Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Well, I?m going to re-type this post for the third time. Risky thing 
typing in the dark on the tailgate of a truck, with little bugs 
beating against the screen, can?t see the keys to make my smiley 
faces?then you get the whole thing done and somebody drives between 
you and the wireless station and it all goes away.

New plan, I?ll type it on Word, cut & paste and walk down the block 
to send. :-P

When we got off the freeway at the Edinburg exit I started looking 
for which mountain looked like it might hold the famous ?Edinburg 
Gap?. Took photos of the blue mountains. Make sure you notice how 
quickly they get white as they go in the distance. They're not that 
far, that's HUMIDITY in the air. 

The little town is beyond quaint, with really old buildings right on 
the road. (you could open your front door and slap a car as it drove 
by). When we turned up the road up the twisting turning Gap I was 
trying to take photos out the window and watch my cell phone in my 
other hand to let Bill know where we?d have reception. Hard to 
imagine people pulling their big rigs around those hairpin curves, 
but when you went over the top into the valley here it was like going 
into Brigadoon. It?s BEAUTIFUL. I live in the South, but it?s always 
amazing to me how much older things are in Virginia than in say?
Tennessee. It was just settled much sooner and the buildings are so 
pretty. I?d love to just stay and sight see a few days.

Arrived at the Fort Valley Stables around 7 PM. Turned in at 
the ?Welcome Old Dominion? sign on the big red barn, drove up a dirt 
road that said, ?30?s 50?s and 100?s? and wondered after awhile if we 
were headed down the trail. Came to a sign that said, ?Do NOT stop on 
hill? in front of a steep gravel grade and figured rigs had come 
through and we were in the right place. It opened out into a 
beautiful open hillside with a view of Kennedy Peek in the distance. 
There were tons of rigs camped all over the hill in some fairly 
precarious angles. Hope they?re all chocked well or somebody may end 
up in the pond or the holler. Seemed like an awful lot of rigs for 
Thursday, but then I remembered that tomorrow is the 30. Turns out 
they have over 50 entries. 

We got direction to the permanent campground where Jody had reserved 
the camps with full hookups & stalls. At first I hated to leave all 
the ridecamp action, but then when I saw our nice, level, shady full 
service camp and thought about all of them out in that bare field 
tomorrow when it?s 97 degrees I got over it quickly. The WI-FI source 
is across camp so Flora Hillman showed me where to sit and get 
connection. She is very enthusiastic about the trail and assured me I 
shouldn?t worry, ?It?s WONDERFUL?. Then she said, ?What distance are 
you riding?? to which I replied ?100?. And then she said, ?Oh, well 
the FIFTY mile trail is wonderful, and the CRICKS (her pronunciation) 
on the 30 are just beautiful, crystal clear, with a canopy of shade, 
it?s so nice! I said, ?Do the 100?s see that?? ?No?.  Then she went 
on to say how beautiful Duncan Hollow is. ?Do the 100?s see 
that?? ?No?. So?I?m thinking I should have done the 30 three and a 
third times. :-P

They changed the holds on the 30 due to the severe heat forecast. 
They had originally had only one 15 mile check?and I believe a 30 
min. hold and a later trot through. Now they?re having, I believe 
they said, a 45 min. hold, go 8 more miles, then a 30 min. hold. Some 
were worried that would just put them out there longer into the heat 
of the day but I?m sure the vets are just trying to keep things safe.
The weather forecast is for 97 tomorrow, then a cold front should 
arrive tomorrow evening which is good in that the temp will drop. 
It?ll be rough though since when 2 fronts like that collide you get 
some pretty tremendous thunderstorms. I would NOT want to be camped 
on top of that hill with my horse in a metal corral! I just hope it 
gets here on time and we?re not saddling up when it hits. (more to 
worry about).

Tom Sites is an ANGEL in that he drove over his newly purchased motor 
home for us to use. OK, I?ll admit, it?s great. Hope it doesn?t ruin 
me. Glad I won?t be in a tent when that storm hits.  Tom gave me the 
tour and introduced me around. Then people started showing up for 
their free Ridecamp T-shirt. Steph?do you know how hard it is to type 
a post when a crowd is visiting? :-P

Jody won?t be here with the horses until tomorrow morning and I?m 
kinda impressed how nice and relaxing it is to camp without horses. I 
may try it sometime. My only assignment was to claim the closest 
stall I could for her, but they?re all full of 30 milers who?ll be 
leaving so I guess we?ll have to fight for them tomorrow.

OK, this should be enough for tonight. Flora is on a mission to get 
me some photos of all the beautiful trail the 100?s won?t see. I?ll 
send it as I get it.

Angie
Living Well



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