Determined to get a nice long ride in today, we headed out by 11:00 with an estimated GPS trail to the Bear Store, a little tourist-y convenience store with a small exotic menagerie and ice cream cones (our big attraction). We crossed the road to begin, following the same trail we took on Thursday, though this time we took the right fork, which headed us straight down almost to the main road, which we crossed to follow a wide gravel road through a neighborhood, but that backed up to the Bear Store. As soon as we saw the yellow caution tape, as we had been told, we knew we were in the right place. We turned along the little trail along the fence, came past a little paddock with a couple of Shetland-like ponies (one of which was either very fat or very pregnant) who whinnied at our guys. We came around some cages and tied the horses to a tree in front, though there was a couple of pigs whose smell made Apollo all crazy for a few minutes. Interesting that the wallaby jumping around in front of him didn’t seem to bother him, but the little pig sleeping in the corner of his pen made him get all antsy. Anyway, we got our ice cream cones and sat at the picnic table for awhile, taking a nice break, before heading back out on the trail. We continued east on Wickert Road to the end, then left to the main road. We decided to follow the main road to the official trail crossing, but were no sooner heading up the trail when we hear ATV’s coming, so we moved off to the side, and about 8 noisy machines came streaming down, one after another. It was a good thing they had to slow down for the road, if they had been going any faster we might not have been able to get out of the way! We decided we would head back to a neighborhood road rather than take any chances on running into any more ATV’s (it was apparently their trail anyway), so we followed the road back to across from where we came out on the road and headed north from there. Hubby wasn’t happy with the gravel road, so I turned into the woods as soon as I saw something that looked remotely like a trail. It came back to the OHV trail, so we had to take that for a while, hoping no one came down it. Fortunately, no one did. We soon found the snowmobile warming shed that one of the ladies had told me about, but I had been under the impression that there was a trail directly across the road from there, but no such luck. We headed south just a bit, crossed Rollways Rd, and still couldn’t find a trail. We headed north again, hoping that, like our previous ride, we would find a trail that would cut back to the east. Eventually we did, and that led us to another seemingly well-traveled trail, which we turned north on, but that quickly took us right back to the road! Kept going until we finally headed east on a deer trail (I think), just to try to get us back to the blue trail. It was mostly cross country until we finally hit it, near the river, and then followed the blue trail back to camp as we had done before. It was a bit over three hours (with stop for ice cream) and just over 8 miles. A very nice ride, though we were both tired, from the heat (it was high 80’s, unseasonable again!), and from the duration, as we haven’t been a ride this long for some time. Looking forward to a day “off” tomorrow, with only preparations for our Monday departure to do, though we had to add a little more water to the RV to finish laundry and insure sufficient water for much needed showers.

Before leaving Tennessee, I had sent in all the information to get new passports for the horses, and last week, I got a voicemail that said they were ready, so I gave them a General Delivery address at the South Branch post office, hoping that they would arrive before we left. I headed out about 11:00, hoping to get there before lunch, only to find that they didn’t open until noon! Didn’t really want to sit around for half an hour, not knowing whether the mail had actually arrived or not, so I headed down the road until I stopped at a little general store. I asked the nice folks there where there was a feed store, and they weren’t too sure, but they send me up a back road to a sawmill to a woman named Lisa who had a farm and horses who they felt would know. I went into Lisa’s office and explained myself, and she made a phone call for me to the local feed store, but didn’t have anything I needed except plain oats, so we determined I would have to go all the way down to West Branch to the Tractor Supply to get what we wanted. Forty-five minutes later, I first found an auto parts store for a replacement side-marker for the trailer (which turned out to be the wrong one anyway), made a few phone calls (and learned my mail had NOT yet arrived), and some emails, before heading out to Tractor Supply, where I got everything I needed except Enrich 32 (though I arranged for a Purina dealer near our next camp to get one for us), and then Walmart, before heading back to camp. I missed a turn somewhere and ended up eight miles out of the way, had to backtrack, so by the time I got back to camp it was nearly 4:00, too late to consider a short ride today, which had been our original plan. Settled down for our usual evening routine.

Had another great night sleep, feeling more and more rested and relaxed, feels like the first time in ages! This time on our ride we headed across the road, based on some intel from another group of ladies that there were more trails over there, and sure, enough, we found some. We had no maps or any idea whatsoever where the trails were, but we headed out anyway! A short hop in Liberty Road, a left at the multi-use trail (warning, including OHV) and went about a mile or so when we came to a fork in the trail. Not knowing anything but general directions, we turned east, which we knew would get us back to the road, but then we would have to find another trail on the other side, and had no idea if there would be one. We also didn’t want to head west or south, not knowing if we could get too far away and not be able to make a loop. Long story short, we went about half a mile before hitting the road, crossed the road, nothing immediately across the road, but headed north along the road, and about 100 yards north we saw what looked like a trail heading into the woods, so we took it. Though it faded in and out, it was (or had been) definitely some kind of trail, so we stuck with it. Geographically, we had to eventually run into the blue trail, since it ran between the road and the river, it was just a matter of getting there. Before long, we hit it, glad my navigational skills are so fine-tuned : -), and within a half-mile, we were heading down the sand hill that, at the bottom, put us back to the sign for McKinley and Oscoda. Just a bit over an hour and 3.37 miles, it was nice to have a relaxing ride on our Independence Day! Settled into a relaxing afternoon and evening, listening to the fireworks from afar, though we kept the volume on the TV rather high so that our mixed yellow lab Marina, who hates the sound of explosions or gunfire of any kind, wouldn’t get too crazy. Fortunately, it as mostly over by the time we went to bed, so she was only upset for a short while. Feeling more like our old selves by the end of the day!

Slept like a log last night, the first time in a long time! Feeling more refreshed, we saddled the horses up after breakfast, and headed out toward the group camp, where we picked up the blue Shore-to-Shore Trail that runs through here. In fact, there are horse camps every 20-30 miles along that trail, from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, which the Michigan Trail Riders Association organizes several times during the summer. Anyway, we came to the fork, one to McKinley, the other to Oscoda, essentially west and east on the trail. We headed west, as we had been told the trail followed the river and had some nice overlooks. We soon came to a water crossing with a nice bridge, where people were fishing and boating at the “watering hole.” We crossed over and headed through woods, then across a field where we could see the river (not realizing at the time this was what was considered one of the overlooks), then continue on for about an hour. Footing was find, but honestly, we thought the trail was a bit boring, at least compared to what we’re used to. There was one section of deep, cool, eerie pines, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes. Eventually we turned around, then on the way back we turned onto a trail that headed straight for the river, and that was much more interesting. I was pretty sure this was the river trail one of the ladies had told me about, though we were coming at it from the opposite direction, but was soon vindicated when it came up right where I expected it to. It was a lot muddier than the other trails, but not too bad, and it certainly was a prettier ride, with narrower trails, all single file. We got back in about just over two hours, covering about 5.5 miles, just right for our first day, exploratory ride!

After our twelve hours of aggravation yesterday, Hubby and I were both too worn out to think about going riding today, so we just spent the day mostly resting. We did try to get a better satellite signal, but it stubbornly remained on only one, except when the wind was blowing in just the right direction, which allowed the second satellite to come in intermittently. Not really worried about it, we have a couple of hundred hours of recording already on the DVR! Mostly read and watched TV for the day, very quiet here, even though there are a number of other campers, but we’re all so spread out, no one’s bothering anyone else in the least. I walked over to a couple of the camps with some ladies in them, picking their brain about the trails, since I haven’t been able to find any trail maps here at all, not on the internet, and not at the entrance kiosk. In fact, this is one of the few places we’ve been where the kiosk didn’t at least have a map of the general area on it! As helpful as all the ladies were, I wasn’t really able to glean too much that was useful, only that we clearly just had to go out and do some exploring. From what I can gather, there is a Shore-to-Shore trail that uses the group campground for long treks across the state, but none of the other trails in this forest seem to be marked or mapped, even one down to the AuSable river, which would be the highlight of this forest. Well, that’s why I have a mapping GPS, so we can always find our way back to camp. Finally did our chores and settled in for the evening, feeling much more relaxed, albeit a little concerned about the trails. We’ll just have to worry about that tomorrow!

Even though we thought we had a fairly short day of driving, we got up early and headed out to Reed City, where we picked up breakfast first, then headed out to the farm to pick up ten more bales of hay for Clio. After some maneuvering, I managed to pull into the barn and get loaded up, though when I turned around up by the house, I almost got stuck in some soft sand that was in the middle of the driveway. Eric, the hay man, had to move a car so I could get around, but I managed to get turned around and back up to the barn. After loading the hay, Hubby had to go up to the same driveway and turn around, and unfortunately, hadn’t noticed that I almost got stuck, and didn’t have his radio with him when I told him to be careful of the soft sand, so the result was that he got the van and horse trailer stuck, and I mean REALLY stuck. So deep in the sand the driveshaft was buried in it! To make matters worse, Eric’s tractor was in the shop, so the “easy” way out wasn’t available to us. For the next two and a half hours, we jacked and dug and unhitched and manhandled everything until we finally managed to get everything turned around and on (reasonably) hard ground again. We worked up quite a sweat, especially with temperatures getting up to the unseasonable 90’s. Finally got back on the road again, making good time, until we reached a resort town with a bit more traffic. As we came to a light at a strange intersection, there were two lanes. One was marked with arrows indicating it was only for right turns and straight aheads, and the other only for left turns and straight aheads. From the looks of it on my GPS, we had to be in the left lane, so I made a lane change just before going through the light, which changed right after me. Hubby saw me move, but because the light had changed, he could only move partially into the left lane, as there was another car in that lane already stopped. His turn signal was on (and it’s REALLY bright on the horse trailer), and the left lane behind him was clear, until the light changed. Just as he started to follow the car in front of him, an old guy in a red pickup, ignoring the turn signal, as well as the fact that he couldn’t have passed Hubby anyway since he was already well into the lane, he pulled up inside of the horse trailer. Not surprising, the horse trailer then lightly scraped the side of his truck, from about the front of the passenger side door forward. Hubby wasn’t even aware of it, since he had assumed that once he was halfway in the lane, no one would be stupid enough to try to pass him on the left. A few minutes later, he called me on the radio to tell me someone was flagging him down, so I pulled over into an abandoned gas station. He followed, as well as the red pickup and a “witness,” some long-haired type that wouldn’t stop talking, claiming he saw the whole thing and that it was all Hubby’s fault! Fact, if Hubby had pulled in front of the pickup, the pickup would have hit the van, not been scraped by the horse trailer. The only damage we had was that the side marker light on the wheel well had been torn off. Anyway, the red pickup guy wouldn’t accept just swapping insurance, and I was pretty sure the law would be on our side anyway, so then we had to wait around for a police office to get there, another 15 minutes, than hang around explaining the whole thing. We don’t know if we convinced the office of who was to blame, since he first heard from the “witness,” but once we explained it to him he seemed to waver a bit. Later I thought more about it, and the best way to defend it would be to ask who would be responsible if a tractor trailer is making a right turn, but have to swings into the left lane to make it, and when he does, a four-wheeler runs up between the truck and the curb, when the truck hits the car, who’s fault is that? Anyway, the whole thing set us back yet another hour plus. From there we stopped at Walmart, but forgot to get gas in the extra gas can for the generator, so we had to stop yet again to do that. We FINALLY arrived at the campground 5:30! Obviously much later than we had planned. We eventually found the only site that looked promising for a satellite signal (#7), which was also right across from the pumphouse. Unfortunately, whoever was here before us did a terrible job cleaning up, and it looked like there were 8-10 horses here. It was a mess! We picked out an area to highline in the trees, as the area under the highline post was filthy and muddy and I refuse to put more horses into it. It was bad enough having to string them between trees that were almost as dirty, but I cleaned it up a little before we put them on it. We started setting up, filling up the RV tank and the portable barrel for the horses. This required a jury-rigged system, as the spigot has no threads for a hose, and is spring-loaded, making you have to hold it. Well, at least until we rigged up a bungee cord to do so, and a hose with no end fit nicely over the spigot : -). Hubby tried to get a satellite signal, which was iffy at best, getting only one satellite, as a tree was blocking the others. We’ll try again in the morning. It was after 8:00 before we finally finished getting set up, exhausted from the exertion and the ordeals of the day. Settled down for what was left of the evening, hoping for a quiet night!

Bound and determined to ride these trails today, I loaded up on ibuprofen, put on a girdle to keep the inflammation of my hip in, and slowly but surely saddled the horses and went out for a ride. I switched back to my regular saddle with extra padding, just in case I needed a horn to grab on to today, though I’m still so sore I doubt that would have helped anyway. Fingers crossed, we headed back up the trail we started out on Friday, this time becoming quickly accustomed to the very easy trail markings that we weren’t sure about the other day. We’re so used to poorly marked trails that this was a real pleasure, every intersection well marked, and unmistakably in tune with the map. Wow! You’d be surprised how rarely THAT happens! I can probably count on one hand the number of times the map and the trails have matched in the four and a half years we’ve been on the road full-time! The footing was excellent for the entire trail, with only a very occasional muddy section, obviously just the remnants of a long-standing puddle, but very small areas at worst. Some of the best footing we’ve ever seen, actually, so this park goes to near the top of the list. We took a very leisurely 2-hour ride, which covered a pretty large swath of the park, though the way the trails loop around each other, it would take a week of more of solid riding just to cover them all. Apollo, for the most part, behaved himself, though I did have to check him once when he started to gallop up a small hill, as he was getting ready to pop again. It was a fantastic ride, and we’re a bit sorry we have to leave tomorrow, and might have even considered staying except tomorrow’s the only sunny day forecast until Friday, and with 4th of July on Thursday, we want to be in someplace as early as possible this week so we can get a good spot. Started packing up when we got back, and got to bed early, even though it’s only about a three hour drive, we have to stop to pick up some more of this nice hay for Clio and to shop before we get there, and we want to arrive early enough to find a good site.

Slept later than ever today, probably because of the pills, and despite the fact that one of our new neighbors that came in yesterday ran a generator all night long. I don’t know why people do that, unless it’s a medical emergency, which I highly doubt. Next morning, they cranked up their radio really loud, but fortunately, only for a few minutes before pulling out (thank goodness!). I felt much better today, with only a couple of minor spasms, even though I held off taking any pills. We really wanted to ride today, and I could have made myself if I wanted to, but with rain coming in wave after wave, it seemed best to just take another day off, recover, then go for a ride tomorrow, as the forecast finally has no rain in it, just partly cloudy with a high of 77, a perfect day for riding (assuming I feel well enough, and I should after another quiet day). Watched movies, read, did one load of laundry, relaxed the whole day.

After a slow morning, we finally saddled up the horses around 12:30, doing a refit on some of the various saddlebags, as Hubby’s saddle doesn’t have the proper rings to carry our usual saddlebag, so I tied my old cantle bag onto the rings on my modified bareback pad and repacked things to balance. Eventually we hopped up and headed out to camp on trails with some of the best footing we’ve ever seen, a nice firm sand and dirt combination, no stones or gravel, and very well traveled. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn almost immediately, on a not-very-well marked trail that ended up just taking us down to the road. We turned around and headed back when Apollo got seriously startled by something, and, not having a horn to grab on to and not having enough practice grabbing his mane, I took an unceremonious trip to the ground. I landed hard on my hip, and Apollo’s hoof scraped my face as I went by, which I knew would later turn into a nice shiner. It took several minutes for me to gather my wits before I sent Hubby back to camp with instructions to bring back some ice packs. A while after he was gone, I finally felt strong enough to start walking, so I headed down to the road and was almost back to camp when Hubby came out in the van to get me. I knew it would take more energy to get into the van than just keep going, as it was only a few yards away, so I kept walking. I quickly put ice on everything that hurt, hoping that later in the day I would feel well enough to try again. An hour or so later, thunderstorms moved in, nixing any chance of that anyway (which was probably for the best), so I spent the day putting ice packs, then heat, on the offended areas, which did wonders for the swelling. A couple of ibuprofens later, I was feeling at least reasonable by the end of the day, although when I moved wrong, I’d get spasms in my hip. Obviously I haven’t quite yet mastered the art of riding (i.e. keeping the horse between me and the ground), but that’s all part of the same package, I’m afraid. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent quietly, except for the thunder and lightning of the thunderstorms that raged for quite a while. Dropping temps (and more painkillers) promise a good night of sleeping.

Grabbed a yogurt and a cup of coffee to go as I headed out to Quality Auto and Truck Repair, which was conveniently located just on the east side of the same freeway exit we came off for Hungerford, so it was a quick trip in. I had read several reviews on the place and it came highly recommended, and frankly, they earned every bit of it. I told them what I thought it was, but that I wasn’t sure. The man in front introduced me to the mechanic, explaining we were to take a test drive so I could identify the noise. I said I didn’t think that was necessary, we could just start the truck and I would show him, so that’s what we did. He agreed with my diagnosis, and that was it. The only problem, I learned a while later, was that the part wouldn’t be in until 3:30, so the truck wouldn’t be ready until after 4:30. After numerous mangled phone calls with Hubby, he heard enough to know to come and get me, but not after I had arranged a ride from the shop, so we ended up meeting on the road just a few miles away. A relaxed day in camp before coming back to the shop to pick up the pickup, then I did some computer work arranging flights for my niece, who’s coming to visit us in Minnesota at the end of July, before settling down for another wonderfully quiet evening.