Townsville cowboy, Travis Munro, has achieved his dream and is on the rodeo road 13,000 kilometres from home in Oklahoma.
"When I first started in rodeo, I looked up to Australian cowboys, I had no idea competing overseas was really an option," Travis said.
"But once I started training, and I changed my focus mentally, I started to see the results of winning.
"So travelling to compete and achieve success over here in the states became my goal."
We caught up with Travis after a long-haul trip from the weekend's Tucson Rodeo back to his Oklahoma base.
And after not getting a cheque and being on the road for more than 11 hours he may have sounded weary, but still just as passionate about pro-rodeo as ever.
"I competed but didn't do so well, being over seven seconds on a steer, you really need to be in the early 6s (six seconds) to make it into the short round," Travis said.
The young steer-wrestler believes his early days on the Australian Professional Rodeo Association circuit was the best base to start and build his skills in the sport.
"It really is a good start in the sport," Travis said.
"Once you do a bit of winning and realise what you're capable of, and learn your horsemanship skills at home, it all plays out here and helps you along to where you want to be when you get here.
"It's good to learn the fundamentals in Australia, to compete against the best in the sport, to prepare yourself for what it's like over here."
Travis' preparation to tackle the US circuit, was a two-year process, applying what he thought competition and life in the states would be like, whilst at home.
"I practiced three or four times a week and went to the gym every morning," he said.
"I worked on what I thought the level of intensity would be over here and I did that at home before I came here."
In November last year Travis began his US journey, and it started strong.
"I won at my first rodeo, bought my permit, had good money behind me, then I won about $5000 at a big jackpot, but it's been tough since after injuring my hand," Travis said.
"So, I'm taking March off to heal and work on practicing, getting back into the gym focusing on my diet and bulking-up.
"2023 will be about making it to the rodeos I used to watch when I was back home.
"I'd like to get to Pendelton, Cheyenne Frontier Days, and I used to watch Tuscon, so to have made it to compete there was pretty cool."
Find out how to get your start in Australian pro-rodeo at www.prorodeo.com.au.
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