When I left Lexington, KY at 9 am on December 20, my destination was Damariscotta, ME. There is an expression in Maine: “You can’t get there from he’ah.”
The Maine slogan is: “the way life should be” and they like it that no one can get there.
But after some strategically planned stops, I proved ‘em wrong.
Dodging weather and with two non-arbitrary things on the calendar, I set off east on I-64. My co-pilot/sidekick was the 10.2 pound undergrown black and white Black and Tan Jack Russell, Brighton. Also known to her friends as Barbara, Babs, Midge(t), etc she is from a long line of Black and Tans but somehow she and two of her brothers didn’t get the memo as to what color they are meant to be.
Anyway back on the road. We arrived in Middleburg, VA (Marshall actually but it is all much the same) around 6 pm. Nanki Doubleday (who owns an eventing horse for Will Coleman named Nevada Bay) graciously puts me up whenever I swing through the ‘Burg. Hands down, After Hours Farm has the most comfortable beds that I have ever encountered. We had a dinner party in the kitchen with some eventing and steeplechasing friends and then headed to a fundraiser for a young event rider headed to the UK to train with William Fox-Pitt. It was fantastic to catch up with Jan Byyny, Will Coleman, Doug Payne, Sinead Halpin and a host of other Virginia characters. As the holidays were creeping in, everyone in the little log cabin hosting the party was feeling pretty festive.
I didn’t leave nearly as early as I would have liked, Nanki and I spent the morning at her barn and then went out to lunch. Her little barn houses one of the best turf horses of the 90’s. My Big Boy was bred by her grandmother Lillian Bostwick and given to Nanki when she passed away. He won over $1m on the turf including the Sword Dancer (at Saratoga – one of my all time favorite races), the Manhattan twice and a race in Japan (all Gr. 1 races). He is now 26 but the class is still coming out of his skin. The champ is one of the smartest horses I’ve ever been around, he knows his name and lives with his donkey friend Ross Perot. He’s got a few grey hairs on his face but his integrity is unmistakable.
He started 49 races.
They just don’t make horses like that anymore.
I headed Gladstone, NJ from there to catch up with my USEF North friends. I was actually informed that since I did it in less than four hours I in fact, set the landspeed record from Middleburg to Gladstone.
Show Jumping High Performance Director, Lizzy Chesson and Rags (a relation of Brighton who is black and tan and very scruffy and cute) played gracious hosts despite the nasty weather and sub-Arctic temperatures. We had a great dinner with Eventing Managing Director Sara Ike and another friend of theirs.
We banged around at Sara’s house the next morning as I procrastinated leaving on my second longest leg of the journey: to Cape Cod to see my 87-year-old grandmother. The traffic was a nightmare all through Connecticut as 95 must be the worst road in the world to drive on. The slow speed limit and the ever-present police only add to the torture.
My thin skinned (and very short-haired) sidekick wore blankets in the car… I said the day would never come but she didn’t get the scruffy haired memo either and is generally pretty chilly when it is in the single digits.
I’m from a family of retriever and spaniel owners (I myself also have an 86 lb Black Labrador), my grandfather always had hunting dogs – so part of me was dreading arriving to 17 of my relatives a la Elle Woods with my tiny mutt.
Fortunately she was a hit and now everyone wants one.
We had family photo of 17 plus dogs, ages one to 87. I hope one came out to keep Nana happy.
There was sledding on the sheet of ice that serves as the Wianno Club Golf Course in the summer, a couple of near-death incidents including a complete rotational fall by me and my cousin Kelsey – but we all survived, returned home and played cards and charades.
Nana won the best actor award after bluffing her way through the card game and then acting out Nebraska in charades.
After two nights there, the second of which I had to battle with Nana for the couch as she (and her two fake hips) were insistent that because it was her house, she should sleep on the couch.
I won, because I refused to move, but I think the couch is as old as her and the one spring left dug into my left shoulder all night.
I stopped in Carlisle, MA, at the home of my childhood best friend. She wasn’t there but I caught up with her mom and brother. It was the farm where I first sat on a horse.
Cinnamon, when I was three years old.
I don’t see them much anymore but it is always nice to stop in. I made two more stops (mind you it is the 24th) one at some other friends in Hamilton, MA (near the Myopia Hunt Club) and then at LL Bean for some last minute shopping. There was lots of clamoring in my family for puppies this year (mostly from my sister) but fortunately they don’t sell them Beans.
We survived Christmas in Maine, it was beyond frigid and Brighton just wore more coats. She went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean on Christmas and encountered more snow than she is tall.
After a few days of family fun we turned around and headed back south.
Next stop Gladstone (again).
More on that in a bit.