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Rendezvous with Destiny 2005, part 1 of 3

Memorial Day weekend, 2005, marked the first annual (?) Rendezvous
with Destiny ride. This ride is held on the Fort Campbell army base in
KY/TN.

I was delighted to see this ride on the calendar and that it was a
2-day ride. Being so close to my home, I just had to attend.

Friday I got started around 2 PM, a little late, and drove up to Ft.
Campbell. I had no problems finding the camp, using my handy dandy GPS
that was kind enough to give me turn by turn directions. I arrived
just at 5 PM. It would have taken less time if I had left a little
sooner and avoided more of the traffic. But life is what life is. :-)

When I got to camp, I was greeted with a serene lake with lots of
camping space. I found my friend, Angie, and parked next to her in a
beautiful spot.

Before unloading Tanna, I immediately went to check in and pay my ride
fee, even though I wouldn't be riding until Sunday.

I spent the next hour and a half trying to set up my camp. Usually, my
husband comes along on all my endurance adventures, but this time he
had to work, so would be driving up later after he got off work. So I
was left to my own devices to set up camp. I spent much of my time
trying to figure out how to tie Tanna where he could reach food and
water, but not touch a tree or anything solid to rub on. He manages to
slip his halter when left an opening. Finally, when ride meeting time
came, I left Tanna tied short enough to keep away from anything since
I still hadn't found an appropriate balance. My customary corral
panels were fastened securely to the top of the trailer and we would
have to wait for Daniel to come to get them down and set up Tanna's
real home away from home.

The ride meeting was interesting. It started with a military dog
demonstration. Very interesting. Don't mess with those military dogs!

The turnout for Saturday was moderate. 17 riders in the 50 and 34 or
so in the 25. Lori cautioned that the trails were new. Nobody else had
ridden on them. There was cell phone coverage (unless you had Sprint
service...) so there were emergency numbers given out. The trail was
to go near a mount. Apparently a mount is a small village used to
train soldiers in hand-to-hand urban combat. Very interesting. Also
the trail would pass a downed helicopter and a downed air plane. And
next to a dud field with unexploded munitions. So no going off trail!
And hold on to your horse if you come out of the saddle.

There were 4 loops for the 50 milers. The first loop was marked in
white and was 14 miles. Then the yellow/black loop at 17 miles. Repeat
the white loop for the 3rd loop. The last loop was a 7 mile loop
marked in black/white.

Pulse criteria was 60 for everybody all day. 40 minute holds.

After the ride meeting, the group of us all parked together headed
back to our spot. We gathered around Angie and David's trailer to
chat. Quite a nice little group of us. Angie and David, Jackie and
Carson, Patty, and Carol. Then myself. After awhile, Daniel, my
husband, drove up and we all had a nice visit while some of us ate.

Daniel and David unloaded Tanna's corral pen and set it up. There was
plenty of room and Tanna ended up with a good-sized pen. I set up him
with food and water and took him for a walk before bed.

At some point in the evening, I managed to weigh Tanna. 856!!! I
couldn't believe it. Guess who is going on a diet?? Gotta get him back
down to 800-825.

Sabbath morning, we slept in and had a leisurely pancake breakfast.
There are advantages to arriving a day early and riding the 2nd day of
a 2-day ride. :-) All of the other women in our group were out riding
the 25 miler. Carol was out for her first ride!

After breakfast I saddled up and headed out for a quick look at the
finish and to give Tanna a bit of a stretch. He wasn't eating the best
and I was hoping an outing would stimulate his appetite.

I did a walking/trot warmup and then sent him in a canter around the
lake. Very nice. Very controlled. We went out just a half mile or so
and did a large circle in a field and then back to the vet check area
where I spotted David and figured Angie, Carol and Jackie must be in
the vet check. Carol was not with Jackie and Angie. Her horse came up
a bit gimpy so she'd decided to pull and sent the other two on ahead.
Too bad for her first ride.

At some point, I discovered I'd lost my cell phone out of my hip pack.
Not sure how that happened, but I wished the ladies good luck on their
final loop and went to retrace my steps. I met up with Daniel and he
started to call my phone with his. We had to retrace every step of my
earlier ride to find the phone. Because, of course, it fell out at the
furthest point. But we did find the phone. :-)

Tanna was very impatient with me for making him walk or do a
controlled trot. There were horses coming and going from the vet check
and he was positive he should just be allowed to do whatever he
wanted. I disagreed. So we were having discussions and he decided to
trump me. His trump card is bucking. I do not ride bucks very well and
he well knows it. So he gave 3 really hard bucks. I shortened those
reins, pulled his head up, yelled at him and miraculously he stopped.
Whoo-hoo!!! Ride 'em cowgirl. :-) I was thrilled with myself for
staying on (never lost my balance...that's usually my undoing) and for
getting him out of it. Tanna was frustrated. His trump card was no
good! :-) So he tried it again just a few minutes later, but he only
got one buck in before I spun him around in a quick, tight circle. He
danced and was idiotic some more, but he didn't try to buck again.
Game, set, match. :-)

Back at the vet check, I found Carol had come in. She'd decided, after
sitting on trail for 30 or 40 minutes, to keep going. So she was still
in the ride, just not with Jackie and Angie. Daniel and I hung out
there for awhile talking to David (who was generously crewing for
Carol and doing a nice job of it) and Carol. Then we headed back
towards our trailer to unsaddle Tanna. I talked to a few other riders
in on their holds.

After reports from a lot of riders that the trail was difficult and
technical and gravelly, I started to get concerned. I am a back of the
pack rider, so I don't usually have a lot of leeway in my time. I was
wondering if I should even start. I was given a lot of encouragement
and advice by my friends though, so I eventually decided to start.

The awards were interesting. Lori had lots of awards to give out. Top
10 awards were patches that could be attached to blankets. First in
weight divisions received a free bag of feed. BC in both distances for
both days received a water color painting of their horse (with a
picture being the model). In addition there was a turtle award, which
was a little turtle figurine made by Lori herself. Very nice. :-) Also
a middle of the road award for the rider that came in at mid-pack. I
forget what first place received.

Completion awards were coins. Apparently, in the army, when a soldier
does something outstanding, they receive a coin in recognition. So
Lori had some special coins made up. They have the AERC logo and motto
on one side and an eagle on the other side with 101st Airborne
Division, Rendezvous with Destiny, Fort Campbell, KY. Each completing
rider received their choice of a coin or a keychain.

12 out of 17 finished the 50. Eva de Paulis, Debra LaComette, and
Robin Burris tied for 1st place. Elizabeth Woods and her daughter
Aunna-Lisa came in at the tail end. Between 1st and the last 2
finishers, I don't remember. Oh, Patty Bass got 6th and the middle of
the pack award.

I believe 29 out of 34 or so finished the 25 miler. Carol,
unfortunately, was over-time, but she did receive the hard-luck award.
Jackie and Angie both finished. Other spots, I have no idea. Sorry.
:-)

There was a small ride meeting for the riders riding on Sunday. There
were 15 riders for the 25 and 6 riders for the 50. Hmm, my first top
ten in a 50?? Even though I'd been at the Friday night ride meeting, I
stuck around to listen to make sure there were no big changes or
surprises. I did manage to lose my original map, so I had to get a
replacement and write the emergency numbers again.

One of the other riders doing the 50 was Betsy Knight. There's your
first place winner, I told my husband immediately. :=)

After the ride meeting, a few of us gathered around these large
printouts of the trail. Lori had printed out large aerial photos and
marked the trail and marked spotters and water spots. Each trail was
shown on its own large aerial photo. Joe Schoech was there and had
ridden the 25 that day. He was giving helpful tips on the trail so I
hung around and listened, even though I'd studied the maps earlier in
the day.

Back to the trailer to finish preparations for the ride. Ride jitters
had set in during the ride meeting. Gotta love those jitters. Daniel
and I pulled up chairs and chatted with our friends for a few minutes.
Angie even brought a carrot cake in honor of Carol's birthday. :-)

After all my final preparations, I ended up going to bed around 10 PM.
Alarms set for 4 AM for the 6 AM start. 6 hours of sleep. Sure.
That'll work...

Up in the morning sleep deprived. As usual. I took Tanna to weigh him
and he was still at 834 (I weighed him Saturday AM and he was 834).
Then back for his breakfast and in to get dressed and get my own
breakfast. And out to saddle.

When I reached the starting line, there were only 2 other riders
there. Joe and Betsy. Hmm. Wonder where the others are. I warmed up a
bit here and there. Even tried out a small canter. Well, we're ready
to go. Trail's open. Only 2 riders in front of me. Well, guess I'll
start with the front runners. Not my usual procedure, but oh well.
Besides, I figured I'd need every extra minute to do this trail. I
followed Joe out who followed Betsy. We were pretty well spaced out.
Not right on top of each other. I followed right along. Tanna fought,
keeping his eyes on Kit, Joe's horse, convinced we should at least be
with them, if not in front of them. But he was moving well and not
pitching a temper tantrum so I was fairly happy with our progress.

The trail was a little rough. Plowed fields that had then dried. Ruts
where there were not furrows. And where there wasn't any of that?
Gravel. Or uneven terrain or overgrown terrian where you couldn't
judge the ground profile. Almost every step was a challenge. Not a
trail to lose focus on.

I caught up with Joe about 2 or 3 miles out (I forget exactly) and we
ended up riding together for the rest of the ride. Kit, Joe's horse,
was on his second 50 and the horses seemed to work well together, so
it worked out well.

The trails were marked well. I kept missing the 3 ribbons indicating a
turn, so when I was leading and came to an intersection, I looked down
all the trails for the next ribbon. When I saw it, I would head that
direction instead of needing to return down the trail and look for the
turn ribbons. Very handy. :-) Also, it helped to have Joe along, since
he'd been on 2 of the 3 loops the day before.

... To Be Continued

April
Nashville, TN

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