After some research, I found some hay advertised near Sioux City, which is less than 30 miles away, so we disconnected the truck and I headed up in the afternoon, after having started my long week of doing laundry with a couple of loads in the morning. It seems a young couple had bought the hay for their goats, then got rid of the goats because they were too much trouble, and had the hay left over. Their loss was my gain, though, because it was beautiful hay! From two different fields, but it all looked really nice, plus Heidi threw in 3 bales of pure alfalfa at the same price as the hay! Maybe now we can put a little extra weight on Clio! We chatted for quite a while, and by the time I got back to camp is was dusk, and I had seen an absolutely gorgeous, HUGE sunset over the plains before I reached camp. We quickly took care of the horses, finally finishing off the weed-free certified hay that we bought way back in Minnesota, as we won’t be going to any new states that require it any time soon. Great to have a full load of good quality hay again!

Got out good and early, by 8:00, knowing we had quite a long day’s drive ahead of us. After once again negotiating the 6 miles of broken pavement back to the main road, the rest of the drive was on mostly two-lane country highways, but with very little other traffic on these back roads. Picked up gas in a small town, of which there are few and far between, and didn’t find a “breakfast” place until nearly lunchtime. We were starving by then! Had a couple of burgers, not much else of a choice, but they were the best home-made burgers we’d had in a long time, in a little place called Coffee House Cafe in Elgin, NE. Another stop to shop, and we finally made our way to Southwood Conservation Area, a compact place with water and electric at a reasonable price, and one that will hopefully afford us the opportunity to wash the vehicles and get caught up on laundry. It’s been such a long time since we’ve had easy access to water, the dirty clothes have really piled up! Only a couple of miles on a good dirt road and we were there. The horse camp only had 5 sites to choose from, but they were all empty so we had our pick. Chose a long pull thru that gave us everything we look for in an ideal spot. The only problem here is that they have hitching rails mostly tucked away in the woods, but there are also some trees around for a highline, so we put one up right next to the RV on a rather manicured lawn, so chances are we’ll have to move them later in the week so as not to completely trample the grass. Before long we were set up, satellite and all, and settled in for evening.

Another relaxing day, watching football and golf and doing some prep work for our departure tomorrow. It’s been a nice stay, though honestly, I would get bored stiff here if this was the only place to ride! Too much of the same kind of terrain, these plains, even with the occasional break in the woods. Interesting story about this man-made forest, but still, not terribly interesting riding.

Relaxed most of the day, doing some computer work, but mostly just hanging out. What few remaining sites were available after last night were filled up during the day, lots of riders out here!

Since our first ride here was mostly around grassy fields, I decided to plan a trip that got us into as much “forest” as possible. Interestingly, this area has a man-made forest, an experiment starting more than 100 years ago to try to make this area more arable, so the trees are in pockets through the park. I drew a Google Earth map that appeared to fit the bill, and we headed out after breakfast. For the first time in memory, we actually managed to stay pretty much on track, despite the fact that the trail did go through some woods (the forest is mostly evergreens of every shape and variety), but some of the trees were so overgrown and the branches were so thick and low that at many points we had to skirt around them, and at one point, we even had to dismount and walk through a particularly thick bit. If it hadn’t been for my GPS though, it would have been hopeless! Once we got out of the forest part, the last stretch was entirely on a nice dirt road, and we had several nice canters and gallops on the way back to camp. A very nice ride, the weather was much nicer, having cooled down after yesterday’s rain, and a good time was had by all! Meanwhile, nearly every site in the campground has now been taken, quite a busy place here!

Woke up to a cool morning and overcast skies. It had been windy during the night, but with very little rain, but as the morning progressed, the clouds built up and the rain came in. I had put every bucket and rain barrel I could around the RV to collect as much water as possible, and after a couple of hours of rain, we had collected enough to last us the weekend without having to go fetch more, thank goodness. Spent the day working on the computer, with Hubby mostly reading, a nice relaxing day, a perfect activity for a cool, rainy day.

Slept late through a fabulously quiet morning, had a late breakfast, got some work done before finally saddling up and heading out at about 1:30. It was a hot day, with temps in the low 90’s, which was a nice change after some of the cool weather we’ve been having. Headed out on a Google-made map I drew, past a windmill with a stock tank where I spent a few minutes schooling Apollo, as the tank was odd-looking by his standards, then continued onward, until were stopped by a gate and a trail that seemed to peter out, so we rode the fenceline for a while, before coming to a trail that took us to another windmill, which was actually back on the original trail I had drawn, but way at the end of it, so we changed tactics, heading for the forest road south of here, which was the original track, then headed east to 212, the road that the campground is on. We ended up back at camp pretty quickly, after only a short hour ride or so, watering the horses at the big stock tank there before putting them away. Hubby commented that he preferred rides that went through woods, even though we got in several very nice canters over the prairie, so I promised the next ride would go east toward the man-made forest that makes up the Bessey Ranger District. Did some more work for the rest of the afternoon before settling down for the evening.

Enjoyed a very quiet night, no neighbors and no sound whatsoever! Still woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep, probably from eating so late last night. After breakfast and helping Hubby get the satellite dish up, I headed out to pick up a package at the post office, and to find a few bales of hay, as I only bought a few the last time because the quality was pretty bad. I started at the Ranger’s office, believing that since Weed-free certified hay was required, they would know where to get some. Of course, that didn’t turn out to be the case, they had no clue! Well, except for one source, maybe, in Grand Island, 135 miles away!! I called the local 4-H club organizer, she only had one source and he only did large round bales. I went to the post office and asked the woman there, and she gave me a name, but wasn’t sure. I looked up his number and left a message. Then I headed for the next nearest town of Thedford, stopped at a farm equipment store, they gave me another name, whom I called and left a message. I continued on to the post office in Thedford, and there was a woman there who gave me a number of a woman who had some square bales for her own horses, but that she might sell me a few. That turned out to be my source, I managed to reach her right away, she met me in a matter of minutes, took me over to her barn and sold me 5 light bales at $8 each. I was grateful to get them, but they were pretty darn expensive, and the quality is only what I’d call fair, apparently she had a friend with a meadow who square bales for her, but she’s the only one around, everyone else does large round bales, which doesn’t help me. Hopefully I can find a source for square bales before our next stop, I really need to get some GOOD hay, and get a full load! Finally made it back to camp, settled down to do some computer work (fortunately, there is just enough of a signal here to get on the internet with my antenna booster, though I can’t make a phone call), and had a lovely quiet evening.

Woke up good and early, knowing we had several stops today and wanting to still get to Halsey reasonably early, so we were on the road by 8:00. Stopped at Ft. Robinson to dump, then on to Chadron where we went to the Country Kitchen for breakfast while I did some quick work on my computer, and Hubby Skyped his sister in England to wish her birthday greetings, all of which took more than an hour. We then ran down to a farm supply store and Walmart before heading out of town. We stopped again in the town of Alliance to pick up fuel and propane, then finally arrived at the Bessey Ranger Station much later than we anticipated, right at 5:00. Fortunately, I had called ahead to confirm where spigot water was available, and when we arrived we headed straight there (next to the Rec building before entering the main campground). We filled the RV and both portable water barrels, as we have another 8 miles to Natick and we didn’t know what kind of water situation was there, other than a hand pump. Those 8 miles turned out to be painstakingly slow in an effort to not spill any more water than possible, and the roads, though mostly paved, would have been better off being gravel, they were so rough. Fifty minutes later, we arrived at the camp. On the left were a row of wooden, seemingly dilapidated corrals and a windmill with a large stock tank of water. On the right was a camping area. At first, we thought that was the entire campground, which didn’t make sense, but as I walked up the road I found the main entrance to the campground loop, which had a much nicer selection of sites. We drove in, and Hubby reconnoitered the area, deciding that site 15 was the best one for our purposes. It was a large site, and about 20 yards behind it was another row of pipe corrals, mostly shaded, but with a line of site that was clear for a satellite signal. We got moved in as quickly as we could (though we didn’t bother with the satellite dish, as we were now in Central Time and it was getting dark by the time we finished setting up) and finally got settled in. We had a late dinner, watched a movie and headed to bed, exhausted.

After yesterday’s long ride, we were ready for a rest day, so we spent the day reading, watching the “Manning Bowl” on TV, and generally relaxing as much as possible, as tomorrow is a travel!