Hi Sweetheart!
Had another good night sleep, another hot day coming up, so I had decided to make it a long ride day so I could spend most of it out in the woods where it's a bit cooler. Got Flash saddled up and left camp right around 11:00, with the intent of finishing off nearly all of the trails I haven't done yet, since tomorrow will be housekeeping and breakdown before our departure on Monday. So we headed out the main B trail until we hit 16, which was a pretty nice single track trail that doesn't get too much use, then straight up a section of B trail I hadn't done before, until we hit the C trail, which quickly became one of my favorites here. It follows a long a ridge line, and has the most gradual descent off it than any other trail I can remember seeing here, was wide and grassy like a nice bridle path, with no gravel hardly at all. Flash really liked it, too, he sped up a lot once we got there. Then we got a little lost trying to find the entrance to trail 15, missed it, went back and finally found it, then was kinda sorry when we did, because it's the worst trail I remember ever being on. Trees down everywhere, saplings crowding long stretches, it even went straight through a bunch of blackberry bushes, absolutely terrible! Not sure why they don't maintain it, or close it until they give it a little TLC, but it was horrible. When it got to the B trail, we didn't even try to find the continuation of 15, though it was supposed to be around there somewhere, we just started heading back to camp on the B trail. Now that should have been easy, but somehow I got turned around again, and we ended up on trail 14, which is a couple mile loop that goes north from the B trail. I don't know how we ended up on it, honestly, we were on the B trail and suddenly we were on 14! I backtracked for more than a quarter mile and never found a marker, and naturally my GPS couldn't find me because it was in a valley full of trees, so I didn't know how far along 14 we had gone. I knew 14 looped so we ended up following it the entire length, which added another 2 or 3 miles to a trip that was already way beyond what I had planned. I thought it would be about 17-18, which was plenty long enough, it ended up being nearly 25! Poor Flash, he was sweating up a storm. I made him stop at several creeks and got him in deeper water just to cool him off. Lola's tongue was hanging out, of course, but she jumped into every body of water we came across, so she was fine. We didn't get back until 6:20! As I was unsaddling him, I saw tons of ticks on him. I can't remember ever seeing more than one or two ticks on any horse after a ride, but his legs were covered, likely from that jungle on 15 that we traversed. After I rinsed him down, I took some tweezers and spent 20 minutes pulling as many ticks off as I could find, but I'll check again later. Then I got out my tube and put it in my little watering hole and had a beer, all of which cooled me down nicely. Just had a sandwich for dinner to keep things simple, and settled down just after 8:00 with my nightly dish of ice cream. Right now it's about 10:00, and I can hear lots of fireworks off in the distance (it is the 4th of July, after all!) But I can's see anything. For a moment I thought I could see something, then I realized it was the full moon coming up behind the trees, but it was so red I thought it was fireworks! Apparently there's a lunar eclipse tonight starting just after 11:00, so I'll probably stay up and watch it for a while, I'm not sure if it's a total eclipse or not, since I have no internet I can't check on things like that. But the way I'm facing, I could see it from my bedroom window if I want. Anyway, it was a terrific ride today, and since Flash needs to be ready for an endurance race at any time, it won't hurt him to do 25 miles. Of course, he'll need to do better than 7 hours at one of those! The one endurance ride we've run so far, he did 25 miles in 3:51, so next time he'll have to improve on that! Of course 25 miles on flat sand is a lot different than 25 miles on hilly, forested terrain like this, but I think this is good for him, he's getting his mountain stamina. Anyway, I've already showered so I'm just waiting for the eclipse and for it to be cool enough to go to bed. Oh, and I learned a valuable lesson this morning. I forgot to turn my solar panel east last night, and as a result, I had no power in the batteries this morning, so I had to use the BeatIt jumper, undoubtedly one of the best $100 investments we ever made! No problem starting the generator with that, and it took no time at all to charge the batteries. I'm getting the hang of the more primitive camping! I just have to balance the benefit of being more in the shade against being close enough to an open area to catch enough sunlight. It's been good here because the trees are to my west and so I get shade early in the evening, and get lots of sun in the morning so the batteries are pretty well-charged by the time I get out of bed in the morning. Anyway, this is getting way too long-winded, so I'll say good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Lola had a quiet night, thus I had a quiet night, too! Slept a little late, and after chores and a load of laundry that I hung out to dry, I decided to go to a Tractor Supply and refill two propane tanks. I believe I have plenty to get me through the weekend, but I didn’t want to take any chances, and I don’t know how far away the nearest TSC is to the next campground, so I figured I better get it done. Unfortunately, because there is such lousy cell phone service (but the robocalls don’t seem to have any trouble getting through!), and I wasn’t able to research it properly, I probably went to one that wasn’t exactly closest, but it didn’t matter, I got it done, plus a little shopping at Walmart (I was out of ice cream!) so I wouldn’t have to stop on the way to the next place. Then I got stuck in traffic on the way back, so it was almost 3:00 by the time I got back. I decided to go ahead with my plan even though it was later starting than I figured, so I saddled up Apollo and took a ride down to this little town called Story, which has a small lodge with a patio grill and a basement bar that seems to be a favorite with the bikers. The girls I met last weekend said they got a really good Bloody Mary there, and since I hadn’t had one of those is ages, I ordered on. Well, other than the two olives, the pickle, the lemon wedge and the celery stalk, there wasn’t a lot else in it, at least not by my finicky standards, all served in a plastic cup. Well, they didn’t serve food in the bar, only on the patio, so I took my drink out there and ordered a burger (a very limited menu, a burger, a hot dog, pulled pork, that was just about it). There was a solo act setting up for music, and I heard a little of him before we left, but I spent most of my time sharing Lola, everyone wanted to pet her and asked what breed she was, etc. You know, the usual. But at least I wasn’t by myself the whole time, not that it mattered, I was reading a book off my phone anyway. There were a couple of other horses tied to the plethora of hitching posts at the back, and evidently they left, because I could hear Apollo whinnying, he obviously wanted to go with the herd, but by the time I got to him, they were long gone. We had another nice ride back to camp, using the same route, and Apollo made all the turns without any help from me. It’s amazing with all the trails out here he knew exactly where to go after just one go. Got back to camp just after 8:00, got everyone settled in, turned the AC and fans on just to cool down the place. I’ll have crisp, sun-dried sheets for the bed tonight, so a nice long, cool shower is just ahead of me, then off to bed. Love you, sweetheart! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
I'm happy to report that Lola was quiet all night! Yay! I woke up once early, then fell back to sleep, not getting up till later than usual. After breakfast and chores I saddled up Flash, and planned a route that would essentially knock off the nearer trails I haven't done yet. There are still a couple of long trails yet to be done, which I may do on Saturday, but for now, we had a nice ride, almost 8 miles, and Flash was a lot more energetic today, so I guess he must be getting his mountain legs, and getting fit! We even got a few canters in. Other than the few with gravel, they really have some nice trails here, a nice variety, lots of loops of all shapes and sizes, nothing too steep, a lot that just run along the edge of the creek, just really nice riding. We got back around 3:00, so I put the horses on anchors, and I did a quick load of wash, but decided to save on propane and do drying "old school" by hanging them out on a line, something I haven't done in a long time! Nice for a change. Although the humidity was a bit lower today, it was still really hot, so I decided to do something a little weird. Right behind my site there is a creek, but it didn't have much water in it, so it was more a series of puddles along a gravel bed. Then we had a lot of rain, and there was a lot more water, but still not enough to flow, just bigger puddles. When Flash and I crossed it I noticed that some of those areas are pretty deep and interestingly, Flash headed for the deeper water! I think since he went swimming at Loretta Lynn's ranch he's gotten over any fear of water, and he was intentionally trying to get in deep enough to swim! Fancy that! Anyway, it wasn't deep enough to swim, but it was deep enough that when it splashed on me I felt how cool the water was, so I got an idea. After hanging out the laundry, I got out the inflatable tube I bought a few weeks ago and blew it up with my high velocity foot pump in short order, then I took it down to the creek right behind me where there's a pretty big puddle, and launched it. It has a mesh bottom and an inflatable head rest and two drink holders, so I took a drink down and climbed into it. It was so nice and cool! I sat there for a good half an hour just relaxing and cooling down, a much needed respite on this hot day. It's amazing how a little water will make all the difference! A nice break. Settled down for the rest of the day with a book and some TV, grilled a nice steak outside, and generally relaxed for the rest of the day. Other than slightly cooler weather, one couldn't ask for a nicer day! Time for shower and bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Well, Lola was a bit restless last night, but I just put my earplugs in and ignored her and she eventually went off to bed. It was a bit cooler, thank goodness, and a bit cooler this morning when I got up, too, even though there was lots of sunshine. When I went to bed my battery voltage was reading 11.7 but it was up to 12.2 by the time I got up, so I had no trouble starting the generator this morning. After breakfast I saddled up Flash and we headed out. The sky looked pretty good, so I was hoping for another day without rain until evening, but we didn't quite make it. I decided I wanted to take the widest perimeter of the park, which included Trail D, which would make it close to 18-20 miles of riding. We started off about 11:00, and the first part of the trail was familiar, we've done it a few times already, but we soon got to parts unknown. It was a beautiful ride for the most part, not quite as hilly as some of the trails closer to camp, and there was a lovely section that followed a creek that was just spectacular. Then we hit a section of gravel road, unfortunately, but I had packed Flash's boots just in case (and glad I did, too!), and stopped to put them on. It only lasted about half a mile or so, and once we hit the trail again, I took them off. Further on there was another section of gravel, so they went back on again, and that was quite a bit longer. Finally we were back on dirt, though, and heading back in the direction of camp. Around 3:00 (two hours from home) we had a bit of a rain shower, but it was warm so it didn't bother us much. I threw my slicker over my saddle to keep it dry, and we waited it out a bit, as we needed a rest anyway. There are a lot of picnic areas all along the trail, so we just stopped at one. Once the rain slowed down (and it was never really too heavy) we set off again. Arrived in camp just before 5:00, dog-tired (speaking of, I'm pretty sure Lola will sleep through the night tonight!), but that didn't stop her from picking up a frisbee and throwing it at me, silly girl. I rinsed Flash down and put both horses on their anchors and let them graze until 8:30, then got everyone fed and put away, including me! Heading for the shower now, got the AC running just to blow out the warm air inside the trailer, then I'm off the bed! A wonderful day! Good night, darlin'! Love you!