Hi Babe,
Woke up before 4:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep hardly at all, read for a long time hoping to doze off, and only did for a couple of minutes. Got up and fed everybody, had breakfast, then Bobby showed up to ride, but we waited for Stephanie, who I thought was coming early, but turns out that she didn’t make it until after 1:00 because she thought we were going for a morning ride, which I didn’t know. Anyway, we finally got out on the trail, then Lola started getting all funny for some reason. She was so nervous about being behind the horses that at one point she actually headed back to camp, I had to return and bring her back. Fortunately we weren’t too far along at that point. I’m not sure what’s up with that, she was fine at McClennan with three horses, but today it made her nervous. She finally managed to get out front, and she was much better after that. I guess it’s just being behind the horses that’s bothering here. Anyway, we had a nice 5+ mile ride today, with leaves dropping all around us as we rode though the late peak woods. We were only out about two hours, but Apollo managed to keep up with me and Bobby’s Tennessee Walker Legend, doing some jogging to keep up. I let them out on the grass when we got back (after I filled up the truck water tank), then Steph made us all some dinner, which was a nice change for me. Afterwards I had to get the horses in, and they weren’t very forthcoming so I had to meet them halfway out in the field to persuade them to come in. Then we sat around the campfire for a bit, I did Snowy River for them, then we broke up for the evening and I headed back to the trailer. Had my usual ice cream with Sleepytime tea (no wine today, though), which I’m hoping will help me get a good night sleep. I only managed to put a few things away, but the next place is only just over an hour south of here, so there’s no reason to rush out in the morning. I watched a couple of shows, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so I’ll say good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
A slightly better night sleep, woke up just once and managed to get back to sleep fairly quickly. Was up at dawn though, about 7:00, to a lot of thick fog. I read a little, then got up and fed the horses, then drove into Carrollton, the nearest town, to get the propane tanks refilled. It was cold last night and I had to run the furnace a bit, and it’s going to get worse over the next few days, so I didn’t want to run short. I also ran into Kroger for some things I haven’t been able to get at Walmart, then got back to camp by 10:00. Stephanie and her daughter are coming today, they were supposed to get here fairly early but got delayed so they didn’t get here until after 3:00. I did some work in the meantime on the trail analysis I’m doing for Camp McClellan until they arrived. I had already saddled up both horses, while her daughter brought her own, and we took a short ride, just about an hour or so was all we could get in before it was too close to dark. I let the horses wander in the field for a bit before their dinner, they were slow coming in when I called but got there eventually. Stephanie’s delay prevented her from staying here overnight, but she’s planning on trying again tomorrow, hopefully she’ll get here early enough. They left just as it was getting dark, so I just got some leftovers together and settled in for the evening. Watched the worst Mel Gibson movie I’ve ever seen, then another episode of a charming British series about a couple of old folks that dated when they were teenagers, then lost track of each other, then got back together sixty years later and discovered they were still in love. Sound familiar? Reminds me of Charles Davis. Anyway, time for a quick shower and a long sleep, having had my sleepytime tea again. Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetheart,
Well, despite the sleepytime tea and the melatonin, I still woke up in the middle of the night and had to read awhile before getting back to sleep, darn it. Then I slept through till practically 9:00, so I guess I made up for most of it. I did a couple of loads of laundry, though this time I hung them up to dry since it was an absolutely gorgeous day here. I saddled up Apollo and took off around noon, doing the trails on the east side of the park, of which there were only about 4 miles worth, so we were back by 1:45. I actually got him to do a bit of jogging, which helped our time. The trails are quite lovely here, though at times they’re a bit hard to follow because newer tracks have been created when the older tracks got too worn down. Some of these trails look very old, and not surprisingly, this is a very famous historical spot as there’s a shoals right here, which was originally a crossing point for a number of trails that met here. Lots of Indian and pioneer stories from around here, very interesting. Anyway, it was a nice ride again, though still a bit slippery, but not bad. Apollo seemed to enjoy himself once we got out there and he discovered it wasn’t all rocky and really steep. A bit reluctant at first, understandably, considering the trails I made him go on last week. Once I got him put back on the highline I took my laundry down, then I had some visitors. A guy I met at the last camp had a friend, Stephanie, who lives near here that wanted to meet me and chat, so she and two guys from her barn came out a spent a couple of hours picking my brain about traveling and other things. After they left I drove up to the entrance gate to pay for my extra days (which I forgot to do yesterday), and Stephanie was up there asking about camping, so it looks like she might be coming back tomorrow and staying over tomorrow night. The guy that introduced us is probably coming on Sunday as well, so I guess I’ll be surrounded by folks the rest of the weekend. Seems I’m making an impression on folks in my “community,” which is rather nice. I’ve met a lot of people lately who are quite envious of my trailer and my whole lifestyle, and I can’t say I blame them, I’m so fortunate to be able to do what I’m doing, grateful every day! After they left, I let the horses out in the field, and my neighbors saw me and did the same, so the horses frisked around with each other for awhile. They did end up wandering quite a ways away, this time in the other direction (away from the many campers who came in during the day, fortunately), and we both had to holler for them before they came back at dinner time, but the eventually made their way back. I put their blankets on tonight, since it’s supposed to get down in the low 40’s tonight, I’m still hopeful I can prevent them from growing too heavy a winter coat, though their necks are starting to get some thick fur. Something else, I discovered Lola is missing some teeth, almost all the little ones between her big canines on the top. At first I thought maybe it was from using a hard frisbee (which I only did for about 5 minutes, so not likely), but then I thought that it must have happened when that horse kicked her up a Circle E last month. I don’t remember her bleeding, or even having difficulty eating, but she must have had some problems and I didn’t notice. Anyway, she’s eating fine now, but she’s lost her perfect smile, which is sad. But she did get too close the back of a bunch of horses, and she’s learned the lesson the hard way, and now she’s stays away from other horses, and mostly stays in front as well, so I guess she’ll be all right. I took my shower early so my hair would dry, and now I’m off to bed early, too, since I don’t know what time things are starting to happen tomorrow. And tomorrow is the big day for the folks at McClellan, I hope everything goes all right for them! They were forecasting rain for tomorrow almost all week, but finally the forecast is for sunny and in the 70’s, so it will be perfect for their ride. Hope it goes okay! Anyway, off to bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Couldn’t get to sleep yesterday, probably too much rest during the day! So I read late, and woke up at the usual time, so not really enough sleep. It was foggy and cloudy and wet, so I decided to do my laundry and use the dryer rather than hang things on the line, since water next week is going to be at least as much of a problem at the next place as it is here. I had to transfer water from the truck tank as it was, which required me dropping the front end down to the bottom of the jacks and raising the truck height by pulling it onto the Jiffy Jack. I used more propane than I would have liked, but I had three full tanks, and only had to switch over about halfway through the second wash, so I’m not worried. I’ve decided not to sweat using propane, after all, it’s a lot cheaper than paying for the electric in a house! Meanwhile, I worked on my computer for quite a bit, putting together some mapping ideas for McClellan like I promised. It finally cleared up around 1:30 and turned into a beautiful afternoon, so I decided I still had time to take Flash for a ride. It’s been awhile since he’s been ridden, and he was full of beans, which was compounded by the fact that the trail I took essentially looped a mile around the field across from the campsite, so Apollo was whinnying the whole time, and Flash was answering, and dancing like he wanted to go back, but eventually we got out of range once we got in the woods and started climbing. I had a map, and I’d made a GPS route and downloaded it, thank goodness, because there isn’t a single trail marker out here! Not at the trailhead, or intersections or anywhere! How crazy is that? I managed to find my way around, but I’m sure I missed a couple of corners, and if I didn’t have my GPS route programmed, I’m sure it would have been much worse. Anyway, we managed to cover about two-thirds of the trails out here, seven plus miles so far, which we did in barely two hours. I’m thinking I’ll take Apollo tomorrow, since there’s only about four miles left. Lola enjoyed herself, and so did Flash and I, it was great to be back on the trail again! Very little stone, thank goodness, but with all the rain, it was a bit muddy in a few spots, and Flash slipped on the wet leaves a few time, but nothing serious. When I had come out to saddle him, I discovered I had a neighbor move in a few sites down, a woman names Marin, and (I guess) her husband. They took a ride after I left, and got back before I did. They had put up a portable fence for their horses. I stopped by to say hello and we chatted a bit. I told her my reasons for not putting up my fence (Apollo, the escape artist, would have no problem pulling out fenceposts in the soft ground here), and she asked me if I ever thought about putting them on the field. Turns out, she’s the one the ranger was talking about that lets her horses out, so we agreed to give it a try together. She said hers don’t go that far, and I figured they wouldn’t get too far apart from each other, what with horses being a herding animal, so after I unsaddled Flash I let them both loose. A few minutes later, she let hers out and they came galloping across the field straight for my two, and they all did a little friendly dance together for a few minutes, then settled down to graze in their original pairs, about fifty feet separating them. They all looked great together! About an hour later, she called hers in for dinner, and all four of them came into my site. I grabbed my two and hooked them to their highline, and her two went off to her camp, just like all good little horses should! Like a bunch of big, well-behaved dogs! So I fed them, then settled down for the evening as the sun set over the river. A lovely day, with another one scheduled for tomorrow. Good to be someplace quiet and away from a busy road! But now it’s bedtime, so I’m off to the shower. Tonight I drank some sleepytime tea, so I’m hoping to sleep through the night for a change. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
After another good night sleep, breakfast and chores (which once again included sewing up Lola’s bed, which she ripped all up again), I saddled up Apollo with the plan to finish off all the rest of the trails, which I figured would be about eight miles, most of which would be on the side trails. We managed to get it done, took us about four hours. I have to say, though, that the more I ride here the less I like it. Mostly that’s because of the fact they’ve marked the trails the way they have. I hadn’t realized just how ingrained my trail expectations are. Every time I saw a marker on the left I was expecting a left turn. Not only were there no left turns, there were many cases when there was a RIGHT turn, but they didn’t have any markings for the turn, no double marker, no arrow, nothing. I found myself in a constant state of frustration. Furthermore, some of the side trails just don’t take the terrain into consideration the way they should. This place is really hilly, and they had so many opportunities to create some fabulous switchbacks, but many of the trails go practically straight up and down. Several trails really went through some really rocky bits, too, not my favorite. Suffice it to say, I had the map or the GPS in my hand at all times, and never got to relax, at least not until we were on the main trail heading back to camp, which is the antithesis of why I ride. This place has so much potential, but they really need to revisit their trail design and their markers to at least meet minimum “industry standards,” which they are far from at the moment. Riding the carriage roads are about the only stress-free riding there is, and even that can be frustrating with all the letters and numbers and names that it takes just to get around using their map. Oh, well, I’ve done it now, and I’ll write them an analysis and leave it with them, they can do what they want with it. Meanwhile, it was 3:00 when we got back to camp, I put Apollo away and fixed the stirrup on my saddle. I lost the nut on the end of the carriage bolt while climbing a hill, but fortunately I found a spare and repaired it. Not long after I was joined by another camper, Wendy, who is here for the work day tomorrow, though I gather she intends to ride her horse out to her adopted trail to check it out. I fed the horses, made some noodles and settled down for the evening. At 6:00, I swear it felt closer to 9:00, these evenings are just dragging out in the dark! Well, I have a busy day tomorrow on the work crew, so early to bed would be a good idea anyway. Good night, babe! Love you!