A day at the races (UPDATED)

Camping all around us at Blair Valley this weekend was the Eagle Nation of the North County YMCA Indian Guides. We felt an immediate kinship with these folks as we are former Guides ourselves being aligned with the mighty Paiutes of the Yuki Nation.

As one would expect, things are little more high tech with respect to the group Father-Son campout get-togethers (high-tech PA systems and radio controlled air planes) than when we were doing something similar 30-35 years ago but some things remain refreshingly the same: the corny and/or somewhat off-color jokes told by the Great Cheiftain at the Nation bonfire on Saturday night where the Dads would alternately groan or laugh uproariously and where the sons would scratch their heads or laugh along because that was what Dad was doing was found to be a tradition in good standing.

But there is one thing that was radically different and represents a development towards which we are leaning “yes” but still can be talked out of and that was……









Chariot races!

Aw yeah.















































Only two casualties that we witnessed.

One poor kid appeared to trip and fall. Unfortunately, he was closest to the chariot and in the process of his face plant that damn thing ran right over him with the 200+ lb. driver still in the reins. It was not a pretty sight. As far as we could tell, though, the lad “only” experienced a little road rash, a bruised back and a bruised ego. It was the freaky-deaky visual highlight of the weekend.

On the spot safety memo from BwD to Eagle Nation: chariots shall be constructed in a manner such that all “horses” are outboard the wheel base of the chariot.


(UPDATE #1): We don't mean to appear macabre but we were able, quite intentionally, to pinpoint the exact moment when our lad took his fall. After further review, please click to enlarge the second photo down in this post and look at the upper right hand of the image and the blue chariot.



So ends this Zapruder-like experience at Blair Valley.