Archives for 2025

Hiya Babe,
Woke up pretty early again, got up and started some laundry, then went over to the pavilion to get some more water, since I knew I didn't have enough for all the laundry I had. Met up with Nancy Y again, she decided to not only buy a copy of my horse camping book yesterday, but our public speaking book today! We chatted for awhile again, and I invited her to take a short ride with me, since it's been such a long time since Flash and Apollo have been able to go out together. After breakfast, she came by and we saddled them up. I had previously found a two-mile loop that I thought would be good, not as much grade as in some areas, but when we got to it, they had apparently closed it off to horses (which didn't stop us :-). There were a couple of trees we had to maneuver around, but nothing serious. Apollo was doing so well, even with some climbing, which he trotted up, so we went just a little farther to get him some exercise. Of course, Lola came along, so it was all a very nice little ride! Once we got back, I suggested Nancy try riding Flash around the yard just to get a feel for a Paso, which she had apparently never ridden before, and she gaited him around a bit. He does look mighty fine gaiting around! I took him and cantered him a bit just so she could see what that looked like, too. After seeing the crash yesterday, she was rethinking a Paso, but seriously, it's like any other horse, you just have to put in the time to train them right. We ended up sitting outside under the awning and chatting for quite awhile, and the horses came over and visited with us as well. We're re-bonding now that we're on the road again. Meanwhile, the decision has been made to go to Sugar Hill again for the 4th of July weekend, so that's where we're heading out tomorrow. Haven't quite figured out the rest of the schedule, just making it up as we so along! Once Nancy left, I started to slowly pack up the rest of the stuff throughout the day, which was mercifully very dry, so hopefully I'll be able to get out tomorrow. I've put my tarp over the ground where my tires will go when I hook up tomorrow in an effort to keep the dew off, and I just checked the forecast and they've now advanced their call for rain to much earlier, so I'm going to have to get moving early tomorrow to hopefully avoid any of that! Fingers crossed! Anyway, the sun has set, I'm going to look out for the fireflies, Nancy said they're amazing when they come out of the ground. I'd only noticed them a bit later when they were lighting up the forest like a hundred Christmas trees with twinkling lights, which was incredible enough! I still really hate Daylight Savings time, the dang days stay way too light, way too late! Hard to get to bed early like this! Anyway, good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a good night sleep after the rain last night cooled it down a bit, woke up refreshed and ready to go! Just as I was saddling up Flash, the infamous Luke, the main ranger here, came by, finally got to put a face to the name. We chatted briefly, then he headed out and I finished saddling Flash and we headed out. Other than being a little more rocky than I like, the trails here are truly gorgeous! I didn't put Flash's boots on at first, and for the most part, it wasn't too bad. Most of the rocks here have been rounded out by the glaciers from the last ice age, so nothing too sharp, and we did the first 12 miles without boots. Once we got to the regular campground loop, though, it got a lot worse (likely from trail "repairs"), so I stopped and put them on him. I got really turned around at one point, because what's on the map and what's out there are two completely different things! I even had an Avenza geo-tagged map, but it was wrong, and I kept going back thinking I must be missing something, but never did manage it. I compared it later to a more recent paper map and could see a few changes, but that map is too big to scan, and, of course, it's not geo-tagged. Anyway, we finally made it back to camp. We were only about a mile out when we heard some thunder and felt a little overspray, but fortunately we got back to camp and untacked before it started any significant rain, which was welcome! Cooled it off a little, but then the sun came out and it was steaming for a bit. When I left this morning, there were several reservation tags on other horse sites, but when I came back, they were all gone, so I guess whatever company I was going to have decided not to take chances on the weather, which is for more rain tomorrow. Fine by me, I'm going shopping and picking up fuel tomorrow. Sorry to say that diesel prices are over $4.00 a gallon here, a lot higher than what I've been paying, but I expected that once I moved northward and into the blue states. The data stream signal still hasn't improved, though I've still got full bars on my phone, crazy. Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Nice and quiet here last night, no one else in camp, and there used to be an observatory here, so nice and dark, the way I like it! Seems like the length of the day just goes on forever! Wide open here, so it gets really hot in the afternoon, thank goodness for my AC! Decided it was way past time to take Apollo out for a ride, so I saddled him up, put on Lola's orange vest, and away we went! We didn't get very far on the main trail before we ran into a blockage and had to turn around. If I had been on Flash, I would have gone around it, but it was steep up and steep down, and I didn't want to risk it on the old guy, he was dragging his feet as it was! We went back and turned down another trail until it, too, started a pretty steep descent, and knowing that what goes up must come down, I decided not to push it. So we headed back toward camp on a wide easement, then Apollo made the choice to turn up a trail to the left, which, of course, was the most direct way back to camp, sneaky guy! He's always had a great sense of direction. Anywayw, the whole ride was less than an hour and less than two miles, but it was still pretty hot out, and Lola was panting, so I figured it was enough for a start. I'd like to build them both up to be able to go a bit farther, but that might be a bridge too far for these old critters. Got back to camp, let them graze in the big field most of the afternoon while I once again tried to solve my lack of data problem. Crazy that I have full bars of cell service and barely any data service! I reported it to Verizon, which, of course, meant being on the phone for nearly an hour going through all their hoops, but I guess it's been reported to the right tech people now, maybe they'll find a simple switch to fix it or something. So I spent the day mostly reading. Then I discovered water dripping out of one of my light fixtures, a sure sign that I have a leak up there somewhere. I climbed up on the roof and put a couple of towels around the base of the AC to stop the flow, and tried to find where the problem was. I didn't see anything obvious, but I'm thinking it might be the one section of sealant I didn't replace, around the refrigerator. It's on my list of repairs, but I have to get more lap sealant to do it, as well as a couple of days of dry weather. Meanwhile, I'll just keep stemming the tide with towels, since I have a way to spin and dry them! Once the sun was almost down and I had put the horses away, I noticed a screw sticking out of the exterior panel, so I got out my square driver and screwed it back in, and decided it was good maintenance to check them all, which I have to do periodically, so I did that today. Not much else going on today, again, too hot to do much outside! Shower and bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin'!
Woke up in the middle of the night with sounds of hooves in camp, evidently somebody had a loose horse for a bit. I ignored it, since I know my are safe, since whoever was left would have been whinnying up a storm if the other one was missing! Didn't sleep too well after that, but eventually nodded off. Still got up earlier than usual since the temps are supposed to be in the mid-90's today, and I wanted to get on the trail before it got too bad. Said my good-byes to my new friends before heading on the trail, including some nice sweaty hugs (only in a horse camp!).
Although Flash didn't fight me saddling up, he was a slug on the trail once we got going. Can't say I blame him, this last week was probably a shock to his system, so many tough miles of hills and slippery mud. Today's ride was the Blue Trail, which was the shortest and only rated moderate, so I thought it would be a good finish, but I think Flash would have been happy if we had finished yesterday! About halfway through I stopped at a picnic table for about twenty minutes to let him rest, which helped, but he was still sluggish until the last two miles or so, when his excellent sense of time and space clued him in that we were heading back to camp, and he picked up a little speed. Glad to get it done, and he'll get a couple of days off after this. Once we got back to camp, I ponyed Apollo around the yard a bit, just so he could stretch his legs, then I put him on the anchor for the rest of the afternoon. A lot of people left, except my non-horse neighbors and the Mennonite Clan that's been camping in the pavilion all weekend. I got most of my stuff packed, though I left a few things for tomorrow. It's not a long drive, so I'm not too worried about it. I ran the AC for about an hour, it was just ridiculously hot in the trailer, but I managed to get it down to the mid-80's at least, and a bit cooler in the bedroom, but the low tonight is only about 73, so it's not going to be very comfortable no matter what. I'm happy with the decision to go someplace with electric tomorrow! Had a shrimp salad for dinner, watched a bunch of Earth episodes trying to knock off the third season, will be taking a cool shower soon before going to bed, hopefully early. This has been a great place to ride, and if it wasn't for the heat I would stay, but early spring or fall will be a great time to come back. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Woke up to the sound of my non-horse camper's truck next door starting up and leaving around 5:00 this morning. Grrr... Some other folks were up pretty early, too, and someone started a generator well before the 7:00 quiet hours limit. Oh, well! I still laid in bed and read for awhile, but still got up earlier than usual. Did some busy work in the morning, then saddled up Flash to tackle the White trail today. This is the toughest trail out here. Two loops, we did both, which ended up being about 14 miles, lots of ups and downs, without the benefit of that many switchbacks, so a lot were STRAIGHT up and down, and much of it was still wet, so it was doubly tough by being so slippery. Flash came through it all with much aplomb, though, but I could tell he was still feeling it a bit from yesterday's ride. Not many opportunities to go fast, the terrain just wouldn't allow it, but I'm not sure he was ready to go much faster anyway. Still, it was a beautiful ride, once again weaving around the lake, where there was every kind of watercraft you can imagine, except under sail. Very busy, not surprising being such a warm day. Camp was busy, too, though most folks got out earlier than I did, so I was probably about the last back in camp. We were out more than four hours. Gave Flash a bath and put him away, then grabbed my chair and went and sat with Barb and Bill until dinner, which was a potluck they invited me to. Since I didn't have a dish to bring, I provided a little entertainment, doing my rendition of Snowy River, which was well received by this Midwestern and more professional crowd. Made some friends, and may even have finally found a way to get my horse's feet wet in the last of the five Great Lakes, Lake Erie! I've already done the other four, Erie's the only one left. Maybe next year! There are still some places in Ohio I'd like to visit, and I would do it this year if the temps weren't going to be so high from getting such a late start this year. After dinner, we chatted as a group for a bit, then I came back and fed the horses and walked Lola, then chatted with two separate groups for awhile, ending up with Barb and Bill until well after 9:30. Won't be long out of bed tonight! Still have my shower, and can't wait to get into bed. It was tough on my knee today, thank goodness for ibuprofen! Good night, babe! Love you!