Montell -- the ride from hell

[tallcarabs@juno.com]

No, let me rephrase that, the ride itself was wonderful, the rest of the
trip 
was hell.   This is a little long, so bear with me.  Saturday morning, my

friend, Dawn and I prepared to head off to Uvalde, TX -- some 5 1/2 hours

away -- for the Montell Cliff Hanger 3 day 25/50 Endurance Ride.  I
should 
have known right from the start that things weren't going to be just
peachy 
when my boarder mare tried to take a chunk out of my shoulder for daring
to 
stand near her gate. (First time for that, too!)  Anyway, we loaded up 
Scarlet and Kit and off we went.  The drive out there was pretty
uneventful, 
although the A/C did quit in San Antonio.  So, we get to Uvalde and turn 
north for another 30 miles to Montell, where the ride camp was.  Most of
the 
drive was flat, which caused us to wonder where the heck all the hills
were 
since this ride was in the "Hill Country".  Never fear, 3 miles from the 
turnoff, the hills popped up.   Beautiful country.  Lots of shrub trees, 
cedar, mesquite, cati, and tons of ROCKS.  I was eager to try out
Scarlet's 
Easyboots for the first time.  She is flat soled and has very sensitive
feet 
so I didn't think her shoes would be enough.  We arrived at camp and set
up 
our area.  Scarlet and Kit were very interested in all the other horses
and 
spent the next hours until dark pacing around the pen trying to look at 
everything at once.   It was getting close to 8 pm, so we checked in and 
vetted the horses in, then sat for the ride meeting.  It was nice to hear

that we didn't have to leave until 9 the next morning.  More nice that we

realized at the time!!  Afterwards, we found the chuck wagon was closed,
so 
we talked ourselves into unhitching the truck and driving back to Uvalde
for 
dinner.   So, we went to town and stopped at the Kettle for dinner. 
After 
dinner is when everything started to fall apart.  I started the truck and

drove maybe 5 feet when smoke started billowing out of the hood.  I 
immediately turned the truck off and popped the hood.  The smoke
dissapated 
fast and we couldn't find anything obviously wrong, so I started the
truck 
again so we could see where the smoke was coming from.  No smoke this
time, 
so we cautiously started to pull forward only to find that the steering
wheel 
was stuck.  Obviously, the truck was going nowhere.   So, Dawn goes back
into 
the Kettle for some help and comes back out with a waitress and the cook
and 
they call a boyfriend/husband? (can't remember) who is a mechanic.  First
we 
thought we only needed a fan belt, but it was a little worse than that. 
They 
told us that we could leave the truck there and the guys would fix it in
the 
morning.  So, we got a ride back to camp and the horses, thinking we had 
found a solution and everything was going to work out.  (Cell phones
didn't 
work at camp -- too many hills or something)  The next morning, since
there 
wasn't anything we could do about the truck, we went on our ride.  It was

wonderful.  We had a controlled start and the front group had about 7
horses 
in it, including us.  We all stayed together for the entire first loop --

even when I had to stop to replace Scarlet's easyboot and Dawn had to
stop to 
tighten Kit's girth.  The only person that passed us was Darolyn and her
junior (cute kid!).  
I thought that was pretty cool of everyone not to rush off and make our
horses go nuts.  The trail was very hilly with tons of rocks.  I loved
the fact that with the Easyboots, Scarlet never slipped on 
the rocks.  She seemed to like it too and after the first couple of
times, 
stopped doing her mincing trot and began to step out as she gained
confidence 
in her footing.
  The midway vet check was  a breeze.  Scarlet pulsed in at 14 and Kit at
11. 
 They weren't tired in the least.  We were a little late leaving for the
2nd 
loop, but since they changed the trail to an easy one, we weren't
worried.  
(Apparently on the first two days, lots of horses were coming in over
time 
because the trails were so difficult.)  The 2nd loop was mostly down a
dirt 
road - 6 1/2 miles down and back.  We kept a steady 10 mph pace the whole

time and to our great joy, came in 4th and 5th place!  It was our first
time 
to make the top ten and get to stand for BC.   Scarlet was a little
pooped, 
but Kit was still raring to go.  He got excellent scores and I believe he
got 
2nd overall in BC.  I'm very proud of him -- this was only his 3rd ride!
  So, the ride being over, it was time to worry about how we were to get
home 
again.  We decided that Dawn would stay and pack up while I hitched a
ride 
with a group leaving back to Uvalde to get the truck.  Well, the guys
were 
unable to fix it.  Apparently it needed a part that had to be ordered. 
So, 
here I was stuck in town with Dawn stuck in camp and no way for us to
contact 
each other.    It got really bad for me when my cell phone died after 10 
minutes of talking to my Dad and AAA.  I have to use TX Relay and a TDD 
attachment and cannot use them on a pay phone.  So, thank goodness the 
waitress, Amanda, at the Kettle was nice enough to use the phone for me. 

(the other waitress was a real princess.  She was royally ticked off at 
having to help me that the entire time she was talking to my Dad, she was

cussing under her breath.  I guess she doesn't realize that deaf people
can 
read lips!! )  It took several hours to get everything settled that we
could 
-- tow truck to take the truck back to Houston, a motel for me, and 
hopefully, the next morning, a rental truck that could tow the trailer
and 
horses back home.  So, I went to the motel, worrying myself sick about
Dawn 
sitting there waiting for me to pick her up. 
  The next morning I found that we could not get a rental vehicle with a 
towing package, so Dad had to drive all the way out there with my Blazer
to 
pick us up.  I also got a message at the hotel desk that Dawn had gotten
a 
ride home with some friends, so that was one worry off my mind.  My
horses 
were with the ride manager, waiting for me.    The end of the nightmare
trip 
was finally in site.  :o)  The rest was pretty uneventful.  I finally got

home around 9 pm last night and got a rental car this morning for work. 
I'm 
so worn out, but Kit, LOL, is raring to go again!