all tune in!

We all made it home safely!

JoAnn, LeRoy and Tim made it home Sunday Jan. 3 in the afternoon.

Joe and Jon were leading the way in the semi and took very few breaks/stops.  John, Carol, Kennedy and Jonni had an awesome day.  They were busy posting on Sara's facebook page every 40 minutes, happy birthday Sara!! Mike, Adam, Daryl and Wes jammed out to tunes to enjoy the day.  We hit fog the last 100 miles, so not too bad for an 824 mile day. We arrived at Joe's at 11:15pm, unloaded and moved stuff to everyone's vehicles.  Where did all of this stuff come from?! John, Carol, Adam and Jonni crawled into bed about 2:15am after a warm shower with no flip flops.  Our own beds never felt so good!

Arlyn, Sandy, Missy and the 3 youngest W's stayed in Tucumcari, NM Saturday evening and Sunday stayed in Salina, KS.  They arrived home safely Monday Jan. 4 late afternoon.

Soon we'll all be back to school, work and our regular routines.  We definitely have some great stories to share and some wonderful memories were made on the trip!

Last travel day - we hope

On the road again for the final day of the trip. Slept in until 8:00 and back on the road a little after 9. 824 miles to go. Can't wait for our own beds and a shower that doesn't involve wearing flip flops and that you know is guaranteed to be warm. We can do this!!

Long Travel Day

Wow, really long travel day.  We were on the road about 5:45am (Jan 2) and just arrived in Dumas, TX at 12:15am (Jan. 3 - happy 40th birthday Sara!!!). About 912 miles.  The weather was great and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  Some of us stopped in Winslow, AZ and had to take a picture of that (Standing on a Corner in Winslow, AZ.....).

Parade Day, Behind the Scenes

The wagon was decorated with yellow roses at the Equestrian Center by the crew the afternoon of Dec. 31.  Jon, Tim and Joe delivered the wagon to the parade route and took pictures. The crew left the Equestrian Center at 9:30pm on Dec. 31. They arrived at the pit, which was a freeway below a viaduct, about 10:00 pm. They got a chance to walk through the float staging area.  It was crazy to see all of the folks celebrating New Year's as the floats began to arrive. As they walked back to the semi, they began to notice chairs, sleeping bags, air mattresses and people camping out to get their spots for the parade. After touring, they set up cots in the back of the semi. With all of the excitement and the horses pawing and kicking, they probably got an hour or less of sleep prior to the 4:00am wake-up call.  The crew watered the horses from water they brought with them in coolers.  Kennedy began braiding manes and Jonni foretops. They spruced up the horses one last time and harnessed them. At 6:21 they led the horses single file up over the interstate through some folks back yards, about 6 city blocks to the wagon.  Other horse units, such as the State Park Systems, Wells Fargo and the Calvary were all hitching up in this area. The crew hitched the horses to the wagon and waited for time to pass. Houston, Judith, their son Chris and his wife Jill and their children Catherine and Caroline arrived at 7:26.  They proceeded to the staging area, just prior to the chute. The chute area is where the bands, horse units and floats all come together. They waited until the South Dakota tourism float entered the chute.  They followed the SD float onto Colorado Boulevard.  Here it was coordinated chaos.  Everybody, including dogs, baby strollers, bikes, people selling programs, seating cushions and cotton candy were there.  They were blowing air horns and firing tons of questions at the crew. As the crew waited in this chaos, they knew it was show time, when they first could hear and then could see right up close, the Stealth Bomber. The fly-over indicated it was 8:00 am and time to start the parade.  The crew was amazing and held the horses who were very startled by the fly-over. They waited for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only 16 minutes, to start in the parade. But, right as scheduled, they moved forward. It seemed like there were a million people at the beginning of the route. They turned the corner, which is called media corner at about 8:22. There are not words to describe the number of people they seen in the miles ahead. Solid people from building front to building front, building tops and every parking lot had bleachers that were filled with people. Among all the noise makers, blow horns, kids throwing whipper snappers, people yelling and screaming, confetti cannons being shot at the crew and horses, the horses did great. They were forced to stop several times during the parade and were blaming the band that was ahead of them for the stops.  It wasn't until after the parade, that they found out the stops were due to floats breaking down.  The horses and crew did a wonderful job at staying calm during these stops. One of the biggest highlights was the crew's cheering section where over the crowd, they could hear grandma JoAnn screaming. And when they listened closer, they heard grandpa Rog cheering on Mike, Kennedy and crew. There were some sincere folks waving large US flags that made the crew feel really good. The walkers had a tough 5.5 miles, starting, stopping, walking up and down hills on the pavement and they kept up the entire time.  Daryl rode in the semi to the end of the parade route and as always, parked in a spot easily accessible and pointed in the right direction to easily escape the chaos. The entire crew was exhausted and began unhitching, undecorating and loading.  The White Suiters were the Tournament of Roses support crew and were extremely helpful throughout the entire parade, especially Brad and J.J. At the end, many White Suiters came up and expressed sincere gratitude for all of the work the Dakota Thunder crew did and the outstanding entry.  Many even told them they were one of the best entries in the parade and that made the crew feel pretty good. Even though the parade supporters were amazing, the support from back home and from our horse family can't be topped.  We can't begin to count the number of calls, texts and facebook messages.  Folks were viewing, recording, throwing parties and cheering us on. It was phenomenal!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone is tired

After the parade, we showered, packed, fed, watered, loaded and hit the road.  We stayed in Blythe, CA about 230 miles down the road.  Sandy and Arlyn made a scrumptious celebratory steak supper, yummmm. One of the neatest parts of the trip has been how appreciative the kids have been and here's one example, "man, Arlyn and Sandy have done so much for us this trip and this tops it off, we're so lucky!". We all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.  It took a little longer in the camper as Jon's bed kept falling apart. After quite a few laughs, it was fixed and we did the usual, "good night Jim Bob, good night Mary Ellen, good night John Boy......."

They made it!!

Wow, the boys drove great!! What a beautiful site!! Pictures and videos will be added to the blog in the next week.  If you want to view pictures or videos sooner, check out the Dakota Thunder Shires facebook page later today.  Congrats Houston, Joe and crew!!