Volunteer Woes (Long)

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

Endurance ride stories are always so fun to read.  I love the tales of
glory and heartache you riders share with us.  This story is a little
different and I hope all of you enjoy it.  

My horse, Taffy, has pretty much had the last year off.  Between the two
of us we've logged in so much sick/lame time neither one of us remembers
what it's like to really ride.  So, once again I had to miss out on the
Norco Riverdance ride.  This year, however, was a little different.  We
moved to the Norco area in July.  Taffy is even living with Lynne Glazers
horses, Q and Ember.  So I decided that since I couldn't ride Riverdance
the least I could do was volunteer to help out.  The neat thing about
this ride is I live close enough to go home every night and take a shower
and sleep in a real bed instead of camping.  I was really looking forward
to this.

On Friday I planned on spending the morning doctoring Taffy and then
heading to the ridecamp to help with check-ins or anything else Lynne
needed me to do.  I took longer with Taffy than I had anticipated and
didn't get to camp until close to 1 PM.  Lynne didn't really have any
duties specifically assigned to me on Friday, so I was prepared to just
be an errand boy (girl) and do whatever was asked.  Lynne had everything
so well organized at the check in counter people weren't really needed
unless money was still owed.  The only thing that seemed to confuse
people were the meal tickets.  Usually meal tickets are included in the
price of the ride (for the rider), but because so many people leave after
the ride and don't want to partake of the wonderful repast Lynne has
catered in she decided to take the price of the meal out of the cost of
the ride.  A lot of riders didn't understand that they had to buy the
meal ticket, but it was a minor glitch and no one complained.  I sort of
put a hitch in Lynne's organization of the ride ... I forgot to mark down
the number of people that bought meal tickets.  This isn't anything of
major importance, but it does help in the planning of next years ride.  

Since I didn't really know how Lynne had the paperwork organized I
thought it would be best if I quietly slid back from the check in table
and help erect the screen tent where breakfast was going to be laid out. 
So, here we are with a bunch of poles and a tent and no instructions on
how to put the thing together.  It took awhile, but we finally figured it
out.  The problem was staking the bottom down.  The ground was like
cement and all we had were aluminum stakes.  We found a few spikes but
not enough to go around, so we drilled a hole with a spike, pulled it out
and replaced it with an aluminum stake.  That worked really well twice. 
The third time the spike bent and I couldn't pull it out of the ground.  
I left that one to be figured out by the Big Dogs.  

Just as luck would have it about that time a woman came over to the check
in table and said they needed a new number writer over at the vet in.  I
said I'd go do that.  That's something that doesn't require a lot of
skill or a hammer, so I figured I could handle that job.  Do you know
what melting chocolate feels like on your fingers?  That is exactly what
those markers reminded me of when I was holding them.  I really had to
fight back the urge to lick my fingers.  It's a good thing my nose never
itched.  One color is bad enough, but when you combine blue, pink and
orange into this melting mass in your hands it's pretty ugly.  I ran into
a few people I knew.  Becky and Heather Hackworth were really bummed when
Heathers horse came out of the trailer lame, but Heather was a real
trooper and volunteered on the spot.  I remembered a few people from
Tevis and was pleased to hear at least the pictures I took of them came
out clear.  So many were blurry from my lack of knowledge about the
camera I was using, but that made me feel better.  

The head vets truck blew up on his way to the race and he came in his
regular car.  We convinced him to leave early (the other 2 vets and the
other volunteer and I) so he could transfer all of his gear over to
another truck (he lived 2 hours away).  Vet-in was over at 7, the ride
meeting was over at 8.  I wasn't required back in camp until 8 AM, so I
said I'd be no later than 7:30.  I went home.  That was so neat.  I had
the whole bed to myself too.  Hubby was over in Arizona hunting.  I set
the alarm for 5 AM and went to sleep.

I jumped out of bed the second the alarm went off and jumped into the
shower.  Coffee was brewing while I dried my hair.  I was all set to go
by 5:30, but, gosh, that coffee sure is good.  Maybe I'll have another
cup and just give the front page of the newspaper a quick glance.  I
really should be heading over to the race.  There's always something that
needs to be done, but, gosh, my day just doesn't seem right if I don't
read the comics.  Dang that coffee's good.  I got in the car at 7. 
Driving down my tree lined street all was right with the world.  It was a
beautiful day, and I was going to help out with something I really love. 
I entered the on ramp for the freeway looking into my side mirror to see
if I could merge over.  Over I go.  Bring my eyes back to the front and
WHAMO ... cannot see two feet in front of my face.  Between the sun and
the dust on my windshield I couldn't see anything.  I had 2 choices, keep
going or pull off and wash the window.  I kept going.  I only had a 10
minute drive until I pulled off the freeway and no one was on the road
(at least not that I could see).  When I exited the freeway I stopped at
a mini mart and cleaned my window.  I pulled into camp at 7:30.  

My duties for the day were P & R's at vet check 2 and the finish line. 
Vet check 2 was at ridecamp as well as the finish line, so I didn't have
any more driving to do.  I pulled out my chair and cooler full of
Gatorade and helped get clocks set up.  It wasn't long after 8 that the
first riders pulled into vet check 2 (the hour hold for the 50's and the
end of the ride for the 25's).  I think we were pretty darned efficient. 
I got readings different from a couple of peoples heart monitors, but 
only one guy objected.  I rechecked in one minute and the horse was down.
 I did hear one really weird heartbeat.  Usually what you hear is
thump-thump ... thump-thump ... thump-thump (3 heart beats).  What I
heard was thump...........thump (one), thump..............thump (two),
thump.........thump (three), then a couple of regular thump-thumps then
back to the pause between the thumps again.  I had to do that one over a
couple of times because I wasn't sure what I was hearing.  I told the
rider it sounded funny ... different, but the horse met criteria.  I
don't know if the rider told the vet or not.  The horse passed the vet
check, so I can only assume there was nothing wrong.  The 25 milers were
just beginning to finish their race when I had to leave the P & R station
and go to the finish line.

I really feel awful because I'm totally blanking out on her name, but
Lynne's right hand and I were going to man the finish line.  Off to the
side and out of the way of the camp a shade canopy was set up with a
scale for the top 10 finishers.  We parked ourselves under the shade and
waited for the riders to come.  And we waited and waited and waited. 
Finally riders 1 and 2 came cantering up the path.  Within the first
couple of hours I'd say half the riders came in.  One lady got so off
course she came over the finish line without coming into the hour hold. 
She had absolutely no idea where she got off course and she didn't even
want to try and figure it out.  She figures she was off originally by
about 2 miles, but when she turned around to go back to pick the trail up
again is when she found herself hopelessly confused.  She picked up the
ribbons again that brought her into the finish line and called it quits. 
My colleague (you know, the one whose name I can't remember) had to go
back to the main trailer to help Lynne and left me on my own to finish
the race.  I wish I'd used the portapotty before she left.

Every once in awhile someone waiting for a rider to finish would keep me
company for a little while.  Mostly I was on my own, though.  No music,
no book, no crossword puzzle, no cards, no Twinkies.  Along about 4
another volunteer showed up.  She was there to either relieve me or keep
me company, whichever I preferred.  What I wanted at that moment was a
trip to the bathroom.  I felt sooooo much better after that.  Lynne
radioed that we could expect 64 riders to finish the race.  Then she
asked if one of us could bring in the finish sheets for those riders that
had already come in.  I handed the sheets to my companion and said you
don't have to come back if you don't want to.  Well, she didn't want to. 
Every once in awhile a rider would come in, but it was getting to the
point where I was having 30 minute gaps between riders.  Still, by 5:20 3
riders were still out there.  At 5:40 Lynne radioed wanting to know how
many riders had come in ... 61 was my reply.  How long ago had they come
in .... 20 minutes.  Well, guess what, they were the last riders!  Then,
while I was trying to carry two chairs and a cooler as well as the
paperwork back to the main trailer Lynne had the unmitigated gaul to tell
me to hurry up!!!!  Of all the nerve!

While I had been sitting there all by myself with the unrelenting wind
blowing my hat off and doing nothing but looking down the trail for some
sign of life I decided to amuse myself by writing Lynne a note. 
Basically some thoughts on what to do for next years race.  Things like a
nozzle on the end of a hose we had at the P & R station so we didn't have
to go 150 feet to turn the water on and off.  And also little things at
the finish line to make life easier.  A little table would have been
nice, so would a string quartet.  A mariachi band would be too noisy.  A
radio perhaps or a portable TV.  A tape player with foreign language
tapes (I would like to learn French).  Then I stated I was losing my mind
and closed the note with Chippendale dancers.  When I got back to the
trailer I handed in all the paperwork and went to get dinner.  I was
contentedly eating away on BBQ beans (maginfique!) and marinated tri tip
when the awards presentation began.

All the awards for the 25 milers were handed out - 42 out of 43 finished
the ride.  Then Lynne started thanking all the volunteers and gave out
some special awards.  Who came from farthest away (Virginia), youngest
rider, best sport, things like that.  Oh, and loneliest volunteer.  I
don't think you need any hints on who won that prize.  I was
flabbergasted to say the least.  I volunteered to stay out there, after
all.  I don't know if it was my note - the oh God I'm losing my mind
part, or the fact that they left me out there for 20 minutes after the
last riders had come in that made them decide to award me with some great
Cowboy Magic products.  Lynne, I know you're going to read this, I don't
know what to say.  Thank you.  It wasn't necessary, but I appreciate the
gesture (is gesture the word I'm searching for?  I don't think so.  Oh
well, you get the drift).  Awards for the 50's were presented ... great
stuff too.  77 riders signed up.  I don't remember how many actually
started, 61 finished and 1 horse didn't pass the final vet check.

This is the first ride I have ever gone to where I didn't hear one
complaint about the trail, camp, management, the vets, dogs, the food. 
Nothing.  When a rider would come in as I filled out their ride card I
asked every single one how their ride was, and every single one responded
with 'great'!  Only one person said the sand was hard on their horse, but
other than that they had a great ride too.  Just about everybody
commented on how wonderful the volunteers are, how fun the trail is and
how organized Lynne is.  This race is a MUST DO for those of you that
haven't done it yet.  Mark your calendars now.  The Norco Riverdance is
the place to be September 1, 2001.

And the best part was I got to go home and sleep in my own bed when the
race was over!

Tori