Hi Babe!
A good night sleep, but first thing this morning, after breakfast, I ran down to Cadillac and did a bunch of shopping. Tractor Supply first for horse feed, fly spray and propane, then Walmart for fuel in the truck and a bunch of other essentials, and finally Meijers, for the things I couldn’t get at Walmart. A drive back to camp, put everything away, got my fridge going again with propane, then finally saddled up Flash for a ride. Apparently there was an endurance ride here last weekend, and after requesting a map on their Facebook group, one of the organizers posted their 25 mile route, so I used that to plan my trip today. Couldn’t find my GPS for a bit, then finally found it, and downloaded about the first 15 miles of the ride to follow. The route started out very nice, single track and forest, for about the first 100 yards, then it all became mostly sand roads, a lot of it through some clear cut areas, so it wasn’t very pretty. Eventually, on the last couple of miles, it got better, but it certainly wasn’t my typical type of riding. Flash was definitely on the go, go, go today, and Lola, who hasn’t been getting much exercise the last month, had a hard time keeping up, though that didn’t stop her from trying to goad me into throwing her a frisbee once we got into camp. It was a nice ride, about 15 miles, because any day on the back of my horse is a good day! It was fairly hot today, so I sponged him down, and since there was no one left in camp but us, I let him graze for a couple of hours before putting him back on the highline. Watch a Big Valley during dinner, then a movie which actually featured Pam Daly, who, you remember, we worked with back in Florida, and who came up to join us when we moved to Ohio. She’s doing a lot of training young actors now, and, evidently, getting some movie roles, too. She did a pretty nice job of playing a witchy Amish mother, glad to see her getting some higher profile acting work! Anyway, settled down for the evening, ready for early bed tonight. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Sweetie!
Last night after I got in bed at 9:00, one of the board members of the MTRA, Jimmy C., showed up on my doorstep! Apparently he is part of a group of about six trailers that showed up yesterday, and he parked right next to me! We chatted for a few minutes, and he invited me over to their campfire, but since I was already in bed, I declined, and promised to come the next night if they had one. After he left, I got to sleep pretty early, got up a little later since my arrangement with Heide was to meet at 10:00, which we did. We did another great 16+ mile ride, even going on another trail that’s been marked but we hadn’t GPSed it yet, though she says it’s the last one like that, hopefully. Flash did great, though he did seem a bit more sluggish today, not surprising since this is his fourth ride this week. It was funny, though, every time we came to an intersection, his nose was pointed toward the direction of camp, just like clockwork! And every time we actually turned in the direction toward camp, he’s speed up! We were laughing about it. Got back a little after 2:00, got him settled in and relaxed with computer games until dinnertime. She had given me a container of homemade broccoli cheese soup which I had for dinner, lovely! Watched a movie, and then took a quick walk to see if they were having a campfire, but only moments later a thunderstorm came in, followed some other, shorter spits of rain, until finally it was over. I wasn’t sure if they would bother, but sure enough, when I walked over after 9:00, they were all around a blazing fire. I sat with them until well past 10:30, still have my shower and bed to do! A late night for sure! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hey Darlin’!
Woke up with the 7:00 alarm, since we decided to leave early, and met Sue at her campsite, then met Heide at the day parking area, and off we went! Not surprisingly, the forecast was wrong, and it was raining by 10:00, but only for a little bit. Heide took us to some interesting spots today, a memorial for a CCC camp, Camp Lunden, and also out to a little trout lake that was really nice, had to pass through some wetlands to get there. Very nice! Then, around 1:00, there was some storms threatening, and since no one really wanted to be out in the thunder and lightning, we decided to make a run for camp. Sue’s horse is a foxtrotter, but she generally rides with stock horses, so the whole day was quite an experience for her and her horse Sky, and the last five miles or so, at high speed, was a bit different from what she’s used to! We had to take a breather once or twice for the benefit of her horse, who, of course, is nowhere near in the condition of Flash or Heart (Heide’s horse), but they held up pretty well. Sue said that when she took the same route with her other friends it took 1 1/2 hours, but we did it in about 20 minutes, so she really had a chance to appreciate her gaited horse! Actually, they were doing a lot of cantering just to keep up! Anyway, it started to rain harder just as we got to camp, so we quickly exchanged contact information and went our separate ways. I put Flash under the awning (well, almost) to take off his tack, and got him put away. It wasn’t long afterward that the rain stopped, but I was glad to get back, since we’d done about 17.5 miles anyway. Relaxed during the afternoon, decided not to run out to check my email (it can wait until Monday!), had a nice dinner and a movie, heading to shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Pix tocome!

Hey Sweetie!
Had another good night sleep, did chores and breakfast, and had Flash all saddled and ready to go at ten. Heide was a bit late, but just as I was heading to the day parking area to see if she arrived, she was riding down the road towards me, so it was all good! We headed out on the trail, this time covering even more of her freshly-made blue tagged trails, some of which seemed almost like we were just going across country through the woods! Challenging, but a lot of fun! We did over eighteen miles today, but she says she’s covered pretty much all of the trails she’s been marking, so I should have the makings of a decent map by now. We got back to camp by 3:30, said our good-byes at day parking, then I rushed back, put Flash away, and headed out to check my emails and do other quick computer work. That took me past 4:45, so I got back to camp, then rushed up the hill to where the other folks were camping, and we ended up having a lovely evening. Her Garmin cord didn’t work on my computer, so we just arranged for her to email her GPX files of this place, and combined with what I have, we should have most everything we need. They were nice enough to invite me to supper, and we chatted to nearly 7:30. I actually had a bit of cell signal on that side of camp, I’m going to try to put my booster in the truck and see if it’s enough to do what I need to do tomorrow, and save me a six mile trip up the road. Ready to settle down for the evening, shower and bed soon. Good night, babe! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hi Babe!
Had a great night sleep (probably because I drank a little too much bourbon last night 🙂 ), but woke up refreshed and ready to go this morning. Once I got my chores and breakfast done, I went out in search of a cell phone signal sufficient to do a long list of things that have been waiting too long to be done, and ended up have to go six miles, four of those on washboard dirt road, till I could find two bars and a place to pull over, which was really just off the road, since there didn’t seem to be anything but private driveways along the way. Spent about two hours trying to get as caught up on as many things as I could, particularly the time sensitive ones. My text messaging program seems to be on the fritz, I had a hard time sending anything, and was receiving the same text message from Heide about 20 times. Anyway, I ran out of time and headed back to camp, and was saddling up Flash when Heide got there a few minutes early. No worries, we were out on the trail in no time. One of the things about Big Oaks, if you only read the website and look at the map provided by DNR, it only shows about 15 miles of trails, and all of those are clearly dirt/sand/gravel roads. In reality, there are dozens more miles of trails when you include old forest roads and some of the new trails that have been ingeniously created here, many of which Heide guided me on today. Flash and her Rocky mare turned out to be very compatible, and we average well over four mph most of the day. We ended up doing nearly 18 miles, and went through some really beautiful sections. They’ve only been allowed to flag mark them, since they’ve not been officially designated, but apparently it’s open riding here, so horses can go on any of the other trails and roads. The biggest challenge for someone visiting here is the lack of a comprehensive map, but I’ve promised Heide I would help her with that. We got an extra boost in that direction when we stopped off at a campsite with some folks from the Michigan Back Country group, who have some gps files that will certainly help with that! Heide has a lot of that on Ramblr, but isn’t technologically astute enough to figure out how to share it (something we’ll work on this week), so hopefully by the time I leave here, I’ll have all the data I need to help create a map, and the ability to spread it where it needs to go to encourage campers to come here. The campground is pretty nice, right on the edge of the lake (though there’s a dropoff, so not easy to get to, except from site 16), the pump is now solar powered, and most sites are shaded and lovely. The trails today were a mixture of single and double trails through the woods, with the occasional short section on the “official” trails/dirt roads. At one point, the trail was so new it almost felt like going cross country, which didn’t bother us a bit, and there was a long stretch along a very hilly power line that was a fun challenge as well. A very good ride! Having left at 1:00, we got back in camp around 5:30, stopped and chatted with the BCH folks, then got back to my site, where we agreed to start tomorrow at 10:00. Got Flash settled in, had dinner, settled in for the evening, ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Well, we accomplished what we came here to do, put hooves in the 4th of the five Great Lakes. Well, not the same horse, but done nevertheless! I’ll probably make it all five with Flash before all is said and done, but for now, I”ll take the victory! It ended up being 26 miles, partly because the trails are so poorly marked here, and even with my GPS I made some wrong moves. Never did find one turn, but headed north thinking it would take me to the lake, and according to my GPS, I was in the water over my head! NOT!! Couldn’t even hear the waves at that point. Regardless, eventually made our way to the shoreline, where, surprisingly, there was a small number of beachgoers, despite there not being any kind of facilities. Just as I arrived, a couple pulled over right next to me, so I asked them to take some pictures of our accomplishment. I thought I was going to have to figure out how to do a meaningful selfie, but Deb and Doug were more than willling to help, she being a horse person and former horse owner. She took some pix and videos with my camera, and Doug took some with his phone which he promised to send as soon as they had a cell signal. I won’t get them until Monday, but that’s fine, I’ll post them next week (just like I’ll be posting this next week!) Flash was BRILLIANT again today, despite the 12 mile ride yesterday, which seems like a warm-up now. He did his fantastic 4.2 mph fast walk for a long time, then got tired of it and started gaiting for a long time. Once we spent a little time at the shore and headed for home, Flash really wanted to go, go, go! Since he’s figured out that we’re not doing linear now, but loops, he’s taking great pains to know exactly where camp is, and he took off in that direction at about 9 mph for 3 or 4 miles, then finally slowed to his fast walk, but kept jumping into a gait regularly. We made very good time, and even with a little detour and a conversation with a DNR guy I passed along the way, we were back in camp at exactly 4:00, which was about an hour earlier than I figured when we left this morning. What a gorgeous day! Not a cloud in the sky, temps in the mid-to-upper 70’s, low humidity, exactly the kind of weather I am constantly seeking! Came home to find Lola had knocked over the garbage and gotten into my bedroom, scratching my sheets clear off the bed and mussed up my pillows. Good thing I have a heavy-duty quilted mattress cover, or her nails would have punctured my air mattress. Anyway, after chastising her, and having put Flash away, I grabbed a beer and walked Lola over to the little lake here and we fetched and she swam for a bit. Now I’m ready for dinner and to settle down for a movie, a shower, and another great night of sleep. Good night, sweetie! Really miss you when I’m passing milestones like I have this past month! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hey Darlin’!
WE MADE IT!! We finished this incredible ride! The bus left even earlier than usual, but I had arranged to hitch a ride back with Suzy and Sammy, so I didn’t need to move my rig. Instead I was on the trail by 6:20, and even then, those two caught up with me about halfway! We reached Lake Michigan by 8:30, it was so beautiful and calm, I had no trouble getting Flash in up to his knees. A nice ride, through lots of woods until we finally hit roads, but the total ride was less than nine miles, so it seemed like no time at all! After spending a little time at the shore, we made it to where the trailers were parked, then drove back to camp. It seemed so empty after yesterday, but there were still a couple of campers here. I got Flash settled in, can’t believe it’s all over, what a great month! Over 400 miles in four weeks! Incredible! After everyone left, I decided to do a shopping trip so that tomorrow I could do nothing by veg out, so I drove into Traverse City to the Tractor Supply for propane and feed, though they couldn’t fill one tank (I’ve had problems with it before, and it’s just about to expire anyway), then Meijers for groceries and fuel, then a quick stop at Walgreens to switch out that last propane tank for a more recent one, finally back to camp where I almost immediately started napping in my chair. CRASH TIME! I finally managed to gather enough energy to get the grill out (I had a steak thawed out), but I had to spend a few minutes getting the fridge to work, it quit after the propane ran out on it, so I had to put a little fire on the starter and then it worked fine after that. Finally settled in for the evening with a couple of bourbons (I’ve been dry for most of the month), watched a couple of Big Valleys, now I’m ready for shower and bed. It’s been getting pretty hot during the days, though cooling off at night, fortunately, and I’m READY for a long night sleep, though I suspect my body clock will wake my at the crack of dawn like it’s been doing. May be awhile to get my usual body clock back to normal! What an incredible journey, though. I feel like I’ve made lifelong friends, and can’t say enough about how amazing this organization and these people are. This definitely should go on the bucket list of every trail rider, it’s an unforgettable experience! Anyway, for now, it’s still early, but I’m crashing, so it will be early to bed tonight, we’ll adjust later! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Up once again at the crack of dawn, packed up and out of the camp just before 6:00. Elected to take Brown Bridge Rd. because it was flat and I was concerned about the sharp turns and aggressive hills on the other route. Glad I did, it’s wasn’t half bad, not nearly as wash-boardy as I thought it would be. The road into Dubonnet had some sand, though, so it was a bit tricky, and I was worried that this little four-wheeler with canoes on top in front of me, who evidently wasn’t sure where he was going, kept slowing down, but fortunately he stayed far enough out front so I got in okay. Found a spot without any trouble, got set up and was on the bus in plenty of time. Back to Schecks, saddled up Flash and headed out before 8:30. The first part of the trail wasn’t bad, single tracks and sand roads, but eventually we reached the roads section of this journey, seven miles of paved roads with traffic. Another woman on a young horse was there, Teresa, and she asked to tag along with me since Flash is “steady as a rock” these days. We got about 75 yards when I looked up and saw the back end of a big bear walking into the woods. He must have reached the road and turned around, but I didn’t see his head. Anyway, I asked Teresa if she saw it, she said no, so I just advised her to be careful, if they caught the scent they may sidestep into the road, and it was very busy. Flash hardly noticed, on sniff in that direction, but her horse did get a little jumpy, but she managed to stay on the trail. It was a bad place to cross, too, because there is a curve in the road, and despite there being construction there, cars were barreling down way too fast. Fortunately, another group caught up with us just then, and we all crossed together. I was glad when all the road riding was done! I had to put on and take off Flash’s boots several times, and mounting was pretty tough with my left thigh hurting as much as it is, but I managed it. The last couple of miles were really nice, and about a mile from camp, we passed a house that had put out a big watering trough and stapled a bunch of granola bars onto a board, with a big sign welcoming us to help ourselves! How nice! Finally reached camp at 24 miles and about 5.5 hours, at about 2:00. Settled down after I got Flash taken care of, nodded off a couple of times in my chair, had dinner, went to the riders meeting, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Sorry to say, I did not get as good night sleep as I thought I would consider the nine hour ride yesterday. I took three ibuprofen when I went to bed at 8:30 (yes, children, 8:30!) and was asleep pretty quick, but then I woke up at about 1:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep for nearly two hours. I took some aspirin, since that usually helps, but it didn’t seem to do anything. Finally woke up to the alarm and got the day going. I hadn’t packed up my tack in the plastic bag yet, I left it in the back of the trailer to dry a bit, so I had a little more work to do than usual. Nevertheless, I was moving out at 6:00, right on schedule, arrived at Schecks about fifty minutes later, did my setup, fed Lola and had breakfast, even had time to get my solar panel out, since we have a layover here tomorrow. Caught the bus back to Schecks, where I found Flash laying down. Jeff B. said he was laying down when he left, so he was obviously resting up from yesterday’s long ride. I gave him a bute tablet with his breakfast this morning, first time I’ve ever done that. I don’t like to use painkillers because they mask what might be a more serious problem, but considering I had mine last night, and he seemed none the worse for wear this morning, I gave him one, maybe that’s why he was getting so much sleep! Once we got on the trail by 9:00, he seemed in remarkable good spirits. I was sure he’s be a bit sluggish today (again, maybe the bute?), but we left just after Sammy and Susie, who are always moving out, and Flash was insistent of keeping up with them, going 5.5 mph for the entire first 10 miles of the trail! At one point, we opened up onto a sand road, and Flash took off at a full canter, passing everyone else! Crazy guy! Then they stopped for lunch at the lake where the watering hole was, and after letting Flash make bubbles and smack his lips a few times, we headed out again. Of course he slowed down a bit, but not that much, he was still full of energy, surprisingly! We had already passed all the rest of the ones who left before us from the bus, then I started passing folks with rig jumpers who got out even earlier, like the Gypsy Girls and Lucy and her mule. Arrived at came not much after 1:00, just about 19 miles. Sure seemed like a short ride! And it was beautiful, almost entirely single track, just how I like it, some nice hills, forest, just gorgeous. Got back to camp and got Flash settled in, debated whether or not to do laundry today or tomorrow (I decided tomorrow, it will be drier and sunnier earlier in the day), and then spent the afternoon mostly reading and trying to relax a bit. Eventually after dinner I started going around collecting contact information. I learned from prior experience that the next few days get a bit too hectic to do that, and we actually had a central campfire tonight, so I was able to get most people’s contact information, which is nice to have. Stayed at the campfire until past 9:30 (it was still light out!), decided to skip my shower, had a nice cup of Sleepytime tea, now I’m off to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
With the cooler weather we’re back on the 7:00 bus schedule, so I was able to sleep in an extra 40 minutes or so from the last ride. Still up by 5:20 though! Was packed up and on the road by about 6:00, arrived at Rapid River about 30 minutes later, with only one trailer ahead of me, Girl Gail. Evidently, a lot of people are opting out of today’s ride, but I didn’t know how many (or should I say, how few!) until Jeff came by to pick me up on the bus, and I was the only rider on it! Other than Carla and Rachel, the two girls from TN that have a rig jumper and have been out of camp on horseback by around 5:30 every morning (so, not on the bus), and me, that was it! I was the only rider on this entire section of trail! Got back and saddled up Flash and headed out, and he seemed very rested and in good spirits. Leaving camp, you have to go down some steps and make a river crossing, and more steps up the other side, and with all the rain overnight, the water was quite a bit deeper, but he didn’t mind that. He hesitated on the steps for a minute, though, but I managed to persuade him to go down. I had to lift my electronics and my legs up to stay dry, though, it was pretty deep! Got over with no problem. The first ten miles was just gorgeous, mostly single track through beautiful hardwoods and other deciduous trees. Then came the detour, which was all sandy road, very little gravel, thankfully. Saw some bear tracks, big and small, along the road. I actually decided not to put his boots on until we needed them, so that was about mile 15 when we crossed a road and had to ride along a paved road for 1.5 miles, then back to sandy and some gravel roads. Finally took his boots off again about 7 or 8 miles from camp, as again, the surface was mostly sandy, then turned back into forests and single tracts to finish off. Because it was such a long ride, I mostly had him walk for the first 20+ miles, so that he wouldn’t slow down too much, but during the last 8 miles or so, I had him do some short gaits, and alternate that with walking to pick up some time. Finally arrived in camp right around 5:30, just about nine hours in the saddle! Amazingly, the only things that hurt were the things that hurt this morning (a big bruise on my thigh, and my usual toe cramping on my right foot), but it’s definitely going to be a three ibuprofen night! It didn’t start raining until about 3:00, and I stayed mostly dry until my rain pants started channeling water into my boots, so they got soaking wet. The rest of me wasn’t too bad, just socks and boots and hair. Jeff B. came out when he saw me, said he’d just texted and called me to see how I was doing. My phone was still in airplane mode, and I was only about 20 minutes out, so not bad. Actually arrived just about when I figured I would! Anyway, managed to get Flash taken care of, then heated up a bowl of soup, went to the riders meeting, now all I have to do is take a much needed hot shower and go to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!