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Re: [RC] The Great American Horse Race - oddfarmJust quoting from the book. "Entrants would pay $500 plus logistics fees of five dollars per day.....Entrants would pay their own expenses during the contest which would last 100 days." I would have paid $5,000 to do that ride! Although, I would have to tell John it was only $500 Poor guy, doesn't have a clue. Lisa Salas, The Odd FArm Off to Leatherwood which is also a pretty darn good ride! ----- Original Message ----- From: <bigcreekranch.filtered@xxxxxxxxxx> To: "oddfarm" <jsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 8:07 PM Subject: Re: [RC] The Great American Horse Race I found this book at the convention and it is worth a million bucks! I know some of you have talked about it but I never heard any real details. There is a story of Mr. Tom Sites being given a key to a city. Then later in the book is a picture of this hippie, dippy weather man/California cowboy standing with a key around his neck. Is that you Mr. Sites? Boy, did everyone look rough towards the end. I laughed so hard at the pictures and loved the story of the take over by the riders. What a ride. I would give anything to go back in time and do that ride. It is hard to imagine going 35-50 miles a day for what, 100 days and sometimes not having a bath for a week. Everyone payed a $500 entry fee and those who finished went 1,966 miles. It sounded like the communities that the riders passed through were so supportive and glad to have them! Riders galloping down interstates and ponying an extra horse at that! I love it!! The end of the book is a list of the winners. First place went to two mules. Virl Norton said he would win and he did so by keeping a steady 10 MPH pace. He said he had some of the best Arabian horses but decided to leave them at home. There is a little story about the top 20 finishers and my favorite was about Smokey. Smokey came in 4th place but almost didn't finish. One of his horses suffered a stone bruise and that put him in 37th place. Then he broke his collar bone. Some said he hit a tree, others said he was beat with the branch of a tree during a brawl! He was described as "ready to put up before he was ready to shut up and tough enough to back himself up." He is the one who I would have rode with! Oh, the stories that could have been written!! Linda Tellington-Jones had some Icelandic's entered as well. Count Johannes Hoyos finished 13th place on one of the only two teams of Icelandics to finish. The ride itself had a rocky start. There was an actual fist fight between the founding members and a few more fights to follow. The ride meetings turned ugly. Then Rick Bingham, Entrant #51 came forward and said how it was going to be from now on with the support of the riders. Then the promoters had a power struggle leaving a $50,000 winners purse in limbo. It all worked out, thanks to the dedicated riders and the rest is history. It was nice to get lost in this book and not have to see the real world for a while. I don't know how many copies of this book were printed but it sure would make a great prize at any ride. Lisa Salas, The Odd fArmMY HUSBAND ASKED ME TO PUT DOWN A RESERVATION FEE ON THE GAHR BACK IN 1975, THEN A FEW MONTHS LATER HE REALIZED HE COULDN'T TAKE 6 MONTHS OFF FROM WORK TO DO THE RIDE, SO I ASKED FOR THE MONEY BACK. IT WASN'T EASY TO GET A REFUND BUT I PERSISTED AND FINALLY RECEIVED IT. AS I REMEMBER, $500 WAS ONLY THE DEPOSIT, NOT THE FULL ENTRY FEE! TOM SITES WOULD REMEMBER..... BARBARA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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