[RC] Rocky's missed ride (with correction to verse) - DVeritas
Sandy,
I have started Tevis twice.
I have completed it zero times.
Every year, I get on my laptop and follow Lucy's
excellent coverage of the event.
Every year, I remember the buildup to the ride, the
excitement of the vetting in, the bodacious start in the dark.
Every year, I wish I were there to ride (try) it
again.
THIS YEAR, however, my wish is that you and Rocky find
each other again.
I sit here in western Nebraska and find myself praying
for you and Rocky.
I pray that Rocky is safe. I pray if someone
"found" him and if they are caring for him, that somehow, they find
you.
I pray that you find the wherewithal to deal
with feelings I can not even imagine.
Robert Montgomery Watson rode a horse who looked just
like your Rocky. (Watson was a mainstay on the trail above Auburn in the
1920's and early 1930's. He wrote a beautiful poem called "The Last
Ride"...part of which said:
"...A phantom horse shall guide me
On the oldest trail of
all
This the path that all must
follow
When we hark the final
call"
If, for some reason, Rocky does not make his way back to
you, I'm thinkin' Bob Watson might've been lookin' for a beautiful
horse upon whom he could meander through the deepening shadows of the
Ponderosa Pine above Lake Tahoe
