River Run Story
Samm C Bartee (bartesc@mail.auburn.edu)
Tue, 19 Nov 1996 07:23:36 -0600 (CST)
OK, here is my sad little story. It was my 32nd B'day on Thurs, so
instead of staying home with the family:-), I decide to leave on Thurs
evening to get to the ride. This is our normal time to leave anyway, and
it was only a boring 32nd, not like a 30 or a 40th Bday, right?
It's only 200 miles to this ride from my house, so I was thinking piece
of cake. My dad asked me what I wanted for my B'day and I told him I
wanted to use his truck for the weekend. HE has a 4 door ford with a
camper on it, and mine is a single cab with no camper. I figured it would
be nice to have the bed made when we got there. Plus, my JR rider Alex
would have a whole back seat to herself. No problem!!
We made the trip uneventfully, did not have to even stop to refuel, so
that was nice. I decided to stop at the Hahira exit--about 3 miles from
camp--just to fuel up for the return trip on Sun. Got gas, pulled around
to pay, and noticed that my 3 horse slant trailer that was fully loaded
was cruising on 3 tires!! ARghhhhh, my knees went weak. I don't know
when or how, but I did not even have a rim on that sucker. Man, what to
do? Well, we drove this far, and at 70 MPH on the interstate, so I
thought the 3 miles to camp would be ok, afterall, I did not want to
spend the night in a truck stop parking lot if I could help it.
Made it to the camp ok, got up the next morning, found someone to help me
get the sucker looked at, and realized that my spare was flat...Now, I
was mad. That thing was supposed to be fixed, so I am going to bitch
mightily to the tire place that I took it last time.
I got my hub off, took it to the fix it place, and found out they don't
have the spikes to go into the hub that the lug nuts screw onto. OK,
off we go to the next town, on a wild goose chase. After 7 different
places, had what we needed, and returned to the place in Hahira. OK, now
we are home free....NOT! The idiots got 3 of the six in no problem, and
then the last three would not go. So, across the street they go to the
machine press, and come back with my drum cracked all the way through!
Then they charged me full price, which I paid and then cancelled the
check when I got home--Just so happens the place where we camped and the
owner of said farm, Willie Linahan, is a lawyer and the pres of the
Chamber of commerce. SO that was his advice to me. No problem.
Get back to camp to vet my horse....NOT! He has a bad case of
scratches. OK, now I am just going to crew. WEll, it turns out the
fella that hauled me around all day looking for various wheel parts has
an extra horse that he wants to do the 25 miler on. OK, I can do that.
Big 16 hand Arab/QH cross, and nice to boot. great. At least I get to
ride. I spent a good hour asking the owner about how he was on the
trail. Always a good idea for the kind of start we were sure to have.
RIde day was cloudy, windy and cool. THe horse, Moon, was a handful,
and did not want to leave his pasture mate. THe owner told me to stay
behind him for the start. OK, I just closed my eyes and hung on!! FOR
the first 5 miles, I think I did not open my eyes once. Then, I got the
horse away from his buddy, and we set out own pace. It was a great day
to ride, the horse was very responsive, and I really enjoyed riding
him. We finished in 15th place out of 75 starters, and I was very
pleased. Moon looked great at the finish, so what more could you ask
for?
My best friend Kathy was sponsering my JR, and they came in eventually.
Kathy's horse had some metabolic problems at the completion--and she was
not riding fast at all--but the wind got to his old bones--he is 19. So,
she did not get a completion. Sir Jon is ok, he was trying to get a
cramp and was off on the right side. So, she was bummed. My JR, Alex,
did a superb job as usual in taking care of my mare, JEt, so she
completed with no problems. Way to go Alex!!
In the mean time, Tina came in tied for 4th!! Cool, I sold her that
horse, so I was very, very happy. Maybe all that LSD that I did--not the
drug silly!:-)--helped, but likely, it was all the hard work that Tina
has done with him. He is really a great horse, and I was glad to see
him finally achieve the success that he deserves.
The best part was his BC win, and I was dying since I knew--thanks
Nina!--before Tina did. I was about to bust when they announced it.
Tina had the best look on her face, and as she got up, she said to me
"Did you know?" Yes, hehehe!!!
So, all in all the weekend was not so bad, but now to get home on a
busted drum. Luckily, some really good friends from home were there and
they offered to follow me so if my tire came flying off again, at least
someone would notice it. 1/2 way home, my dad calls and says that he
needs his truck back in a hurry, there was a death in our family. Not
anyone close to me, and so it was not a major blow, but still, a death.
sigh, Can't win for losing. I think that I will hold steady at 32, not
have another B'day.
We made it home ok. I was glad to be home.
I will be at the Carolina EL, helping or maybe riding, just depends on
the Revel man, so we will see how it goes.
Hope to see a lot of you guys up there!!
IT will be a major party, so come on down--or up--and lets have a blast!!
APPY TRAILS
SAMM C. BARTEE
Auburn, Al. SE Region
with
SIR REVEL--1305 miles and........!!!
B JETS WAR EAGLE--endurance wannabe