Cheap Thrills No Frills Day 1

photo by Steve Bradley!

Saturday June 25 2011

Top photo - Me and Jose: another completion, and 990 miles together! Still holding our breath for our ride tomorrow.


Booby Rock!


So much water in the desert!


Great Owyhee skies.


Jose enjoys the great scenery.


Intruder Canyon notch.


Climbing the Hart Creek knife ridge.


Five more miles to go!


Nance and Quinn: Quinn reaches 3000 miles today! (Not to mention 2 Tevis buckles).


Linda and Ted (Stormy's buddy) finish Ted's first ride!


Frills for Jose and the boys after a hard day's work.


Frills for the riders - the best pot luck dinner ever!


No Frills ride awards for participants!


More No Frills - John and Robert the vet get the Hoedown on!

Ready For Some Cheap Thrills

Friday June 24 2011

A decent little group turned up for this weekend's Cheap Thrills No Frills endurance ride; tomorrow there are about 35 riders in the 50, 8 in the 25, and a couple of trail riders.

It feels like a family affair again, just a bunch of friends with a common obsession getting together to have a trail ride - a long trail ride for a long weekend. Our friend Sue from Utah finally made it, after truck troubles and broken hand problems kept getting in the way for two years. Carla and the Khid are here from Colorado. Estelle is here from South Africa! (Though she's been living in Idaho the last year, she still gets the Farthest Traveller Award.)

The humans may get No Frills here, but the horses are in heaven with the special grass pasture Steph grew and opened for grazing. We call it our little Sierra del Rio pasture, in honor of the Sierra del Rio Ranch on the Oregon Trail that lets us use their ranch and grass pasture for our out vet checks on our May ride.

Jose is ready raring to go. I just recently realized I have 940 miles on him. The plan is for me to ride him both days on the 50s. That's all I'm saying about that right now, but I'll be holding my breath for two days.

The forecast is for 72* and no thunderstorms tomorrow. Bring on the Cheap Thrills!

Trail Colors OMG

Wednesday June 22 2011

Not to scare you or anything, but this is just two days of Owyhee Cheap Thrills No Frills endurance rides. Steph emailed me this map (with "trail colors omg" as the subject line) so we can hang the right color ribbons going in and out of basecamp.

Confusing? Only if you're trying to hang all the ribbons, in and out directions, at the same time. Shouldn't be confusing if you're riding, as the ribbons will be pretty clear, and there are pie plates galore directing you where to go, for reassurance. Some even tell you what to watch out for, like deep sand and gopher holes.


I have this mishmash to hang out (Stormy will do his share tomorrow!); Connie and Judy have one trail to check; and Steph will re-ride one more trail to check up on it - and then we are set.

It's demoralizingly hot today, in the 90's - Owyhee seems to be lying lethargically, waiting for a thunderstorm to happen or something - but Saturday and Sunday will be in the mid to high 70's, with no thunderstorms predicted. Couldn't be more perfect for some cheap thrills on another Owyhee endurance ride!


One more word about the ride: pay attention to the name: Cheap Thrills, No Frills. Two days of fun trails (especially the "Booby Rock" loop), good scenery, and potluck dinners. The hot showers probably will work, and if not, there are plenty of garden hoses around. If you're coming expecting to win a 4x4 Toyota Pickup when you cross the finish line as the winner each day, and to win saddles for your Top Ten finish awards, lower your expectations a bit. The ride awards will give you a cheap thrill, though they will be memorable.

Bring your fun bones!