A Lost Treasure Found

It sure has been cold lately.  So cold that I've started wearing long sleeve t-shirts at times, something unusual for this short sleeve t-shirt wearer.  This morning I opened a seldom used dresser drawer full of long sleeve shirts.  I really had no idea what shirts were there since it'd been years since any had been worn.  Pulling out a blue shirt, I barley noticed that it was an old endurance ride shirt. In passing, I thought it must have been from one of Del's rides & therefore 17-18 years old.  Still fairly new.

As I was getting ready to take a shower tonight, I finally really noticed the shirt I was wearing.  It was from the Comstock Endurance Ride.  That meant it was WRAFF'S shirt & 20 years old. Barely worn.  I'm SO glad I didn't paint today.  Or work on anything mechanical & oily.  How devastating to find a long, lost treasure only to ruin it. I held that shirt, remembering the day Wraff got it for me.  At 23 years old, he still hadn't grown up.  He was "on the muscle" as we started the ride as the sun came up.  Our ride picture is of him leaping over a curb as we crossed a road, me clinging to stay on.  I've never really liked the desert rides.  All the long, flat roads were never good for slowing my horse down. Wraff was in a "get on, hang on, & shut up" kind of mood that day.  As we flew across the desert, my underwear was rubbing me raw.  After 10 miles, I really didn't know how I was going to ride 40 more on a horse who thought he was a freight train.  So as we continued flying, I came upon an idea.  I knew I couldn't stop & get off because Wraff was too "hot" to let me back on.  I also knew I wasn't going to be able to slow him down & do what I needed to do.  So I just let my reins hang as I proceeded to rip my torturing underwear off.  All the time I was looking over a shoulder to make sure no one saw me.  Twenty years later I'm assuming that pair of panties, thrown into the sage brush, has blown away with the wind.

I'm not really sure how I'd forgotten other details of that ride.  Maybe being able to still visualize the sage brush episode so vividly had overshadowed everything else.  Looking at my shirt tonight, I had to look a few times to realize it said THIRD PLACE.  Really?  This mid to back of the pack rider was 3rd?  I have to say I KNOW there weren't only 3 riders because I was on the lookout riding through the sage brush because we'd passed so many early in the ride.  Guess I just forgot this little detail.  I shouldn't have been surprised though.  In my closet hangs a jacket that has only been worn twice.  It's from Comstock & was for First Heavyweight.  My shirt is now in the wash.  Once it's dry, it'll go back into the drawer.  Maybe in another 20 years I'll bring it out again to remember the day I tore off my underwear as my horse ran across the desert.

Strange how A Lost Treasure Found can bring back so many memories.