Sorry, but that Ozzy photo had to go. A bit much, wouldn’t you say? Might scare the kids and grandmas out there…And to be honest it was freaking me out a little bit, seeing it every time I came in here.
So anyway, just here for a bit of an update on doings and happenings in the world of Gabe. As you can see, try as I might to force myself into it, I’m still woefully behind on updating this blog’s design and getting back into posting regularly. Guess it doesn’t look all that bad, but to me it’s just not finished. But that’s all changing, right here, right now, isn’t it?
I still have a monster post or two to come on my Italy trip, which was beyond fantastic, by the way. It was my first trip to Europe, my only other overseas voyage being a 5-week adventure in Australia in 2000. I will go into great detail in a future post, but for now I’ll just say that I was amazed at just about everything I saw there: the landscapes, the architecture, the culture, the people, the food. It was all awesome. It goes without saying that the pizza and gelato were heavenly. Something I was not aware of was how delicious a plate of speck with potatoes and eggs tastes in high mountain hut while waiting out a hail storm. The centerpiece of the trip was a 5 day trail running tour that followed the Alta Via One trail in the Dolomites in the Süd Tirol region of Northeastern Italy.
Finding words to do justice to the adventure is proving difficult. But there are two that were constantly repeated in my mind as I ascended pass after pass, only to be greeted with an seemingly endless supply of the most beautiful landscape vistas I have ever seen: epic and idyllic. Seriously. This is the stuff that trail runner’s dreams are made of. 60 miles of point-to-point running and hiking through unbelievable natural beauty, with places to stay comfortably and eat well all along the way. Heck, this is the stuff anyone’s dreams are made of (unless you are incredibly boring, or just more into the whole sedentary/shopping/tourist thing)! In short, if you ever have a chance do not hesitate to visit this part of the world!
I’ve been back for a little over a month, and I’ve already been up to Durango, CO and the Lake Tahoe area, both of these for work. I headed up to Durango to complete shooting of a series of videos my company is producing, highlighting our various hoof boots. Of course I had the still camera, so we went out and got some shots on the horse, as well. Durango is another fabulous and beautiful place, and it’s always a good thing to spend any time I can away from Tucson in the summer. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, having grown up here, but I’m not. The blast furnace heat just plain sucks. It makes outdoor activities miserable unless one can find a way to drag their sorry ass out of bed before the sun comes up, and even then it can be hot a sticky.
The very next week, it was off to the Lake Tahoe area, for yet another work-related excursion. This one was an adventure all the way. I and a two others from our company were called on to help out with the Tevis Cup, which is the nation’s, and probably the world’s, most prestigious and most difficult horse and rider endurance race. Since our company makes and sells horse boots, we wanted to be there to show people that our boots are good enough to used in the toughest of conditions. The owner of our company was also competing in the race, which he has completed many times. He has also run this same course, yes, all 100 miles of it, since it is also the route for the Western States 100 trail running race.
Our duties consisted of assisting the owner in fitting horses with our Glue-On boots for the two days leading up to the race. In addition to riding the race himself, he agreed to fit boots on anyone’s horse who was riding the race at no charge. All told over 20 riders had their horses fitted with our boots, so needless to say we were pretty busy. The day of the race came and we learned the meaning of a long day. We were up at 3 am to make it to the starting area in time to move the many vehicles to places along the route. We then focused on meeting the riders we here assisting at various stops along the route and helping them and their horses out with food, water, and anything else they might need. At every stop they looked more and more exhausted. Our riders didn’t finish until around 3am the following morning, so by the time we made it back to bed it had been over 26 hours of nonstop activity. Not always easy, but it was an amazing experience. And I can only imagine what it was like for the horses and riders! Over the 50 year or so history of the race, the average finish rate is around 50%. That gives you an idea of how tough it is. Most of the time a horse will get pulled from the race for not meeting the strict condition requirements at the vet checks along the route. It’s good the see so much care and effort put into making sure the horses are well taken care of.
So that’s what I’ve been up to…going places.