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To get to Robie Park involves driving up over the mountains. Such a chore... This is the view at Emigrant Gap. |
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Once you get to Truckee, turn right at the 7-11 and follow the signs.... |
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...and then start driving. The dirt road goes on for over 6 miles, but this year they had evidently just done an excellent grading job, fairly recently, because it was in pretty good shape. If you're lucky, you get to follow the water truck which sprays the road to keep the dust down.... |
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...if you're unlucky, the water truck pulls over to the side and waves you past. |
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...and then you have to fight through this instead. |
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And this...
Ah! But this is an art shot - see me in the bottom right hand corner. |
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How to find your group once you arrive at Robie. |
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Karin Strothenke (excuse the spelling if that's wrong, I was copying someone's notes) flew over from Germany to crew for her ex-patriat German friend Bettina Koehn who now lives in Wisconsin. Somehow (and I'm not sure Karin knows how) they talked her into borrowing one of Potato's horses - Josh - and riding the ride. When I last saw Karin on Wednesday evening at the barbecue, she was scuttling off to buy all the horse stuff she would need (tights, etc... fancy coming all this way and not bringing tights??). |
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By 5:30 on Saturday, she was booked into the ride, but not
looking at all convinced about the whole thing. Josh was proving to be a
bit of a handful.
I spoke to english rider Sally Toye later and she said that she'd ridden Josh a couple of times before for Tevis, and he's fine once he settles down. Hopefully Karin will enjoy her ride more than she looked like she thought she was going to in these pictures, as she discusses Josh (or at least tries to, as he spins circles) with Potato. (Update: Karin and Josh were sadly pulled at Robinson Flat) |
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Christina MacKenzie with Ribbons of Steele - one of about three Remington Steele offspring taking part in the ride this year. For more views of these horses, check Lynne Glazer's coverage (Lynne is also the proud owner of a couple of Remington Steele babies, so she takes a close interest in them). |
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Rider Suzanne Geer is weighed. All riders are weighed with
their tack upon vetting in.
Suzanne was apparently going to replace a rider who dropped out, but didn't realise that you can't transfer ride entries. Lucky for her, rider James Oury from Montana decided to drop out so Suzanne is going to be riding his horse, Reggae. (after completing an Iron Man event last week, James said he wasn't feeling quite so sprightly - although we were very glad to hear that he was feeling better after his infamous injuries at a ride last year). |
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Barbara White and her mum, Julie Suhr (we're not worthy...we're not worthy <grin>). Julie was complaining that Barbara wasn't wearing her Tevis buckle (which one? Barbara's going for her 24th completion this year). Julie was "only" at 20 for her number of Tevis completions, but she's going to be adding to her 26-some thousand miles [sigh]. |
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One of my favorite horses - Swede - half arab/half quarter horse. This year his rider, Mary Abbott, is changing her race strategy somewhat to conserve Swede's energy in the morning, so that he's stronger in the afternoon. Last year's Tevis completion was Swede's first 100 and in the ensuing year, Mary has learnt a lot about him and how to best manage him - always a difficult task when your horse *thinks* he can gallop to the moon. |
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Oi! That horse's head's on backwards!
Swede showing off his QH heritage (those two comment are unrelated, by the way, before I get into trouble with the QH people <g>). |
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The Maryland contingent out walking their horses on Friday
evening - the horses of Karen Binns DiCamillo, Fran Ligler, and Janelle
Straszheim, accompanied by Ken Thomson and LC Charmer from Santa Clara,
CA.
In the foreground you can see the infamous red dirt of Robie - imagine 4" deep red talcum powder. |
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Shearwater tucking into his evening munchies. This will be Shearwater's second Tevis, but his rider, Wendy Swanson's first. Wendy was already in her jammies, but stuck her head out to say what a good time she'd had just *getting* to the start - anything else was just icing on the cake. |
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Shearwater was convinced I was out to steal his supper, so
was giving me snake eyes. I really wasn't interested in it,
honest.
(Update: Wendy and Shearwater completed in fine shape at 3:38) |
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John Lakso's horse Buzz getting excited about suppertime. He was sharing his pen with John's grand-daughter (junior) Kayla Ramsdell's horse Khemo Khairo and very mannerly they were too. |
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Khemo Khairo enjoying his slurpy...
(John said that they had had to change Khemo's (? that might have
been Buzz?) diet to prevent him
tying up - so now he's cut out rich foods like |
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...while Buzz drips his all over the floor.
(Update: John, Kayla, Buzz and Khairo, together with another junior, Kate Burgess at 4:45. John said Buzz was pretty pooped, but the enthusiasm of the others towed him along) |
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Junior Alicia Mitchell's horse JD doing his best to turn his Robie dust bed into something a bit comfier. It'll be JD's first attempt at Tevis, while Alicia got as far as Michigan Bluff last year. |
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Dad - Jim Mitchell threatening his trusty steed Fire Mountain Smoke with a pitchfork. This will be their second go around after also being pulled last year at Michigan Bluff. |
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Smoke sporting the fashionable hairdo at Tevis this year.
(Update: Jim and Alicia finished in fine company at the back – with the likes of Julie Suhr, Barbara White, Hal & Ann Hall, and Bonnie Way, to name but a few – at 4:38) |
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Junior Kate Burgess patiently braiding red ribbons into
Ray Zi Onah's tail.
(Update: Kate finished with John Lakso and Kayla Ramsdell at 4:45) |
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Bonnie Way and her great big saddlebred/arab cross, Jock.
She explained that although Jock could stand to lose some weight, he'll
have ample chance to work some off during the ride.
(Update: Bonnie and Jock left Foresthill three horses before last, right at cut-off – at 21:45. However, by the time they reached Auburn (at 4:38), they had worked their way past 20 other riders (not counting the ones that were pulled). This shows two things: 1) what a great job Bonnie did managing Jock (who is far from the "classic endurance shape" when it comes to body types and is absolutely huge... Bonnie looks to be about 5'3" and can barely get her foot in the stirrup to get on). 2) how it is possible to make up time on the stretch of trail between Foresthill and the finish - provided you're willing to really move out in the dark... and provided you're accomplished at what you do. Only later did I discover that Bonnie has some 13,000+ miles under her belt <grin>) |
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And lastly (the light finally ran out, and I had to
poke at this pic to make it even vaguely work - it looks grungey from
where I'm sitting, but I'm blaming that on the laptop screen)
Victoria White's pinto, Missing Link. I asked her about his breeding and
she replied "Wouldn't I like to know... 'of dubious
parentage'..."
Link is one of three pinto's doing Tevis this year, but Victoria explained, with no bias whatsoever, of course, that he's the best looking of them.<g> (Update: I don't know the full story, but saw Victoria and Link returning to the Foresthill VC, so I believe they had a problem on the trail and had to pull at FH) |