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Well, I won't bore you to death with all the minute by minute details. But, will put together how it went.
We stayed Weds. night on the way up at a great KOA camp in Wytheville, VA. It was 2:30 am when we pulled in. Marie and Majik and their crew person Zoe had been there since early in the evening. Some of us have to work, so that was why I was much later. :)) Marie and Majik were very happy to see Rose and Cash....well maybe not Cash.. Majik had fretted being there all alone. But he soon settled down. They all (and us too) rested and slept. Left out of there at 8:00am on Thursday evening. Pulled into camp at about 12:30...but on the way up when we got close enough to the mountains where the trail would be, I would call Maire on the cell phone and say, "If you look out of the truck to the right, you will see Edinburg Gap. " or " at mile marker 272 should be about the southern most section of the trail. " It was kinda like a pilot on a plane pointing out the geographical points of interest. But, then again, I am a geographer, and mapping is what I do.
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So, into camp we come, drive around to the back where the 100's are parked. There is Tom Sites already there and waiting on us. Joel, who has never talked to, emailed or seen Tom, says to me, " There is Tom Sites, your buddy !". He said he had no problem picking him out....just from what he had heard. Got the horses, camp and all set up and settled. Then set up for the pool party!!! In the mean time, Laurie Underwood and her dad, Walt pull in and a bit later, my very good friend from Michigan, Dr. Tom Dombroski rides Ebony, his Harley up to our camp. WOW, the gangs all here. The swimming pool is filled (and that was a story there), the snakes, frogs, lizards, duckies, spiders and water guns and balloons are filled and ready. Tom Sites and others began preparing our meal....and it was SO good. Tom Sites, is an excellent cook. That evening he stuffed us with the best Mexican meal, salad to die for, soft or hard shell tacos with beef/pork meat with hot peppers. OH so good. I ate plenty of it...along with Marie's Coronas and lime !!!! We did have a few visitors that came up to the "Grits" camp to see our setup.
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One small problem that Thursday evening was Cash Pony, he was fascinated with the hillside...and stood in a trance. But, he didn't like the soccer game. He ran thru the fence not once, but twice. Doing so, he cut the inside of his back leg above the hock. Nothing bad, but it scraped the hide off. He swelled some, so on Friday, the Grits team vet, Dr. Tom looked him over, watched him trot, and then said he would be fine. Man, it was sure nice to have our very own Vet !!!!
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Friday came, all three horses got their massage from Karen Zelinsky, and I think they really like that too. We saddled up and rode just a couple miles, and then it was time for riders meeting and going to bed. Well, before I could go to bed, we (Joel, Dr. Tom, Laurie and her dad) had to load all this STUFF onto the bed of the old grey truck. Now, let me say this, to take everything that you need, or that you might need, or that you might want, for two horses, two riders, and three crew people....TAKES A LOT of truck bed !!!!!!!! My truck looked like Jed Clampetts. Finally to bed at around 11:00pm.
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We wake to music, very irritating music at 3:30. But, up we are, feed, and tack up . Ride down to the warm up ring, and then out of the ring and onto the trail at 5:00am. We have officially started the OD !!!! Now, how far can we get. Marie, Joni and I are riding along and talking about the trail, and how there are no rocks, no big hills and this is a piece of cake. Cross the river at 12.5 and into a 20 mins. hold at McCoy's. No crews there, but you didn't need one. Plenty of grass. At this VC, we are telling them what we thought so far, and they (ride workers) laugh at us. Oh, you are fixin to see the first climb and rocks, they tell us. So, out we go and in a bit, we did start up a hill. Nothing great at first, but it got worse and worse as you went. Finally, we are not dissappointed !!!! We see the ROCKS !!!. Over the top and down the other side to VC 2, where are crews are waiting. Time wise, we are right on predicted schedule, about 3:45 to do 25 miles. Horses are doing great, cool temps and no humidity makes Rose a very good girl. Marie was shocked that she was trotting along with a pulse under 100. And she did that nearly all day !!! Rose is not known for having a low pulse, she is 1/2 Paint horse. Out of McCoys and onto the best trail of ride, we felt like we were back home. Great moving trail, and move we did. Came into Foster's Landing (43 Miles). Again, all three horses doing wonderful. Left there for a 10.3 mile loop. Tom Sites said, this has the biggest climb. And it did. I took my GPS unit on the ride, didn't really use the mileage, but the elevation feature was priceless. We climbed from around 600 ft. to a little over 2300 !!!! And Rocks, I have never seen such rocks. Joni and I were off tailing most of it, Marie was off some I think, and then on the top riding the ridge, Marie would say, "Oh, look at that beautiful view", or "Look at these wonderful rocks". I'm thinking, I can't look at the view Marie because I am trying to watch these *&&^% @@#!*&^ROCKS !!!!!!!!! I do have some great pictures of those lovely little rocks when I get them developed. Turns out that 10.3 miles was the longest, most miserable 10 miles placed on God's green earth. It took us 3 hours to go 10.3 miles. Why??? Because you have to walk 9 out of the 10 miles !!!!! So, into Hickory Lane and 53 miles. A saddle change for Cash Pony there because he was getting a little girthy. So, the heavy Orthoflex went on him. Again, all three horses were doing fantastic...they didn't even look like they had been anywhere. Back out on the trail and onto another long loop.....it was 15 miles, but took forever. We named the next VC (Curtis Field) the MIA VC...because it was....MISSING. That leg of the trail had the most hard pack dirt road ever....riddled with, yep you guessed it...more ROCKS. And one Rattlesnake. Karen Isaacs found him, not us. It was dark when we left that VC, 7-8 more miles and we were at the foot of Sherman's Gap and Pickett Springs. Back out onto the trail and now we had company, the drag riders !!! Two really nice people on two really nice mules. Up Sherman's we head, Joni and I are off tailing, finally get to the top and we decided we are in time race to make cut off at McCoys. So, I stayed on the ground (no Crupper and another story with lots of bad words) Off I run. Joni and Marie are riding, get down off the worst of it, and I still stay off and just run. I can run fast when I have to. Marie tells me at the bottom when I stop to get on, that she was impressed, didn't think I could run that fast. Heck I didn't either....but fear of not making cutoff will do that for you. :)) We tear out down the road and get into the VC with plenty of time. In fact, we left the check right before they closed it. Now, here is the big let down of our OD adventure. We crossed the river with the most beautiful moonlight dancing on the water....and NO glowsticks in the milk jugs !!!!!!! I really wanted to see that. WE all really wanted to see it. 12.5 miles to go to the finish !!! Strong horses, so we trot on, get into Liberty Hall and it had gotten really cold then. I wrapped up in a horse blanket and just sat on the ground. Joel, Laurie vetted the horses thru, and I just sat. Marie asked me if I was OK, and I told her yes, but I just needed to sit and rest a minute. Short hold and back out on the trail for the last 4.8 miles. Again racing the clock here, but knew we were ok when we turned to the woods that bring you to the soccer field. At 4:40 am we trotted in side by side for the finish. WE DID IT !!!!!!!!!!! YIPPPEEEE !!!!!!!!!! Took the tack off, and threw on some blankets and walked down to the ring for completion check. Here we had the head vet, Dr. Melissa Ribley from California. WOW, she vetted my horse thru and I completed.... She did Majik as well and I think Dr. Art King had the little turd, Cash Pony. Poor Joel had to re-trot Cash for Dr. Ribley, because he was holding his head too tight. The reason: Cash was dragging Joel at the trot out !!! That little $150 horse was dragging him all over the place. Joel asked me if we had a chain in the trailer for him, at the finish line !!!!!!!! He had the brightest eyes, and didn't look the least bit tired. They all looked great.
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So, we crawled in the bed at around 5:30 in the morning. For the first time in my life, I didn't take a shower before I went to bed after a ride. That's a trailer rule, you don't get in the bed until you take a shower. Well folks, the OD is an exception to that rule. All three of us went to bed dirty.
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We had a very nice breakfast, then awards and then headed on down the road the KOA again to spend the night. I think we did pretty well at the awards, Joni took first jr. and TOP TEN, she was tenth, I won a paint horse award, and of all things, for being 11th, a free entry to the OD 100!!!! Marie got that buckle she so badly wanted, and our little team, the True Grits won the team award. We had one misfortune, one of our members, Judie Ricci lost her horse at the first VC, and didn't catch him for a couple hours, and had to pull. Hey, if that hadn't happened, we might have finished all four team members.
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The ride management was great, the vet were great, the volunteers are the best, the towns people all were very encouraging, in fact at one house, there were two little girls standing in the front yard holding up a little paper sign that said, "GO HORSES". Now, that was sweet.
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So, would I go back??? I have the free entry, so now, let me forget about the rocks for a few months, then I would go back. Did I learn anything??? Yep...and for the NC in Oct. I can put it to good use. One thing that I learned was, Aries didn't need to go to do that 100. She is dumb, and falls over rocks. Sorry Angie, but the truth hurts. Rose is no doubt the horse for the 100 at the NC in Oct. Cash Pony is as well. Neither horse tripped over rocks much at all, and none after dark. Plus, Rose has a bigger butt to push up hills with. :))
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Well, I didn't mean for it get this long, so sorry...but I still left out a lot.
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Jody, Joni and the OD ponies, Rose and Cash.
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