FW: Nick Warhol's Death Valley Encounter 2000

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Warhol [mailto:nick@moai.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 7:35 PM

Death Valley Encounter, 2000
Nick Warhol

	The 2000 version of the Death Valley Encounter multiday ride was a
little more special for me this year, due to the fact I got to extend my
trip down south to include Christmas at my parents house, with a special
bonus of attending my brother's wedding on Christmas eve. It was also
special for Judy as well, since Warpaint had the chance of being the first
horse (that Jackie knows of) to complete 1000 miles at the DVE.  As a
tribute to him, and since the DVE is one of my two favorite rides, (Tevis,
of course!) I created a new ongoing ride award for any horse (not rider)
that accumulates 1000 miles at this ride.  It is called the "Nachi Sunshine,
1000 DVE lifetime mile award."   Every horse that accomplishes this feat
will get a blanket with the award name and the horses name on it.  Would
Warpaint make it?  Read on.
Judy and I drove all the way down to Palos Verdes and dropped Warpaint off
at an incredible stable called the Portuguese Bend Riding Club.   Very nice
accommodations for the horses, and what service!  Definitely much more
pizzazz than Warpaint is used to seeing.   We only had the Appy along, since
I was riding Zayante in the ride again this year, same as last.  I took the
spotted wonder out on the trails of the PV peninsula a couple of times
before Christmas to keep him limbered up.  There are some spectacular views
of Catalina and the Pacific Ocean from that hill.  It was strange riding
around in the Portuguese Bend landslide area, where years ago there were
many houses and neighborhoods.  The land started moving, and, well, there
goes the neighborhood, as they say.  You come across old foundations,
streets, sewers and sidewalks in the middle of the hills.  It's sort of like
riding in a ghost town. ( A side note- there was this long, moderately
uphill, single track trail that two women, on big arena horses, were waiting
to ride down as I started up.  We trotted quickly to the top, where they
were absolutely shocked that we had trotted up the trail. "He's not even
breathing hard!" was the comment.  They were impressed by the fitness of the
horse, and this little hill was not even enough to get him warmed up.)
	After being best man and really enjoying my brother's wedding, (he's
18 months younger than me, and 3 inches taller.  I've still never forgiven
him for that), we headed out to Ridgecrest the day after Christmas, on a
drive that should have taken 3 hours or so.  8 hours later we rolled into
the high desert town, irritated beyond belief at the stupid southern
California freeways.  Road construction, closed lanes, closed freeways,
holiday traffic: it all led to a terrible trip.   We ended up getting
re-routed through Barstow to get to Ridgecrest due to some accident that
closed Highway 395.  Judy kept trying to comfort me by saying "Hey, it could
be worse.  At least we didn't break down."  (Brian and Val dropped a U-joint
on Brian's truck on the way to Las Vegas in November, causing him much
damage and $$ due to a flailing drive shaft that took out gas tanks, fuel
lines, everything but the rear axle!)   We spent the night at Jackie's place
in the freezing cold desert weather.  The water buckets froze so much the
horses could not drink.  Thanks to wonderful, toasty, warm campers we didn't
care.  Ken Cook was sleeping in his trailer without heat.  Sleep?  I doubt
it.  We picked up my buddy, Zayante the wonder horse and headed out to the
start at Trona.  What a turnout!  There were more rigs than I've seen in the
seven or whatever times we have been at this ride.  It was packed.  We got
settled in a nice spot and started our preparations, had dinner, and went to
turn on the hot water heater for a nice, warm shower before bed.  Uh-oh.
The camper's water heater was sort of falling out of the camper.  The metal
mounting tabs were torn off, making the thing flop around like a mackerel
stuck on a sand bar.  And it was leaking to boot.  Great.  I was going to
replace it anyway, since lighting the stupid thing recently was gambling
with your life, or the very least, the loss of all facial hair.  The pilot
light assembly had gone to pot, causing a fiery blowtorch or flamethrower
scenario when you turned it on.  (I got proficient at lighting it from
around the corner of the camper)  I was able to get it lit, but then found
the camper's water pump was refusing to pump water.  It sounded like a big
truck's jake brake, resonating through the camper.  We did get to take
showers, but the term "navy shower" was never truer.  You could have filled
up a squirt gun with warm water and had the same effect.  Time for some
camper maintenance!
	Day one started out nice and cold, although not as cold as it was in
Ridgecrest.  Zayante and I left about 10 minutes after the start, not in any
hurry at all.  Judy and Warpaint started out even later, since it is so much
easier for her to either start first, or last.  Zay was his normal self- in
a hurry and happy to be out there.  We trucked along with a few different
people, but for the most part rode by ourselves for the few miles.  It was
really dusty from all the horses and the super dry desert.  In no time
people were shedding layers of clothes like so many lizards.  I caught up to
Robert and Melissa Ribley and rode with them for a while, getting to watch a
mule pitch its rider off in a fit of Muleism.  The rider got up, dusted
himself off, climbed back on, and started out again.   Jackie took us off
the old chewed up cross country trail and had us go down a nice soft road-
much better!   We trotted into lunch at a good clip, maybe a little too
quickly.  Zayante had tripped on his rear feet a few times too many for my
taste, something I had not felt him do before.  We got in and passed P&R
immediately, (700 miles on this horse and I have NEVER waited for a P&R.
He's the best!)  but the vet did not like what he saw in the rear.  Zay does
have some arthritis and stuff going on in the back, but he was looking like
his normal self.  We got pulled- I was disappointed, but we would see how he
looked later on.   Back to the truck and bummed out, I helped our friend
Carolyn Stark with her horse Echo when they came in.  Carolyn and Joe had
come all the way from Texas to do the ride, it was to be their first
multi-day ever.  Echo looked fine, and passed the vet okay, but he kept
trying to pee, and would only pee a little squirt.  This was concerning to
Carolyn, so she waited a couple of hours, and eventually pulled him.  She
wanted to ride day 2, so she would watch the horse.   Here comes Judy and
Warpaint, but Judy is not smiling.  Warpaint lost a shoe not far from the
start and has an easy boot on, but it has a lot of sand in it.  He is tender
on the foot, but not too bad.  She waits his hour, trots him again- ouch!
He is done for the day.   Great.  Zero for three, between Carolyn, Judy, and
me.   Oh well- at least we didn't need a driver.  The good news was that
Zayante looked fine, even after only an hour or so.  He must have just
tweaked something.  That was encouraging- we would see how he looked on the
next morning.
	The next morning- he looked fine.  The vet said "yep, he looks fine.
Go ahead and start."  We did, as did Carolyn.  Warpaint was still off, so
Judy hung in camp.  Carolyn and I set out on day two, the big climb.  We
would get to go to the top of Death Valley, up and over Rogers Pass, at 8000
feet or something.  It is an amazing ride- you go up for about 12 miles to
the top of the world, down across a short meadow, (that is stunning- you
HAVE to see this meadow), then down 12 miles the way you came up.  It is
slow going in the rocks- you have to just be patient and take it easy.  Up
on top I stopped to help a lady remove a rock from her horse's foot.  She
said it was really stuck in there.  She wasn't kidding!  It took me a couple
of minutes to extract it, even with hoof picks.  I ended up pounding it out
with other rocks.  Sparrow was up there on the top of the mountain with
water again this year, after missing last year's ride.  He had a new truck-
it is still hard to believe that he just drives that thing up there.  I led
Zay all the way back down on foot from the bath tub water stop, about 7
miles or so.  The canyon is incredible- old mines are everywhere, but the
mess that man can make is depressing sometimes.  This crazy canyon turns
into a river for a while at the bottom, which is really weird, since this is
the deepest desert.  Okay, for Judy's sake, I'll explain again.  I grew up
in the desert, where "river" has a different connotation.   In the desert,
moist ground is considered a creek, standing water is a stream, and if there
is water flowing, at all, it is a river.   The Mississippi, it ain't, but it
made my shoes soaked, qualifying it as a river.   I was paranoid the whole
way back down, making sure the white horse I was on was doing okay.  He felt
fine to me, like he always did, but I was none the less worried about the
vet check.  No problem- Zay was his normal self, much to the relief of his
mom, Jackie, and me.   Yippiee!  Echo was fine as well, so after a much
happier lunch, Carolyn and I set out on the 7 mile flat jaunt to Indian
Ranch, where we had some water, and then returned to the finish.  Zay was
fine- I was quite happy, since that meant I could go on the next day.
Carolyn and Echo finished fine as well.  We retired to the wonderful camper,
had a nice dinner, took another dribbling but warm shower,  got ready for
the next day, and went to the riders meeting where we collected out DVE beer
glasses.  Jackie has a real theme going with the dishes stuff.  Becky
Hackworth rode her new horse on this day, but pulled him at lunch since he
was off.  Her daughter, Heather, was riding Mark, the horse Becky rode all
four days last year.   She asked me if I would take Heather along tomorrow
as a junior sponsor, I said sure.  Zay and Mark rode together a couple of
the days last year and went along great together.
	Day three- up early in the cold again, Judy does not like the way
Warpaint looks, so once again, she sits it out.  Carolyn elects to pass on
day 3 as well, since she really wants to ride day 4.   Heather and I set out
down the long road to Indian Ranch at a nice, slow, consistent trot.   We
only stopped once at the water tank for a drink- it was great to just bop
along at a slow trot.  Heather was jazzed- I don't think she had ever
trotted that far at one time before.  Mark is so cool- he is not affected by
anything, it seems.  He just goes forward happily, at any pace, and what a
walk!  Zay is a jigging machine when among other horses, but Mark just
strides out.  Very nice.    For some reason Heather was wearing shorts,
making her legs a fashionable purple color from the cold.  She's a tough
kid.  We headed up into the desert, through the rocks, riding off and on
again with Tinker Hart and Ruthie Waltenspiel.   We caught up to Beth and
Scott Wachenheim, who are in their preparations for the 2000 mile ride this
summer.  Good luck, guys.   I want to be retired!  If I did that ride, I'd
be in the hole for vacation time at work for four years.   We headed up into
the hills, knowing where the turn was to head north.  I've ridden this trail
for the past few years, and Heather marked it last year!  We knew where we
were going.   We came across the leaders of the ride, coming back down the
trail, not knowing where the turn was.  We took them to the trail- hey! We
were leading!  For about a minute, anyway.   The herd flew down the trail,
with Zayante sure he should be going with them.  What a guy.   We hooked up
with Beth and Scott and rode down to the water stop at the highway crossing.
>From here it was only a mile or so to the rocky road- this road is about 4
miles long, but it is just nasty rocky.  Not gravel, but a road made of
rocks.  I hopped off and walked Zay all the way down.  Last year we went
down a wash instead- I still prefer the road to walk down.   Mike Tracy on
Moon came by again- we had been going back and forth with him all day.   We
got to the highway water crossing where Alex had the magic candy jar- yumm!
We were getting ready to go, and here come two horses trotting up along side
the highway.  Huh?  Where in the heck were they coming from?  They reported
that there were horses lost everywhere out there, and that they had all just
headed for the highway.  Wow.  They got their miles in, and some extra.  Up
the nice desert at a trot, then we walked up the last couple of miles in the
sand wash to the vet check.  Rebecca Jankovich passed on her monster-strong
horse Moose in the wash- he looked great.  She reminded me that it was his
first day, since one of Rebecca's horses had been lost the night before the
first day.  It was now 3 days later and still no horse.  She had spent the
last 2 days looking, and was now going to ride.  (The good news is the horse
was found after almost a week, in good health.)  It was hot going up this
wash in the sun, Heather's shorts were the right decision at this point. We
got through the vet check just fine, Zay was doing great.  Judy was there
with lunch and goodies- it was a nice treat to have the crew help there.
Heather and I were doing pretty well, by the very fact that we were one of
the few who didn't get lost.  We left the check with about 20 miles to go.
This part of day three is the best, by far.  The 3-mile or so downhill
sandwash is a real blast!  It's like someone designed it perfectly.  Trot in
great footing for a few minutes, then stop and walk through the rocky
sections, spaced just right.  Trot again, walk, more trotting- it is a neat
trip down to the highway again.  More water, then the Death Valley
trot-a-thon.  From this point it is about 7 miles of absolutely flat,
straight, soft road to the last highway, then 4 miles from there to the
finish.   I told Heather that I like to trot a long ways, so let me know if
she wanted to stop.  NOT!   We started trotting at a nice, decent pace. Not
fast, but moving along well.   I looked at my watch- we had trotted for 10
minutes and had passed 3 or 4 riders who had stopped on occasion.  20
minutes of trotting- we passed a few more.  We were making great time, just
because we were not stopping.   Now it became a game.  How long could we
trot?  Would Heather's legs give out?  No chance.  She matched me post for
post without effort.  25 minutes and going, then 30, and still going.  Now
we could see the highway.  We were making bets on how many minutes it would
be until we got there.  At 30 minutes I guessed it would be 40 when we got
there.  It turns out we got there at 39 minutes and 30 seconds.   That was a
lot of fun- Heather was pretty jazzed as well.  A water stop, and more
trotting!  We crossed the highway and took it easy up the long climb to the
finish.  I knew Zay was fine, but wondered about Mark.  No worries there.
We got to the finish, passing Dom Freeman and one of her Brazilian riders
about 15 feet from the finish.   Mark was down to 48 when we got to the vet.
Hmmmm.  This is a good horse.  He's nice and big, too, and can carry a
middleweight, even a big middleweight, like me.  Hmmmmm.    Heather was
quite pleased- she got first Junior at 12th overall, I think.  Zay was
great- I was looking forward to day 4, the prettiest day of the ride.
	Day four in Paniment Springs was warmer than the previous days.  I
don't know why, but it sure helped those poor souls without heat.  Judy
decided to be sure about Warpaint, and after talking to Dave the Duck, who
said Warpaint looked okay to start, she elected to not start once again.
She wants this guy to be sound, and given that I get to ride Tevis on him
again this year, I applaud her decision!  I was taking Heather along again
as well, plus Carolyn was riding again today.   The three of us rolled out
of camp a few minutes after the big pack and started the long trot up the
Darwin road.   We were going along at a nice pace, mostly riding with other
people, passing some.   The climb up to the pass was moderately slow and
quite cold due to the wind.   We hopped off at the top and per usual
practice, I ran all the way to the bottom of the hill along side Zay.
Funny- I hate running by myself, but I don't mind doing it with a horse.  Go
figure.   The bottom of the hill dumps us into the neatest wash in the ride-
a long, flat, really wide (like 100-300 feet) beauty that you can just sail
down.  We trucked along, looking for the hidden water that's here.  I know
it is here, because I stopped there once, but try as I might, I couldn't
find it.  If only I had Gary Fend along, I would have been certain to find
it.  If he were there, I'd have probably fallen into it and drowned.   The
neat wash ends too quickly and puts you along side the paved road for a
while, then its up and over the pass to Darwin.   We got to the top of the
hill and started down, but someone had put the trail down a little shortcut
that went down a step little trail a hundred feet or so.  I hopped off Zay
and led him down it, got back on, and discovered to my horror that he was
suddenly lame.   Not in the back, but in the front.  He was off, grade 3.
NUTS!  I limped the quarter mile or so to the water stop and had Dave look
at him.  I didn't need to do that, since it was so obvious.  That was it for
my ride.  I passed Heather to Carolyn and sent them on their way while I
looked for a ride back to camp.  A nice guy from Arizona (sorry- I forgot
your name) who was crewing for his wife gave me a ride back to camp in their
brand new Dodge truck.  It was deluxe.    I grabbed my rig and went back out
to Darwin to fetch my injured champion.  Alex stayed there with him until I
got back.  Back in camp, a shower, and some ice and bute for the horse made
me feel better.  Judy got back from the vet check and reported that Carolyn
had elected to pull again.  She was just not satisfied with how Echo was
feeling.   We had a nice lunch in the restaurant and relaxed for the rest of
the afternoon.  We went to the always-fun awards dinner and about fell over
when we saw the food.  They were serving ribs.  Not ribs, but RIBS!
Remember on the Flintstones, when the ribs knock the car over at the drive
through?  Yep- these would have done it.  It was kind of overkill, but it
was fun watching people try and eat them.  You needed a band saw to get them
apart.  We had all together too much champagne and wine at dinner and
staggered off to bed.  New years?  We were asleep.
	We drove out early to drop my buddy off in Ridgecrest.  Zayante
looked normal- I was pleased, since it looked like a minor tweak.  We headed
for home and began yet another driving ordeal that included two minor
incidents- the first was spending a few hours trying to get past the scene
of a fatal car accident.  It was weird- the cars and everything were all
cleaned up and gone by the time we got there.  All that remained was 2 cop
cars and the body, sprawled out on the road, covered by a tarp.  I could see
a shoe on a leg sticking out from under the tarp as we drove by.  Yuck.
Then to make it a complete trip, the automatic transmission in my truck gave
up the ghost, as in burned up.  I lost third gear, then second as we got
nearer home.  We were actually able to limp all the way to the house, but
then it was off to the shop for a $2,200 rebuild.   Ouch!  Oh well- we were
able to make it home without being stuck out there on highway 5.   All in
all an interesting trip, but the ride was worth it for me, at least.  Judy
will be back there next year.

Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.

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