ECR Happenings

Thursday morning I arrived at the Richmond airport at 11:05 a.m. Raye's flight was suppose to get in about an hour before Charla's. I had seen pictures of Raye, but wasn't sure that I would reconize her. Charla had told me to look for a tall, asian looking woman. Being the first time that I had been to the airport, I was searching everywhere for her. I finally asked a man that worked there, and he told me that the flight had been delayed. He showed me the board that I could look on to see if the flight had arrived and also where I could go to meet the passengers. I was sitting in a chair near the escalaters when Charla's flight got in. I saw Raye, or who I thought was Raye, but did not see Charla. I walked slowly up to Raye and called out her name and she yelled Gail. Another woman walking close to her yelled out Gail also. It was Charla! I didn't reconize her because she had glasses on and her hair was a little curlier than in the pics she had sent me. It seemed that Raye's plane had caught on fire and she had to return to the Atlanta airport. She was lucky enough to get on Charla's flight, so they rode in together. Now all left to do was to get their luggage and be on our way.

We stopped at a Ponderosa to have lunch in Charlottesville. Afterwards we made our way up the mountain and we were finally in Luray. We found the Spotted Cow with no problem. It didn't take us long to get the car unpacked and call our loved ones to let them know that we had made it there ok. We then went and had dinner at the KFC. After eating and chatting, we went to the grocery store. While there, Charla and Raye decided to goof off a little bit by pretending to be kids. Mom(that's me) had to make them behave..lol. When we got back to cabin, we watched a few Young Rider eps, some interviews and talked to some of the girls that called us to chat. I was really zonked so I went to bed around 1:30 a.m. leaving Charla and Raye up and on the phone.

Woke up Friday morning around 8 a.m. to find Charla on the couch(Raye's snoring was keeping her up...heehee). After sitting around for a while and then getting our showers, we were off to check out the Rock Creek bunkhouse aka Eagle Rock. After hanging out and watching TYR eps some of the girls finally started arriving. Amy DC and Laura were the first two to arrive. Followed by Beth then Kathi and finally Dee. After 3 pm, everyone that was staying at Rock Creek decided to move on over there. While there Jen DC, Jamie, Sid and Lil' Jen arrived. After settling in, they all decided to return to Sweetwater and just hang out. Finally Rhiannon, Theresa and Liz arrived. Everyone had made it there safe and sound-well safe anyway. It was like seeing friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. Charla had come up with some ice breaker games, but no one needed to have the ice broken. We sat around chatting, watching TYR eps, chatting on the phone with girls that had called to check on us, and having a blast. Theresa and I went out on the "deck" to have a smoke. While out there we were like-it's gonna be just me and you out here. Ha-within the hour-everyone had come out on the deck and we had that mountain rocking! That is where "Spirit Fingers" and the e-b***h slap,just to mention a few, were born. What a night....heehee. Now onto Saturday.

I woke up around 5:30 or 6. I started cooking breakfast for everyone. We had french toast, cheese & eggs and sausage. After cleaning up, we got ready to go horseback riding. So we are on our way. We didn't know how long it would take to get to the ranch and we thought we had left early enough, but we ran into construction and thus made us a little late. The name of the ranch was Mountain Top-which was a good name considering that it was on the mountain top. Raye and I kept talking to my car saying-come on baby-you can make it:-) When we got there we filled out all the forms and paid. John(our trail guide) then began matching us to a horse, which by the way-my horse's name was Sam. He got us all saddled in and we were on our way. It was a beatiful day and the sights were absolutely breathtaking. John ask us if we were having some kind of reunion, the answer-why yes we are. I think it was amazing to him and his co-guide that 15 fans who didn't know each other had met in Luray for a weekend(I think what amazed them the most is that we all met online...heehee). After the ride, John sold us carrots to give to our horses for doing such a good job(that mountain got steep in some places). He also gave all of us an old horse shoe(which mine is over my kitchen door now). Now to tackle that mountain and get back to the cabins for some serious shower time. On the way back we ran across a shopping center so we stopped at the grocery store first(to buy some needed refreshments), then onto the taco bell for some lunch(Theresa-you were in all of our thoughts). After lunch, we made it back to the cabins and onto the showers.

After everyone had finished showering we met over at the Rock Creek bunkhouse. Amy DC got us all together for a group picture. The first one didn't turn out to well cos the bench that Jen DC, Theresa and Rhiannon were standing on broke right before the flash. Thus to say-we finally got a great group pic. We then proceeded to take pics of the group we belonged to(Jimmyholics, Kidettes, ect.) Afterwards we just goofed off until we all went inside. There was Young Rider tapes in the vcr, fan-fic reading, getting online to read the message boards, chatting with some girls that called to see how it was going, and of course the bottle of Boones Farm that made it's rounds! I think I was one of the first ones to hit the sack so I don't know how long everyone else stayed up but I do know that all had a great time!

I knew that Sunday would be a sad day. We all had to go home and back to the real world. Charla, Sid & Lil' Jen had left very early to get Charla to the airport. I got up and started to packing up. Soon all the girls from the Rock Creek bunkhouse had come over to the Sweetwater bunkhouse and we all just sat around chatting about the weekend, took some pictures and then everyone decided to meet and have lunch before going home. This is where I had to say good bye to some of the sweetest girls I had ever met. It was a very sad moment to see them all drive away. I had stayed behind to straighten and check out both cabins. I was soon on my way home filled with wonderful memories of a weekend where I met other girls that I could talk to about the one show that I truly love. I thank God that I had the good forune to meet these wonderful girls and share a wonderful weekend with them. I look so forward to many, many more ECRs.

Spirit Fingers of Love coming at you all!

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