99 PanAm Adventure-long

["Reeves, Brian" <breeves@genus.com>]

Hi All,
Well, here's our story of the Pan Am Championship. The good, the bad, and
the great.
I think it best to start at the beginning of the trip, and work thru it all
till we returned home.
Goofy and I left on Wed, the 28th of July, over across the bay to pick up
Val and Copper. We needed to be in Reno on Thursday, so we packed her stuff
up, then went to the store to stock up on food for the trip.
We arrived in Reno Thursday at 6, and waited at the Livestock Event Center
for the rest of the team. By 9pm the team, except for Gary and Jack, was
there. Gary had gone on ahead to visit friends in Boise, Kathy, Denali, and
he would meet us on the road in a couple of days. Jack and Diane were a day
behind, but said they would catch up. So our group consisted of; Bill and
Jane, Kathy (our great Chef d'quippe), Anita, Sharon, Jerry, Carolee, Nikki,
Anne, Val and myself. Not to mention 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 4 horses.
All the riders had planned to ride in the mornings before we headed out, so
we were usually up by 6:30 or so. We would ride for a half hour or so, then
get the ponies ready for travel.
Travelling across Nevada, up thru Idaho, across Montana, and up and across
North Dakota. We had stopped at either fairgrounds or KOA's along the way
which was nice. We met up with Jack and Diane near the border of Canada,
with Gary and family waiting on the other side cause of all the flies and
skeeters. Then we hit the border........or should I say it hit us!!!!
6 rigs, 4 with horses, and a 2 1/2 hour ordeal at the border! Not real good.
I had been to Canada several times and I never recall even seeing anything
like this happening, much less being in the middle of it. Turns out later
that some of the people were trainees, but training for what I don't know.
We had gear spread out all over the place, then we had to repack it all. My
rig and Bill's were spared from getting trashed, but the rest........ 
We met up with Gary and family on the other side of the border, they had
breezed thru the crossing, I'm not even sure they had to show the horses
papers. (We practically had to force them to look at ours)
Cruised the rest of the way into Spruce Woods, getting into camp around 5pm
Monday. We set up the horses after finding our area, we would wait till the
next day to set up the rest of camp.
We planned on riding twice a day till Friday, then once Friday before
opening ceremonies. So after we rode in the morning we set the rest of the
camp up. For those who were there, I think you can agree it was a pretty
good set-up. We had SloppyTommy coming as our cook, so we had a nice
"kitchen" put out for him. With some "encouragement" from the ladies, Bill
and I put up the big canopy and a couple of smaller ones. By the afternoon,
we had everything set-up, and were ready for the week. Others in our group
were flying in, some renting cars, and others needing a ride. I was to pick
up Tommy and Jenn (Vals groom) in Winnipeg, plus buy more beer ( the border
guards were drinking our Heineken's). I was riding with Val and Anita when
it was time for me to leave, so they continued their ride with Val ponying
Goof and I ran back a couple of miles to camp. Sure got a good feel for the
trail footing that way!!
I left camp, and as soon as I got on the main road, my groom, Becky Glaser,
pulled up. Said a hurried welcome and left for the airport. 2 hours later I
was there, collected Jenn and Tom, picked up beer and some more food, and
started back. By the time I dropped Tommy off at his hotel, and got back to
camp it was late. 
Wednesday started the same, with us riding. We planned a team canoe trip for
that day, so we all got ready after the ride (had to make sure we had enough
super-soakers!!) Went for a great  trip, with each of the riders and their
grooms in their own canoes and some of our support people in others.
So the 8 canoes took off down river, we all had a wonderful 3 hours of fun.

The next day was the first inspection for us. We presented the horses, and
they compared our passports to the horses. All of us were deemed as able to
continue on to the first vet check the next day. Rode again later that day.
Big party that night in the big tent, most of us were up pretty late.
The next day was the big day........first vet check and opening ceremonies! 
Gary's horse had been "burned" by all the fly spray used coming up here, so
he had worked frantically all week to get him so he could start. All the
effort paid off when we all held our breath as he vetted Czar. He passed!!!!
Everyone went thru the vetting fine, all 6 horses were able to start!! We
were all pretty happy, then we all went back to camp so we could get our
stuff to weigh in. Did that, then it was time to get ready for opening
ceremonies. They marched us in alphabetically, so being Pacific South, we
were 3rd from last. The one rider from Venezuela was after us, then the host
team, Canada West. So we were pretty much up in the front of the crowd, with
Canada West beside us.
The officials opened the games, and then the Native American dancers came
in. It was a sight!!! So much so , that some of the horses didn't want
anything to do with them. Our horses were pretty well behaved, Goofy
couldn't have cared less, since Becky was feeding him cookies continuously!!
(He LOVES his Mrs. Pastures!!) After the ceremony, we did team. individual,
and sponsor pictures. Everyone really liked our colors and our team design
logo......we sure couldn't be missed!!
The trail was closed Friday, with just about everyone in camp wanting to
ride, so there were about 100 horses being led or ridden thru the big camp.
Last minute preparations for the ride in the morning....the ride now started
at 5:30am rather than 5am. Then the announcement from Kathy..... who was on
the team, who would ride as an individual. Anita, Gary, Jack, and I were to
be on the team, with Val and Jane riding solo!!!! We all tried to get to bed
early, and planned to get up at 3:30am to get ready for the
start.....................

I'm going to stop here and put the rest in a second part.

Brian Reeves
      & 
R.B. Royale Brand  (Goofy)

West Region- AERC
Pacific South- AERC International


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