Traveling cowboys become rodeo's road warriors

While the series they compete with and the size of the buildings they compete in varies from night to night and week to week, there's always one constant for a rodeo cowboy.

The road.

For any rodeo athlete looking to make a living off of competitions -- or even for a casual competitor -- traveling is a must. Cowboys at the 15th Annual Show Me Center Championship Rodeo on Saturday said it's not uncommon to travel to two rodeos in the same weekend, and sometimes to four in a week.

Brandon Finley, a bull rider from Hernando, Miss., said he puts an average of 300,000 miles on his truck each year.

A typical weekend for Finley will take him to as many as three rodeos in three states.

"We went from Memphis to Statesville, Ga., then from Statesville to Asheville, N.C., then to Kentucky," Finley said of a recent two-week stretch.

Despite the driving, Finley, 21, said he can't imagine doing anything else.

"It doesn't really bother me," Finley said. "Going to rodeos is what I like. It's pretty exciting. If you stay at home a lot it's boring."

For 15-year veteran Daryl Matthews of Athens, Tenn., the road trips have become a sort of family trip. Matthews does much of his traveling with his wife and two young daughters.

"A lot of it is just the fact you're seeing a lot of the country and meeting a lot of new friends," Matthews said.

After competing in Saturday night's events in Cape Girardeau, Matthews will drive to Winston-Salem, N.C., for a rodeo today.

"You just get used to it," Matthews said of the travel.

And while the drive can get cumbersome, rodeo athletes have their own way of getting past the monotony of the road.

Cody Myers, 27, of Spiro, Okla., said he and his driving partner like to hit the links when time provides.

"We take a golf club with us and play golf whenever we get a chance," he said.

Other competitors say they just try not to think about the driving and focus on the next event.

"I just try not to let it bother me too much," Cody Johnson, 25, of Fox, Okla., said. "You can make it worse on yourself than it really is."

Johnson, who spends much of his winters working in his family business, said the traveling that comes with rodeos can be a type of release.

"It's pretty relaxing," he said.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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