Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, didn't wake up early for a change, very happy about that! Got my chores done, then started looking at some of the repairs that need to be done on the trailer, only to realize I didn't really have the right adapters for my new impact wrench to get the job done. Since I was needing to go into town to do some shopping anyway, I headed over to Chester, went to the Tractor Supply and got the adapters I needed, as well as some shavings for the horse pens, then took a side trip to a haymaker north of there to pick up six bales, which would be enough to get me through to my next stop. Back to get fuel at Circle K, glad to see diesel prices getting back down a bit, just $3.49/gal. Last stop at Walmart to get a few things there, then back to camp around 4:00. Tried to do the repairs, but I'm afraid it's beyond my skillset at this point, so I'm going to have to let it go until I can hire a professional. Also had a conversation with Jo about helping with another endurance ride, scheduled for the same weekend as when the Goethe ride was supposed to be, said I would be glad to help with that. Chatted for a while with another camper who was walking by with his Goldendoodle, who, coincidentally was named Lola! I let my Lola out, and after an initial warning that this was my Lola's bailiwick, they got along just fine. After they left, I put down the shavings, and Apollo promptly rolled in it, so I'm a happy camper for his appreciation! Finally got my evening chores done, covered the hay with my tarp, and settled down for the evening, usual Northern Exposure and a movie. I was pretty hot today, so I had the AC running when I put the generator on, that blew out most of the hot air, and kept some fans running, which also helped. Getting too hot for me down south, looking forward to getting farther north when I return from my Red Rock Ride trip! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Archives for 2024
Tuesday, May 21, 2024 – Absolutely Gorgeous Ride at Woods Ferry!
Pix to come
Hey Sweetie,
What a fantastic ride today! Weird that I don't have a great memory about this place from our last time we rode here, though that was back in 2010, our first year on the road, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I had forgotten how lovely the trails are here! I planned a full perimeter ride, which turned out to be about 14 miles, and it was truly stunning! I guess having mostly done Tennessee trails at the time, it wasn't that much of a change, but after having ridden in all 50 states, I can tell you how fabulous it was! The footing was wonderful, mostly dirt, almost no gravel, and only a few spots where it got muddy, but not very much. The first half of the trail followed the Broad River, and was cut about halfway down the slope rather than along the top, so there were no serious grades, but a few switchbacks and lots of going up and around ravines along the way, all below the ridge line, the way the Indians/pioneers liked it to avoid being seen. The trails were well-marked for the most part, although there were a few intersections that weren't, and one trail that someone had actually put the wrong markings on, but thankfully, I had downloaded a map with Geomapping information, so I had it on Avenza, which was a tremendous help. My phone almost gave out before I got back to camp, but made it back just in time. The trails were in good shape, very few downed trees and nothing you couldn't get around, with lots of creek crossings back and forth. I ran into two guys, twice, and there were some folks parked at a northern trailhead that were getting ready to go out, but otherwise, it was extremely quiet. Lola thoroughly enjoyed herself and will no doubt sleep well tonight. The only thing that was of any concern was that Flash keep wanting to walk on the side of the trail rather than in the middle, and it was always the side where there was a serious drop-off! I was nervous he might slip and careen down the hill, but fortunately that didn't happen. I didn't like having to keep steering him away from the edge, but obviously we survived it just fine. I couldn't find the entrance to the trail on the east side, it wasn't marked and wasn't clear on the map, so we finally entered down by the boat ramp on the east side and did the trail in reverse from what I'd planned, but at least then I discovered where the east entrance is now. Got back to camp just after 4:00, did my post-ride chores and settled down for the evening, as usual. Fantastic ride, and it was a lot cooler in the woods, as the temps were in the mid-80's today, but felt fine. Can't wait to go out again! Good night, babe! Love you!
Monday, May 20, 2024 – Travel Day to Woods Ferry, SC
Hey Sweetie,
Woke up pretty early, but since I wasn't in a real hurry today, I took my time getting up. Had breakfast first, then worked on the final packing and moving out. Ran over my mounting block again, did a little damage to the edges of the trailer. It amazes me how a plastic set of steps can actually cause damage to an aluminum and steel frame! Anyway, I got everybody loaded up and headed to the dump around 10:30, then had a dickens of a time getting around the corner and through the gate. There just wasn't enough room to straighten out before reach the gate. I had to take three tries at it before I finally was able to swing wide enough to just make it. Not sure why they have to make gates so narrow! Anyway, we were on the road, but for some reason, Google didn't take me on the roads that I told it to go on (a U.S. Hwy) and ended up taking me down a bunch of narrow, twisty, windy road until I finally ran into that highway and took it despite it telling me not to go there. Anyway, the rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, though I did have a flashback to the last time we were here. I remember staying at the top of the hill by a gravel road that was called "Campground Rd." at the last turnoff while you went down with the van and the little horse trailer to make sure it actually led to the right campground. You ended up just about out of walkie talkie range and told me to come on, and I did with much trepidation. Turned out it was okay, but I remember a lot of non-horse people in horse camping sites, so I don't think we found a site with corrals and had to highline the horses. Not sure, I'll have to look that up. I reached the campground and stopped to reconnoiter, found my site and then proceed to maneuver into it. For me to be facing the right direction, I had to back into another site and turn around, and ended up scraping into a ditch before I got the right angle. Must be my day to bend the trailer! I lost the door panel to the sewer outlet, which was already hanging on by a thread because the lock didn't work anymore and the tape I put on it didn't hold, so I'll need to replace that whole framework. Not an urgent job, but on the list. I finally got situated, though I'm a little low on the front from the grade, I'm going to have to get some thicker blocks so I can raise it higher. One very happy note was that there is a threaded water spigot right next to me, so I was able to hook up a hose with a splitter and reach both the corrals and the trailer. Happy days! I took the opportunity to get out Lola's swimming pool, since the forecast was calling for some pretty hot temperatures later this week, and since we're so far out in the boonies here, she's in heaven because she can wander and take a swim! Well, get wet, anyway. I also rinsed off the water buckets and the wheelbarrow, they were covered in mud from the last place. Took me about 90 minutes to get mostly set up, including the solar panel, and now that we're settled in, I'm looking forward to my time here. I hope the trails are better than Canebrake! And it's very quiet, I don't hear any cicadas! I even have two bars on my phone, so streaming Prime is easy! Looking forward to a nice ten days here. Settled in for a nice stir fry and a movie, so good night, darlin'! Love you!
Sunday, May 19, 2024 – Quiet, Steady Day of Packing
Hi Darlin',
Took a long time to get to sleep last night, then Lola woke me up at 6:00, having gotten herself tangled up on the lantern post outside. She's been having a lot of fun with the cicadas that have been out in full force while we were here. They're just big enough for her to be able to see and play with, though they're pretty slow so she gets bored quickly. But evidently they're crunchy enough to keep here interested! Glad they're nontoxic! Took a long time to get back to sleep, and didn't get much because it was nearly time to get up anyway. Spent the day doing voluminous loads of laundry while I have electricity, had to fill up the truck water tank once, almost got stuck on the slippery grass on the site I'm on, barely made it out! Tore up the grass a bit, though. Hoping I don't have any trouble tomorrow, at least I'm on some gravel there, so I hope not! Spent time trying to figure out my post-Red Rock Ride travel schedule, which is proving to be challenging, but I think I've come up with a decent plan, subject to change, of course! I did that in between my usual packing, which I like to spread out during the day so as not to get overtaxed. I moved the five bales of hay I had left into the side stall, disappointed that some of it got wet. I had hoped I had it arranged to avoid that, but we had so much rain, and I'm on such a slope, it seemed unavoidable. What I need is a palette, but don't have room to carry one. Don't expect I'll be staying anyplace long enough to need to store hay anyway, at least not until I get back to Florida in the fall, then maybe I will pick up a palette. Settled down for the evening, watched a movie that I didn't particularly like, and am off to shower and bed shortly! Good night, babe! Love you!
Saturday, May 18, 2024 – Another Quiet, Mostly Lazy Day
Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep, another mostly lazy day. The only difference today was that I walked the horses down to a large paddock about the size and shape of a small arena, about half of which was grass, and left them in there for most of the afternoon. They did all the usual horsey stuff, rolling in the sand and grass and running around to stretch their legs for a bit, then munched on the grass. I went back to the trailer and mostly read, so a lazy day. Just resting up for the next couple of days, which will be a little busier, getting packed up tomorrow and moving on Monday. Nice to take a couple of days off! Enjoyed a nice dinner and a Brendan Fraser movie, will be off to bed soon! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Friday, May 17, 2024 – Quiet, Mostly Lazy Day
Hiya Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, did my chores, then saw I had a book order so I put that together and put it in the mailbox here that I noticed the other day. Filled up all the water tanks, mended my saddlebags, tried to straighten out the extension ladder a bit before putting it away, and mostly just whiled the day away with reading and doing some planning on the computer. I've been making a list of things I want to take on the trip out West, and also starting to plan where I'm going after I get back. If I want to be in Watkins Glen for the 4th of July, I'm going to have to hustle up there, but I still haven't decided my route yet. I'm trying to avoid as many mountains as I can, but it's hard to get from North Carolina to NYS without hitting mountains! Plus having to find a stop or two along the way is making it challenging, but I'll keep working on it. After 5:00 I checked the tracking on my package and it hadn't been picked up yet, so I went back out to the mailbox and picked it up again, I'll have to drive it to the post office in the morning. Settled down for the evening to a fun Simon Pegg movie and dinner, once again planning an early night. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Thursday, May 16, 2024 – Rough Last Ride at Canebrake
Hey Darlin',
Well, the best laid plans don't always work out, do they? Since the regular trails here have been very difficult, I decided to try another tact. In addition to the regular single track horse trails, there is also a series of roads that show up on the map, open to horses. I figured if we were on a road, if it wasn't too rocky, we'd be able to make some better time, so I planned about a 13+ mile journey on the "red" trails, as they appear on the map. Well, it didn't take long for me to figure out what a mistake THAT was! Shortly after turning on to our first road off the trail, we started climbing, on a surface that was red clay. After all the rain in the last too days, it was almost as slick as an ice skating rink. We went very slowly and carefully up that, then when we turned a corner and got on a second road, that was completely and utterly rocky. I mean, almost no road service at all, just rocks. That climbed and climbed and climbed until we finally reached the top, and for some unknown reason, there were guardrails along some edges that made it impossible for us to get off the road onto higher ground with a better surface, so we were forced to stay on either rocks or slippery clay. It has to be about the slowest ride we've ever done, it took us nearly four hours to go nine miles! Well, after the first couple of miles, and at the first opportunity I had, I got off the road and back onto a horse trail, which was better for about ten minutes, then got super rocky and climbing again. It was not much fun today! The last couple of miles back to camp were the best, still a lot of grade but at least the footing was somewhat better. Funny thing is, the best trails I've found so far are the renegade trails, that aren't marked and not on the map. Figures. We started out with both boots (I even tried duct-taping the loose one), but that didn't work, we lost that one in the first half mile, so I left it off. The other one stayed on ( I left it on to protect the split in his hoof so as not to make it worse) until the exact same place on the trail where we lost the first one, but I managed to recover that from the sucking mud and left that off, since we were almost back to camp. What an exhausting ride! That's it, I'm done with riding out here. There are a few nice trails, but they are so few and far between, and you have to go through hell and back to get to them, so no thanks. I'm not wild about the trail "repairs" they've made here, either, with frames of rocks at creek crossings, and it seems whenever they wanted to shore something up, they found the biggest, chunkiest, sharpest rocks they could find to fill it in. I can say the trails are well-marked, though I have to take issue with them not putting the markers all on the same side of the trail, I was constantly having to look back and forth, and got confused on a number of intersections because the marker wasn't clear. Anyway, no more, Flash and I have had enough, and I don't even think I'll take Apollo out again, it's just too rough. Maybe I'm getting soft (or sensible!), but I'm not that desperate to ride that I'm going to force these kinds of trails on my guys. Definitely a workout and a half! Settled down for the evening to dinner and a good movie, and fully intend to get to bed early tonight, I'm not really liking this going to bed late and getting up late, but I'm in such shade here, it doesn't seem to get light here until after 9:00! That's my plan, I hope I can stick to it! Good night, baby! Love you!
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 – Another Mostly Rainy Rest Day
Hi Babe,
Fell asleep late, slept late, got up late, but once I saw the rain coming in I finally crawled out of bed and took care of the horses before the rain got here. Spent most of the day just hanging out, working and playing on the computer and reading. Then spent almost an hour on the phone with the Quicken folks again, as one of my accounts isn't updating properly, finally managed to find a fix, and this time I took notes so if it happens again, maybe I won't have to call and spend an hour on the phone! By the time I was finished, I had an email from Amazon that my packages had been delivered, so I took a drive over to the Troy Post Office and picked those up, then drove over to Briscoe to get a few things at the Walmart, get fuel and pick up some bourbon at the ABC store before heading back. There was a serious storm just south of us, but we managed to miss it. Got back to camp thinking the storm would be here any minute, got the horses fed and the truck unloaded, but the rain never showed. Had dinner, watched a Northern Exposure and a rom-com, ready for bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 – Rainy Rest Day
Hey Sweetie,
Woke up to the sound of pouring rain as promised. Laid in bed till it let up a bit, then got up and did my chores. Had a very leisurely day, spent some time on my "new" computer, which I'm loving, and ordered a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to get. When we were out on the trail yesterday, I brushed against a tree with a limb sticking out and tore a nice big hole in my yoga riding pants, and I've been patching up most of my others as well, so I finally bought a five-pak of new yoga pants. Also some much needed tools, including a good heavy duty battery impact wrench and a hammer stapler. I won't use them often, but when I need them, I'll be glad I have them! No more sitting by the road waiting for road service when I have a flat tire for me! I also bought an adapter so the impact wrench can also be a screwdriver and drill bit. My old one is so worn out it barely works anymore, but I've had it a very long time, so it served its purpose. Another three-pak of socks and I feel like I'm just about ready for my trip to the Red Rock Ride in a few weeks! I checked their list and I have everything else I need, though I will have to get my sleeping bag down and give that a wash. Watched a couple of movies and a Northern Exposure, played a lot of games on the computer, and otherwise had a very relaxing day while it rained all day. Finally cleared up a bit in the evening, but it's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow, too, which is fine by me. I'm not thrilled about going out for another ride, especially if it's muddy, which it will most certainly be after all this rain! Heading to bed shortly! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Monday, May 13, 2024 – Long, Slow Ride on Flash
Hiya Darlin',
Got to sleep late, then slept a little late as well, but it was a beautiful day, so a ride was definitely on the schedule! Especially since the forecast for the next couple of days is rain! After my usual morning chores, plus putting an extra layer of silver tape on the front end of the trailer to keep the rain out, I finally saddled up Flash and we headed out to do about 12 miles of the River Trail and a couple of other loops in the northern section of the forest. It was a slow ride! Between the rough terrain and difficult footing, we hardly ever got above three miles an hour. There was only one spot about a quarter mile across a field that we were able to gait through. It took us over 4.5 hours to do just under 13 miles, which was ridiculously slow. It didn't help that one of his boots kept coming off again, so I finally had to leave it off. I kept one on his right front hoof, the one that has a little split in it, to try to keep it from any further damage. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to camp. One thing I like about the trails is that they're all single track, which is my favorite, but at times the trail was so narrow that the growth on the sides made it feel like a jungle. The inconsistent footing, which went from mud to rock and everything in between, was frustrating. Some sections were very nice, with a good dirt bottom, but you had to go through hell and back to get to them. Along the river was particularly inconsistent, with a few lovely sections, but an awful lot of rough going as well. The climb away from the river seemed like a mile on terrible rock, reminded me of the last time I was at Big South Fork in TN, which I didn't enjoy very much. Some of their trail "remedies" weren't very good, Flash did not like where there were concrete bricks surrounded by lumber squares and deep mud, so we had to find alternate routes a couple of times. It was a tough day, though it is a beautiful forest. it's just too slow, we could never get above a slow walk. Lola did well, but she was exhausted by the time we got back to camp, too. Had a nice dinner, did my usual evening routine. Then I got a call from Jo that the AERC, the governing body of the Goethe Benefit Ride that we've been a part of for so long, won't be happening this year, because of a lot of political nonsense. Very disappointing! Hope that won't have any affect on my volunteering for the forest! Anyway, a long and tiring day, I'm headed to shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!