A Walk Down Memory Lane – Tours

[Pat Rigas]

Since joining this club (and before) I have been to many tours. And I truly loved each and every one of them. I always walked away with a new enthusiasm for training my horse and I always learned at least one new thing that I took home with me and tried out on my horse. But one of the most memorable things I walked away from the tours with were my friendships with the “addicts”. What a wonderful group of people ponygirl, bmccain, barnsweet ghostface, Tuffenuff, sf9469050, brendab, jenniferg, girlie73, Greg, and scout05. We all have traveled many miles to not only meet up with each other, but to attend the DUH Tours. Our times together have been serious at times, funny, mischievous, happy and sometimes sad, and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Unfortunately, this year I have not been able to go to any tours…but I’m hoping to change that next year. And of course…I plan on meeting up with my addict buddies. As I was looking for some photos this morning, I came across the photos from the tours us crazies met at and thought I would take a “walk down memory lane”.

The first tour I met any of the addicts at was in Reno, NV. My BF and I hauled our LQ trailer there and made arrangements to meet up with bmccain, M&M, and her DH. And we also met up with brendab and scout05!

scout05 and his daughter.

Of course I had to have my picture taken in front of the DUH truck/trailer.

The next tour for an “addict reunion” was the Ft. Worth tour. sf9469050 picked me up at the airport and took me to Stephenville so that we could meet up with ponygirl and jenniferg at the Hard 8 for a great prime rib dinner. After dinner we headed back to Ft. Worth for the tour! Another great time was had by all.

sf9469050 listening intently to what CA is saying.

ponygirl and jenniferg handling the merchandise…

This was the first tour I also met Clinton’s mum at, CherylA. What an amazing woman!

This photo of myself, ponygirl, & jenniferg still sits on my desk at work to remind me of the wonderful friendships I have with them all.

sf9469050 and jenniferg…

Well…the next tour we addicts met at was the Las Vegas Tour! What a memorable tour that was…lets just say, what happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas.

We met up with a bunch of NWC members the first day for lunch…SherriL and her dh (Shane), LindaO and her dh (Dale), ponygirl, and livinit, and my BF.

Since BF and I drove to Vegas once again hauling our mobile bar…oops, I mean our LQ trailer, we offered to pick up any addicts that needed a ride from the airport so off we went to get another addict or two to join the party…

….so ghostface, girlie73 and Mary Ellen joined the lunch bunch. And sf9469050 and her dh (Norm) came by for a visit too.

Of course there was some fun time had before the tour…a little gambling.

some fun time by the pool.

…some crazy fun times were had by all.

We weren’t called the “mobile” bar for nothing. lol

The Las Vegas tour was outstanding…not only was Ian Francis there…but it was also the last tour that Mindy would be in…Clinton decided to retire her. There wasn’t a dry eye in the arena when he made that announcement.

So on to the last tour I met up with the addicts. We traveled to Houston for the Katy tour where ghostface, sf9469050, ponygirl, jenniferg and myself hooked up. Ghostface and myself were picked up in Dallas by sf9469050 and she took us on a roadtrip to Austin and then Houston. What a great time.

Dinner with the gals…jenniferg (and her daughter) and sf9469050.

ghostface, jenniferg, & sf9469050.

Thanks everyone for taking a “walk down memory” lane with me.

Please post any photos you have of fellow NWC members that you have met along the way via the tours! I would love to see them.

And thank you to Clinton for not only helping me with the method and getting a respectful horse, but for having the NWC where friendships were made to last!

Happy Trails everyone….

Pat

"There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."