Stories from the Road

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2025 PRCA Clown of the Year Matt Merritt spent five months on the road this year in a truck and horse trailer, and his last run home from Pendleton, Oregon to North Carolina cost him $3,000 in diesel. Stan and Matt talk about what life on the rodeo road really costs, and what it teaches.

Matt has owned just about every kind of rig: a bus, a 48-foot race car trailer with living quarters, a stock trailer, a travel trailer, and now a four-horse Bloomer behind a Ford F-350. He’s honest about the years he never checked hubs or bearings, the leaf spring that broke near Coeur d’Alene and took a tire with it, and why he’s ready to run a TPMS again.

They also cover how a barrelman and rodeo clown works the arena, the Texas swing from Fort Worth to San Antonio, how contestants decide which rodeos are worth the drive, fighting fatigue behind the wheel, and Matt’s one lesson every RVer can learn from rodeo travel: practice with your rig, because those things are dangerous.

And when the diesel bill is huge and the check may not cover it, Matt explains why he prays for joy to be spread through him.

Guest: Matt Merritt, 2025 PRCA Clown of the Year and host of Mic Drop at the NFR

Matt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MattMerritt8

Matt’s sponsors: Wrangler, Resistol, Lane Frost Brand, Justin Boots, American Jerky Company, Boot Barn, Premium Tire and Lube (Pendleton, Oregon), American Bonfire sunglasses, and Buggy Barn.

Stan first heard Matt on Jordan Jo Hollabaugh’s “In the Loop” podcast: https://jordanjohollabaugh.com

Stan’s TPMS is the RoadTech system from TechnoRV: https://technorv.com?Click=12127

I’m a TechnoRV affiliate and may earn a commission if you use my link.

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Safe travels, my friends, and remember: not all who wander are lost.