Area VIII: Week III

After we had said our goodbyes to the team from Phase 3 training Mason, Daylon, and I, eagerly jumped in the FFA truck and headed out to Glen Rose, Texas where we would be spending our first night in the great Area VIII. Since it was my first time in the FFA truck we had to get a few things straight. 1st of all, Daylon was the driver no matter what. Daylon would get us from place to place. 2nd, Mason would call advisors and make sure we were going to the place we had marked down. 3rd I had to make up my own role/responsibility. At first my role was to sleep, since the other two had already figured out what they were doing, but later on in the week I provided entertainment for the rides in between schools.

Two hours following my introduction to the travel team, we arrived in the beautiful town of Glen Rose, Texas. Hungry from being on the road all day, we met Mr. and Mrs. Rosenbusch and the Glen Rose Chapter Officers for dinner at Chachi’s Mexican food restaurant. We had a great time with the Rosebushes and the officers, and I even got to eat the Rosenbusch special, a whole dinner plate named after the famous Glen Rose Rosenbusch’s (Say that five times fast)!! After dinner we got to stay with our buddy Jake Sharber. This being my first night I was ecstatic! Jake’s house was awesome! We were warmly welcomed and settled in for the night. We had a great time talking with Jake’s parents and even got to mess around with his steers!

The next day was our first official day on the job in Area VIII. We started off with the Glen Rose FFA chapter. Nerves ran through me like wildfire, as it was my first ever presentation with the travel team. In the end it was a great presentation, and we were even rewarded with Oreos and Chicken Express Sweet Tea! We then traveled to Cleburne, where we got to experience a fightin’ Yellow Jacket lunch, then on to Hillsboro. We ended up the day at Waco Midway for the annual Area VIII Banquet. Following the ceremonies put on by the Great Area VIII officers, we followed Mrs. Christian to Penelope, Texas where we would be starting the next day. That night we got to stay with our friend Alli Watkins. Alli’s house was settled in the most amazing area, right in the middle of the woods! We enjoyed getting to visit with Alli and her wonderful family, but after a long day of travel we were ready for some sleep.

That next morning we started the day off right in Penelope with a presentation for all of the high school students. I couldn’t believe how small it was! Of course, me coming from a school of 2,000+ Penelope was a huge culture shock! After saying our goodbyes and a few pics with the FFA truck we departed Penelope. Our next stop was Blooming Grove. Before our presentation we randomly ran into no other than the famous Area VIII President, Mr. Kyle Montgomery and the Corsicana District 1st Vice President, Phillip Page. They explained to us that they were in town for their college classes and that they were excited to see us. After that encounter we headed on to the school for our presentation. We then had a pleasant lunch with Mrs. Patrick and Katie McGraw from Blooming Grove. They were so kind they even gave us Collin Street Bakery Cookies!!!! Boy did we enjoy those! We finished our day in Corsicana with a fun presentation.

That night we were given a hotel room in Palestine, Texas to relax in before our big day in Cayuga and Sandyland District. After a wonderful dinner (even with Mason dumping his precious Sweet Tea everywhere!) with Mrs. Cox and the Cayuga Chapter Officers in Palestine, we headed back to the La Quinta for some R&R. This is where Daylon introduced me to the fine music of Dubstep Santa. If you have not seen this video check it out on YouTube. Daylon’s mind works in tremendous ways and when asked where he found this video, he replied with, “I got bored one day so I searched for Santa, and this is what came up!” So, if you ever see me or Daylon do a random arm movement and say, “bow-wow, bow-wow” in a weird tone, that is what we are referring to.

The next morning after getting lost we finally made it to Cayuga for our first presentation of the day. We had a great time in Cayuga, but our time had ended and we then headed on to Fairfield. It was spirit week in Fairfield and we happened to show up on day where most of the students were dressed up. It was awesome to see so many spirited people in one school! After a spirited presentation, we departed from Fairfield and headed off to Teague and finished our day at the Cen-Tex District meeting in Academy.

That night we stayed with no other than the Area VIII Vice President Mr. Tyler Coufal! We even got the chance to attend a fightin’ Troy Trojan football game! Needless to say we were the best cheerleaders they had ever seen! After a nice Chili’s dinner with Ms. Cassidy Cockrell we retired back to the Coufal house where we got to watch Dumb and Dumber! I had never seen Dumb and Dumber before in my life so I was very excited. Although we had to cut the movie short because we were all tired we still had a great night.

The next morning we were greeted with some AMAZING breakfast taquitos from Mrs. Coufal, an awesome morning breakfast to start the day off right! We then headed off for Troy High School, where they had the entire school out for our presentation. We had an awesome time experiencing the life of the Trojans and we even got to lead the Trojans in a cheer. We then headed onto Bruceville-Eddy and then ended our day in the hometown of George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas. We ended our Area VIII travels with Crawford’s pep rally and excitement. It had been a long fun filled week and I was sad to see it end.

We finished my travels with our travel back to Daylon’s crib in Cedar Park. We stayed the night then Mason and I left Daylon and headed back to College Station for my turn to leave the travel team. As I bid my last goodbye for the moment to Mr. President, I reminisced on the past week, of how I had been back with my Area VIII family and home. It was so good to be back in Area VIII, but now it was time for me to be with my other family, the Aggies. It was now time for my sister from another mister, Leslie Johnson, to have her time with the travel team in Area V. Good luck guys and Area VIII we’ll be on the road again in February! Until then, AREA VIII IS GREAT!!!!