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[RC] Yellow hammer - rides2farWe got to the sign "1056 to camp. Run....Run." To be more specific it said: 1056' to finish RUN DAMMIT RUN! :-)) This was my first Yellowhammer. Yeah, amazing I know. I even had a free entry the first year for doing their logo but it has always conflicted with my school's homecoming week and homecoming is "Hell week" for Art teachers when we actually make up for the fact that we're goof offs for most of the year. This year Homecoming was on a 4 day week so I got to go. :-) I had never gone to Talledega back in the days of their old rides (before Yellowhammer) because I'd heard the trails were just steep & rocky which is what I get more than I want of around here. But in the last few years Sarah Engsberg (I know that's spelled wrong) & the Schoechs along with SERA have adopted it as a project and they've helped get sustainable trails put in that are GREAT. The trails go along the ridges in long gradual switchbacks with that hairpin curve at the end of each to dump any accumulating runoff water. This makes it really tempting to hit a canter and do those curves like you're barrel racing. Whee! The bridges that SERA helped pay for & volunteers installed are solid and horse friendly. The camp was already nice (first place I've seen with overhead hoses for cleaning your horse) but they say they're getting ready to re-work it and make it even better. The atmosphere was fun and low key. Otis informed me that nobody had been serious all week and he didn't want it to start now....as if *I* would be a person who might get serious! Honestly! My boy Gunner is still making me happy doing a good job getting a foundation. Gave me a good solid 7:04 50-miler and was 56/56 at the end. He looked wonderful Sunday morning. He's 5 for 5 this year and I'm thrilled. Emphasis was put in the right place...trails & vets. Wanna talk about good vet service? The management had labeled every road crossing with a pie plate with a letter on it so that if you saw an injured horse or rider you could let management know the closest pickup point (otherwise every crossing looked the same). Then when a horse did get kicked on the trail they were able to pick it up, haul it back to camp, and when flushing produced what appeared to be a bone chip washing out they actually had a portable x-ray machine on the premesis and were able to x-ray it, take them to be developed and then read the x-rays at the ride sight. Try and find that kind of service somewhere else! :-)) I really appreciated everyone in the vet staff and management for putting on a ride that requires this much time & labor! After the ride Tommy Crain's band played well into the night and it was pretty impressive to see people who had ridden that many days out there dancing. Since I hadn't had so much as an Advil or any alcohol I was content to lay in a lounge chair under a warm sleeping bag and just enjoy the music. The last time I saw Tommy play his electric guitar (I'd seen him strum accoustic since then) was 1982 in a sold out concert in Chattanooga when he was still in the Charlie Daniels Band. If anything, I think he's even better. The man can flat play a guitar. Josie was really excited to finally get to see what he could do. She'd pulled out my old albums after we got to know Tommy & Melissa and she'd seen that it *was* him on the cover and listened to "Cumberland Mtn. No. 9" plenty of times but actually seeing him do it was a thrill for her. She was pretty impressed with Sarah Engsberg's husband (who Tommy introduced as Mr. Sarah Engsberg" on the drums. It was a pretty impressive show for a bunch of scruffy endurance riders. >g< I'm hoping it want conflict with homecoming next year. I'm planning to bring Bonnie...my *other* daughter. Wait till you guys see her swing dance! >G< P.S. the riddle on the tree that asked "What is the plural of Y'all was a trick question. Anybody from the South knows Y'all IS ALWAYS plural! Angie (Liberal Arts degree & took more than the required English credits) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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