Fryeburg 2 day 50 CTR Fryeburg, ME July 2000

Well, here I go again! Bonnie is not bringing a horse but came with me and will be working the ride. She is such a good friend for doing this. It takes so many volunteers to run one of these rides. Bonnie has returned her new horse, Max,to the dealer and traded her for a nice pony mare that I think she will have a lot of fun with. Since this mare is in her teens, Bonnie will still be looking around for something else but she wanted something to ride now while she was looking. Though I think this little mare will surprise her and do fine with this sport. I took her out a day after Bonnie got her and loved her. She is spirited but sane and steady. I must have looked quite a sight riding down the road on this pony with my legs handing nearly to the ground. I was hoping Bonnie would show up early enough Friday morning so we could sneak out for a quick ride before I dragged her away from her new pony for the weekend. She did arrive early enough and we had a nice little ride to the alpaca farm. Bonnie really like her new little mare.

I was a little apprehensive about going to this ride. We had to use my truck and I've never trusted it. We have had it in to two different mechanics and it still hasn't been running very good. We finally took it to a third mechanic. I don't like the man that owns the last shop we brought it to but his mechanic finally seems to figure out what was wrong and the truck is running great right now. Better then it ever has since we bought it. It's almost a 2 hr. drive to Fryeburg. We arrived at the fairgrounds about 11:00 AM. Not many people had arrived yet. They have opened up the new barn that they were just finishing last year when we were here. We had our pick of stalls. the fairgrounds are beautiful. It is in a valley with mountains all around it. the grounds are beautifully maintained and landscaped. The bathrooms are pleasant and clean and there are even showers. the horses stalls are roomy and there is water piped in between every two stalls. And the barns are lovely shed row barns. You can camp right in front of the stalls which is great and so convenient. I filled up Marie's stall with shavings while Bonnie cleaned out the horse trailer and set up our cots. Camping in our trailer is working out great. It is simple and it makes us keep the trailer spotlessly clean. It is secure and dry in bad weather and has nice window screens keeping the bugs out. When we get to a ride, we clean out the manure, rinse the floor, give the walls a quick wipe down and ta-da, our home away from home is ready. I even made some curtains that we put over the windows with velcro. Someday we'll have a trailer with living quarters but for now this is great. Anyway, after I got Marie all settled into her stall, I got a stall ready for Susie. She was planning to arrive between 3:00 and 4:00 PM. Bonnie and I went into town to gas up the truck and get lunch. We stopped at a nice little restaurant of which I can't remember the name. we both ordered the fresh fish sandwich special and it was SOOOOOOOOO good. Best fish I can remember having in a long time. When we got back, we walked Marie for a while so she wouldn't be stiff when we vetted in. The vet judge, Don McLean was an hour late. The vetting was supposed to start at 3:00 PM. Susie arrived at 3:30 PM and the vet at 4:00 PM. Don was the same vet that judged this ride last year. Marie is his worst nightmare. He just hates the way she travels. It really bugs him. Both Marie and Cody vetted in ok though I did see Don roll his eyes are Marie. He remembered her from last year, sigh. Bonnie got the job of scribing for the lay judge. I was jealous, that is a good job and such a great learning experience. The lay judge is Gaynor Coassin. She is a great lady and has been in this sport forever I think. Steve and Dinah Rojek are here this year. I believe they come to this ride every year. They are legendary in the sport of endurance riding. They are both on the US endurance team and have competed all over the world. They use CTR's as training rides for their horses. They travel around in this enormous custom bus camper with a slide out and pull a trailer behind. It is very impressive. Susie did ask Steve today what he did for work. He just replied that he was a business man. Steve and Dinah are both such nice people. They both make a point of talking to everyone and encouraging us newcomers in this sport. After Bonnie was done with her scribing job for the night, the three of us went over to the food trailer and had hamburgers, salads and cake. We set up my tent for Susie. She had hers with her but mine is easier to set up. We sat around camp for a while and chatted. The electrolyte controversy continues. Susie uses electrolytes on ride day mostly because that is what "everyone else does". I've read enough to feel that electrolyteing is not completely harmless and in some cases may be more harmful then beneficial. Especially if your horse does not drink well. And Cody is not the best drinker. I have read one theory suggesting giving electrolytes several days before a ride. Since you are likely resting the horse the days before the ride, you wont risk electrolyting when the horse is dehydrated and/or tired but will prompt the horse to drink and hopeful have him "super hydrated" before you get to the ride. Marie always drinks like a fish anyway. We invited Heather over to our campsite. She has been at all the rides and seems to be a very nice girl. She has a little Mustang mare named Lady. We headed to bed when we couldn't stand the mosquitoes anymore, they were ferocious. We had a quiet night.

We had an uneventful morning. We were up early and got the horses fed. I heated up water for coffee and oatmeal. The ride provided coffee and pastries but just not early enough. we had a brief pre-ride meeting and the ride started right on time. Susie is only doing the 25 mile ride but we got paired up together for today. Four miles out, we had to cross the Saco River. It was chest deep to Marie and is quite wide. It was a lot of fun. I had to put my feet up on the saddle to keep them from getting wet. Marie had her head down in the water drinking all the way across. It was funny watching her. I was wishing Bonnie was here riding with is on her new pony mare, she would have had to swim! Last year we'd gone down the road and crossed the river on the bridge. This was much more fun. Marie has to work hard to keep up with Cody. She is so in love with him though, that she would follow him to the ends of the earth even if it killed her. We never saw the sign that the hold was coming up and we were moving pretty fast when we suddenly there it was. Oops! We waited for a couple minutes just outside the hold to give the horses time to cool down. We usually walk the last mile in. Marie was inverted at the 10 min. check. That can be a sign of trouble but not necessarily. The P&R person didn't think she looked at all distressed and wasn't too worried. He told me to let the vet know when I went for my trot out just to be safe. By the time I did my trot out, Marie was just fine and I was cleared to go. the vet was still rolling his eyes at the way Marie travels. I told him that I knew there was nothing wrong with her, just a matter of imperfect conformation, but he didn't look convinced. Susie and I rode with Carl and Irving for quite a while. Carl is new to the sport. Irving is a man in his seventies and had been doing this for quite a few years. He had a stroke last year but had made a good recovery. He is great to ride with and a wealth of knowledge on this sport. We passed one woman who was having a very bad time with her horse. She looked terrified and exhausted and her horse looked the same. She swore to us when we went by that she was not going to bring her horse home with her. Well, she was right. Carl offered her $900 for the horse and took her home. We forded the river again on the way back. We had to wait for some canoes to go by. Marie thought they looked quite scary. I heard that one woman got bucked off in the river on the morning crossing. She didn't get hurt, soft landing. At the finish, Marie's P&R's were good. I only had to do a quick trot to pass for the second day's ride. Well, the vet just couldn't' stand it anymore the way Marie travels. He made me trot, then trot again and finally he said I would have to come back for a re-check in the morning. The lay judge spoke up and asked him why. She said she didn't see anything wrong. They discussed it for a while and the vet finally relented and said I didn't have to come back for a re-check but he'd appreciate it if I would. I agreed and that turned out to be a mistake. After everyone was vetted and Bonnie was done scribing, we went over to the food trailer. They had a nice meal of baked ham, baked potato, salad, mixed vegetables, bread and cake. Steve Rojek sat with us for dinner. He wanted to personally thank Bonnie for being a volunteer worker at the ride. He knows how hard it can be to get enough volunteers. Bonnie and Steve got to talking about horses (imagine that...) and Bonnie was telling him about her first horse, Shannon and how Shannon had tendinitis and she'd had to make the hard decision to give her up to do this sport. Steve told her she did the right thing in deciding to move on to another horse. Bonnie then told her of her bad experience with her next horse, Max and she mentioned that she would prefer to have a pony rather then a big horse. Steve looked at Bonnie kind of funny and asked her if she was serious. She told him that yes, she was. He then asked her if she meant a real pony and Bonnie said yes, a pony. Steve asked a pony under 14H. Bonnie said definitely. Well, it seems that Steve has a pony that he just might be willing to sell. Bonnie got all excited. Steve told us that he had bought this very talented mare years ago. She'd won everything he'd entered her in. He'd tried for years to breed this mare without success. Finally, he did get one foal from her and it was a pony, even though both parents were horses. Steve didn't do much with this pony mare for her first five years. Then he broke her to ride and tried her as a hunter jumper thinking she would make a good pony for some 4-H kid. She did ok but finally someone talked Steve into trying her at endurance since that was what she was bred for and both her parents were champions. He got someone to ride her and she won a reserve championship on her first 100 mile ride. Then did it again on her 2nd 100 mile ride. This pony mare is now in contention for the Florida Cup. This is a ride that you are invited to if you get three high placings in three 100 mile rides in one year. The next qualifying ride is Labor day and if she places high in this ride she will qualify for the Florida Cup. After this is done, Steve said he might consider selling her to the right person. He wants Bonnie to come to his farm and try this mare out. I hope she does. Bonnie is quite excited about this.

After the meal, they had the award presentation for the 25 mile riders. Susie won reserve champion!! She got a score of 97 which is great. Susie was thrilled. She assured me that I would do well tomorrow but a lot of really tough competition is staying for the 50 mile ride so I'm not expecting much. I just hope to finish in good shape. Susie left right after the awards. Bonnie and I went back to town to the restaurant for supper. When we returned to camp, we took Marie out for a walk so she wouldn't get too stiff from standing in the stall. She isn't used to being confined in a stall. The ride committee decided to start the ride early in the morning so Bonnie and I went to bed fairly early. Neither one of us was really tired and we ended up talking until late.

Both of us were up plenty early and Bonnie went out and fed Marie for me. At the appointed time, I took Marie over for my 'voluntary' re-check with the vet. After watching Marie trot, he really wanted to pull me from the ride. I knew there was nothing wrong but couldn't convince him. And he couldn't decide if Marie was having trouble with her hindquarters, legs, shoulders.... I told him if he was that unsure, maybe he was nit-picking. The lay judge was on my side and told him to let me start the ride. They watch you the whole ride, he could pull me at any point if he could see a definite problem. The vet gave in and let me start the ride. I know that my horse is driving him crazy, but he is driving me crazy! Heather's horse got pulled this morning along with another horse.

The woman I started with today left me in the dust within minutes. Marie was kind of poking along wondering where Cody was. This is the first time she has ever gone out without one of her buddies. About 3 miles out, Another rider caught up with me. It was Marcy Gamester and Marie decided she liked Marcy's gelding and perked right up. Marcy has been competing for 24 years. Carl and Irving soon caught up and went by us. I thought Marie would want to go with them as we rode with them yesterday. But, she was very content traveling with Marcy's gelding. They are very well matched in pace. We passed one woman leading her horse out ot the road. We were afraid she'd gotten hurt. She said she was ok. She was having a back problem and just couldn't handle her horse for another day's ride. We forded the river again this morning without incident. We had to walk the horses through a city of tents to get to the river today. The horses didn't really like that but were good. At the first watering hole, the vet was there and really tearing his hair out over Marie. He asked me to voluntarily pull from the ride. He couldn't quite lay his hand on the problem and couldn't quite bring himself to pull me. I told him no. I told him when he saw something that he could point out as a definite problem, he could pull me and I wouldn't argue.

Marie was in great shape at the hold. Even the vet had to admit that he thought she looked pretty good. Marie was great on the way back. We left the hold before Irving and Carl. They caught up with us a little later. Irving went ahead of us but Carl was having trouble with his horse and let us go ahead of him. He ended up getting lost, then, when he got back on course, his horse slipped on a rock just two miles from the finish and went severely lame. The horse was trailered back to camp. Poor Carl, it's his daughter's horse and he said she was going to be very upset.

The pace that Marcy had set was just perfect for Marie and at the finish, she vetted out with flying colors. I ended up placing first in my division. I was so proud of my little mutt of a horse. The lay judge later congratulated me. She said because Marie is so laid back and not flashy, it is hard to show her so I could be proud of such a high placing. I was, I love my horse!!

Fryeburg 50 7/22-23 16/S - 12/F
1 Alesar / S Greenall
2 SR Spirit / S Rojek
3 Sage / S MacDonald
4 Marie / C Ross (score 96.25)
5 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
5 Indevincable / D Rojek
7 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
8 FFC Brigadier
9 HFA Silver Savanah / M Deleware
10 Willows Rahmaan / I McNaughton
12 Sir Narion / S Corr

Fryeburg 25 7/22/00 10/S-F
1 Especial Edition / L Prentice
2 Xavier Sunnyacres / S Reinheimer
3 BAF Cabis Choice / L Pedersen
4 Izuzu / B Lester
5 GBA Karakoram / J Sewell
6 PS Sir Sedgewick / K Brunjes
7 Mighty Frankie / T York
8 Rolling Stone / H Moss

Acadia, BLTA pleasure ride

Thursday
Another wonderful adventure! Ten of us ladies headed up to Acadia for a four day camping trip with our horses. Bonnie and I headed out Thursday morning sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. We had been up there last year so we weren't worried about how to get there. We soon proved that two heads are not better then one. Last year we drove separate vehicles. Bonnie was hauling the horses and I drove my truck with the camper. We just camped in the trailer now as it saves the cost of driving a second vehicle. Well, we were gabbing away and missed the exit for I-395 in Bangor. About 15 minutes out of Bangor I came to the realization that things didn't look right. I told Bonnie she had better turn around at the next exit. We did and headed back to Bangor. There were signs for the exit nearly as big as a house, it was hard to believe we missed it. Oh, well, that was really no big deal. Then, right as you drive onto Mt. Desert Island, Rt 3 splits and goes both ways and circles the island. We needed to stay right. But, we were gabbing again and went left. That takes you right through the very busy tourist town of Bar Harbor. Oops. Bonnie did great driving through town. Then, at the bottom of the island, Rt 3 takes a hard right and we went straight ahead, which is a dead end with no real good place to turn around. AAAGGGHHHH..... Bonnie did manage to get the trailer turned and we finally got to Wildwood Stables. Susie, Maura, Ann, Nancy, Joanie and Sue were already there and had taken all the good stalls near the campsite. (rotten buggers!)

Joanie's horse, Porsha, has been a bit lame so Joanie just came to spend the night with us. Bonnie, Halla, Missy and I had to take stalls on the other side of the grounds. Not that far really, we are just lazy. We got set up quite quickly and headed right out for a ride. Bonnie, Ann and Missy didn't go, they wanted to just hang out and relax. Susie, Sue, Maura, Nancy, Halla and I went. Joanie also went riding on Ann's horse, Ted. We tried to ride slow and stay together but Susie couldn't stand it and before you knew it, Susie, Sue and I had left the other girls in the dust. We had quite a crazy ride. Marie is in great shape and was quite excited, for her. We took a small side trail that isn't maintained and found a jump. It was a downed tree a little higher then a horse could step over. We could have gone around it but when Susie saw it, she got so excited that she forgot to think that maybe Sue and I might not be comfortable jumping. I've never jumped Marie before and didn't know what she would do. Susie took off and sailed over it. Sue went right behind her. So, I screwed up my courage and headed Marie straight for it. Marie didn't hesitate for a second and sailed over it like a pro. I was sooooo proud of her.

Marie actually over did it at the start of the ride and was just a hair tried by the time we got back. Susie's horse Cody is in terrific shape and Sue's horse, Sassy, is a wonderful Standardbred mare that easily kept up with us. She could trot faster then either Cody or Marie could run. We actually did a bit more galloping downhill then I was comfortable with. I just let Marie have her head and trusted her. She is the most amazing horse and managed fine. She was even doing some flying lead changes. She's never done that before. When we got back, the girls that had stayed behind had wine all chilled and ready for us. Ann and Nancy pretty much took charge of all the cooking for the weekend. Lobster was served the first night. YUCK! I had a can of soup. I did eat a small piece of Susie's lobster just to say I had. Joanie made some roasted red pepper with garlic which we spread on French bread. We had my 'guitar' sugar cookies for desert. Susie, Sue and I broke out the guitars later and we had quite a sing a long. We went a bit past quiet time. Thankfully, the two other campers liked our singing and playing and didn't complain

Friday
We were all up fairly early. Nancy, Ann and Joanie had coffee ready. We had bagels, cantaloupe and blueberry buckle. Poor Joanie was sick as a dog. That poor woman vomited for hours. We think she had too many lobster bodies. UGH! We decided to split up into small groups to ride. Susie, Sue and I went out together. Sue and I are the only ones that want to try to keep up with Susie. Bonnie, Ann and Missy went out together. Nancy, Maura and Halla made up the third group. We had a great ride. We did the 'Around the Mountain' loop. We passed Bonnie's group about half way out. Bonnie looked like she was doing fine with Max. When we got back, Bonnie's group was already there. We knew right off that something was wrong. It seemed that Max got real upset after he had seen Marie and then panicked at a group of bicycles. He reared up and spun around throwing Bonnie. One of the bicyclists were deathly afraid of the horses. She jumped off her bike and ran into the woods crying. Bonnie was laying on the ground afraid her horse had somehow done something to hurt this woman. Max had never touched her. The whole incident scared Bonnie to pieces. She got back on to ride back because they were too far from camp to walk. She was a bit bruised and scraped up. Poor Bonnie. That afternoon, Bonnie drove me up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. It was a clear day and we had a great view from there. It was very windy though. Later that afternoon, I took Max out with Susie and Sue to see how he would behave with me. We did a real short easy ride. Max was quite good but we didn't see any bicycles though we did pass four big wagons. Cody did a big spin though and twisted one of his shoes and made it very loose. Wildwood Stables called in a farrier to put it back on the next day. They said he would be coming sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. That night Ann and Nancy made Tortellini with peppers and onions. It was great. We played guitars again until about 10:30 PM then headed to bed.



Saturday
Another nice morning. I finally, with great difficulty, persuaded Bonnie to ride Marie that morning and let me take Max. I told her I would wait with Susie until the farrier came then go riding with her. Bonnie really wanted to wait and go with me. I didn't want her to even be around Max. If I had any trouble with him while she was there, it would spoil the ride for her. She finally agreed to go with the morning group. The farrier showed up a little before 11:00 AM. I took Max out and lounged him a little. He seemed a bit uncomfortable on one side. Missy had also stayed behind to ride with us. It didn't take long for the farrier to reset Cody's shoe and we were on our way before noon. Just as we headed out of camp, Bonnie's group was headed in. I was hoping Max would not see Marie but no such luck. He didn't give me any problem about it though. Max did spook at the bicycles. I kept him under control but it was not very relaxing. We finally all agreed that he was definitely feeling some discomfort on one foot or leg. I decided to just get off him and walk him back to camp and let the other two get a good ride. We were only about two miles from camp so that was really no problem. Max was very good at first. Even letting bicycles go by without a problem. Until we were in sight of camp. We had gotten to the corner where you turn to go down the hill into camp. The road is kind of narrow with a big drop off on one side and rock ledge on the other side. Max heard the horses in camp and got really excited. A large group of bicyclists were coming down the hill behind us. I didn't think it would be any problem as he'd been ignoring the bicycles for a while. WRONG! He started to pull me and then spun around. The group of bicycles all came skidding to a halt and when Max heard the sound of the tires skidding on dirt he just lost it. There were at least 10 bicycles with some small kids. They had nowhere to go and Max started to spin right into them. Thankfully, one mother stayed very calm and kept telling the kids quietly not not move. I threw myself into Max to keep him from spinning into the kids. He slammed into the rocks bordering the drop off and thankfully stopped dead. I managed to get Max going and led him back up the hill past the group so they could go on their way. That is when I knew that Bonnie needed to take Max back to Hemphills. Bonnie was at the stalls when I got him into camp. I told her what I thought about him and what I thought she should do. She is feeling very disappointed right now. She thinks maybe it's her fault and that she's failed in some way. I am glad we are here in a group of women that have all been through this same situation and know what she is going through to help her out. We have all unanimously agreed that this is not the horse for Bonnie. Bonnie told me it took her almost half of the morning ride to gain her confidence back. Max had given her that much of a scare. She said about halfway out it suddenly clicked and she got her confidence back. She and Sue took off and had a great wild ride. Bonnie was very impressed at how fast Sassy can trot. The girls took her over the jump with Marie!! I was so proud of them both. Bonnie has never really done any jumping and is nervous about doing it. She said that Marie once again handled it like a pro. Bonnie realized that this kind of fun is what riding was supposed to be. I think she is in love with my horse, and why not, Marie is a great horse. I had a little snack after the ride and was tired so decided to take a nap. After all, It's my vacation, I should be able to nap when I want. Bonnie and Missy went into Bar Harbor to poke around. Some of the other women went to Jordan Tea House for tea time. We were planning to take a moonlight ride to the top of Day Mountain since it would be a full moon.


Unfortunately, the fog rolled in very thick that afternoon and we decided to ride at around 5:30 PM since we wouldn't have any moonlight with all the fog. Bonnie took Marie and I rode Bally. Maura had gone home that afternoon. She was getting a bit home sick. She has two children and one is just a baby. Bally is a big Thoroughbred. I was a little put off when I saw the postage stamp that Maura calls his saddle. It is a close contact saddle and not much to it. I decided if Maura could ride in it, so could I. Bally was horribly rude while I was tacking him up and I had to get help. I felt stupid but Ann said he is like this even with Maura. I climbed aboard and off we went. Bally is big, strong and forward but despite that and the saddle, I soon got the hang of riding him and had a great time. We even did the jump. It was fun watching Bonnie ride Marie. I don't often get the chance to see how my horse travels. Bonnie was having a wonderful time with my little mare. I was so glad. Halla didn't really want to go to the top of Day Mountain, she's afraid of heights. We told her not to worry since with all the fog, she wouldn't be able to see over the edge of the trail anyway. It was true. We met two of the big wagons up there on the sunset ride. They stopped and let us go by. All the horses were pretty good about that. When we got back to camp, Missy, Nancy and Ann had a tarp set up over the table because it was drizzling and they had supper all warmed up. Bonnie, Susie and Missy went over to Ed Winterburg's campfire for a while to get the story on the whole stable closing deal. When they got back, we all sat around the campfire and chatted. Halla and Missy headed to bed early. At around 10:00 PM the fog suddenly started to clear out. We all started wishing that we had waited to go on our moonlight ride. We hemmed and hawed about doing it but didn't really want to take the horses out for a third time in one day. A few of the horses hadn't been out twice and we thought about taking them. But, finally Susie and Sue decided it wouldn't work. Then Nancy said that if someone would go with her bareback, she would go. I looked at her and asked if she was serious and she said yes. I told her I'd go with her if I could take Abby. She had only been ridden once today and I knew she was comfortable to ride bareback. But, I haven't ridden bareback in years. I really didn't think I could do it. I decided to give it a try. I hesitated because Missy had gone to bed and I didn't want to wake her up. I also was not going to take her horse without her permission. I finally couldn't stand it and went to her tent. "Missy...are you awake?" "Missy?". No answer. " Missy..." Finally, "uuugh?" in answer. "Missy, are you awake?" As if I didn't know the poor woman was sound asleep. Halla woke up and asked what was wrong. I told her I wanted to take Abby for a moonlight ride. "You're going riding now?" she yelled. That woke Missy up. Missy told me to go ahead and take Abby and have a good time. Susie and Sue didn't believe we were really going to go. Bonnie went over the the barn with me to help get Abby out. Susie and Sue helped Nancy. Someone else that was there feeding their horses shone their car lights into the Barn for Nancy. They thought we were crazy. When I got over there with Abby, Susie had given Nancy a leg up onto Cabbot. She gave me a leg up onto Abby and off we went.
You could tell that the horses were wondering what was going on but they soon got into the spirit of it. We walked and trotted them to the top of Day Mountain. All the way the fog continued to clear and it got more and more beautiful. There were times when we came out from under the trees and the moonlight was so bright we had to shade our eyes. We could hear the buoys clanging out on the ocean and see all the lights of the town down in the valley. The horses were awesome. Not a single spook or wrong step. At different times along the trail we had clear views for what seemed like miles. I thought I was seeing some clouds when Nancy pointed out I was seeing islands out in the ocean. She was right, I could see lights on them. The ride was, as Nancy said, magical. We had left camp at 10:00 PM and got to the top of Day Mountain at 11:00 PM. On the way back Nancy asked if my legs were hurting. I said yes and she said her were killing her. She then said that we had to be able to tell the girls back at camp that we galloped the horses along the moonlit trails, could I handle it? I told her to go for it and off we went. We galloped for a bit both of us giggling like a couple kids. We entered a dark spot under some trees and Abby broke into a hard trot. Between that and giggling so hard, I nearly slid off her and I yelled to Nancy I had to stop. Abby was taking good care of me and slowed then stopped on her own before I came off. There we were, giggling, laughing, breathless and in pain. We were having the time of our lives. We got safely back to camp about midnight. I hurt so bad when I got off Abby I thought I was going to have to crawl back to camp. It was pain joyfully earned. Susie and Sue were in their tent when we got back but still awake. They had to have all the details. They said Bonnie hadn't wanted to go to bed while we were out as she was worried about us. She finally did go to bed around 11:00 PM. When I got to our trailer, Bonnie had left a light on for me. What a wonderful friend I have. Bonnie told me that it drove Susie and Sue crazy that we went and they almost followed us. Now I have something to lord over Susie. HA! It really was a great chance to get to know Nancy. What a nice woman she is. My magical moonlight ride to the top of Day Mountain with Nancy is going to be a memory to last me a lifetime. It took me a while to go to sleep. It was so excited and happy when I got back. the fog rolled back in sometime after we got back. How incredible that we had that few hours of clear moonlight for our ride.



Sunday
We got up and packed everything. Everyone was going out for a short ride. Bonnie and I decided not to bother. We decided to head for home since we had heard we were going to be running into some bad weather on the way home. I would have been happy to ride if Bonnie had wanted to. I had Bally I could ride but Bonnie didn't really care. And nothing was going to top last nights ride for me so we headed out as soon as we got packed up. We did encounter strong winds and heavy rain on the way home but got home safely.