2008 DeAnza Ride Blog.
Well, since its cold and snowy and I’m as caught up as I can be at the shop, here is the slightly longer version of the DeAnza ride.
All the pics are on the Flickr site here.
Alrihgt, well…after working 4 days straight (and don’t give me any shit - you pick up the handpiece, needle and try it - oh yeah, and by the way, none of my fillings or crowns have ever fallen out in 7 years). Dub is set to pick me up at 3:30 for the 3.5 hr drive to Antimony (where the animals are). Well, what has to happen first is I’ve got to fire my GM for basically not being willing to step up to the job. Fan-Fucking-Tastic. That should leave a nice pile of work for when I return. We get down to Antimony and I’ve got to do 3 surgical extractions. The great news, the gal was fine. Teeth out, sewed up nice and tight. Yippie.
Well, we were going to leave at 7, but it turned into 9. Two rigs. Mike’s old Truck with 300,000 miles and JB’s trailer. Bob’s USS Enterprise Ford 350D. Thanks to Dub for excellent music. At the stop in Mesquite, for 40’s of Mickeys, I knew there would be trouble. After downing it and catching some Z’s. I get woken up somewhere in AZ or western Imperial county for a piss break. Jesus, getting to the ride is part of the adventure. Whats funny is that I can’t drive a stick shift car or truck, so Dub has to drive the whole way while Bob gets sauced and I sleep. Nice.
Okay, after 14 hours we get to Calixico. Mexico is about a mile away. Nice to see everybody, catching up with friends. Thanks to the Brockmans for letting the Caballeros use their ranch. Played some songs.
The Wilson Gang is part of the ground crew. We brought some new members this year. Dusty and Brandon (nickname jesus fucking christ) were on the crew. Dusty is awesome at the mandolin and we fucking rock.
So, Saturday, we get ready. Sunday is a long, 30 mile desert ride. We basically rode the closest road to the Mexican boarder. Water stations for the boarder patrol all over. Makes you feel weird. The F Troup has several super stars. We basically put a bar in our saddle bags and are ready for anything…which mostly includes rolling in after dark. So, good ride - ending in Plaster City, where I slept with the Hobos on the train line since thats basically where our camp was. I’ve always wanted to talk to old brakemen and boxcar riders. Many of these folks are just day laborers looking for free transport to and fro.
The next day was the Batan Death march through the desert. Counting phone poles and getting drunk. yeah.
The next day was the Ocitillo ride. Dusty and windy. Bob had his ski goggles on.
The next day was the big Cayote Canyon Ride. the big dog. 40 miles and all uphill. I’d guess 7500 feet of climbing. Not a lot of water. Dennis and I rolled out early for this one. Oh yeah, we had a sand storm that night too that wasn’t that fun. I actually walked Sheeza near the end for a mile or two. Way too much uphill. Many animals were burned out that day.
The next day was the downhill day. Nice senery and the camp was in an Orange Grove. That night was my late night. We stayed up until 1am singing songs and drinking beer. The Wilson Trio (and me) have a lot of traditional songs that we do. Its a blast.
Next day was the city ride where they had to close down HWY74 for us. that was kinda fun.
The last day was where we rolled into Lake Perris. Many thanks to the club who had horse racing, an auction and lots of fun the night before.
In general, the ride was great. There were too many long days which means that you either need a big strong pain in the ass horse to make it, or your animal is going to get beat up. Shit, I had to bute Sheeza up the last two days. Hopefully, next year will have no ride longer than 20mi. Hey, maybe it’ll be on Pendelton…thats the rumor. Alright, I’m tired. check out the pics at the flickr site.
