This is one of those places that always make my mind say, "If Only." If only a local group of concerned riders or just regular citizens wanted to make this into a really outstanding horse camp, all they would have to do is... In this case, although the horse camp itself is pleasant enough, with electric on every site, water between every other site, a bathhouse with hot and cold running water and a shower in each bathroom, easy back-in sites, etc., what's missing are trails that are well-marked (which they're not), and horse-friendly (which they're not). The only trail map I could find on the internet was literally hand-drawn. Granted, I forgot to ask the camp host that checked me in for one (nor did he offer), but I got the impression from the hand-drawn map that the camphost was the one who made it, though I could be wrong on that. In any event, after dialyzing Hubby in the morning, I was saddled up and ready to go right after 1:00, with map in hand and my GPS programmed in with a plan that would cover most of the park, as best as I could make it out. Unfortunately, there's a bit sign at the trailhead saying No Dogs on Trail, so I left Lola back at the camp, though I wished she could have come along. Apollo was on his best behavior, happy to be back on the trail, at least in the beginning. We had had some rain yesterday, so I knew the trails would be slick, and they were, but nothing too bad. What made it tough was that, first, there were no trail markings. I mean, occasionally I would see a paint splotch on a tree, but very seldom, and there was nothing on the map indication what "color" trail I was supposed to be on. There was that. Then we began running into some very steep grades, with no real switchbacks, just straight up and down. With all the rain, they were so slick that more than once Apollo was literally sliding down with his legs out front, mule-style. I had to make him go back and forth switch-back style on several occasions, just for safety's sake, but I hated going off the trail, not knowing what dangers might lay in the woods. Next, there were the downed trees. Dozens of them. Many had obviously been down for a long time, and alternate trails had been carved around them, but there was no excuse for someone, park-affiliated or otherwise, not to come and clean up some of these down trees. Some were in quite dangerous places, going up and down on steep slopes, which made it even trickier. Once we got further south, though, the terrain got a bit let slope-y, but the downed trees got even worse, especially through what would have otherwise been a nice pine forest. I got lost so many times it got old in a hurry. My GPS track wasn't even close to my plan, but I continued weaving back and forth trying to cover as many trails as I could. I ran into several people along the way; a group mushroom-hunting, and a fisherman along Shoal Creek, which Apollo and I forded in order to go see the birdhouses, which didn't really turn out to be much. At least on the other side of the stream the trails were a bit more reasonable. In the end, I did manage to cover just over six miles of trails, which, even though it wasn't every trail, it pretty much covered the park other than a few crossovers through the woods. Towards the end of the 3-hour ride, Apollo started getting a little tired and cranky, reluctant to do the hard grades on the north side again, though it was the only way back to camp except the road, which I didn't want to do. He was a good sport in the end, though, and did everything I asked, without any tantrums, just a little hesitation, which I truly understood. He's nowhere near as fit as he used to be, and he was obviously tired, but we managed, yay! Got back to camp just after 4:00, got him cleaned up and put away, and stowed as much gear as I could for our early start out tomorrow. If Only... A saddle club or citizen group would clean up the trails of downed trees, created some alternative routes that included switchbacks instead of straight up and downs, marked the trails better and made a nice map, then this would be a really great place to spend a few days riding. Otherwise, I'd be hard-pressed to want to come back again. After a beer at the picnic table, explaining how Hubby would have HATED this ride, we eventually settled down for the evening.

Well, as we had hoped, we managed to sleep in a little later than usual, yay! As small as this camp is, it had a dump, so we took advantage and got rid of all our excess. Still no running water yet, though, I guess there's still some freezing in the forecast! Dottie, our blue tick coonhound puppy, managed to escape at the last minute and refused to come when called, typical. Fortunately, a jogger was going by, and Dottie raced over to her to be petted, and the woman heard me calling for her and grabbed her for me, so that didn't delay us too much. Thank goodness for that jogger, thank you!! We stopped for diesel and breakfast, then hit the highway for an uneventful drive to Lake Lou Yeager. Someone at one of the horse expos and told me about this one. It's run by the city of Litchfield (which always make it tougher to find, as it's not generally listed on state or national sites), and has about a dozen electrified sites, a bathhouse with hot and cold running water, and a shower in each bathroom. I'm sure there's a dump at the main campground just across the road, but not one here in the camp. There are highline posts with a cable already attached, but since I like to give my guy more space, I put up my own highline with a pulley so he could move back and forth. I always like to put water at one end (or in the middle when we have two horses) and hay at the other, to keep him exercised at least a little bit. We had barely just arrived when Dave the camphost came by and took our money, $20 / night, then we settled in for the rest of the evening, crashing a bit from the hectic schedule. Whew! Back to our old selves again!

After a long day yesterday, we both had a good night’s sleep and were raring to go this morning. Knowing that they would be blocking the area off early, we arrived at the Exhibit Hall before seven, and got a nice parking spot right in front of the building. I thought the building would be open by then, but we did have to wait a bit for someone to open the doors for us. Then we had a leisurely time getting the booth set up, having coffee and donuts from the Exhibitor’s lounge and getting ready for the day! It was another great day, with lots of book sales, lots of conversations with folks, and LOTS of attendees at both my presentations, even though, once again, I was up against Clinton Anderson in the room next door. Of course, he always packs them, SRO, but today they had changed his microphone to something a little less loud. Yesterday he was a bit overpowering using a hand mike, and his voice cut through the wall into my presentation, but today, my tech director changed it to a lavaliere mike, which I couldn’t hear at all, which was great for me and my class! It was great to see so many folks coming, and once I asked if anyone had been to any of my other presentations, and almost half the room raised their hands! I guess that’s the beginning of my fan club! I was so flattered! Anyway, after every presentation I had people stay to talk, and by the time I got back to the booth, Hubby had always sold a few books to people who had just come out of the class, just as we had hoped. By the end of the day, we were well satisfied at this event, and happy to be a part of it. I look forward to coming back next year, if they’ll have me!

We had been told that the water would be turned on between 5:00 and 5:30, so I got up at 5:15, only to discover (not surprisingly) that it hadn't yet been turned on. I took the dogs for a walk, went to the barn to look after Apollo, and still, no water. Had breakfast with Hubby, still no water. Finally got Hubby in the truck and drove him over to the Exhibit Hall so he could finish setting up and looking after the booth while I went back and waited for water. Finally, about 8:00, the water, at last, came on. I had left the hose out in anticipation of an early morning fill-up, and of course, there was apparently some water left over from its last use, which froze up, so now I had to get out the kettle and boil some water to thaw out the hose, which took another 15 minutes. At last, I managed to get water through the hose and had the camper filled up by 8:40. I was FINALLY able to get my much needed shower, got dressed and headed back to the Exhibit Hall, only to discover that every road that led there was either closed off or so packed with cars I couldn't get around at all. I finally realized the closest place I could park and walk to the Exhibit Hall was actually back at VIP camping, so I headed back there, parked, and proceed to walk there. It was still close to freezing, but it was starting to warm up, at least, though there were still piles of snow from the plows cleaning up the days before. My first presentation started before I knew it, and the day flew by after that. I discovered from the schedule that TWICE over the weekend my presentations were scheduled at the same time and in the next room to Clinton Anderson! For those uninitiated, Clinton Anderson is literally a rock star in the horse training world. I didn't expect ANYONE in my sessions while he was on, but I turned out to be wrong, I had practically a full house, even with him next door! Very surprised at that! I had almost a full house at my second session as well, very pleased with that, and we had brisk book sales all day, too. Lots of people came by the booth, and the day flew by. Hubby had an afternoon dialysis session, but it was at the same time as one of my presentations, so he had to take an Uber there, which he did successfully, on his own, for the first time ever! His session wasn't done until after 8:00, so I was able to close up shop at 7:00 and get to him to pick him up in plenty of time. We grabbed dinner and headed back to the venue in time for the rodeo to be getting out, but we managed to get back to our camper without any trouble. Ready for bed tonight, that's for sure!

Woke up to discover we had an inch or two of snow, but I had been careful to park on the asphalt so we were able to get out okay, though at one point, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice that covered the asphalt area. May have been better off on the gravel! Anyway, we managed to get packed up and out of there early, with a quick stop at a fast food joint for a to-go breakfast, and took a “non-toll” route to the Alliant Energy Center, which took us on some nice country roads, which had fortunately been cleared already. The snow got deeper along the roadside, however, they obviously had more snow further north. We later learned that Green Bay had had almost 3 feet of snow in the past week! I also heard on the radio that this was the coldest April in 137 years. Figures. I expected Spring when I planned this and I got winter when I got here. Sigh… Well, no one can accuse us of not living, and taking everything life can throw at us!! We arrived at the venue at about 8:30, then parked in a fairly long line waiting to offload Apollo at the barn. It took a bit of information-gathering to learn what stall he was assigned (turns out they gave me two, so I stored all his stuff next to him to keep the aisles clear, unlike the Hoosier Horse Fair, where everything was just piled up outside the stall), and then proceeded to get assigned to a VIP campsite. We were parked right next to another trailer, then realized we didn’t have a cable long enough to reach the electrical box, so the guy in charge of parking was kind enough to move us a couple of places over, which was great for us but meant he had to work a bit harder to get a couple of trailers in between, but he managed it beautifully! We took a quick ride over to the Exhibit Hall and found our booth location, and even managed to get everything moved in before it was time to get Hubby over to his dialysis center, which was only a few miles away. I got him set up over there, then returned to the Exhibit Hall and got everything set up, then back to the barn to finish getting Apollo settled in, then back to the camper to fill up with water, only to discover that the water hadn’t been turned on! Apparently, they were worried about the pipes freezing (even though they were frost-free spigots, but I guess the bureaucracy doesn’t know what those are), and since we had been told there would be water, we hadn’t filled up before we left Wolf Creek, so now I didn’t have enough water for the shower I so desperately needed! Grrrr again! Well, nothing to be done, so I gathered the laundry, then headed out to a nearby laundromat, finishing up just as Hubby was finishing his dialysis down the road, picked him up, then finally got back to the VIP parking area for the night, sans water. Phew! What a day!

Woke up to cold temps again, getting SO TIRED of winter, especially since there was already a pretty good spring at home going on before we left! It didn't take us long to finish packing up and hitting the road, on our way to Rock Cut State Park, which is just off the freeway, just south of the Wisconsin-Illinois border. It's the closest horse camp I could find that would put us within easy range of the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, where the Midwest Horse Expo was being held. It was a very straightforward and uneventful drive (my favorite), and we arrived reasonably early at Rock Cut. The entrance to the campground was partially blocked off with barricades, but I had spoken with the office and they had assured me the campground was open. We squeezed through the barricades and got down to the campground, a nice looking campground, mostly open but surrounded by trees, no electricity, one central water spigot, and an RV dump, though I was told there was no water turned on because the forecast was still calling for a freeze. I got Apollo up on a highline (posts were provided, but no cables), and blanketed him because it had already started snowing by the time we started setting up, grrrrr! Got him settled, as well as the dogs on a line outside for a while. I have several plastic covered cables that seem to be the only thing little Dottie can't chew through in 30 seconds, so I've been running that through a couple of the tie-ups on the side of the trailer and letting them both hang out outside for awhile. It's so crowded inside the trailer, it's the only way they don't fight each other all the time, with us in the way! I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that we're going to have to re-home Dottie. She just needs so much training, and it's apparent I'm just never going to have the time to do it properly, and Lola is getting so territorial about her food (she was a rescue that had been starved before we got her) that she attacks Dottie for no reason, and Dottie is starting to learn the lesson of self-defense, and that will soon turn into aggressive behavior, which she doesn't deserve to become. She is so sweet, she just needs a family that has time for her, especially one with kids, she loves kids (what puppy doesn't?) I hate the thought of giving up on her, but I just don't see how I can do her justice. But that's a discussion for another day. After taking the dogs for a final walk, we got inside, got everyone to bed, and snuggled to keep warm against the snowfall that was going on outside. Hope we don't get stuck in the morning!