And So it begins...Always remember to say Please and Thank you.

The summer rodeo run. An almost 20 week version of National Lampoons vacation, minus the making googoo eyes at Christie Brinkley while rolling down the highway and of course the Family Truckster.

Between Memorial Day weekend and the end of September I'll travel over 24,000 miles, Announce over 60 individual event performances, visit 100 or so "one Horse" towns, dozens of not so hot taco stands, and a few dive bars.

I'll sleep in 20 or so different hotels - some great, some not so great. I'll get to watch a suicide race, an ugly dog contest, a sheep dressing and a donkey demo derby. Not to mention hundreds of Americas best Cowboy and Cowgirl athletes doing their thing.

I'll learn some local history from Grand Marshals, get to console emotional mutton busters and offer life coaching services to a couple of sketchy rodeo entertainers. I'll get the stink eye from a few rodeo timers and judges, get scolded for mispronouncing somebody's kids name (buy a vowel for gods sake), and get a few hundred thank yous.

This is gonna sound corny but It's those thank yous that make it all worth while. You see we give up alot to be out here doing what we do. We give up our time with our families, we give up baseball games and graduations, and birthdays and family vacations. We give up control of our days and any quiet time. We eat bad food, sleep in lumpy beds and wear out tires and boots and expensive sound equipment. The Thank yous and fair treatment help make up for that.

Just to be clear, I'm not complaining. I love my job and I love the people I get to do it with and for. I get to sing the national Anthem every day. I get to stand in the shadows of my heroes while they do legendary things. I get to be a "big deal" for a couple of hours every day. I am grateful and I am thankful for these things. Just know we're thinking about you even when you're not thinking about us. When we show up you'll get our best. Let's Rodeo!