Archives for 2011

After weeks of backbreaking labor, we, at last, hit the road again, and not a moment too soon for any of us. While the dogs may have enjoyed being home, the horses were so bored they were neighing at the horse trailer every time they saw it, and Hubby and I were just about going stir crazy. The good news is that we are leaving feeling more organized with our convoy and happier about the condition we are leaving the house than on any trip we’ve ever taken. We’ve lined up someone to keep the yard tamed while we are gone, and a pest control service to keep the mice in check, both of which we hope will make our next return home a lot easier, regardless of when we might return. We headed out by just after 10:00, stopped once at the Pilot in Crossville, TN, and arrived at our destination, the Barren Fork Horse Camp in the Daniel Boone National Forest before 4:00 local time, having lost an hour moving into the Eastern Time zone. Took us a bit longer to get set up than we had imagine, primarily because of the silly water system they have here. Although there are half a dozen water spigots scattered throughout the nicely appointed campground, none of them had any threads on them, so we couldn’t fill up the RV tank the way we usually do. To make matters more difficult, the spigots didn’t have a handle that turned on, but a push button that you have to push to keep the water running. We found a nice spot where Hubby could get a satellite signal, was level, and right across the road from a water spigot. In order to to speed things up, I drove back to the ranger station and managed to persuade the guys in maintenance to let me use their long hose to fill up the RV and the 55 gallon water drum we use for the horses (which we almost talked ourselves into not bringing, but figured if we didn’t, we’d surely need it, though not this early on the trip!). By the time I got back, Hubby had got the horses up on the high lines, which was a steel cable strung between posts already provided. It was a good thing I got water, because we soon realized the water spigot across from us didn’t work properly. It was supposed to keep dishing out water as long as you had the button pushed, but it didn’t. It petered out after about ten seconds, then you had to wait another ten second before pushing again brought up more water. This was going to be a challenge! We flagged down a passing maintenance guy, who essentially told us to call the office in the morning. So far, every question I had asked anyone associated with the park had been met with the universal response of “I have no idea,” even simple questions like, are the trails rocky, and, have the rains damaged the trails. Seems no one leaves the office or the road, or is the least bit curious about anything beyond their immediate job. Our tax dollars at work. Anyway, I don’t suppose we should complain, since it’s only costing us $3 a night with Hubby’s Golden Age Passport. Seemed like a lot of traffic coming in and out, and there’s a train a few miles away that we can hear every time an engine passes. Don’t think it’s going to be the quiet getaway we were hoping for… Oh, well, as long as we get a couple of rides in, we’ll be happy!

Spent the day preparing my outline for an Audio Conference I’m facilitating tomorrow.

Time to get in all Hubby’s checkups. Bloodwork in the morning before breakfast back at the hotel (free at Hampton), late morning carotid artery scan that showed little difference between now and three years ago when we had it last done (a very good sign!), lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant in Nashville (okay, so we splurged this once, back to oatmeal, protein shakes and soup tomorrow as we continue on our merry diet way), then another doctor’s appointment where they checked his defibrillator implant and actually decided to speed his heart up a bit from 60 to 70 beats per minute, to strengthen it’s regularity, then a side trip to the TN Agriculture Dept. to pick up our horses’ new passports which our buddy Thomas had all ready and waiting for us, then the long drive home, with another quick stop at the convenience store for milk. A movie then bed, exhausted after the early morning and long day.

An early start today, with the alarm going off at 6:30. Put enough hay in the horses’ paddock and left enough food for the dogs to fend for themselves until tomorrow, as a trip to Nashville is in store for today. Left the house by 8:30, made one stop to pick up a pair of sunglasses at a convenience store. I had left mine at home, and knew I would need them later (though it was a cloudy day the glare was still annoying), so a quick stop fixed that problem. Headed to Nashville and met with a client for the afternoon doing some personal coaching. It’s a new company for us, but one that could open many doors internationally, both with their own partners and with many of the major Fortune companies they do business with. Went very well, everybody happy by the time we left. Headed out to the Hampton Inn on West End for the night, a newly-renovated hotel at a very reasonable price and excellent location for all our errands tomorrow. Settled down the second half of the lunch our client had provided, and we were both sound asleep by 8:30!

Spent the day watching the mandatory Sunday talk shows, followed by movies, relaxing for most of the day, except for the packing we had to do for our trip to Nashville tomorrow and Tuesday.

Ran into town again to pick up the lab results on the Coggins Tests and our Health Certificate so we can complete the paperwork on our horse passports. Bought a bunch of plastic drawers in Walmart, as we had decided to turn the back of the van into a second closet. Previously, it had been filled with the set for Hubby’s theatrical performances, but having finally decided to retire permanently (?) from theatre, or at least let our horse camping take precedence, we didn’t want to keep carrying the heavy set pieces around, so we emptied the van and stored them in the garage. Since we have firmly established that we want to stay on the road full-time now, we decided to take more clothes and other sundries with us, and with proper organization, the back of the van will make a perfect storage space. Did some basic shopping, then returned home and settled in for the evening.

Finished mowing the pasture with the riding mower, as well as running around the horse paddock just to get rid of the overgrown stuff. Been catching up on laundry in preparation for stocking the new drawers in the back of the van, lots more to do before we can get started there! Can’t wait to get back on the road again, all this work is exhausting!

Took a drive into town to do some grocery shopping, and to take the horses to the vet to have their Coggins Tests done so we can get another Equine Passport for the next six months. The horses were so thrilled to see the van hooked up to the trailer, my horse whinnied as if there was a mare in heat nearby! They’ve become a couple of traveling fools! They seemed quite happy at every stop, their heads were out the windows the whole way to see where we were going. Also had a chiropractic appointment to try to solve my shoulder problem, which still bothers me, and made some headway with that. Several stops later, we headed back up the mountain to cooler temps. Summer comes here in a hurry, last week we were in the thirties at night and fifties during the day, and now it’s near 90 already, wishing we were heading north sooner to get out of the heat! Some rain coming in later this week, though, so hopefully it will cool things down, though I’m sure the folks along the Mississippi River won’t welcome it, they’ve been having near record-breaking flooding this week. Hoping we can keep pacing ourselves this week so we don’t exhaust ourselves quite as much as we did last week. Busy, busy, busy, but at least things are getting done!