Tevis 2007--Fri, Robie Park

Friday morning, I drove down from Michigan Bluff to the fairgrounds in Auburn to meet Chip. We planned 9:30-10 but she got there earlier. That was great as I hadn't been waiting too long. We hit the road up to Robie Park, chatting and laughing all the way. This time I didn't miss the turn at Brockway Summit. First thing we noticed was the dust. While it was dusty last year, it seemed worse this year. We drove through the camp looking for Paul's rig. Fortunately, he was driving a 32 foot Class C RV with a 3 horse slant load. That was easier to find than the Bowen's white Dodge truck towing a 3 horse gooseneck (although we did find them right away last year). It took a bit of doing but we found them. Paul had told me where he had parked but once I got into the ridecamp, I couldn't remember. We met the horses: Paul's horse Piper, a pretty gray Arabian and Ron's horse Barukh, a very large bay Arab/Quarter cross. Paul wanted to go ahead and get vetted in. Ron was shopping so we took both horses up to the vet area in hopes of finding Ron. Barukh was upset when his buddy Piper was taken down to vet. He nickered hopefully to every gray horse that went by . . . . "Are you my friend?". We found Ron before he walked all the way back to the rig so he was able to get vetted in. Happiness is getting your # marked on your horse! The guys took their horses back and Chip and I hung out and watched some of the vetting. We saw Crysta Turnage as she vetted in her horse Sinatra. Sinatra is hard to miss with all of his flashy white markings and blue eyes. He looked ready to go.


We discussed the plan for Saturday. The initial plan was for Dovie to meet us in Auburn where we were taking the rig and then drive up to Robinson Flat. Neither Chip nor I felt comfortable with that plan. If something happened to slow us down, we might not make it to Robinson Flat in time even though we did the same thing last year and did make it before the Bowens came in. But this year I was moving an RV and I didn't know how fast I would be able to go. We decided that we'd feel better if Dovie met us at the rest area outside of Truckee where we'd transfer the crew stuff to the rental SUV and have her drive straight up to Robinson Flat. It was a lot to ask of one person to do but it was the most certain way to make sure the stuff got there in time. We had Paul toss a tarp over all the stuff in the trailer dressing room that wasn't to go to RF so we wouldn't forget anything nor take anything that wasn't needed. That worked out great and made the transfer of the stuff go fast since we just grabbed and loaded instead of wondering "Did they want this??".


We attended the first time Tevis riders' meeting and gleaned some good info from it. The notorious ditches near the start that had caused grief and backups last year had been filled in. Work had been done in the Granite Chief Wilderness that improved the trail there (Granite Chief is probably my biggest worry for some reason). Time flew and it was time for the riders' meeting and then bed. We had everything that we could cleaned up and packed. Chip and I shared a tent that Paul had brought along. It was quite spacious and we had the luxury of an air mattress. We relaxed and gazed at the stars in the clear sky, thinking that tomorrow night our riders would be out there under the stars and moon as they worked their way towards Auburn.


During the night, Piper got spun up. He's a pretty quiet horse but camping just may not be his thing. He was ready to go! He does an awesome piaffe which he performed for what seemed like hours during the night. We could hear him dancing away. His buddy Barukh was more relaxed and was probably wishing Piper would settle down so he could sleep!