Dave and Brian's Excellent Adventures

It's been CRAZY!!

Empty Lot

Sunday we parked 6 mobile production trucks that we weren't 100% sure they were going to fit. In the end, it worked out really well!

Dad parking trucks

Monday: LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!

About 150 people, that comprise the rest of the show's crew, showed up ready to work. We did a brief meeting to bring everyone up to speed and got to work. At the end of the day we had a social gathering of all the crew. The catering staff had a bar-b-que which included hamburgers and hot dogs. And more interesting for the following story, the dinner included beer. No, this story doesn't involve drunken TV people. Although the catering staff thought we were all tea-tot-a-lers, because everyone was so tired they didn't stay very long.

As you're all aware (or should be at this time), my parents and I are staying in separate camping trailers, in the campground. The rest of the campers that are staying there are other workers for the park, and the grooms people. The grooms are those that take care of the horse.

In conversations with Sandy (and TRUST me, when you have a conversation with Sandy, be prepared to spend an hour. THAT guy, can TALK!), who is the park manager and checks people in, the grooms are not taken care of very well. He doesn't care that they show up at all hours of the night; 1 AM, 4 AM, etc. What really burns his bacon is that they show up with no money, no snacks, nothing. One groom showed up after being on several planes for a total of 38 hours, and hadn't eaten. So, Sandy took them to McDonald's so they'd have something! On Sunday the local Presbyterian Church dropped by with some homemade food, because they had heard how these people are living.

In the campground are about 100 of the FEMA travel trailers that have been in the news after the Katrina catastrophe. My father and I have stepped inside a couple of them and they look just like my trailer: Actually pretty nice. They are just missing some of the niceties: No logos on the side, and no water holding tanks for waste.

Sandy purchased all of these trailers for $250 each, and they will sold at the end of the games at a local auction. The first person to step into the trailers was Sandy a month ago, to make sure it had everything.

These trailers a LOT better than what they've done at other events. This is the first time all the events are happening within a 2 mile radius. Usually Endurance is 70 miles away from Driving, etc, etc. And the grooms have literally pitched tents next to the stadium/arena/track. So, they are happiER, but it's still pretty bad.

So, back to the beer: Monday night, after our crew left I loaded all the beer into my Gator and drove around the groom's side of the campground, if I saw a group of adults, I pulled in and said, "Would you like some beer?" Most asked how much it cost, and other's asked how much they could take. At the end of the night, I still had two cases of beer. Last night, I repeated the action: "Would you like some beer?" and got rid of it all.

Just trying to bring a smile to some of these people that aren't treated very well.

From the Horse Park

brian