Pix to come.

Hey darlin’,
Last full day here. I had some computer work to do for a bit this morning after my usual chores, then eventually saddled up Apollo for a short ride. Yesterday on Flash the saddlebags got loose and I had something fall out, and I found it right away, but I thought maybe something came out earlier and I wanted to check on it. Problem is, I reorganized my saddlebags not long ago and I can’t remember everything I’m carrying these days, so I was pretty sure I hadn’t lost anything, and I never did find anything else on the trail today, so that was good. It was only a short ride, just over 5 miles, but I managed to get him to jog a bit more than usual, just trying to get him in shape. When I got back, I put him on an anchor and started packing up a few things in preparation for our departure tomorrow. I dawdled over that most of the rest of the day, reading a little, watching a little TV, you know, the usual. By 7:00 I had fed the horses and put everything else away that I could, so it shouldn’t be to bad getting out of here in the morning. I’ve planned a route that will take me through the nearest town where I can stop at Tractor Supply for propane, Walmart for just a few odds and ends, and a post office to ship out a book order I got last night, where I hope there will be enough street parking for me! It’s only about 65 miles, and that’s going a bit out of my way in order to get to a US highway, since the rest all look like pretty tiny roads and I don’t want to take any chances. One thing I forgot to do was send an email to your sister to wish her a Happy Birthday, but I’m sending one now so she’ll have a belated one in the morning. I’m hoping to Skype with her over the weekend, if I have a decent cell phone signal. I’ve run out of trails here and I’m ready to move on, though I did enjoy the place a lot. Anyway, time for my shower and bed! Good night, hon! Love you!

Pix to follow.

Hey Baby,
Another late start this morning, mostly because I wanted to finish the last few chapters of the series I’ve been reading, but then I got up for chores and breakfast. I spent over an hour on the phone with one company, then another 45 minutes on the phone with another company, then back on the phone with the first company for another half an hour, all trying to follow up on stuff I’ve been trying to accomplish for a long time and getting nowhere. Not sure I got anywhere today, either, but we’ll see. Very frustrating. I seem to remember that in the “old” days, keeping someone on hold for more than 5 minutes was considered terrible customer service, but it seems these days, it seems half an hour is the minimum! Twice I got hung up on, twice more my phone dropped the call, and one time I went through four different people, then waited for 20 minutes, only to learn I was still talking to the wrong department! Grrrrrr! Anyway, I finally got as far as I could go with it all, and needed some quiet time, so I saddled up Flash to do the rest of the trails I hadn’t done here yet. Again, it was a lovely ride, really easy and beautiful trails here, very enjoyable. Did just under eight miles, got back a bit after 4:00, put Flash away, got a beer and went to talk to the neighbors for a bit. Not a very stimulating conversation, so I didn’t stay long, and they were so worried I’d get a ticket from a forest service ranger (whom I haven’t seen any of since I’ve been here) about my fence, I decided to take it down and put the horses up on a high line that I strung between two hitching rails. I was hoping to have the place to myself at some point this week, but they’re still here, and so are the other group of non-horse campers, who dress like old-style gypsies. The next few weeks are going to be busy as I get ready for my trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon, lots of prep work to do. Eventually settled down for the evening to an old Wagon Train from the PVR, but I’m planning on getting to bed early. So, signing off! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Pix to follow

Hey Sweetie,
Slept so late this morning, I couldn’t believe it! Didn’t crawl out of bed until nearly 10:00, surprised the horses didn’t wake me up, considering they’re right outside my window! Anyway, got up and did my chores, had breakfast, then saddled up Apollo and got on the trail about 1:00. Today’s goal was the “inner loop,” and it had a lot more gravel than the outer loop, but still all small stuff so it wasn’t much of a bother. This was a very easy trail, not even rising to moderate, in my opinion. It’s interesting, there are nice hills here, making for a varied terrain, but the trails are cut in such a way that the riding is really easy. The steepest hill has such a gentle series of switchbacks you hardly know you’re climbing. Really perfect of Apollo, we did over 6 miles and he did just fine, though when I put him back in the paddock, he didn’t move for quite a while, I don’t know if he just went to sleep in situ or what, but he was stiff as a board for a bit. I spent the rest of the day mostly reading, grilled myself a nice pork chop on the grill, then settled down to watch a movie on the Dish PVR. The night’s are starting to get a bit cooler, which I’m looking forward to, it’s been kind of hot here, but no where near as we had a few weeks ago. Been keeping my generator use down to about 30 minutes twice a day, so far that seems to be enough. We finally got a little sun today, been cloudy since I got here, but more sun is forecast, so that should help me conserve propane, since the solar panel is out and I’m in a clearing. We’ll see! I’ve had other days in the past when I only had to run the generator for 30 minutes once a day, hopefully that will be the case for the rest of the week. Anyway, I took my shower early, so I’m off to bed now. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey darlin’!
A decent night sleep, this time I thought I’d try it without earplugs, and I woke up a time or two until the workers came in and started using their heavy equipment to haul more gravel out to the trail repairs. Made a final plan for the rest of the few trails I haven’t done out here yet, and saddled up Apollo after breakfast. He’s such an old slug these days, a four-mile trip took nearly two full hours, the slowpoke! But it wasn’t a bad ride, and Lola got some exercise. We were back just after noon, so after a bit of a rest, I loaded the kayak, which I had inflated this morning while the horses were eating, into the back of the truck and headed down to the boat ramp. They have quite an extensive marina here, with scores of docks full of pontoon boats and sail boats, some of which were very nice, and rather surprising considering how small this lake is! If every sailboat in the marina was out on the water, there would be enough wind to go around! I headed upwind to the dam that makes the lake, thinking I would be able to drift back, but it turned out the wind was more of a crosswind, so I had to paddle both ways, over two miles each way! Four miles of paddling should do my arms wonder, get me in good shape for the rafting trip I’m hoping to take in the Grand Canyon in a few weeks. Didn’t get back to camp until after 6:00, over four hours on the water. I removed the kayak from the truck and loosened all the valves, because I’m not going out again tomorrow, so by morning I can fold it up and put it away, along with everything else, since I’m leaving Thurday and heading out to Shirley Creek Trailhead in the Hoosier National Forest south of Indianapolis. I really worked up an appetite, so after taking care of the horses, I grilled myself a nice Angus burger, made some rice and sweet corn, and even had a shrimp cocktail for starters. Of course I had to top that off with some of that wonderful brown sugar bourbon ice cream, so I’m finally sated for the day! Finished off the ST Voyager series, a nice way to end it, so now I’m going to do movies for a while before I find another series to delve into. A nice day, very summer-vacation-y, but now I’m bushed! Time for my shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Another great night sleep (this is starting to become a habit!), did my usual morning chores plus a few extra jobs that have popped up. Somehow the screen in my bedroom window had started to escape the rubber track bushing so I got my special screen tool and rolled that back in to place. Then I did some overdue housework, dusting and mopping the floor, then I finally settled down to the real business of the day, taking Flash for a ride on some of the few remaining trails I have yet to record via GPS. I was actually waiting until it seemed most of the camper had come back from their morning ride and were packing up because I didn’t want to be on the trails with Lola with so many young people and kids on the trail, should they not be used to dogs. But by 2:00 it seemed most folks were pretty much getting ready to leave, so I saddled up Flash and we headed out, with Lola in her new and improved orange safety vest. I had the same problem, though, one of the trails was closed so I had to find an alternate route, but then I decided to go my planned route backward just because it seemed to work out better that way. Still managed to get lost a few times, the trails are really poorly marked here, especially the intersections, so I kept my Garmin GPS on the whole time to make sure I didn’t miss any turns (for long). It was a beautiful day, a very nice ride, Flash was on good behavior but needed a rinse off when we got back, naturally. I actually gaive them both a bath yesterday, which I forgot to mention, so Flash was nice and clean when I left, not so much when I got back. While he was tied up by the spigot, I decided to go ahead and move my highline between the posts of different campsites, something the manager said I could do once the crowd left. Someone was supposed to be in the spot next to me but never came in, so I could have done it last Friday when I took the fence down, but who knew? Now they’re both on a true highline, and one of the first things Apollo did was roll! Point made! Filled there water buckets, had a nice chat with a woman who had been working on the trails and stopped me from going down one that had huge chunks of a base layer down, but I managed to find a way around, and she later stopped by to apologize for yelling, which of course was no problem, I just had to find an alternate route. The camp was pretty empty when I got back except for a big group (whom I had passed on the trail), and of course, Lola wandered over to say hello to the kids over there, so I had to go retrieve her. With the forecast saying that rain is likely this evening (I’ll believe it when I see it!), and with my neighbors gone, I moved the truck and transfered the eight heavy bales into the stud stall. The first six aren’t bad, but those last two take some real strength and cunning to get them up top, but I managed it. These bales are nice and heavy, especially compared to the last ones, which I swear couldn’t have been more than 25 lbs. She had no right to be asking $5 for them, not very fair. Lesson learned, I won’t accept bales that light again! Meanwhile, the horses are loving this new hay, and they’re loving being on a highline instead of a hitching post. Everything’s put away in advance of the supposed rain, but it looks like it’s all going north of us. The campground is empty now except for one camper all the way on the other side, love it when it’s this quiet! Anyway, I’ve had my shower, my fill of TV and now I’m headed to bed. Love you darlin’! Good night!