Sue Ann awakens to see huge yellow brown eyes looking back at her. The pink tongue of her chocolate lab, Sable, lolls out of his mouth with great gobs of drool dripping from the tip. The steady thump, thump of his tailed asserts that he recognizes she is awake. She can't deceive him any longer. He sticks his nose deep into her covers, searching for her hand to give him a pet. Then a deep throaty `woof' echoes in the close quarters.

"Sable! Go away! It's too early." Sue Ann pushes away the big chocolate colored Labrador. He persists, nuzzling into the sleeping bag, looking for some love from her. She sticks her head out of the warmth of her bed to look around.

"Sable, it's way too early to be getting up. Do you really have to go out?" She asks the dog, knowing the answer.

She lies there for a minute looking around, not wanting to get up yet. She knows she really should but wants to put it off for just a little longer. She looks at the metal ceiling of her camper shell.

"It's cold Sable. I don't want to get up." She notices the drops of moisture overhead. She wonders if one will drip on her. She pulls the covers closer around her face in anticipation. She thinks about where she is and why she here. This was her decision; but was it really a wise one? She was in the rodeo last night. That was fun. She had a really good time. She snuggles a little deeper into her sleeping bag, looking for a little warmth to take with her when she decides to get up.

She continues to think about this decision to go on the road and rodeo. She's 18 and old enough to make the important decisions in her life. It was her life now.

Craig Colorado is a long way from her home in Montana. She could have found a job and stayed home like her best friend Peggy. All her life she has wanted to be a barrel racer. She has competed in Little Britches Rodeo since she was six years old. Then when she got to high school she competed in High School Rodeo for four years.

Turning her head to the side, she looks into two yellow-brown eyes, and asks, "Sable, did I win last night?" The heavy lab tail thumping, blinking eyes and his eager panting is her only answer.

"I s'pose you really need out, don't you?" Once again his reply is the same rapid thumping; just a little faster this time. Excitedly Sable turns around twice, wanting to be out; needing to be out.

Okay. I'll get up." Unzipping the sleeping bag she struggles to crawl out. She pushes back the heavy quilt on top and then opens the bag. Dressing is difficult. The space is so cramped between the bed and low ceiling of the camper shell that she bumps her head. Her bed is a piece of plywood fitted on top of a couple of two by fours across the bed of the pickup, covered with a piece of foam six inches thick. Her sleeping bag and a quilt, Mama made, are her bedding.

Her clothes are cold and feel damp. She shivers at the cold, clammy way they feel against her skin. The temperatures in the high Rocky Mountains can drop quite low at night, even in June. She hurries to get dressed, bumping her elbows and head several times. Sable squirms and wiggles in his eagerness to be out and going about his important dog business. He gets in the way as he begs for attention; hoping for a scratch behind the ear or a chance to give doggy kisses.

With everything on except her boots, Sue Ann rolls up her sleeping bag and foam pad; tying them with a piece of rope. She is shivering so badly from the cold, crisp air she can hardly tie the knot in the rope. She searches frantically for her coat, but can't find it. She remembers she left it in the cab of the truck last night. Wanting to be done in the camper and get her coat on, she hurries to puts everything in its place. She pulls on her stiff, cold boots and opens the door to the camper shell. Sable races to be the first one out; pushing roughly past her. The sun shines so bright she has to shield her eyes with her hand, but it hasn't warmed the morning yet.

. In the quiet of the early morning, the gravel of the parking lot crunches loudly beneath her boots as she steps from the bumper of the truck to the ground. She bends down to touch her toes stretching the tight muscles out of her back. A bladder screaming for relief hurries her into action. Grabbing her jacket from the front of the pickup, she slams the door, waking her mare. Chiquita sticks her head from the old, worn, wooden stall next to where the pickup and trailer are parked; she nickers at Sue Ann.

"You'll have to wait for your oats and hay for just a bit." Sue Ann tells her mare as she hurries towards the line of portable toilets left from the night before. Her barrel horse whinnies again; Sable is on the run. He circles several times; stopping now and then to cock his leg on a bush or a post. Then he finds a stick. Dropping it at Sue Ann's feet, he begs her to play his favorite game.

"You will have to wait too. I'll play fetch with you after I use the restroom." Sue Ann tells the big brown dog.

The sun is just peeking up over the top of the snow-capped mountain range to the east. Alternating fingers of scarlet red and flamingo pink streak upward across the crystal blue sky; spreading out like a giant fan, giving promise to a nice day in western Colorado. A few white cotton ball clouds dot the sky to the west. She pulls her jacket closer and takes a deep breath of the clean, crisp mountain air as she rushes toward the line of portable 'johns'.

The parking lot is quiet now and almost totally deserted. Only her old red Ford with her two horse trailer attached to it and one other outfit remain. Across the parking lot is a new model Chevy four-door pickup with a nice cab-over camper and a larger four horse trailer with a dressing room.

As she walks across the short distance to the potties, she remembers the crowd from the night before. She recalls the excitement of the spectators; the noise of the people as they pushed and wormed their way through the throngs to find seats, buy refreshments and wave at friends as they waited for the rodeo to begin. The livestock had been penned behind the bucking chutes. The rough stock riders had climbed on the fences looking for the animal they had drawn. While others sat on the top rail for the best vantage point. Now the lot is littered with empty beer cans and trash is scattered everywhere. The noise is replaced with silence. The trash barrels are over filled and raining their excess onto the ground.

She kicks the door of the port-a-potty before opening the door. Mama had taught her to always kick the door before you open it; `that runs the snakes out before you go in' Mama had told her. She had won the barrel racing completion the night before. Grinning she sighs and reminds herself she has to do it all again today.

There will be more traveling and another rodeo at the end of the day. That's the way the game is played; sometimes five rodeos in just three or four days. It's not easy. But if you want to be the world champion that's what you have to do. There's lots of traveling to get from one rodeo to the next; pulling a horse trailer; going without meals, sleeping in the camper, doing whatever it takes to become a world champion. That's her dream; to become a world champion barrel racer.

She promised Mama she would finish high school before she started traveling full time. So the day after graduation, she had loaded her barrel horse and her dog in her truck and trailer and began her journey towards her dream; the National Finals Rodeo held in...