Hiya Darlin’,
Woke up before the alarm and got busy, busy. Did chores, did a load of laundry, roasted some coffee beans so I would have a to go cup while running around today, finally headed out before 9:30, arriving at my alignment appointment just in time. Wasn’t long before they were telling me they didn’t think they could align it without $1500 worth of ball joint repairs, although in the end when I said I couldn’t afford that right now, I was only expecting to pay $100 to get my steering wheel straightened out with an alignment, per the quote I got from them online, the managed to do it anyway, so I guess the ball joints weren’t really that bad. Then they presented me with a bill for $165! I complained, and they reduced it by $15, still 50 percent higher than my expected budget. Not happy! Then I ran a couple of errands, picking up the connectors I’ll need for my new air mattress at Home Depot, stopping at Meijer’s for some nectar, milk and juice, then Tractor Supply for propane and pine shavings. Something about this soil here, the corrals the horses are in are getting too muddy and smelly, so I decided to splurge on some shavings for them. Stopped to fill up the water tank at the dump station (sorry, “sanitation” station, as they call it now!), got back to camp, started filling up the RV tank, and while I was waiting, I wrote my thoughts about the lack of honesty of the alignment folks and put them up online. Once I got done filling the tank, I finally saddled up Apollo and Lola and I went for a short ride. He’s such a slug these days, and he was tripping and stumbling all over the place, not sure what that’s about. I took the shorter of the two loops, hitting the cross trail between the two, which was the only thing I missed the other day. Again, it’s a beautiful ride, but less than five miles, although on Apollo it took over 90 minutes to do. Surprise, surprise, I got a voicemail from the alignment store with an apology and a refund for the difference over $100. Amazing how reducing someone’s star value online suddenly gets them to sit up and take notice. Too bad they didn’t do that when I was actually in the store trying to get them to straighten it out then, would have saved a lot of trouble. Anyway, I let the horses graze for a bit while I cleaned out their paddocks and laid down some shavings, it started smelling better immediately! Finally settled down for dinner and a movie, and, of course, now it’s time for shower and bed. Can’t wait to get my new mattress! I called the next park about accepting the delivery, and would you believe, they refused! First time I’ve ever had a state park refuse to allow me to receive a package! What is it with Michigan postal service? Well, I ended up calling the local post office, and they were more than happy to accept the package for me, so hopefully I’ll be sleeping on a new bed by next week. Long overdue! Anyway, enough said. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Nice and quiet last night, had a great night sleep, though I think my mattress is leaking again, darn it! After chores I saddled up Flash and we ventured out, riding through some really beautiful, dense forest, mostly mixed deciduous trees, mostly sand and dirt trails, with gentle slopes. One section is on a plateau-like ridge with some nice views, then it gently drops down to the return trail along the bottom of the plateau, then through some more nice forest. We saw an incredible huge orange fungus that looked like a cauliflower, and Lola, on her own volition, went a stood by it when I was taking a picture, which really put it’s size in perspective. It was amazing! A beautiful ride, just a lot shorter than I figured. When I arrived in camp, my GPS was saying 7. 21 miles, so I figured I must have missed something, but when I downloaded it onto Google Earth, I was spot on with the trail map! The only thing I didn’t take was the shortcut between the two loops, which is barely 2/10’s of a mile, so that doesn’t make up the difference. On the website they claim ten miles, so that’s obviously an exaggeration! Oh well, it’s pretty, and I still have other things to do here, so I’ll just enjoy that short mileage over and over again! Flash did a great job, he moved along very nicely, we were back in camp in less than 1:45. I put Apollo on an anchor and let them graze for the afternoon, there’s no one else here at the moment. I managed to find a drill screw that I was able to use to help anchor the awning, though none of the bolts I picked up the other day worked. One’s going to have to be enough, unless I do some major reconstruction. I did a little mending on my sheepskin saddle cover, then did a bunch of overdue bookkeeping until suppertime. Enjoyed a movie, now it’s off to shower and bed, as usual! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got woken up around 4:00 in the morning by Apollo nickering, which told me Flash had escaped the highline. My fault, I knew when I tied him on I forgot to put the tail through the slip knot, but when I threw on my shoes and checked, he was standing right by the door, so I quickly tied him right and went back to bed. Hadn’t quite got back to sleep when someone came onto my site leading another horse that had evidently escaped, thought my highline was missing a horse until she got close and realized that no, both horses were there. She was talking the whole time, right under my window, and would have woken me up if I hadn’t already been awake. Anyway, she finally went away, I don’t know if she ever found the owner that night, or just waited until morning (which would have been a more sensible thing to do, in my opinion, rather than walking around waking up people. Anyway, I finally got back to sleep, then overslept, not leaving a lot of time before Alayna arrived. I was still eating breakfast, but she brought hers, too, so we ate together, then got the horses ready for a short ride. We ended up going about 3.5 miles, and it seemed like Flash was going extra slow for Apollo’s benefit, which was nice! After we got back, we chatted for awhile, then after she left I contacted Cindy, who had already left on a ride with her friend that arrived this morning. I ended up catching up to them, they were on the hunt for a throat latch that had fallen off her ponied horse’s bridle yesterday. I was looking too, then when I passed a huge group, I asked them if they had seen it, and they had! One of them gave it to me, so I called Cindy to let her know the hunt was over and she could relax. Then she decided she wanted to thank them, and we figured (correctly) that they were in the Group Camp, so we made out way over there. Flash started to get unmanageable again, so I had to run him out several times just to create less fuss. Toward the end of the ride, I actually got off the horse trail and ran him for another couple of miles, just to blow off some of the steam that seemed to be building up in him. I think I’m going to have to do another all out run with him like I did at Goethe the first year I had him, just let him run as fast and as long as he wants, hopefully it will be less than eight miles like last time, but he’s so fit now, it could be longer! I’m becoming convinced I’m better off not trying to ride with other people, that’s the only time he misbehaves, the rest of the time he’s brilliant! Tired of fighting him. Anyway, we got back to camp around 4:00, got him put up, made dinner and relaxed a bit, then went up to visit for a short while with Cindy and her friend. Now I’m back home, ready for shower and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a lovely and somewhat productive day today. Did a load of laundry, ran into town to do some errands, including propane and feed at Tractor Supply, fuel and a little shopping at Walmart, dropped off a book order that I got back in July, but have only now been able to send in (hope this crazy post office won’t deny it because it has Florida as the return address!), then got back just minutes before Sam’s friend Cindy arrived. We made arrangements to ride at 2:00, which gave me time to put away all the groceries, the propane and the feed, and try to to put the screws I bought on the awning, but they were still too small, so I’ll have to run into town again. I don’t dare drive it with no screws in the top of the awning frame! Then got together with Cindy, who was riding a Missouri Foxtrotter and ponying her Paso Fino, and off we went! It turned into a lovely ride, especially after the clouds finally started to dissipate. We did about 9.5 miles, and some of that was going at quite a good pace, at last! So many people I’ve been riding with lately only want to walk, so it was wonderful to be able to really move out several times. And it still wasn’t enough for Flash, he wanted to go farther and faster than ever! At one point I had to just let him run at top speed for quite a ways, then had to wait for Cindy to catch up. She didn’t mind, it’s all good, and it was a very nice ride. Once we got back to camp we went our separate ways to take care of our horses, then her husband showed up with pizza and I rejoined them for supper. She had put up a cornhole game (very popular in horse camps) and we ended up inviting Jody to join us, who was parked nearby and to whom I spoke with for awhile when she arrived. We ended up playing cornhole (she had never played before, but did pretty well!) until well after dark, which was ridiculous, of course, but we had a great time. Finally got back home well after 9:00, ready for shower and bed! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Had a decent night sleep, though I’m now positive I have another leak in my air mattress again, so that’s on my list of things to do now. Started a load of laundry nice and early, got my chores and breakfast done, got my laundry on the line, then saddled up Flash just in time to meet my friend from the Shore to Shore, Sam. I call her Eagle Eyes because every time I rode with her, she was able to point out critters I would never have otherwise seen, including the tiniest little fawn you can imagine! She lives up in Cadillac, and drove down to ride with me, and we took a fabulous 19-mile ride, mostly around the perimeter of the Hungerford forest. What a beautiful day, and beautiful trails! I truly love this place, one of my absolute favorites anywhere in the country! Her horse Amy was a stock horse, so we had to do some adjusting, but we had it pretty well worked out by the end. We both had to do a little schooling, and we helped each other out on that. Such a fun day! Got back, chatted for a bit, then after she left I made dinner, did my evening chores, settled down, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
This was one of those days when I woke up feeling tired for some reason. I guess it was the accumulation of all the stuff I did this week, but I just felt too exhausted to do any of my usual Sunday chores, like laundry and housekeeping. I had promised Alayna I’d pick up the Poker Run chip bags that were out on the trail, but I didn’t get the energy until nearly 1:00. I wanted to go later, after most people had gone, because I was hoping to take Lola with me, but she was limping too much, so I left her at home. When we arrived at the place where the first bag was supposed to be, it wasn’t there! I texted Alayna, and kept moving to the second spot, and the bag wasn’t there either! Turns out, another girl had picked up two bags, and a third girl had picked up the first bag, so it was an entirely wasted trip for me. The bags did finally make it all back to me, though, so at least I’ll have them to give back to Alayna. People just trying to be helpful, I suppose, but had I known, it would have saved me the trip! It was very hot today, nearly 90, a far cry from the 47 degree morning we had the other day. I ended up doing nothing else today but put all my tools away, since I won’t need most of them, and only a couple once I get the new motor on Wednesday. Relaxed watching TV the rest of the day, that’s all I had the energy for. Hoping to get a good night sleep, as I’ve arranged to take a ride with Sam tomorrow, she’s coming back with a friend for a ride and I said I’d join them. Need to get a load of laundry done first, so I’ll be up early in the morning! With that said, off to shower and bed, though it’s still very warm, so I’m not sure how quick I’ll be falling asleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!,
What a busy day! Got up early, quick did chores and breakfast, called the tire store and confirmed my tires were in, drove down there, they were done within the hour (tires look and rode great!), got back to camp and took Apollo for our first ride together in months! We covered the Poker Run trail, and there were only a couple of limbs down which I managed to clear up with my campsaw, so no sawyer needed, then started work on the awning. Managed to get the motor off with only one minor scratch to my face (the arm didn’t quite go the way I expected, but no big deal!), then spent the afternoon tearing the motor down to its smallest parts. I managed to free everything up, and started putting it back together, bench testing it with the truck battery every step of the way. I think I finally got everything working, but when I put it back together, I didn’t notice that one set of wires was farther away than it should have been, and wouldn’t you know, when I tried to get it apart again to fix it, I rounded out the phillips head screw. So now I have to try to drill or tap it out, and I’m thinking of just taking it to a hardware store and seeing if they’ll do it for me, or at least show me what tools I need to do it. Probably could use a tapping kit anyway. Probably have one somewhere, just don’t recognize it! More likely I sold it at one of my garage sales when I sold the house. Anyway, I lost track of time, suddenly realized it was after 6:00, so I started to saddle Flash, since Alayna was supposed to be arriving right then, though she was running late. Turns out she wanted to ride Apollo and Faith brought Glory, so the three of us finished saddling. Didn’t get out of camp until after 7:00, and I was getting worried it would be dark, and Apollo was a slug this morning I knew he’d be going slow. Two rides in one day for him is unprecedented! He did fine, and he needs the exercise, he put some weight on this summer and can stand to lose some. We split up at one point, and then Flash rushed back to camp once we were done putting up the poker chip bags, so we were done right about 8:00, so it was all good. I fed the horses (I hadn’t even had time for dinner, made myself a quick half a PBJ sandwich just before we left!), drove Alayna back up to her campsite, and now I’m bushed and ready for my shower and early bed! Whew, what a day! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Woke up to the sound of Gale firing up his motor home and getting out of Dodge. Can’t say I blame him, he spent all day yesterday doing nothing, since most folks left, though one small group of three checked in for the weekend. Did a little more work on the computer this morning, figured if I was going to give the MTRA gps and kml files, I should complete them, so even though I have ridden the Hopkins Creek to Cadillac leg, the ONLY ONE of the Shore to Shore ride that I haven’t done, I decided to make the files based on the map they gave me when I first got here in May. Then I tried to upload them to Dropbox, but, not surprisingly, that didn’t work, so again, it will have to wait until I have better internet. I have an appointment to take the truck in to replace the power steering box (it leaks like a sieve!), and I seem to remember last time I was there they had a guest wifi, so that seems like a likely spot. When I finally finished with that, I saddled up Flash, and Lola and I set off on a nice ten mile ride out to Dollar Lake. We took the route mostly backwards from when I did it the other day with the gals, and added a bit more just for the mileage, and we had a beautiful ride! As we went around the lake, we went by a campsite where the folks didn’t realize they were camping right in the middle of the trail, and obviously hadn’t expected horses or anyone else to come through, and their dog not only barked at Flash, he came at him very aggressively, enough to make Flash sidestep, which is unusual because dogs don’t usually bother him. Then again, they don’t usually made a beeline toward him and barking like an idiot. But that’s all he did, he settled down immediately once they grabbed the dog and pulled him back. I diplomatically suggested they may want to consider that they’re spreading their stuff on a trail (there was a cooler right in the middle, and a hammock almost strung across it!) and I suspect they will move some stuff, now that they know. Only one other little mishap, when we turned back toward camp just as we arrived at a rode, and Flash decided he want to gallop home, but his first step was in very deep sand and he lost his balance and almost went down, so that straightened him out! That was the end of that nonsense! The rest was uneventful, but very enjoyable. The weather was perfect, mid-70’s with partly sunny skies and a breeze, absolutely perfect! We even managed to avoid all of the ATVers that were out there, always off the road when they went whizzing by. Got back to camp, and on the way to the watering hole, said good-bye to my cornhole champion partner Emerson, who was just leaving. He’s heading off the a six week farrier course in Oklahoma, then he’ll be coming back to start work! A man with a plan, I like it! Put Flash away with an apple and some hay, poured myself a nice little bourbon and settled down for the evening! Dang, life is good! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Didn’t sleep very well, but had a great day! Got up early and did chores and breakfast, then saddled up Flash and was over by Jimmy’s trailer at ten minutes before 8:00. Got loaded in and off we went! Jimmy took me, Joyce, Scott and Emerson down to the entrance of Hopkins Creek, and we headed north on that leg of the Shore to Shore. The first seven miles or so was mostly road riding, and just as we were starting to get into some forest areas, we came across a bridge that was closed, and no practical way of getting around it, so I had to find a detour to the nearest bridge, which turned out to be nearly 3.5 miles, about half on a gravel road, the rest more sandy, until we got back to the other side of the bridge. Even from that side, I couldn’t find anything that looked like a safe crossing, so there will have to be some kind of a re-route before their Fall ride. Once we crossed the main highway of 131, we started getting more into the woods, and it became a much nicer ride. We didn’t do as much gaiting as I thought we would, and there were many times I had to run Flash out, then stop and wait for them, so it was a typical group ride of reacting to the slowest common denominator. When we arrived at the little girls grave and paused for a few minute, I knew we were less than three miles from camp, and so did Flash, so he wanted to really start moving then. Amazing, after 21 miles, he couldn’t wait to go faster! So at that point, I let him. We moved away from the group and I just let him do whatever speed he wanted, which was pretty fast, and I rode into camp just after 3:00, feeling not the least bit tired (either of us). I rode by and chatted with Jimmy, thanking him for the lift, and took Flash down to the creek where he had a long drink. I came back and a few minutes later Emerson arrived. I didn’t see Joyce and Scott, but their trailer was at that end, so I’m not surprised. Got Flash back to camp with a big bag of hay and settled down. I started nodding off when I sat in my recliner, though up until then I didn’t feel tired. I think it was more the bad night’s sleep rather than the ride. Anyway, I had dinner, then went to the 7:00 meeting, where they had a mini pie eating contest for the kids, and now I’m settling down for the evening. Quite a few folks left today, and more are expected to leave tomorrow, including the kids, so I imagine it will be a much quieter day tomorrow. I’ve got some repairs I want to try to do, and it’s supposed to rain in the afternoon, so it will mostly be a packing and rest day for me. Meanwhile, it’s time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Another busy day of fun and games at Schecks! Took a nice, though short, ride with Pat and Jimmy out to the grave of a child named Emma who died in 1875 near here while moving west with her parents. There’s quite a story about her, and people keep leaving things at her grave as though it just happened, very sweet. It was a lot of road riding, with some single track on the way back (the Shore to Shore trail, which I’ll be doing on Thursday), and Flash was fine until near the end, when once again, he got sick of walking and I had to run him up a road to stretch his legs for a bit. Once I got back I headed into Traverse City to pick up some horse feed, and I managed to get an appointment to get my hair done at a little place called Hair 2 Dye For. Shawna was my hair cutter and she did a fabulous job! I was so sick of ponytails and knots in my hair, so I decided to go for a nice short wedge (think Dorothy Hamil without all the bounce), which feels fantastic! She did a great job! Picked up the mail and packages on the way back, then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. At 7:00 I went up to the middle of camp where they were setting up some games. I partnered with Emerson on cornhole, which I had never played before, and despite the other team, Pat and Connor, being ahead for most of the game, we had a pull from behind, classic underdog win in the end. Then another two teams played, then we played for best of winners against Jane and Jimmy, and miraculously pulled way out front early and they never had a chance to catch up. Final score was something like 21-3. We are the champions! Pretty good for a newbie! Then we sat around chatting until well after 9:00, now it’s time for shower and bed! I’m ready! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!