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Tevis 2000

Tori Thompson

In the last chapter we had just left Robinsons Flat and were heading to Forresthill. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to where we were on the road. I remember a sign saying Forresthill 15 miles. Alice was flying down the road so I said in about 13 miles she should slow down so we wouldn't miss the VC. Next thing I knew we were passing houses and I said we went too far. Alice turned around and started back up the road. Sarah noticed a sign that said we were at the Michigan Bluff turn off not in Forresthill, so Alice turned around again and got us going the right way. Driving mistake number 5, or is it 6 by now. Don't you think by now these people would stop listening to my directions? And with poor Alice having to spend the entire day behind the wheel the last thing she needed was bad directions. I'm really surprised Alice didn't haul off and whack me one.

Since Alice wouldn't be staying with us at Forresthill and since we needed to be located by the out gate there was no need to search for a parking place. Alice dumped us off right by the out gate and we immediately started looking for a good place to take pictures. Well, for those of you that don't know, the VC at Forresthill is on an old logging landing. Big, flat area almost totally devoid of vegetation of any kind except around the perimeter. There's a little bit of greenery near the vet check area and by the out gate, but when it comes right down to it it's a great big parking lot. When the horses leave the out gate they have to come down the middle of the lane where the cars drive when they come in to Forresthill. Cars are parked all around this lane and there isn't a decent place to take pictures. Immediately upon leaving the VC area the riders cross a street and go down a path parallel to the main road. The closest spot that could even be considered remotely aesthetically pleasing was just after the riders came onto the path. That is the spot I chose for the pictures. We set our chairs up under some trees in the yard of a very nice family (we weren't chased away and they let us park the Suburban on their lawn when Alice came back). I had some trouble with the sun at this point. It kept wanting to shine in my face. I kept having to maneuver my chair around, but I finally got into a position that worked. Now we had to wait. Mary and Sarah went wandering around, but I stayed in case a rider came out. It was definitely warmer in Forresthill than it was at Robinsons Flat. Not boiling hot like it can get, but definitely uncomfortable when you wear jeans. The bugs came out too. At one point Mary came back and we were commenting about how pretty it was when Mary said, "Tori, what's this?" Well, looks like we set our chairs up in a bunch of poison oak. Now, I'm not affected by poison oak, so it really didn't matter to me, but poor Mary is deathly allergic. Needless to say she hot footed it out of there PDQ. She set herself up in a 'clean' spot a little ways away, but still within talking distance ... if you really raised your voice!

Sarah came back. Riders were pouring into the VC and the first ones out should be coming in about 20 minutes. We double checked our cameras and sat down to wait. The first rider out was actually a pair of riders. The second rider was hiding behind the other, but I got the picture. The riders were coming by much slower this time. So we had lots of time between pictures. Lots of time to fry in the sun. Brain fry was beginning to take hold. Even though we had taken food for lunch nobody really ate anything. We had some salami on the drive to Forresthill, and a little fruit, but nothing substantial. What I really wanted was ice cold water. Anything cold at that point would have been gladly accepted.

Alice made another run. Donna was only 7 miles away now. The dirt road made it a long 7 miles, but it beats what she had earlier in the day. Alice actually got out and sat with us for a few minutes. I think this was her only time out of the car the whole day. She made a tour of the VC and came back saying there was a big long line of horses on IV's. I can only assume that the vets and riders were being extra cautious and putting the horses on IV's to prevent any problems from happening because I've never seen that many horses hooked up before. It was really scary to think that many horses had crashed, so without knowing the reason why I just preferred to think of it as precautionary measures.

Once again Alice left us. We continued taking pictures. It's amazing to see the looks on these riders faces when told they're about to have their picture taken. Big smiles come breaking out of hot, tired faces. Most of the horses were trotting out just fine. A few walked. But they all looked pretty darn good. My beautiful Ruby came by looking as fresh as a daisy. Bless her heart. I just want to hold her in my lap every time I see her.

Alice came back and brought Donna with her. As they were getting out of the car They said, "we brought goodies." There was Donna with a tray full of blue shaved ice. Nothing could have been more welcome than that. That first mouthful numbed you clear down to your tummy. It was glorious. I was more than a little resentful at having to put it down to take pictures. I wanted to eat it before it all melted it was so good. Brought down the temperature a good 10 degrees. It was the highlight of my day.

I really didn't want to mention leaving Forresthill before all the riders had passed, but the VC would still be open when the first riders hit the finish line. We talked about my staying behind to take pictures while the others went to Auburn for the finish, but nobody was too keen on the idea. I would have stayed. After all, we did promise to get a picture of everybody that left the VC's. I was a little concerned that my flash would scare the horses when it got dark. The long and short of it was as soon as the winner went through the victory lap everybody wanted to head back down to Sacramento. If I wasn't back in Auburn by that time they would either have to wait for me or come back and get me. We decided to stop taking pictures at 8:15 so we could get back to Auburn around 9:30. Donna made one more computer run before we left and then it was back to Auburn.

Stay tuned for Part 5 or Afterthoughts

Tori

Copyright 2000, Tori Thompson


Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5



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