Ridecamp: [RC] How much is a good crew worth?

Well...I can tell you a I'd have given quite a bit to have mine back this
weekend.

At Longstreet it rained a good inch the night before. Their ambulance
driver didn't have 4x4 and apparently everyone else in management with a
4x4 thought up an excuse,  so being a person who camps with a 4x4 hooked
to a 2 horse trailer with no elaborate awnings etc. hooked on I was a
real sitting duck to have my rig confiscated.

I was doing 50 with my daughter and Bill, Bonnie & Bekki Crippen were
going to crew which with 3 away checks is pretty essential.  After my
truck left Josie & I ended up on the mountain with nothing but a bag of
hay, 4 doses of electrolytes (2 horses 3 checks) and water (I stole 2
doses from you Jerry Fruth).  It was a slow course and when we got back
to camp at 4 PM my crew was STILL hauling horses off the mountain. (It
took a 2 hour round trip including 18 miles (per round trip) of rutted
out muddy road to bring down 2 horses...he hauled 7).  What would a crew
have been worth? LOTS. I could have sat down at least once maybe.  I
might have had something to eat.  I wouldn't have been saddling 2 horses,
I wouldn't have had to give my jacket to my horse at the vet checks. :-PP
 By the way, when we got through with the ride I had no camp! My truck
and trailer *were* my camp so we walked around camp for 2 hours leading
our horses because we had nowhere to tie them...or dry clothes to change
into... or food... WHINE, WHINE, WHINE!  I'll admit it I was a real baby
about it cause I've gotten used to having a crew. 

 O.K. I know what ya'll are thinking. What about your other daughter who
was crewing?  Well...I'll give you a hint. She woke up as we came into
the 2nd check, lifted her head from where she was sleeping and said, "I
am SO tired" then proceeded to tell me just how tired she was as I
unsaddled my horse.  She got those long glue-on nails for the prom and
made it through the whole weekend without damaging them. (what a relief!)

Crews are great, but I don't know about this cash thing.  Cash is in
short supply and there's other ways you can pay back a spouse
crew....subservient devotion at home, fried chicken...etc. etc. Maybe if
you're going as a paid crew you could help several different riders and
it would add up for you without adding up too bad for them.  I'm sure
crewing multi-days is a whole different world.

Can't wait till tomorrow. I get to clean off the 2" of mud that's
encrusted all over my truck...including some up over the hood...and a
good 6" deep on the fenders of my trailer. I did make a point of driving
it to school to park between the Explorers and Lexus in the teacher's
parking lot today. It's good for my image with the students. >g<

Angie

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