Wendell Robie,Tevis Cup and Cathy Rohm

We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality."
– Iris Murdoch

Well, the month of June, has  passed  and  we  are now into July. The month of July is synonymous with the Tevis Cup. This event, is a 100 mile one day endurance ride that begins at Robie Park near Truckee, California and ends at the fairgrounds in Auburn.

In 1955, the Reno Gazette Journal had an article describing, “Some gentlemen from Auburn are attempting a one day, 100 mile ride out of Tahoe city.” Five riders; Nick Mansfield, William Patrick, Pat Sewell, Richard Highfield, and Wendell Robie said they could ride over 9000 feet of Summit, go through deep canyons, and follow a trail that no other horsemen had traveled on such a ride. This ride had a lot of unknowns. One major question was, could a horseback rider travel and cover 100 miles in a day?

Robie claimed that organizing the event would bring new home and property owners to Auburn and give valuable publicity to the town (Robie was a businessman in Auburn-he was into lumber, real estate, and later started a bank). He quoted the Vermont organizers of 100 mile Green Mountain trail ride, who claimed that people keep fit by riding horseback. He also quoted Winston Churchill’s famous phrase, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.”

Robie was influenced by pioneer Bob Watson, who was the last constable of Tahoe city. One of Watson’s missions in life was to re-establish the original Emigrant Trail over the Sierra crest. Long-lost overgrowth and lack of use, the trail was used by Native Americans as part of their seasonal migratory route, as well as gold miners in the late 1840s and early 1850s that traversed this rugged trail in their search for instant riches. Later on in the 1850s, the trail was also used by those leaving California in search for silver in the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Watson’s quest to redefine the trail was a good endeavor, and he enlisted like-spirits in finding the trail, including Wendell Robie, and a group of Auburn men who belonged to the Native Sons of the Golden West. This information was reprinted from “It Has Nothing to Do with Age.” Also, in this chapter are tales about Robie told to me by Fred Jones .Jones ran the California State Parks system at the time.

 I  was  a  young  60 when  I earned my buckle on this ride( Chapter 8). Tony started endurance riding when I was just a kid. He earned 10 buckles by the time he was 50.

By the way, we will not tape our TV show on July 4. Our next scheduled TV interview  will  feature  Cathy  Rohm . Cathy won the Tevis in 2005. You will find out more about her on July 11.

Enjoy your 4^th and don’t forget to keep moving, laughing, smiling and deep breathing.