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[RC] Merri's Journal: Arrival - John Teeter[Merri Melde, for those of you who haven't met her, is/was a house guest at Jackie Bumgardner's. She's been doing rides and helping Jackie condition horses all winter. She's also an accomplished photo journalist (publications in mostly thoroughbred racing mags). She, and her pet raven: http://www.endurance.net/rides/2004EastMohave/images/pages/IMG_3356.html jumped at the chance to travel to Egypt and, along with Jackie and Tracy Billaud, have met up with Steph at Maryanne's (very) new house in the Abu Sir oasis (just south of the pyramids. The hope is to able to share experiences in managing and competing in endurance events with the local Egyptian riders. Merri sent this note to me. They had departed from LAX at 6:30 monday evening:) johnt == from Merri Melde ======================================================== I'll start with arrival: Didn't see much on landing as it was 11 PM and we had coveted aisle seats. Immigration was wonderfully painless - guys at the currency/visa windows yelling at you to come change money - only you didn't have to bargain for your price (I changed $ - don't know how much I got for $100, didn't bother to check and this is not a good habit to start), then through immigration stamp line from the ubiquitously not-happy immigration man I've seen in every country. It's now 11:30 PM & Maryanne is there waiting for us, kindly in Arabic shooing away all the touts that would've swarmed me by myself like flys on raw meat. It was terribly nice and luxurious and felt sinful not to have to deal with any of that! Mohammed brought the jeep around & a couple of guys instantly swarmed around to help load it, then we bundled in & took off for MA's on the opposite end of Cairo. Midnite and it's busy at places as if it's daylight - men in suits with briefcases walking in the middle of the road, men in gelabiyahs driving near-death ponies pulling huge overladen carts, busses driving with no lights, open-fronted stores open, ahwas (coffee houses) with men smoking sheeshas, mosques, miles and miles of ancient tombs where families now live over the dead, clothing & blankets hanging out of windows, everythng to me looking at nite whizzing by like a mix of India, Nepal, Sao Paulo, Moscow. I kind of felt like I was cheating, arriving here with friends & being picked up by a friend, instead of wading thru the hassles on my own, but for this I sure won't complain and I'd never get to see what I'm going to see on my own. We got to MA's (where Steph and Destry were crashed) & were instantly swarmed with her 9 little rat dogs. She literally moved into this house today, and with S & D's help had unloaded some boxes, set up some beds, just got the shower installed & working at 8 PM. We fell into bed & passed out at ~1 AM, half the dogs in MA's room, half in S & D's room, half in the living room. I felt like I'd just finished a 100-mile endurance ride. ============================================================ The very essence of our sport is doing the trail as quickly as practicable, while keeping one's horse fit to continue. Taking the clock out of the equation makes it another sport altogether. The challenge is how to keep the sport what it is while honing our skills (both as riders and as those in control roles) in detecting where "the edge" is for each horse so that we don't cross it. ~ Heidi Smith ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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