Tevis Part 5 or Afterthoughts

[Victoria A Thompson <toriandsteve@juno.com>]

Brain fry finally made its mad appearance as we were loading up our gear
into the Suburban.  Mary asked if anyone had seen her flashlight.  An
innocent question, right?  WRONG!  At 8:15 PM it was still light.  No
lights needed.  But my brain doesn't comprehend this simple question. 
"What do you need a flashlight for?", I ask.  "Just so we can see things
if we need it," Mary replies.  I'm so confused at this point all I can
think of is the Suburban has headlights why would we need Mary's
flashlight to see going down the road?  So, we left Forresthill.  

As we were driving Donna and Alice started talking about bats.  I was
still trying to figure out what Mary needed the flashlight for.  I made
the comment that the only bats around at the moment were in the front
seat of the truck.  It finally dawned on me what Mary meant about needing
the flashlight for, and I was willing to share my new found knowledge
with my companions.  Laughter all around ... OK, fine, I have no trouble
being a buffoon.  BRAIN FRY.  

We got to the Auburn Fairgrounds about 9 PM.    

Now, in the past, it has been customary for the first rider to finish
somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30 at night.  Right around 9 is where they
usually come in.  However, in '98 and '99 the front runner didn't come in
until 11 PM.  So now nobody is sure when to expect the first rider, but
everyone begins to gather at the finish line and the fairgrounds around
8:30.  We grabbed ourselves a seat and waited.  

... and waited and waited.  Alice and I went to the concession stand and
bought everybody hamburgers and sodas.  We were all pretty tired and
brain fry was still very evident in our conversations.  "Look, Alice!  A
bat!!"  It was a preying mantis flying around in the lights.  It landed
in the bleachers behind us and Alice went and caught it.  She thought it
was a cicada, but too many entomology courses in college let me convince
her it was a preying mantis (that and the fact that Mary agreed with me).
 These people are beginning to wise up when it comes to believing me -
but I was finally right about this!  I know my bugs!

Our butts are now so totally numbed even standing up no longer brings
life back to 'them thar cheeks'.  The announcer finally comes over the PA
system and says rider 210 has just left the Lower Quarry VC and should be
in in about 60 minutes.  Sure enough at 11 PM rider 210 crossed the
finish line.  We waited about 15 minutes and there she came out of the
darkness into the arena.  Donna and I each got pictures of her crossing
under the victory banner.  Donna's from a distance and mine from close
up.  I got one more picture of the horse as it was drinking some water
and we left for Sacramento.  Upon leaving the fairgrounds I said turn
right here.  Oops!  One block too soon.  Driving mistake number 7!  Sarah
took over from there.  She said go this way, go that way, turn here ....
yep, you guessed it ... driving mistake number 8!  I was so thrilled to
announce to everyone that I wasn't to blame for that one!

I fell into that wonderful air bed out on the patio a little after 12:30
AM.  

We had planned on going to the BC showing Sunday morning , but while I
was in the shower everyone changed their minds and wanted to head for
home.  We piled all our gear back into the Suburban and left for sunny
Southern California about 9 AM.  Alice finally had enough driving and
asked me to take over for a little while so she could snooze a little.  I
doubt I was driving for more than 30 or 40 minutes before she wanted to
take back over (and no, it wasn't because I'm a bad driver).  Everything
was going pretty smoothly until we came up over the Grapevine (a
notoriously steep grade that takes its toll on cars).  We stopped at the
rest stop at the top of the hill and got out to stretch our legs.  Piled
back into the Suburban and it wouldn't start.  We waited for over an hour
letting the truck cool and it still wouldn't start.  AAA sent a tow truck
and we were towed to a garage that got the truck started in about 10
minutes.  They don't know what the problem was, but it wasn't getting any
fuel.  It's running now, just don't turn the thing off until you get
home.  We got to Donna's and said quick goodbyes.  I still had an hour to
drive to get home.  

I walked into my new home to find my husband sick as a dog in bed.  He
had gotten sick on Friday and didn't go backpacking like he was supposed
to.  I came down with it on Wednesday.  And so my story ends.

Well, sort of ....

A few after thoughts.  Doing this Internet stuff is nowhere near as
demanding as crewing for someone, so in that respect I liked it better. 
But I really missed out on the sharing of information between crews and
riders, so I didn't like it for that reason.  I missed all the good ride
stories and happenings during the race, but I didn't miss the hauling of
crew gear one little bit.  I got to really look at the horses this year
instead of just concentrating on one.  I was really taken aback by how
beautiful all the animals were.  The bone size of some of these Arabs was
unbelievable.  I wish more were built like that.  Big beautiful legs ...
tree trunks.  And then there was Ruby.  Ah .... what a beauty.  Such an
elegant, graceful, soft eyed, big eared giant.  

Will I do it again?  I don't know.  I never make plans that far in
advance unless I have to leave a deposit.  Can things be improved?  You
bet.  Will they listen to me?  Probably not.  But can you blame them?

Adios, sports fans.

Tori