Hey Babe!
What a beautiful ride we had today! This is the kind of ride I’m talking about! Granted the day started out quite chilly (38 degrees out when I woke up at 6:00 this morning!), but I stayed in bed for while longer to let it warm up, then put on plenty of layers. After chores and breakfast and some time on the computer applying for Medicare and my union pension, I saddle up Flash with all the extra accouterment of tack that we haven’t needed in awhile, like boots and his breast collar, so we can tackle the rocks and mountains that are on the trails here. Lola was restless this morning, and raring to go! We left about 11:30 and sure enough, a long climb was the start of the ride. I had been warned it would be rocky, and it certainly was! We start out on the lower side of the loop, Trail #105, which was mostly a forest road, but eventually it did narrow down to single-track, though an OHV would be able to make it, if allowed. Once we reached the farther north end and picked up Chestnut Mountain Trail #104, it was definitely single track, and a lot steeper, so we climbed to the top much more quickly than going the other way, which was a long gradual climb. These are the kinds of trails I love, where there’s a steep cliff of beautiful rock on one side and a steep slope down into the holler on the other. The wilderness west side was much narrower and closer to the edge, so quite invigoration! Despite the hills, rocks and boots, Flash still insisted on doing his level best to go as fast as possible, even slipping once to his knees, though he was right back up and no worse for the wear. He leapt over logs, one time catching me so off-guard I got a bit unbalanced, but made it through okay. One of his boots kept coming off, unfortunately, though not too surprising, they’re certainly stiff after have not been used for awhile, but they softened as the day went on, which is why one kept coming off. I always heard it, so we never got far before I stopped, but the last time it happened, just about a mile before we reached camp, I heard it come off, then I heard the crackling of dried leaves and realized the darn thing had started rolling down the hill! I watched it go, hoping it would stop, and thank goodness, it finally banked against a tree about 50 steep feet away. I had to tie up Flash and go fetch it, and it was quite the challenge to get back up again! I managed it though, but Lola was worried for a minute, she tried to follow me down and almost got stuck herself. Got back to camp shortly after that, and came across a guy backing up a horse trailer into a site a couple of doors down from me, about as slow as I was since the sites are a little tricky for a long trailer. Unfortunately, as soon as he was set up he started blaring his radio. Not that I minded his selection of music, just that I really like peace and quiet in a camp, but I can’t hear a thing with the windows closed anyway, and considering the temps are dropping fast, it won’t bother me. Had some soup for dinner, watched a little TV, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep, then after breakfast I took Apollo on a short ride just for the exercise. When I got back I mostly finished packing. I wanted to move that trailer on to hard ground, and Deb had asked neighbor Fred to be on hand in case I got stuck. Well, we almost made it! We put the landing pads in all the right places, and moved right off the spot, but then we got our communications off a bit, and I got directed too far off to one side and my trailer tires went into a soft spot (it rained hard again early this morning), and that created a bunch of problems. Eventually, I had to disconnect the trailer and come in at it from a right angle with the truck, plus a little assist with Fred’s 4×4, and managed to get straightened out. Not taking any chances, we went all the way out to the road, then backed up onto the hardest driveway surface just far enough to get off the road. It will be a close call on the turn, but I’m sure I can make it in one or maybe two tries. It took about 90 minutes to accomplish all that, so I’m really glad we did it today so I don’t get stuck tomorrow! I filled the truck water tank about half full so I’ll have some for the horses in case there’s a problem when I get to Lost Corral, and everything is fully charged up. I checked all the fluids in the truck, I did the tires last week, so I think I’m done! I made a discovery with the inverter, too, I actually left the charger on so long that it fully charged the battery and then turned off. I don’t think I’d ever heard it do that before! All the way do to 2 amps! I used to shut if off around 15, but these new batteries are terrific. Fred and his sister Roseanne, who was very entertained by the whole thing, invited me to dinner, which was great! I didn’t have to cook or clean or use up any of the water in the trailer (I put about half a tank in there, too, so I’d be able to pack up the hoses and still take a shower), and it was a delicious meal of smoked pulled pork, beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, and peanut butter cookies for desert. Hmm, mmm, good! Got back, settled down to a fun movie with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, and will finish off as usual! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Had a better night sleep last night than I’ve had in awhile, had my earplugs in, that always helps. I did vaguely hear Sheila leave this morning, but had a few more hours sleep after that. I knew my mechanic was coming over today, but he’s never gotten here early, and I’m tired of missing days of riding, and it’s supposed to rain this afternoon, so I took a chance and saddled up Flash after breakfast and took him for a short ride down to the end of the trail along the river again. Not quite so speedy as the other day, likely because it’s been a lot more hot and humid, but we still did five miles in just 1:10, so not too bad. Just as I was coming down the road on the last stretch to the house, Daniel’s truck was coming in from the other direction, and we arrived at just about the same time, so it was perfect timing! Right at noon. He’d already replaced the missing adjuster screw on the one brake they’d taken off, so he put that on, rewired it because apparently there had been a loose wire before, which likely accounted for some of the problems, and put it all back together. Then he took off all the rest of the brakes, greased the bearings, readjusted everything, and it seems like there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with them other than what he fixed, so I’m hoping this well work for the time being. I thought he charged me a reasonable price considering all the extra trips they had to make out here, and he did a great job of filling in the holes he had to dig out to jack it up, so it seems almost level now, which will hopefully make it easier to pull out of here. I’ve decided to move tomorrow, just to get into a part of the driveway where I have more confidence I won’t get stuck again, better to have any trouble tomorrow instead of Monday, since the drive on Monday will be very long. I don’t need to start the day off getting stuck! He was finished by about 4:00, just as the rain was coming in (again, perfect timing!), so I settled down for the evening to dinner and a movie, though not one I particularly liked. Too violent, so many twists and turns it became almost impossible to follow, and they were pushing the envelope on every adult theme you can think of. Anyway, now it’s teatime, Spanish lesson time, shower time and bed time! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
What a perfect day! Great weather, a gorgeous trail, my fabulous speedy horse, just a perfect day! Today we cut through the Spirit of Suwannee Park to reach the river trail, and followed it down to the old “graffiti” bridge, and kept going all the way down to the Linnville Tract, which had some wonderful trails. Some were in better shape than others, but they were all passable. When Flash saw a long straightaway along the south fenceline, he just decided he had to run the whole way! Didn’t exactly go on my planned route, but it didn’t matter, we rode almost every trail in there anyway, just in a different order, and he just kept cantering and gaiting fast as much as he could! Full of vim and vigor today! On the way back, I decided to cross the graffiti bridge to get a look at the Suwannee Springs, and he didn’t like the feel of that hollow concrete, so I had to dismount and walk him across, then mounted back up and he was fine on the way back over. Took a video, will try to upload it, but my connections a little spotty. In all, we did over 12 miles in less than 2:45, and that includes walking over the bridge. Pretty speedy! Meanwhile, I got a confirmation from FedEx that my parts should get here tomorrow (yeah, right. You know how much I love FedEx… NOT!!) Played Farkle with just Sheila after dinner, I won one and she won two. Then a rainstorm came in, lots of thunder further south, just a bit of rain here, enough to settle the dust. Did more research on Mammoth Cave, think I found another campground that I’m going to switch over to. Of course, there is a cancellation fee for the reservation I made, which is another thing that hardly ever happens anywhere else! But the new place I’m looking at seems a lot friendlier, though only a little bit less expensive, feeling a lot better about it. Trying to get Trish and her gang to change, too, but in any event, the new place is a lot closer to where they’re staying, so it will be easier all around. Anyway, it’s been a long and lovely day, heading to shower and bed! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Darlin’,
A good night sleep, spent the morning ordering the parts I needed, but still don’t have a tracking number yet, so I’m not sure yet when they’ll be getting here. Good thing I built some time into my schedule, though not too much extra, I’ll have to be careful to make sure I get where I’m supposed to be when I’m supposed to be there. Took a short ride on Apollo, just for exercise, mostly along the river, down to the Canoe Post and just beyond, just over an hour. The trails here are mostly beautiful, but there’s just not too many of them. It was cloudy and occasionally there would be a tiny spit of rain, but there’s more in the forecast, so I don’t know how much riding I’ll be doing this week, though I need to keep trying to get Flash in shape for the Shore-to-Shore rides in June. Moved my hay out of the truck into the trailer storage, spent most of the rest of the day reading and enjoying my clean trailer. Played Farkle, and for once, I didn’t win either game, which made it more even for the week. The usual, dinner and a movie, soon a shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Wasted most of the morning waiting for the mechanic again, thought they’d be here early, but it was after 11:30 by the time Daniel got here. Turns out the parts I picked up yesterday were the wrong parts (they packed the wrong ones), so we’re back to square one. I seem to remember the last time we tried to do the brakes on this thing we never could get our hands on the whole brake assembly. The guys who did it back in TN just cleaned up the old brakes, I think. So I spent some time in the afternoon trying to track down the brake assemblies, and I think I may have found some in SC, but they’re closed so I can’t be sure until Monday, though I did email them. So once Daniel left, and I sent Justin the link to the website where I found them, that was all that can be done for now. Obviously, I’ll be staying here at Sheila’s until this can be resolved, I’m most definitely not going to try to drive through mountains without fixed brakes! Then I spent some time on the phone with Verizon, the last few days my outgoing text messages have not been going through, turns out they did an update that had a glitch, took awhile to get it fixed but it seems to be working now. Then I decided that Flash had been idle long enough, there’s no way I’m going to get him conditioned unless I ride him, and Lola needed some exercise, so I saddled up and we took a short fast ride, covering 4.8 miles in less than an hour, doing a lot of gaiting and cantering. We even stopped for a couple of minutes at the end of the trail, went down to the river so Lola could have a drink and meet a bunch of other dogs that were down there with a group of young men that were there by boats. Had a good canter on the way home, so he did get a little workout, albeit short. Got back in time to make a quick chicken dinner and join the folks for a game of Farkle. I won the first one again by a good margin, but lost the second, Sheila got very far ahead early and none of us were even close to catching up when she went out. Fun, easy game! Came back and watched a movie, so now, of course, it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Babe!
What a perfectly beautiful day! Mid 70’s, gorgeous! Did some computer work in the morning, spend a long time on the phone trying to line up someone to work on my brakes. The guy that was supposed to come, his wife was in a car accident so he’s been totally out of it, so I proceeded to try to find someone else, must have made a dozen calls, finally found a tire place that has road service, is used to working on big vehicles (including semis) and a five star rating that could come tomorrow. So relieved about that! Once I got that settled, I saddled up Flash and we went off and running, literally. After the first mile, he just wanted to move out, so, naturally, I let him! We went west out to Allard, a nice section with some beautiful, though unkempt, trails. A hidden gem that could certainly use some TLC!! A lot of the trails are hard to follow, but it’s not a huge area, so it’s not too hard to find your way around. I actually ended up following one trail all the way up to the Suwannee River, didn’t realize I could even do that! Flash was a dream today, and Lola certainly enjoyed herself, too. It was a great conditioning ride, too, he was cantering and gaiting through the woods for miles, and didn’t seem to mind at all. Gave him a nice rinse off when we got back, then I helped Linda air up her tires, she’s leaving tomorrow after having been here for six months! Of course, Flash promptly rolled, no surprise there, but it will fall off. Since it’s only going down to the mid-50’s tonight, I didn’t put blankets on, hope they’ll be okay, especially Apollo since his summer coat has barely come in. Settled down for the evening, my usual routine of a movie, Sleepytime tea, shower and bed! Fingers crossed my brake problem is resolved tomorrow! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, though I think it was a peacock that woke me up, but it was about 7:00 anyway, so that was fine. Woke up to a chilly morning in the mid 40’s, got my chores done, spent most of the morning finishing off the paperwork and computer business related to my recent job in Odessa, then ran the package down to the post office in town. Got back, and after a little bit, I saddled up Flash and Sheila did the same with her mule Pete, and we had a nice 5-mile plus ride along the river. Flash was ready to go, go, go, so it was a pretty quick ride, and beautiful as always, and we were back in no time. Had dinner, then gathered for another game of Farkle, though it was just the three of us. I came in second for the first game, and then, on my first turn, I managed to miraculously ring up 4550 points! That’s even more than I got in my last roll last night, which I never thought I’d be able to repeat! A typical turn gets you about 350-500 points, so you can see how rare it is. Naturally, with that big of a head start, no one could catch me, so I ended up winning that game. What a night! I left about 9:00, put the blankets on the horses again, settled down to ice cream, Sleepytime tea and a Remington Steele, now I’m heading to shower and bed. A nice day! Hoping the mechanic is coming tomorrow, but we’ll see! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Had a big scary storm move in around midnight last night, Lola kept trying to get into the bedroom (she hates storms!) but eventually settled down. I had to put my earplugs in, though, so I could sleep through the rain. Turned into a beautiful morning, though. Really getting back into the swing of things! After chores, saddled up Apollo for a short ride, tried to stay mostly in the shade as it really was hot and humid again today. West out the loop to the west, then cut over to Tree Frog Camp, then cut through some open range until we met back up with the trail again. He was a lot more sluggish today, back to his old ways I guess, but he did all right. When I got back there were a couple of trailers full of day riders, they came and went, then later in the afternoon a whole group of kids showed up to ride, though I got the impression they weren’t really riders, it was just some kind of kid’s outing. Meanwhile, I started packing some things up, put the awning up, which is getting harder and harder. The motor seems to be working but it’s not retracting the way it should, so I’m going to have the RV guy I’m expecting to work on my brakes next week to also have a quick look at that. From the youtube videos I’ve been watching, it seems to be a fairly common problem, hopefully he’ll have a quick fix for it. Everyone cleared out, and not much later another strong storm came through. I just managed to get just about everything put away when the real deluge started, literally the moment I closed the door. Some lightning strikes were a bit close for comfort! I also thought I heard a big popping sound, like maybe a transformer snapping, but not sure about that. It rained so hard I thought there was hail, but there wasn’t. I did end up putting the generator on for about 45 minutes today, since there wasn’t a lot of sun today, but that was enough to really bump up the voltage in the batteries. But I think four and a half days is doing really well on one small solar panel! I only have a few more small things to pack, and I’ll be heading out in the morning. Looking forward to moving on, though I did find a few more possible unofficial trails to explore next time I come here. Watched a fun movie with George Clooney and Julia Roberts set in beautiful Bali (one of those shore stops we were supposed to visit but got canceled on that cruise we ended up not taking!), and a few other things along with some reading. Love getting back to riding more often, feels great! Looking forward to our next stop! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Loving getting back to my routine! All the usual morning chores, then I saddled up Flash and we took a great 10+ mile conditioning ride. With the Shore to Shore Ride just six weeks away, it was past time to get serious about getting us both in condition for 20+ mile a day, so we walked a mile, ran a mile, walked a mile, ran a mile the whole way. He did great! He wasn’t at all bothered by the smell of pigs, but he did need a little encouragement to go over a long wooden bridge, it’s been so long since we’ve done bridges. He stalled a couple of times going over, but didn’t hesitate at all coming back. No gimpiness at all today, thank goodness, though I did have to put some more glue on the hoof that has a little crack on it. Nothing serious, I just don’t want it to crack any further. I’ve been filing it down to take the pressure off, treating it with alcohol or Vetericyn and hoof shine, and that all seems to be helping. It was a great ride, but once again, it was very hot today. Can’t wait to get further north to cooler weather!! Can’t be this far south this late in the Spring again. Said the same thing last year, and did, in fact, move a couple of weeks sooner, but still not early enough. Got back around noon, let the horses graze again, read, did a little computer work, then settled down for the evening once again. So good to be back to my usual routine, feels like I’m on vacation with this schedule! Life is good! On Day Three without running the generator, had a good day of sun on the solar panel, very happy with these new batteries! Could never have done this with the old Crowns. Trojans are the best, for sure! Worth the price! Been doing a good job of conserving water as well, still have 3/4 of a tank. Really getting back into the swing of things, it feels WONDERFUL!! Just tired of sweating, looking forward to traveling north on Monday. Love you, darlin’! Good night!