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Re: [RC] Our first ride of the year: Sandhills - Mike LewisCongratulations on not giving up! The truck problems are enough to drive a person crazy! I came out for the clinic on Sunday and ended up just riding a 4-5 mile ride on my own to see how my mare would do. Also took care of some saddle issues with the help of Genie Stewart-Spears. Nice to have such helpful people in this sport... I think we're on track to get some big issues with tack fixed. I fondly recall pulling to many rides with an old '91 F-350 diesel. You definitely have to be sure the filters are squared away. Oh, and the transmission and headlight switch both failed on the way home to middle Georgia from our wedding in Florida a few years ago. Three horses in tow. We made it home missing some transmission gears, with no A/C (in the middle of June), and a few other odds and ends that didn't work. Fixed it and drove the truck for a few more years. Ah, lack of a payment was so nice!!! Loved that old truck. Glad you made it!! Mike --- Mary Howell <mary.howell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Just returned from 2 wonderful days at Sandhills in SC. This has become a must-do ride for us Virginians because of the excellent facility (fun, well-marked trails, plenty of parking, hot showers and real bathrooms!) and friendly, helpful ride staff. The popularity of this ride is attested by their having over 140 entries in the 2 distances on Saturday alone. Our drive down Friday was an endurance test in itself; the newly-installed fuel filter gasket on my old F-250 failed so it was spewing out diesel for about 100 miles before I figured out why my miles per gallon was so bad. When we detoured off I-95 to get around an accident at NC Exit 41, I was found a mechanic to replace the filer and get us back on the road. Meanwhile, our friend Elyse from Charlottesville had her transmission give out near Danville; a repair shop there was able to get it fixed by the end of the day, so she made it to the ride late that evening and had time to vet through Saturday before the ride started. Phew! We were fortunate this year that the rain ended by nightfall Friday to give horses and riders clear, cool weather for both days. Saturday I helped crew for 5 friends, 2 of whom were doing their first endurance rides. All 5 finished and did great! The awards on Saturday night were fun and raucous, with many stories told and fun awards given. Ride management started a new award this year, the Mike Bailey award given to the first heavyweight rider in the 55. Wesley Crowe was appropriately the first recipient and I really enjoyed Alison's story about how the idea for this award came about. On Sunday I got to ride and enjoy crewing & packing help from everyone I'd crewed for the previous day. Wendy Mancini and her QH Danza rode the whole 55 with me and Shiloh and we had a blast, tying for 7th in about a 5.5 hour ride time. Both horses were tired since they had also done the 55 on Saturday, but the cool weather and having lots of water on trail sure helped. Elyse had one final endurance test for the weekend - as she was leaving Saturday morning, her transmission started to go out again and she wisely turned back to camp. During the first hold we helped her figure out a solution; Clair Godwin from MD had an extra stall in her trailer and it wouldn't be a big detour to take Elyse and her mare back to Charlottesville on their way home; the Danville mechanic had given Elyse his home # so she was able to reach him and make arrangements for their tow truck to come fetch her rig and re-repair it. She gets the Gold Star award for coping! Can't wait for our next ride - No Frills much closer to home. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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