Road Trip – DSally & I made it onto the Delta/Northwest flight from Hotlanta (on a day where the city earned the name) to Amsterdam. The flight was good, the on-board service was great and we thanked our unnamed friend for getting us into business class. However, sleeping in an airline seat on demand is an art I seem to have lost a couple years back. So into Schipol airport (a Dutch friend tells us the name literally means “Ship Hole” as in graveyard for the large number of masted ships lying underneath the runways), a jolt from Starbucks’ finest with our Dutch friend, Joisine, and off to Greven-Bockholt we go.
I need to pay homage here and now to Debbie Hood. Debbie talked a friend of hers into loaning us (who he’s never met) his MIO GPS loaded with maps of Europe. Not only did the GPD get us out of Amsterdam, it guided us to the farm on a private road outside the tiny village of Schmedhausen without fail. Private note to Debbie – Jack has now been renamed Sir James.
After getting semi-settled in our farmhouse bedroom, we’re off to find Greven-Bockholt and our friends from Pony Team USA. James, the GPS, was spot-on (we had to pass the camp for the team from Great Britain and something must’ve rubbed off) and we found our crew. It’s great to travel a quarter way ‘round the world to find friends polishing brass, cleaning carriages and taking care of ponies. We saw most of Pony Team USA’s competitors as well as Chef de Quippe Chester Weber and assistant Chef Jennifer Matheson. As the pics attached show, Greven-Bockholt is an amazing venue. The hazards are distinct and beautifully built. When we visited the site this afternoon, the competitors had not yet been allowed to walk the hazards nor do we have an order of go for dressage. More tomorrow.
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