I found this book at the convention and it is
worth a million bucks! I know some of you have talked about it but I never heard
any real details.
There is a story of Mr. Tom Sites being given a key
to a city. Then later in the book is a picture of this hippie, dippy weather
man/California cowboy standing with a key around his neck. Is that you Mr.
Sites? Boy, did everyone look rough towards the end.
I laughed so hard at the pictures and loved the
story of the take over by the riders. What a ride. I would give anything to go
back in time and do that ride. It is hard to imagine going 35-50 miles a day for
what, 100 days and sometimes not having a bath for a week. Everyone payed a $500
entry fee and those who finished went 1,966 miles. It sounded like the
communities that the riders passed through were so supportive and glad to have
them!
Riders galloping down interstates and ponying
an extra horse at that! I love it!!
The end of the book is a list of the winners.
First place went to two mules. Virl Norton said he would win and he did so by
keeping a steady 10 MPH pace. He said he had some of the best Arabian horses but
decided to leave them at home. There is a little story about the top 20
finishers and my favorite was about Smokey.
Smokey came in 4th place but almost didn't finish.
One of his horses suffered a stone bruise and that put him in 37th place. Then
he broke his collar bone. Some said he hit a tree, others said he was beat with
the branch of a tree during a brawl! He was described as "ready to put up before
he was ready to shut up and tough enough to back himself up." He is the one who
I would have rode with! Oh, the stories that could have been
written!!
Linda Tellington-Jones had some Icelandic's entered
as well. Count Johannes Hoyos finished 13th place on one of the only two teams
of Icelandics to finish.
The ride itself had a rocky start. There was an
actual fist fight between the founding members and a few more fights to follow.
The ride meetings turned ugly. Then Rick Bingham, Entrant #51 came forward and
said how it was going to be from now on with the support of the riders.
Then the promoters had a power struggle leaving a $50,000 winners purse in
limbo.
It all worked out, thanks to the dedicated riders
and the rest is history. It was nice to get lost in this book and not have to
see the real world for a while.
I don't know how many copies of this book were
printed but it sure would make a great prize at any ride.
