Archives for January 2010

Up at 7:00, out by 8:20 (seems like that’s becoming the standard!), another beautiful clear day. Uneventful drive except for our Wal-Mart stop in Oxford, NC. Followed Gracie (my phone GPS, so that when I turn it off upon arrival, I can say “Good night, Gracie”), but the store she took us to was gone. Fortunately, there was a local woman eating in her car in the parking lot, so I asked her where it moved to, and she kindly gave me directions, just another two miles away. No gas there yet (under construction, from the looks of the bulldozer in the corner), so had to stop again for that. Good to get in North Carolina, though, because the prices go up considerably once you cross the Virginia line.

Arrived around 3:30 to hugs and greetings from Dee and Paul, who generously let us put our horses in a nice little fenced-in pasture, instead of the paddock, which they loved! Enough grass to eat, and it wasn’t long before they had a roll, evidenced by their wet and slightly muddy backs. Dee and Paul had dinner plans, so off they went at 5:00 (after some specially-flavored 🙂 decaf coffee). Time to get caught up on work, get to bed early, and prepare for our client in Washington, DC on Thurdsay.

Had a wonderful, quiet night’s sleep, woke up ready to try out another new trail! There are about 4.5 miles of trails right out of the equestrian camp, two loops and a connector, well-marked with blue blazes every 10-20 yards. At first I thought that was overkill, but as the trail narrowed and the forest grew thicker, we needed them that often! Very little evidence of much use, which, from our perspective, was great! The ride was about 90 minutes, with really only one short opportunity to trot/canter, on a sandy road toward the end of the last loop. A good thing, too, as my horse was tired of walking and really wanted to go! (which he tried to do once in the woods, bad horse!:-)

I have to say, this was one of the most interesting trails we’ve been on, albeit a short trail. It was mostly pines, with some magnolias, and everything was covered with delightful hanging moss, which my horse eyed carefully the first time, then figured out that it wasn’t going to leap out and swallow him up and he took the rest of the ride in stride. Terrain was easy, a few gentle slopes, footing was excellent, all pine needles and hard sand, no water or mud at all, despite the rain from the previous morning. Just a delightful short little ride.

For longer trips, there’s a connector trail to the Manchester State Forest next door. There’s a $5 per person fee for riding those trails, but there’s another 15 miles or so over there. Permits must be purchased at their ranger station.

Hubby fighting a returning cold, so he went to bed as soon as we got back, had a lovely nap until cocktail hour. Tomorrow, off the Dee and Paul’s!

Up at 7:00, out by 8:20, uneventful drive to Poinsett State Park near Paxville, SC. The only problem we had was that we had planned on dumping the RV at the Flying J in Georgia along I-95 (RVers know that Flying J is one of the few places that has a separate island for RVs to get gas and a dump where you can empty your tanks, usually for free). Not this time! Dump was locked, with a sign that said that now at this franchise, there was an $8 charge. Frankly, I’m not sure we could have used it anyway, they had build up a curb around it that raised it so high that anything lower to the ground than a motor home would have a hard time using it (gravity works, water doesn’t flow up!) When we asked about it, the girl gave us some lame story about the county forcing them to charge a fee and to build the curb. If that’s true, someone should point out the laws of physics to them. Not sure that would work, though, it seems so many politicians and bureacrats have mastered the art of ignoring the obvious.

Beautiful clear day, arrived just after 3:00. Went to the dump there, which was along quite a narrow road. Someone was already on it (two hunters that, I’m sorry, didn’t look like they had a clue what they were doing.) Settled back into the equestrian campground, which was still empty despite the warmer weather, and looked forward to a nice ride tomorrow!

A warm rainy day today, a nice change after all the sunshine we’ve been having. Horses got a wash, we got a rest, did some reading and relaxed. Although there are lots of trails here at Osceola, there isn’t much variation in scenery (other than the swamp area), so we decided to leave tomorrow for Poinsett Park in South Carolina, as the weather looks like we can have a comfy ride there on Monday. Made a few calls about hay, starting to run short.

Set out by 11:oo this morning, with dreams of following the 16-mile Yellow Trail. We had found the trailhead yesterday, where it begins at the edge of a Forest Road, and we delighted with the canopy of scrub pines and low palms, in an area that had obviously been “prescription-burned” a year or two earlier. Hubby had spoken to one of the rangers, who said they always burn right after the big game hunting season, and they burn about a quarter of the forest, (which is about 266,ooo+ acres), so they cycle through it every four years. Keep that schedule in mind if you decide to come here to ride! Anyway, the Yellow Trail is considered one of the more challenging trails in the forest, and we soon found out why. Forest became swamp, and parts of the trail began to be underwater. Water is not a problem for our horses, but I have to admit, when one section looked like my boots and saddle were going under, my horse and I both hesitated. Rather than risk going swimming or having water over the tops of my boots, we turned around, then struggled to find a way around. There was no cut trail alternative, and it truly was a bog near the trail, so we went just far enough into the woods to make it palatable (with persuasion) for the horses. Once we were past that point, the rest of the trail was much drier (and this IS the dry season here!).

All along the trail, the markings were good, but there was one missing when we crossed a road, and got lost again. A lot of the road numbers seemed to have changed since the maps were printed, so the going got a little dicey. No real water on the trail, except for rather stagnant swamp water, so watch out for that. Eventually, after another wrong turn (Hubby’s fault), we ended up on a road that led us straight back to camp, which, since we’d been out for five hours, was precisely the direction we wanted to head. We found it interesting that there were no signs of other horses in the forest, AT ALL. A great secret, if you ask me! Supposed to rain tomorrow, horses will probably appreciate a day off, and think Hubby (yes, and me) needs the recovery time. Cocktail hour beckons!

At last, a day when the morning is warmer (although the horses are still breathing “fire”), but the smoke is minimal! As the temps warmed up, the smoke dissipated almost completely (Yeah!), but Hubby had to run into town to stock up on gasoline for the generator and to fill another propane tank that had run dry with all the heating we were having to do. On his return, a quick lunch, and FINALLY!!! A RIDE! Because it had been so long since we had ridden, we opted for the shortest trail, the green trail, advertised as “mostly on roads” and only five miles long, perfect for just stretching our legs. We set out down the straight flat hard sand packed road (no boots necessary!), heading north, doing our best to follow the map. We soon missed a turn, because I thought it was all on forest roads, and we never saw the trail marker. We assumed it was obscured or destoyed by the recent fires (as the area we were traveling was all along the firebreak line, one side green, the other black and ash), and we didn’t really want to follow a trail through the burnt part of the forest anyway (it was still smoldering in some hot spots!), so we ended up briefly lost. The two vehicles we stopped were no help, so we ended up just retracing our steps back to the West Tower. A little over two hours, probably more like 6 or 7 miles, but because it was so long and straight we got a lot of trotting and cantering in.

SO happy we finally got to ride, and the horses were equally happy to do ANYTHING but be tied to a highline! A much longer ride is scheduled for tomorrow!

Smoke even worse this morning, the overnight cold air pushed it all into a low ceiling just above us. While Hubby was getting breakfast ready, I started searching for alternatives nearby, just to get out of it. By the time we finished breakfast, though, the air had warmed up enough to release most of the smoke, so we decided to stay after all. Didn’t get a ride in though, still to cold a wind. Someone said they heard on the radio this was the coldest winter in N. Florida in 30 years! Sounds about right. When I moved from upstate NY to W. Palm Beach in 1976, they had snowfall all the way down to N. Miami that winter (76/77). I remember all the environmentalists then going on about nuclear freezing and planet cooling. This from folks who can’t get the weather forecast right more than two days in advance (and even then get it wrong more often than not!) I like what Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said, “We have climate change in Tennessee… four times a year.”

Anyway, spent the day working on the computer, finding more horse camping sites and placemarking them on Google Earth. Then around 4:30, I suddenly got an error on Google Earth, and it had to close itself. When I reopened it, all of my work for the entire day was gone! Never happened like that before, I was not a happy camper! So I started to recoup them from my browsing history, and that will be one of the chores of the day tomorrow. But I’m still determined to get a ride in, the temps are supposed to reach 65! My knee is better, my cold is annoying but not debilitating, no more excuses!

More smoke, which we had hoped would dissipate, but instead the rangers came by and started a whole new fire right across the road from us, with flames reaching 20 feet high and more at some points. Jumped the road to our side just a few dozen yards away, they managed to put it out before it spread. Still cold enough for an inversion layer to keep the smoke from dissipating, but a cold, light wind made it too cold to ride anyway. My sore throat came back with a vengeance, and dropped into my chest a bit as well. My knee was throbbing. Hubby discovered a leak in the kitchen faucet, so that became the priority.

By the time he got back from town with the parts it was mid-afternoon, the smoke was terrible, it was still too cold to ride, so we gave up on it again, darn it. The smoke was so bad we started considering moving on somewhere if it doesn’t clear up by morning, really felt bad that the horses were out in it. Only good news is the family came back in the evening, so I suppose their dog got fed (again, as we had fed him earlier in the day…) Not sure if they’re staying, I don’t know how they could stand the smoke out there, it’s bad enough in here with all the windows closed. Keeping our fingers crossed we’ll get a chance to ride here at least ONCE before we move on. Going to have to head back north soon, more work lined up in DC at the end of next week.

Woke up to the smell of wood smoke. At first we thought the wind had changed and someone’s campfire was blowing smoke in our direction, but soon realized that the rangers were initiating a prescribed burn. Smoke was everywhere, and with the cold temps, it was getting stuck on an inversion layer and getting trapped. I went into town for some supplies, and when I looked toward the forest, it looked liked someone had covered it up with a gray box, it was that perfectly flat on top. Still too cold for a comfortable ride, and I wanted to make sure my cold wasn’t gaining on me, so we rested for the day, watched a few DVR movies, took it easy. I did spend some time trimming my horse’s hooves, as they grow like mad on him for some reason, and he got a little restless at one point and kicked out with his leg, just clipping my knee. Enough to make it swell like a grapefruit, so I spent some time during the day icing and heating it. Still hurt when we went to bed, hoping for a quick recovery so we can ride tomorrow!

Getting a little concerned about the family that left over the weekend, they left a black dog tied up on a clothesline. We’ve checked on his water, but he doesn’t seem to have any food, so Hubby gave him some biscuits (he didn’t have any idea what they were!), but ate them voraciously once he got the idea. Hate to leave him there, have no idea when the owners are coming back. Just have to wait and see!

Woke up during the night with a sore throat (thanks Paul!), but took some aspirin and slept well afterwards. Uneventful today, except the family in the red bus was gone all day (no kids around, so it was quiet, yeah!), and the guy in the van left. The hunters were out before dawn, don’t know if they’re coming back tonight or not. Stayed bundled up, watched a few old movies and I think I’ve waylaid the onset of the cold or flu that’s attacking. Pea soup is good for that! Hoping it will warm up enough to ride tomorrow. Need to go into town tomorrow for more propane (we ran out of one of the tanks overnight, switched out in the morning), and find a post office to send some mail. Good relaxing day, one that we needed after the schedule we’ve been keeping!