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[RC] Our first ride of the year: Sandhills - Mary Howell

Just returned from 2 wonderful days at Sandhills in SC. This has become
a must-do ride for us Virginians because of the excellent facility
(fun, well-marked trails, plenty of parking, hot showers and real
bathrooms!) and friendly, helpful ride staff. The popularity of this ride
is attested by their having over 140 entries in the 2 distances on
Saturday alone.

Our drive down Friday was an endurance test in itself; the newly-installed
fuel filter gasket on my old F-250 failed so it was spewing out diesel for
about 100 miles before I figured out why my miles per gallon was so bad.
When we detoured off I-95 to get around an accident at NC Exit 41, I was
found a mechanic to replace the filer and get us back on the road.

Meanwhile, our friend Elyse from Charlottesville had her transmission give
out near Danville; a repair shop there was able to get it fixed by the end
of the day, so she made it to the ride late that evening and had time to vet
through Saturday before the ride started. Phew!

We were fortunate this year that the rain ended by nightfall Friday to give
horses and riders clear, cool weather for both days. Saturday I helped crew
for 5 friends, 2 of whom were doing their first endurance rides. All 5
finished and did great! The awards on Saturday night were fun and raucous,
with many stories told and fun awards given. Ride management started a new
award this year, the Mike Bailey award given to the first heavyweight rider
in the 55. Wesley Crowe was appropriately the first recipient and I really
enjoyed Alison's story about how the idea for this award came about.

On Sunday I got to ride and enjoy crewing & packing help from everyone I'd
crewed for the previous day. Wendy Mancini and her QH Danza rode the whole
55 with me and Shiloh and we had a blast, tying for 7th in about a 5.5 hour
ride time. Both horses were tired since they had also done the 55 on
Saturday, but the cool weather and having lots of water on trail sure
helped.

Elyse had one final endurance test for the weekend - as she was leaving
Saturday morning, her transmission started to go out again and she wisely
turned back to camp. During the first hold we helped her figure out a
solution; Clair Godwin from MD had an extra stall in her trailer and it
wouldn't be a big detour to take Elyse and her mare back to Charlottesville
on their way home; the Danville mechanic had given Elyse his home # so she
was able to reach him and make arrangements for their tow truck to come
fetch her rig and re-repair it. She gets the Gold Star award for coping!

Can't wait for our next ride - No Frills much closer to home.






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