Tevis - Part 2 or "For the Folks Back Home"

[Victoria A Thompson <toriandsteve@juno.com>]

So, where to begin.  I suppose I should tell you about the Internet teams
and how the race was portioned out.  Everybody just said what they were
going to do and left it at that.  Nobody was given a specific assignment.
 Each team just made up their own agenda.  Forresthill had a big truck
with a modem in it that we could use, but we had to take turns using it. 
It was a real pain in the neck, so Donna cultivated a couple of
friendships a couple of years ago and had houses she could go to.  There
was a house in Truckee for Fridays coverage and a house in Forresthill
for the race coverage.  That is the reason why our pictures were put up
before everyone elses.  Lucky us.

Anyway, back to the program.  Team O'Gara decided their goal was to
provide a portrait of each horse and rider before the race and to get a
picture of every rider as they left the 2 big vet checks, Robinson Flats
and Forresthill.  It was time to get the word out.  The 4 of us split
Robie park up and started walking to each camp to talk to the people and
let them know what we were doing.  I really dislike walking into
strangers camps.  I feel like I'm trespassing on government property -
you know, like Area 51.  I tried to smile all the time, but it was too
early in the morning  and there was no Starbucks around.  But I was
polite.  "Good morning.  My name is Tori Thompson and I'm one of the
people putting the race on the Internet this year.  We sure would like to
get a picture of all the riders and their horses today so we can let the
folks back home see how good you look."  Stuff like that (Ad Nauseam). 
If I'd had a cup I bet I could have mooched some coffee along the way. 
From camp to camp we covered all of Robie Park.  I think people were
getting sick of us because it got to the point where I'd approach someone
and they'd say, "I heard it from another lady."  We neglected to stop the
trucks coming into the park that morning, but figured we'd catch them at
the vet check.

We picked a pretty good spot.  Off to the side behind the vet check at
the beginning of the vendor area.  I had some trees I could use as a back
drop, and when the sun moved I could switch to another group of trees. 
Donna gave us our assignments.  I was to take the pictures.  Alice was
going to get numbers, names, and write a quick description so we would
have a reference to fall back on when the pictures were transferred to
the computer.  Mary was going to man one of the computers and type up any
comments the riders wanted to go along with their pictures.  Donna was
manning the other computer.   When my disc was full she would download it
to her computer, take the disc from Mary's computer and transfer the
comments to the pictures.  Sounds pretty easy doesn't it.  Wrong!

First of all, I have never even seen a digital camera before, let alone
taken a picture with one.  I figured I was going to have to wear my
prescription glasses under my sunglasses in order to get the photos in
focus.  No need to focus.  Camera does it for you.  Hallalooya!  For
those of you that don't know what they look like they have a small lens
on one side and a TV type screen on the other.  You simply look at the TV
screen, push the shutter button half way until it beeps then push the
button all the way down.  Upon releasing the button the camera records
the image on a disc.  It takes the camera about 10 seconds to record the
image and then it is ready to take another picture.  I was also able to
zoom in and out.  There is a darker/lighter button too.  Donna said to
just push the darker/lighter button until I could see what it was I was
looking at and the camera would do the rest.  No more squinting through
the view finder, focusing the lens, screwing around with the f-stop and
aperture, choosing the correct speed of film.  You just look at the TV
screen and snap your picture.  Kind of takes all the fun out of owning a
camera.

So, we sat down and watched the festivities start to unfold.  Other
Interneters dropped by, Karen, Lynne (the greatest person in the whole
world, but that's another story).  The reporter from Endurance News.  We
saw the Japanese film crew.  And, of course, the horses and their riders.
 Those horses!  Absolutely beautiful, magnificent animals.  I saw some
Arabs with bones so big they make my QH look like a toothpick.  And then
there was Ruby.  My personal favorite.  She is truly one of the most
awesome looking animals I have ever seen.  Everything about that mule
says, "take me home."  Unfortunately, I was in dire need of the
porta-potty and Alice had the privilege of taking Ruby's picture (I just
got to pet her on my way to the john).

So, I took pictures.  For some strange reason I was under the impression
that when you pushed the darker/lighter button that is the way the camera
took the picture.  Not so.  I must apologize here.  My ignorance of the
camera is the reason why so many pictures are so dark.  I figured I
didn't have to worry about whether or not my subject was in the shade
when I was in the sun and vice versa.  Oops.  A lot of the horses
actually looked better in the shade because the sun was so bright you
couldn't see what color they were, but in the shade the dark horses
looked black.  Sorry.  

Whenever we had a lull we would send Mary out to walk among the people
standing in the vet check line to remind them to come down for their
photo.  Mary was great.  Anytime we wanted anything all we had to say
was, "Mary go do this."  What a trooper.  Out of the 4 of us, I think
Mary got to see the most of what was going on.  Donna was stuck at the
computer all day, and Alice and I had to man the camera.  We each took a
quick tour of the vendor area, but Mary got to go see the horses (which
is really what we come here for anyway, right).  

A few bits of gossip came our way.  Three of the Texas horses had gotten
away Wednesday night.  Two were injured (one seriously) and the third was
still lost.  I have still not heard if they have found that horse yet.  I
find it very sad for those folks to come all that way and have such a
tragedy befall them.  As to the injured horses one was badly scraped, but
the others leg injuries were severe enough to have to retire it from
competition ever again.  Maybe someone from Texas knows more specifics
and can comment later.  The other little piece of gossip was a marriage
was to take place at Robinson Flats.  Riders number 1 and 2, Jim Porter
and what-ever-her-name-is (sorry) were going to be married when they rode
into Robinson Flats.  Now, I'm just telling you the gossip that came our
way.  I have absolutely no idea if this really happened or not.  It
didn't sound like much of a wedding night to me, but who am I to judge. 
I don't remember who told us this little tidbit, but several people said
they had heard the same thing.  Did it come true?  Well, this installment
of my story deals with the events on Friday, so you'll just have to read
the other 'chapters'  that cover race day to find out!

We had told people we would be taking pictures until 5 PM.  We hoped to
be out of Robie Park by 5:30 and that the pictures would be up and ready
for viewing by 7:30 PM. We had some people so excited about the prospect
of having their pictures ready for the folks back home to see they called
their homes to give everyone our web site address.  I kept my fingers
crossed that nothing would go wrong and disappoint these people.  There
were only 2 people that we approached that flatly refused to have their
pictures taken.  Others thought that they had to pay for the pictures. 
For whatever reason - whether it was our lack of getting the word out,
inability to find us, or just plain forgetfulness, only 80 to 90 people
came by to get their pictures taken.  Kind of sad because Donna had
prepared a space for each and every rider.  That is the reason why you
get so many blank spots when you go look at our web site.  Now as to the
reason why some of the blank spots have a quote by them I haven't a clue.
 That's Donna's department.

At 5 PM we decided to close up shop.  Prior planning originally had me
driving my own car up to Robie and meeting my teammates there so that I
could drive to Robinson Flats Friday night and camp there.  My teammates
were going to go down to Sacramento and spend the night at our 5th (and
as yet unintroduced) teammates house (with showers, the lucky dogs).  As
luck would have it my husband needed my car Tevis weekend and his car is
too unpredictable to take on a long drive, so I had to ride with the
others up to Robie Park and try and hitchhike to Robinson Flats Friday
night.  Sounds easy enough.  Well, Mary and Alice didn't want to leave me
stranded in Robie Park without knowing I had a ride.  So, while I stood
with all my gear at the entry to Robie Park with my thumb out the others
waited in the Suburban.  Now, I'm quite sure that eventually I would have
gotten a ride, but at that present time all the people were making their
way down to the pre ride meeting and dinner.  It would have been a couple
hours at least until someone left to go to Robinsons Flat.  The few cars
that did come by did not even acknowledge my thumb.  One guy stopped and
said he was going to Auburn then wished me luck before leaving me in a
cloud of dust.  Donna finally came out of the car and said they would
drive me back to the pre ride meeting area and I could ask around for a
ride.  As an afterthought she said or I could just come with them to
Sacramento and hope nothing happens to prevent us from getting to
Robinson Flats in the morning.  Whatever I chose to do it needed to be
done now so she could get to the house and get the pictures up.  I chose
to go with them to Sacramento.  The idea of having a shower really
sounded nice.  There was so much dust up my nose I desperately wanted to
pick it, but having better manners than that I refrained from that
activity (I probably would have been digging for hours!).  We drove Donna
to the other side of Truckee and dropped her off at a very nice looking
house then we went back into town to fill up with gas and do some grocery
shopping.  

Driving mistake number 3 is about to occur so don't go away yet.  Truckee
is a relatively small town.  A logging town for all intents and purposes.
 When I haunted those hills in my youth I could have driven through it
blindfolded and told you every little bump in the road, but that was 25
years ago.  The main part of town is now at the highway junction of 89
and 80 (for years all that was there was a gas station).  Anyway, Alice,
if you turn this way there's a gas station and a grocery store just up
the road.  WRONG!  Now I'm stumped.  I'm too chicken to take a side road
that used to get over to 89 to all the stores over there.  Just my luck
it would be the wrong road anyway.  So all I can suggest is going back to
the freeway and going back down 80 to the stores.  That feat accomplished
we fill up with gas and head across to the Albertsons grocery store. 
Mary, Alice and I are drooling and dreaming of dinner.  Where do we go? 
Eat in Auburn?  Go to Sacramento?  Definitely eat before we get to this
house we're staying at.  None of us are in the mood to play gracious
guest.  We want to eat, shower and go to bed.  We'll just have to tell
Donna that is the way things are going to go.  Donna can call her
husbands cousin on the way down the mountain and let her know our plans. 
Off we go back to pick up Donna.  I managed to get us back there without
getting us lost.  We had to wait about 5 minutes, but Donna came out all
smiles and said it was up.  Down the mountain we went.

The cell phone didn't work until we were almost into Sacramento.  Donna
was finally able to get through to Sarah.  We were going to eat first. 
No ... you're cooking dinner?  Spaghetti.  Oh.  OK.  Bad news.  We had to
play gracious guest after all.  Bummer.  Now we're headed into my
stomping grounds.  Just hand me the directions and I'll get you there. 
Driving mistake number 4.  A new freeway intersection put the old
familiar exit in a different spot.  Easily corrected, but it took us out
of our way by about 10 minutes.  Driving mistake number 5.  I missed one
of the roads in the instructions.  I got us there, but it took an awful
lot longer than it would have if I'd been paying better attention.  Too
busy looking at all the old familiar landmarks mixed in with an awful lot
of new stuff.  I need to stop being navigator.  

Sarah welcomed us into her charming little home with tall glasses of
good, cold water and fresh fruit.  While spaghetti was cooking I was
first to take advantage of the shower.  You'd think a nice hot shower
would be just the ticket, but a nice lukewarm one really hit the spot.  I
believe Alice hit the shower next and then we ate a wonderful vegetable
spaghetti - all grown from Sarah's garden.  It is now 11:30 PM.  Donna
still has to download something a fellow gave her earlier in the day. 
The rest of us just want to go to bed, and then there's the dishes that
still need to be washed (this is the gracious guest part we didn't want
to do).  God bless Sarah, she wouldn't let us do a thing.  Donna was
given the couch because she was pretty much an invalid.  Alice, Mary and
I got the floor in the spare bedroom with the kitty litter box.  Now, let
me make something clear here.  I'm not a cat person.  I'll tolerate them,
I'll even pick a few up and make nice, but I'm really not keen on
sleeping with the litter box.  It was a beautiful warm night and Sarah's
backyard looked very inviting, so I asked Sarah if it would be OK if I
slept out there.  Well, I'm glad I did.  Because, as luck would have it,
I got the best bed in the house!  Instead of letting me just sleep on my
foam pads Sarah insisted on my sleeping on her big air bed.  She hauled
that out to the porch, pumped it up in about 3 minutes, stuck a sheet on
it and left me in seventh heaven.  I was chuckling to myself as I drifted
off to sleep while Mary and Alice rolled out their foam pads on the floor
with the kitty litter.

At one point during the night I was jolted out of sleep when a cat shoved
her face into my nose, but she settled down by my head and was actually
kind of comforting after I got used to the idea.  I didn't appreciate the
claws being sharpened on my shoulder at 5 AM after my wrist watch alarm
went off, but I suppose I would have gone back to sleep if she hadn't
done that.  Sarah was preparing muffins for breakfast while we stowed our
gear for the day and got ready for the long drive to Robinson Flats.

Enough for one day.

Stay tuned for Part 3 or "Any Particular Reason Why We Have to Lug This
Thing Around?"

Tori