Are any Blogriculture/Capital Press readers going to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo?

I won't be here or making any posts next week. I'm taking some vacation time and heading off to Las Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

A couple of years ago I filed some blog posts from the NFR here on Blogriculture. I won't be doing that this year, but I may posts some updates via cellphone to my Twitter account.

My family has had NFR tickets for years, and I've been fortunate to utilize one of the tickets most years since about 1995. I'm pretty excited about this year, which is the 50th NFR. The rodeo performances are always spectacular.

I've found my tastes in rodeo have changed over the years. When I was younger I preferred the rough stock events. But as I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate the roping events more. And maybe it's because there are still a few guys in my age range competing in those events.

Even though this is a vacation, I still inevitably end up talking about Capital Press during the trip. That's probably because a lot of the people who are part of the tour group I go with are farmers and ranchers from Eastern Oregon, so agriculture is a common topic of conversation on the bus back and forth to the rodeo, or on the plane ride from Portland to Vegas. Sometimes the Capital Press even comes up with other people, like the time I was standing in line at a concession stand at the Thomas & Mack and a couple of guys behind me noticed my Capital Press shirt and asked me if I worked they. They said they were both subscribers, even though neither one of them lived in one of our 4 core coverage states. One was from Nevada and one was from Utah, if memory serves.

So, I won't be working next week, but I'll still be talking up farming, ranching, as well as roping and riding, with aggies here in the West.

I hope to see some of you in Vegas next week. I'll be one of the guys in the Capital Press caps with the tractor tread design.