Of Roadtrips, Blizzards, and Returning to the Scene of the (original) Crime: CCNF at the 2019 AOA National Show

It was back in the late summer or early fall of last year, when the idea first began to percolate as something more than just a fanciful throw-away line: why don’t we go to Nationals in Denver next March? There were of course any number of perfectly reasonable retorts to that query, not the least of which were the simple realities that it is a 2,000 mile drive taking some 30+ hours and, you know, it’s going to be in friggin’ March, dunderheads! There was also the small matter of our youngest still finishing his last year of high school and not wanting to leave him here — not that he’s not a totally responsible and capable kid mind you, this was about parental guilt — alone for the better part of 10 days while we hauled out and back just for an alpaca show. As they have gotten older, our time with our boys has, if anything, come to feel more precious and heavily guarded in recent years and we take nothing for granted. When Max was selected though late last fall to participate in his school’s March Intensive program that would take him and several classmates to the UK (And what a time to be marching around central London with the Brexit debate in full swing!) for the same week as the National Show however, we decided a road trip to Colorado was most likely in order. What could possibly go wrong? Heh.

Luckily for us on our departure day for Denver, with some 3 to 5 inches of fresh snow and sleet expected to start falling later that morning on Sunday 3/10, we had loaded the 21 show critters that would make up our Nationals team at 5AM, and were down the hill safely and onto the blacktop of I-91 before Mother Nature could start to make things difficult. It is the very nature of 32′ livestock trailers, winter weather, and our mountainside: they mix poorly. Because of that conservative departure though, when all-around good guy Marc Milligan of Red Granite Ranch (also the National Show’s primary sponsors, thank you Milligans!) reached us later that afternoon as we were pulling out of a refueling stop somewhere in central PA, to let us know that an all-time storm/blizzard was forecast to be hitting Denver and the eastern plains squarely on the nose that coming Wednesday (meaning check-in day at Nationals for sponsors and volunteers), we were able to adapt our plans. In our case, we merely had to press a little longer in order to make Denver by late Tuesday afternoon instead of late Wednesday morning, as originally planned. While undeniably tedious, the dirty little secret is that for the humans at least, driving 3 10-hour days is not really all that horrible. We’ve certainly done worse. We also changed the flights of our friend Dave Serino and our older son, Sam, so that they too would arrive into Denver late Tuesday night before the vast majority of flights coming into DIA on Wednesday were cancelled. Many thanks to the folks at AOA for arranging and allowing for us to pull our trailer up and park it in the shelter of the National Western Complex for that night. Because of the space and layout provided by our primary trailer, when our show animals did finally unload on Wednesday morning in what commenced as torrential rain, they really were not that much worse for wear. Certainly there was nothing in their condition that a couple of days chilling in front of show fans couldn’t make better. As for the humans of CCNF team? By midday Wednesday with the animals all settled in with fresh water, hay, and copious amounts of cushy bedding in their show pens, we all retired happily back to our downtown hotel, therapeutic libations in hand, to watch the 60+ MPH winds bend the snow around the buildings.

Many of the show’s exhibitors were not so lucky though, with perhaps anecdotally almost half of the farms coming to Nationals stuck on the road until sometime Thursday/Friday when the highways in and out of Denver were finally reopened after being closed to all traffic since some time Wednesday morning. Consequently, the first class of the National show didn’t even walk into the ring until Friday afternoon at 3PM. We in fact wouldn’t have our first team member show until Saturday morning! All good though. Mother Nature tried giving us all lemons and it is a credit to the entire AOA staff, show organizers, barn managers, volunteers, and exhibitors that it all came off as well as it did. We’ve participated in our fair share of alpaca shows this size and bigger over the past 20 years (and helped run one ourselves at the NAAS for 10 years) and making it run as smoothly as it did takes a lot, trust me. That those of us there with animals were only minimally aware of the many proverbial brush fires the organizers and staff were inevitably having to deal with — even without the blizzard and the logistical headaches it created — was down to a well-oiled machine. Our sincerest thanks to every one that made that possible.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the significance of Denver, CO in our personal history with the alpaca industry. See, the 1996 AOBA National Show and Conference was the first alpaca show we ever attended and it was held in those days in the month of June…that year in downtown Denver. Back then, we had been married for just about a year and though we did already own a house and the parcel of land that would next year become Cas-Cad-Nac Farm, we didn’t yet have any animals, and the CCNF Main Barn (that’s it in its earliest iteration atop the blog’s banner) was still almost a year away from even having it’s concrete pad poured. How long ago was that? Two completely unrelated things stick out for me: we weren’t yet parents (Sammy wouldn’t arrive until the spring of ’98) which meant we could do fun 20-something things in Denver like hit bars and pool halls without any cares in the world. The other thing from that show and conference that remains is actually physical: somewhere in the recesses of deep storage here on the farm, we still have audio recordings we excitedly purchased from AOBA of several of the seminars and workshops offered at the conference. Those recordings were sold on cassette tapes. So, you know, it’s been a while. While we were in fact back in Denver several years ago for the dual purposes of attending the National Fleece Conference and Show while also playing tourists with our then teenage boys, we had never been in Colorado with show animals of our own. I guess that box has now been officially checked and we have come full circle. All we were missing this time around was another Stanley Cup parade for the Avs on the last day of the show!

So, how’d it go at the show? The short version is that we held our own and the 60+ hour round trip haul was undeniably worth it. As ever, we’ll let our results below speak for themselves. Just as importantly though, we also got to meet and talk with some alpaca folks in Denver that we might not otherwise have seen this spring. With both of our kids in college by next year, we can’t say what the early springs of 2020 through 2024 will bring but we do know that we almost assuredly will not be luring either of our boys back again to give up their school breaks for an alpaca show (thanks Sammy!). The idea (fanciful hope?) that we might get to spend some extra time with them in March over these next several years before they leap into full-blown adulthood, was in fact one of the drivers that gave birth to the notion of heading to Denver for this year’s show in the first place. We shall see. For now we catch our breath, train a bunch of other juvis, and get ready to repack the trailer for the Futurity run in 14 days time. Not that that anyone’s counting. Welcome to the spring of 2019. See ya’ll out there….:-)

Follow me on Twitter @CCNFalpacas

2019 AOA National Alpaca Show: Cas-Cad-Nac Farm 1st Place Finishes, Championships, and Specialty Awards

Cas-Cad-Nac Farm LLC – 2019 AOA Heirloom Breeder Cup, Huacaya Halter

CCNF Nymeria (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – Supreme Champion Dark Huacaya Female

CCNF Priya (CCNF Prestige x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – Supreme Champion Light Huacaya Female

CCNF Lyanna (CCNF Dorianna x Snowmass Matrix Majesty) – Champion Brown Huacaya Female

CCNF Nymeria (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – Champion Fawn Huacaya Female

CCNF Eternal Revel (CCNF Eternal Rose x CCNF Elixir) – Champion Fawn Huacaya Male

CCNF Amalthea (CCNF Capella x CCNF Elixir) – Champion Light Huacaya Female

CCNF Priya (CCNF Prestige x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – Best Bred & Owned Huacaya Female

CCNF Trinidad (CCNF Tigerlilly x CCNF Dreadnought) – Best Bred & Owned Huacaya Male

CCNF Lucretia (Delicate Lace x CCNF Elixir) – Reserve Champion Light Huacaya Female

CCNF Insatiable (CCNF Daliance x CCNF Elixir) – Reserve Champion White Huacaya Female

CCNF Perceus (CCNF Pristine x Snowmass Elite Legend) – Reserve Champion White Huacaya Male

Cas-Cad-Nac Farm LLC – 1st Place, Breeders Best 3 (CCNF Insatiable, CCNF Perceus, CCNF Valyria)

CCNF Elixir – 1st Place, Huacaya Get of Sire (CCNF Insatiable, CCNF Nymeria, CCNF Valyria)

CCNF Luna Majesty – 1st Place, Huacaya Produce of Dam (CCNF Nymeria, CCNF Sovereign-Legacy)

CCNF Valentina (CCNF Couture x CCNF Dreadnought) – 1st Place, Medium Brown Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Lyanna (CCNF Dorianna x Snowmass Matris Majesty) – 1st Place, Light Brown Yearling Huacaya Females

CCNF Nymeria (CCNF Luna Majesty x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Dark Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Eternal Revel (CCNF Eternal Rose x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Medium Fawn Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Bifrost (CCNF Mechlin x CCNF Centurion) – 1st Place, Beige Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Amalthea (CCNF Capella x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, Beige Yearling Huacaya Females

CCNF Perceus (CCNF Pristine x Snowmass Elite Legend) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Males

CCNF Insatiable (CCNF Daliance x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, White Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Valyria (CCNF Moonshadow x CCNF Elixir) – 1st Place, White Yearling Huacaya Females

CCNF Priya (CCNF Prestige x MFI’s & KVR’s Mint Mo Money) – 1st Place, Bred & Owned Light Juvenile Huacaya Females

CCNF Trinidad (CCNF Tigerlilly x CCNF Dreadnought) – 1st Place, Bred & Owned Light Juvenile Huacaya Male