hello from the other side of the world

[John Teeter <albertteeter@yahoo.com>]

so this is a first pass test from the internet cafe in
the atrarium(sp?) lobby of the Metropolitan hotel in
Dubia.  its @12noon here, a leasurely morning of
breakfast with steph b/f she headed out to the
quarantine barns to care for dear krusty and a 4 hour
ride this afternoon.  

I had to content myself with a couple hours of reading
; local spa ; and testing out the net cafe with a
double  tall latte and ... well here I am.


So, in lue of being able to provide pictures just yet,
I'll do words.

Uneventful (if long) flight over. spokane->seattle
(1.5 hour layover) seattle->amsterdam (9 hour flight)
6 hour layover. smasterdam -> dubai (6 hour flight)
arrived at 12:00pm  (midnight). picked up by this arab
guy (nice guy but limited english - with a message
from steph .. something about a race tomorrow in Al
Rawath (sp?) near Abu Dabi. he's leaving at 4:30 am
and I can ride with him if i'd like - steph is going
to be there - riding or not it wasn't clear etc.   ok.
 hotel at 1:30. sleep by 2:00am, up at 4:00am. transit
to al Rathwa endurance village in a thick soup of a
fog 2.5 hour drive - ariving at 6:45 - ride start time
is 7:00am.   ok - search for steph - negative ... ok
watch the start - practice with the new camera, 

The race was the all U.A.E national championship for
heavy weight riders only - first prize is a rolls,
second a land rover, third a jeep. 50 starters (don't
know the final finishers, but around 30 or so I
think.)

they're off ....I hang out with Jim Baldwin - get
introduced to all the locals (promptly forgetting all
the names of course:( - breakfast was served:)  

So here come the front runners. Jim's off doing stuff
- I wander around - see Darolyn Butler-Dial - she's
working with the crew of the horse she sold them last
year, so I figure to tag along with her helping out. 

her rider is in to the first gate a 10th or so.  deal
with the vet check/hold (30 min. its a 120km ride with
38/37/30/20 loops (ok so it doesn't add up...) with
30/40/40 min holds and a manditory out check on the
final hold.)

so out on the second loop.  everyone scurries over to
the nearest Hummer- pile in and off we go directly
next to the trail on a sand track (mostly) about 10
yards or so from the horse/rider.  lots of talk (in
arabic) back and forth (darolyn giving riding
instructions - keep your elbows in etc.:)..  every
100-200 yards, we drift over to the rider and hand him
a bottle (1.5 liter) of water to put on the horse.
(water cooled instead of air cooled)..drift back. 

every mile or so, a "water drop" where we speed up,
station ourselves (spread out) to hand more water to
the rider as he passes. slow him down to offer a drink
(with the rider mounted and a crew member on the head)
with a small bucket to throw water on the pony...a few
gulps and off they go.  

its a constant 20km/hr pace all day long - its flat -
its a bull dozed track - its unique from the trails we
ride...

our rider catches and passes / catches and passes --
constant 20km/hr pace - it was really a joy to cruise
along next to that horse all day - just a machine -
loping along - hardly a change in stride or attention
or anything all day...

anyway, I rode the circuit for loops 2 and 3.  since
we were in a pack with the shieks son, there were
between 10 and 18 cars in the pack (including the
camera car(s) and a police rig) so it got a bit
congested at times.  it was handy to be in a hummer
tho, anytime we needed, just off into the dunes and
jet around the masses.  whata gas.....

it was desert tho - hot - humid too in the morning
fog. 

all this  time I'm wondering what's up with where
steph is.  she's certainly not at the race so I figure
she must have decided to forgo it and do horse stuff
and try to find me (of course she couldn't find me).  

so all day i'm thinking to hook the first ride back to
Dubai (which is where the endurance village that she's
at is located.

So anyway, Sandra (from Australia and the Kanavy
groom) was there with Karen from new mexico, so they
were headed back at @3pm or so (right after the first
4 riders were in.) so I road back with them. 

a back road short cut (of course) lost in the desert
(well not really, but they are doing a massive
teraforming of a strip of may be 30 miles by 70 miles
running from Dubia to Abu Dabi maybe 10 miles in from
the coast line) I mean they are moving mountains of
sand and rocks, leaving flatnes in their wake with
these platues (sp?) which are i think going to be
capped with large (maybe 200x200x20 ft) water storage
containers.  Anyway, there are these access roads that
run in a grid through this area, and the short cut was
to take the southern most access road in about  half
way, then cut through the sand a bit and pick up a
tarmak that runs off to the south/west and comes right
out at the barns....of course we have to try a few of
the access roads first - in and out - 60 mph  - not
leaving the ground TOO often. missing ALL the large
earth moving vehicles (mostly:) and finally even
achieving the goal of finding the endurance
village....

found steph - happy (my first question - are you warm
yet? - she is!:) dinner/drinks (wine) 

so here we are - home of the richest folks in the
world
and it shows - should be an interesting 3 weeks......

more later

johnt



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