If This is Thursday

We must be in Nevada.  The dust coats everything; somehow I find myself missing the thunderstorms and tornadoes.  The dry lake beds have lots more vegetation (okay sagebrush) than they did in '04, but they do go on.  We rode almost 30 miles across a single valley which was mostly lake bed.  One day we went from lake bed to summit to lake bed, repeat 5 times.  The days are longer and hotter:  we are averaging 10.5 hours per ride, and most are over 50 miles.  We have multiple ranges to cross everyday.  On the really fun side, the horses are so fit they don't seem bothered at all.

On the other hand, the horses are lying down just about every night, and they sure love the dusty sand.

Camp drama continues.  One morning, in the Austin triangle (we were camped in a dry lake bed just outside Austin), we had to leave camp at 4:15 to drive to the start of that day's ride.   After I took off on my horse, one of the bigger rigs jackknifed trying to turn, and shut down Hwy 50.  Judith Ogus, who had dropped me and her rider off, blew a tire in the same spot.  Another rig, coming down the hill from Austin, caught on fire when a wheel bearing went out.

And in that very same spot the day before we had an actual fist fight between a rider and the husband of another rider.  The first rider was a guest, using some of the spare days from one of the regular riders.  I don't think I explained that only 35 entries were sold but anyone could resell or gift unused days.  The problems arise when people drop in with fresh horses and compete against the horses that have been going week after week.  So after Wyoming Dave declared that no guest could win or show for Best Condition.  On this particular day the guest Dyke was a real jerk and just pushed the regular Kathy all day, then raced her for the finish.  She won, but he then rode into her camp and pushed her horse off her own water bucket and wouldn't leave and go to his own camp.  Kathy's husband Bob asked him to leave several times, and after listening to Dyke mouth off finally said "Take the swing."  Dyke, 10 years younger and 50 pounds heavier did throw a punch.  Bob took him down (wrestler in high school) and they rolled around until Bob finally said "I've had enough, have you?"  Dyke said yes and they stopped.  Then Dave went over and threw Dyke and his wife out, permanently - they can't ever come back to an XP ride.  Camp morale was a bit low that day.

I think I told you a dog was run over in camp?  The next week a cat got out of the trailer and was run over.

Rigs continue to break and get fixed.  We had a flat tire, and various broken hinges, but nothing spectacular.  Actually, our trailer is doing really well.  We haven't run out of water or exceeded our black water holding capacity.  We have kept up with repairs, broken hinges and the such, but nothing big.

Water and fuel are big concerns these last few weeks as we wander in the desert.  The water truck we hired as a group (one of the rider's husband) has become essential out here where there is so little water available.  He usually gets to us at least once a day, and then gets us each 20 gallons or so in camp at night, which is enough for the horses.  Steve has been going straight to camp, unhooking, and then driving back to find riders and provide water.  And the Australian rider's wife LeAnn is amazing.  Most days she follows him or meets him about every 5 - 8 miles with water.  She is wonderful to the rest of us, sharing when she can.  One day there was just no water on trail the whole day and no way a rig could get out there.  She and a couple others drove the whole trail the night before in their truck, and she agreed to take care of us the next day.  For almost 56 miles she stayed with us, giving us water, our crew bags half way through for lunch, and the water to sponge the horses as the temps got into the 90's.  12 miles from the finish her husband's horse went lame so she stayed with him as he walked in, but the rest of us had well hydrated horses and made it to the water trough just a few miles from camp.

We usually have only 9 - 12 riders on any given day doing the whole distance.  About that same number do short rides (Duck miles we call them).  In the beginning there was a fair amount of time between the first and the last riders, but these days we are all going pretty much the same speed and finish within 30 minutes of each other.  And those of us doing the long days are pretty brain dead.  I go to bed around 9, get up at 3:30 (or earlier on the mornings we have to trailer to the start), ride from 5am to 3:30 or so, clean up the horse, feed the animals, go to a ride meeting, get my gear together for the next day (each horse has a different saddle so I have to transfer things and refill things), get a crew bag together with food for the horse the next day, charge my GPS batteries, make dinner, walk the horses and dogs, and shower and go to bed again.  Steve is equally busy from 3:30 to the end.  And he often does the final walk when I just can't stay awake a second longer.

I don't think I've had a coherent thought since Utah.  Judith, who is from our area and from whom I bought my horse Alex, arrived last week to ride on a friend's ticket (the couple who had to go home because her cancer went into her bones; last email said she only has a very short time left).  She has been a great riding partner and fun in camp.  Yesterday we decided to go to Fallon together to do chores, including getting her  tire replaced.  We head off with shopping lists and laundry and go 18 miles before she realizes she doesn't have the tire.  So we come back, load the tire, and take off again.  20 miles later we see a sign for Austin and realize we are going in the wrong direction (again).  1.5 hours after we left initially we finally left camp for real, in the right direction.  Several days earlier we had gotten lost a couple times on the trail as were weren't paying close enough attention to our GPS.  We are now known as the Wandering Jews.

The dogs are so dirty I almost don't recognize them.  The dig themselves pits in the sand to stay cool,  take dips in a nearby stream when we walk, and then go back to their sand pits.  I had to soak Lincoln's front feet this morning to get all the cheet grass out - it feels a bit like foxtails although it isn't barbed.  His front left leg gets pretty sore from all the running around so he will get a good long rest in a few days.  Bob the vet says it is tendonitis, which is what he had when we got him.  They both hang around the trailer very faithfully when I ride off, and Steve is just the best dog dad ever they say.

I will leave you with one more picture (they take forever to download so that is all for now).  I told you about Morgan, my crew for the week Steve was gone?  Here she is with Sage at a lunch stop this past week when she had crew duty for about 5 of us (there is a lot of cooperation between crew at this point, so only a few rigs show up at any one time but we are all taken care of).

We will be home Monday evening.  Sometime after that I'll put up more pictures.  In closing I've ridden all but six days and should finish with 32 out of 40.  I'll be 5th in the rider placing (out of 66) and the Sage and Scarlet will be about 10th out of 136 (they are currently 9th and 11th but Sage doesn't get credit for the day Steve rode her).  We are all healthy and happy and miss you.