Over Memorial Weekend, we hit Rock Bottom! Robert was the photographer at this year’s Rock Bottom Chuck Wagon Races held near Green Forest, AR. Little ‘ole me was his assistant. The weekend was packed full of events from Thursday through Sunday.
We certainly jumped out of our comfort zone with both feet. It’s one thing to go to an event and casually take photos, but it is a totally different deal to be solely responsible for the event photos. We were delighted for the opportunity, but Robert had one big fear…camera failure during the most critical event. Despite Robert’s fear, we decided to press on and prepare as best as we could.
Since we knew the terrain at Rock Bottom could be dicey and the forecast called for a weekend of rain, we definitely didn’t want to take the RV. We decided to rough it and took our tent. We figured that if it did get wet enough, we knew enough people that we’d surely find a place to sleep for a couple of hours.
We packed our Jeep like it had never packed it before. With our tent for sleeping, our tent for our vending spot, all the supplies to sell photos on site, and other necessities, I don’t think there was a square inch left empty. It kind of looked like a cartoon that once you opened the back hatch, everything would spill out.
We arrived Wednesday evening and set up our vending tent. We staked out our sleeping spot. I think we picked the rockiest spot of the hundreds of acres to choose from. That was OK, it was still a great spot.
Thursday, things got started with Mutton Bustin’. I think that is one of my favorite kid events. To see those kids’ faces is just priceless. We were wore out Friday afternoon and the main event of the Chuck Wagon Races didn’t begin until Saturday. It seemed like time slowed way down while we were there.
We enjoyed great, mild and sunny weather on Thursday and Friday, but then the rains came on Saturday. Oh, boy did the rains come. Robert was supposed to get shots of barrel racing and pasture roping, but it was pouring. We were in our photo vending tent getting him ready to face the weather. The rain suit we made was hilarious!
The rain stopped, thank goodness, in time for the Chuck Wagon Races. We got up to the field and were trying to get everything set up ready to go. Then, low and behold, what do you think happened the main event was about to start? Yes, Robert’s fear became a reality! We should have had a back-up camera, but that’s another story. Our hearts sank as we worked feverishly with the camera. With all the rain, we were fearful that water had gotten to the camera, despite trying to be so careful.
We had a little meltdown moment, but still kept our composure. We could have just given up, but I knew we could get through it somehow. I didn’t know how, but I had faith that things would turn around.
I noticed a man nearby with a Canon, casually taking pictures. I didn’t know what would happen, but I went up to him and struck up a conversation. Mainly, I was hoping he had experienced the same error message we were seeing and ask him if he may have some ideas on how to resolve it.
After a talking for a bit, he offered his extra camera body to borrow. We were so grateful! Robert and him teamed up and shot the event together the rest of the afternoon. His name is Greg, but I consider him an angel. He was there just when we needed him.
Funny thing, our camera started working again within the hour, but thank goodness we had the borrowed camera, because we missed very few shots.
We got through the rest of the weekend, despite the rain. Our tent for sleeping actually stayed pretty dry on the rocky hill we claimed as our spot. We weren’t able to sell on site as much as we wanted because we thought it was better to keep our electronics put away safely in the Jeep during the wettest part of the weekend. That’s OK because I enjoyed being with Robert while he was shooting. I like watching the events instead of being stuck in the vending tent by myself.
The weekend was hard work, wet and muddy. We came out of it with a new friend, met some wonderful people, and have a great deal of experience. Robert took over 6,500 pictures. That is a lot to go through, that’s for sure. I’m glad Robert didn’t give into his fear, because we would have always wondered if we could have pulled off such a big job. Even though we came back exhausted, wet and muddy we wouldn’t shy from doing it again. Robert is already looking at the calendar and scheduling more chuck wagon trips.
Thinking back over the weekend, perhaps the best part was in the middle of the night Saturday. We were asleep in our tent when we were awoken by someone pulling up and yelling, “Hey, did you see which way that bull went?!”
