Hiya Babe!
Another good night sleep, followed by a busy day! After chores and breakfast, I arranged for a hay pickup, and learned that my tires had arrived at Discount, so worked that all into the afternoon schedule. Meanwhile in the morning, I outfitted my new saddle, which took some imagination since it doesn't have a horn, which meant my horn bag and both saddle covers, which had horn straps on them, had to be figured out. It feels a bit smaller, but I think that might be a good thing, since the saddle I've been using was the bigger of the saddles we had. After I thought I had my configuration, Flash and I headed out on a short ride just to see how it went. I made a few adjustments, but was surprised by how steep the trails right out of camp were, and I didn't bother to put on his breast collar, which I soon regretted. Fortunately, we went less than three miles, but part of that was on a trail that was apparently closed, and we had to work a bit to get around some downed trees, but managed just fine. We only went less than three miles, but it was enough for my purpose. Got back to camp, got him put away, then went about removing the two tires I had planned to changed today. Getting the spare off was no problem, but once I jacked up the right rear and started to get off that old tire, I ran into some problems. The first couple of lug nuts came off easy, then got a little harder, until I had all the nuts off except for one. One bloody nut that just refused to come off. I tried everything I could with the tools I had, but I needed either an air wrench or a breaker bar, neither of which I had. In desperation, I headed down to the other campground, where I asked the hosts if they had either of those things, and unfortunately the answer was no, so I headed to the office to pay for my stay, and also to ask for those things. Sorry to say, the girl at the counter was quite unwilling to help, even told me they wouldn't help folks even if they did have the tools to help! Sad commentary on the stewards of "public" lands. Anyway, at that point I called my insurance company, since I have road service coverage and was desperate, then headed back to camp so I could meet them there. After playing robo-round with their phone service (very disappointed in you, Progressive!), I was told the service provider would call me, but they never did. Not long after that, however, the campground hosts from the other campground came around, having discovered something that would serve as a breaker bar, and before long, we had that final lug nut loose! Yay! I managed to make my appointment to pick up hay (which I was in danger of missing due to the delay), and then headed down to Discount tire to get my two wheels changed out. That took longer than previous stores, but I wasn't in any hurry, and they got it done. He also added a warranty to the tires, so apparently if any of the fail during the next ten years, they'll be repaired or replaced for free! Sweet! I hope I remember that next time one fails! Got back to camp and started to put the first tire on, when the campground hosts swung by again to see how I was doing, and came to help, which was much appreciated! We got the two new tires on in short order, though once again, there was ONE lug nut that wouldn't come off, but with the breaker bar, we managed it pretty quickly. The biggest problem was with the spare, we couldn't get it on the spare rack without deflating it down to about 30 lbs., so I'm going to have to fill it back up at some point. At least that job is done! All four tires are new and manufactured within a few month from each other, so hopefully I won't have any more tire problems for four or five years! The hosts left with my thanks, then I unloaded the six bales of hay and put them away under the gooseneck. I only bought six because the haymaker said he'd be baling new hay starting tomorrow, so I'm more than happy to wait for that! Turns out he's a friend of one of the managers at the ride I'm working in a couple of weeks! Small world! Anyway, finally finished off the day, settled down for the evening, ready for bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Well, today turned out better than I had planned! Got up with the early alarm and was ready for an 8:00 volunteers meeting, which never actually happened, but I had been assigned as a vet scribe, so that's what I spent the majority of my day doing. That's a job that gets busy all at once, is chaotic for awhile, then settles down to nothing in between. The day started out rainy and rather cold, with a chilly breeze, but by the afternoon it had finally rained itself out, the clouds started to disperse, and once the sun came out, it was a gorgeous day. I was chilled until the sun finally arrived, so thankful for that! Around 4:00, I happen to overhear a conversation about one of the four-wheelers not working, and I inquired as to whether that meant trail markers would have to come down by horseback, but then I was told they were talking about Shaker Village's UTV's, not the private one that would be used. Well, after a couple of minutes of clarification, I managed to get them to agree to let me go out on Flash and pick up some ribbons, and to my surprise, they agreed! Yay! I quickly had him saddled up and was out on the pink 11 mile trail by 4:30, ready to do our usual trail un-marking, only to be rather stunned at the realization that here, they don't use the usual clothespins that everyone else uses, but instead, they tie the ribbon directly to a branch! I couldn't believe it! That really slowed things down. I either had to stop and try to untie them, or, when the branch was small enough, to break the branch and strip the ribbons off that way. Flash couldn't understand what was taking me so long, he's so used to the amount of time it takes me to just grab a clothespin, and in most cases, this was much longer, which tried his patience a bit. Nevertheless, after a few stops, he figured it out and let me take more time at each stop. Crazy slow compared to what we're used to! But we did manage to get the 11-mile trail done and were back to camp right at 7:00, so we made pretty good time despite the challenge. Flash was great, he really understands this trail marking/unmarking job, and even with boots on, he moved out very nicely. Handed over the markers and was rewarded with a long-sleeved T-shirt, but the only size they had was XL, but that will be handy when I need lots of layers in colder weather. Gave Flash some extra feed, got all my stuff put away, but I'm not going to hook up until tomorrow. I only have a two hour drive to Clark Forest, and I never heard from Taylorsville State Park, plus I've arranged to hopefully buy a lightweight Aussie saddle on the way. Managed to watch an hour of TV, but will be off to shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Had a good night sleep, though I'm trying to stay on Eastern Time as much as possible, so ignoring the clock and just going with the circadian rhythm of day and night. Got my usual chores done, then saddled up Flash for what may be the only ride we get here, since the forecast is indicating 100% chance of rain tomorrow, though how long that rain will last is anybody's guess. I decided to take advantage of some advice from a Facebook friend and headed out on a trail designated "the trails less traveled," which took me to Deer Gap, a Waterfall, Owen's Home Place, Owen's Overlook, the Stone House, and Fairyland, all in one go. It was about fourteen and a half miles of pretty, well-marked trails, with obvious sight-seeing points along the way. I had been told in the office the footing was good here, and I didn't put Flash's boots on at first, but by the time I was halfway across the camp on the way to the trailhead, I realized we were definitely going to need them so I stopped and put them on (I had packed them in the saddlebag.) Glad I did, too, because there were a lot of areas with rocks and gravel. Overall, the trails were lovely, offering a lot of elevation changes, much more so than at Biltmore, so Flash got quite a workout. He was brilliant and willing as always, my great horse! What a fabulous trail horse he has turned out to be. The only issue was one trail that was blocked by a very large tree, and I had to go cross country downhill to another trail below it to get back on track. No big deal, but I reported it to the office later in the day. I took so many pictures! Lots to see out here. I can see why it's such a popular place, especially considering there are about 100 miles of trail, and I only rode 14.5 today! Could be an option for a longer stay at some time in the future. We were out for less than four hours in all. After rinsing him off and putting him back on the highline, Lola and I drove into town to get two propane tanks filled at Tractor Supply, as well as pick up a bag of Senior feed for Apollo, then headed over to Walmart to pick up a few things before getting back to camp. Settled down for the evening routine, ready for my shower as soon as I finish my tea. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Didn't sleep as well last night, not sure why, but was up and around getting on with my chores when Art showed up, having arrived from Canada last night. He went on to a meeting after a few minutes, and I finished up my chores and breakfast, giving Flash a bute with breakfast so he wouldn't have any pain on this final ride. I also put boots on him when I saddled him up later, and between the two things, he was much more comfortable today. As I was leaving camp, I ran into several people I knew and had to chat with, so it was a later departure than I had planned, but nevertheless, we did the full 18 miles in slightly less time than yesterday, so our pace was much better. He was slow for about the first mile or so, until he figured out that he wasn't hurting, then he picked up speed and was his normal self for the rest of the ride, and even finishing up with some nice speed runs on the way back to camp. Some of the trail was a repeat of the other trails we had already done, but some of it I hadn't done since last year, and hadn't been affected by the hurricane, so it was really pretty and nice. Was very glad Flash was back to his old self, and also that he will have several days off, though it's forecast to get quite a lot cooler, so it'll be back to blankets at night in a few days! Art was at the tent next to my trailer with Steve and some other folks chatting, so I joined them once I put Flash away. One of our neighbors had fallen off her horse when it moved while she was on the mounting block, and was dizzy and vomiting, so it was decided to call the paramedics, since she hit her head and it sounded like a concussion. Steve and Art stayed behind to look after her animals while I went ahead to the volunteer meeting to learn what my jobs for the next few days were to be, then ended up following around a van full of volunteers (they couldn't fit us all in) to show us where our respective job sites were. When I got back, Art had collected some dinner from the vet/meeting tent, though it was cold, so I offered to heat them up in the microwave and to eat together. Of course, my generator decided not to start, even though it had enough battery juice for a change. Opened up a new propane tank, that didn't help, so I knew it had to be low oil, so I opened that up, and though it didn't look too bad, it took nearly half a quart of oil. Then it finally started, so I closed up that new propane tank (since the other tank wasn't really empty), and heated up dinner for us. We chatted until about 8:30 when he left, now I have to finish my evening routine (no time for TV!), take my shower and get to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Last night I had some Sleepytime tea for the first time in a long time, and I slept like a baby! Of course, that might have had something to do with the 22 miles Flash and I rode yesterday! After chores, I got him saddled up for our assignment of the day, the 15 mile red trail. No surprisingly, he was a lot slower today. I got the impression it wasn't muscular, but rather his feet were sore, and I'm pretty sure that was my fault for not putting on his boots. There's a lot more gravel roads being used for trails on the other side, and though I didn't find any visible stone bruising this morning, I'm pretty sure that is was his feet that were the issue. I didn't figure it out until we were well out of camp, so we carried on, just taking our time, which ended up being over five hours. I also went slower because I did quite a bit more trimming and trail clearing, which also slowed us down, but it was a beautiful day, partly cloudy, upper 60's, just perfect! We had no reason to be in a hurry. My pictures today focussed on all the spring flowering trees and brambles, the perfume in the woods at the moment is absolutely gorgeous! Blackberry vines, mountain laurel, and much more all contributed to the heady scent in the woods today. Heavenly! Got back to camp before 4:00, and I was just getting Flash untacked when Louis showed up. We got him backed in and in sync with the neighbors, then I took Flash over to the washrack and got him cleaned up and put away. We chatted for a bit, filled his water tanks, topped off mine while we were at it, and settled down for the night. He offered me dinner but I had already thawed out some chicken, and starting tomorrow, they'll be feeding us volunteers, and I didn't want it to go to waste. Couldn't quite get a good enough signal for TV tonight for some reason, so I just read a bit, and once I'm finished posting and drinking my Sleepytime tea, I'll be off to bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Slept pretty well, though woke up around 4:00 when it started raining heavily. That lasted until almost 9:00, which is when I finally got up and did my morning chores. After breakfast, I put on my rainsuit and saddled up Flash, and we headed out to do our assigned trail for today, the Lime trail. Thankfully it didn't rain, though there was still of a lot dampness around, and I had no trouble clearing out some of the branches and limbs that were in the way. When I got back to the arena area, they were putting up the vet tents, and the organizers were there. I let them know the condition of the trail, and Flash wouldn't sit still, so Stagg asked me if I wanted to help with something else, and I asked, "What do you have in mind?" Turns out they hadn't fully checked the blue trail over on the west side, the side that's NEVER open except on ride day, and he wanted to know if I would do it. OF COURSE!! Flash had been doing well all day, the weather had turned sunny, he seemed to have plenty of energy, and I would never turn down the chance to see the other side, which is where the vineyards and cattle and the rest of the working farm is. I met them at the bridge, which they opened for me, then staged themselves along the route to help me in some of the areas where the trail wasn't open yet. What an honor! I feel like I really earned my stripes today! In the end, we did over about 22 miles, which was more than I had bargained for on the first day, and I hope it doesn't take away from the two more days of riding we have left to do, but we'll see. Saw lots of wildlife today: deer, turkey, Canadian geese with lots of baby goslings. Not like the Serengeti, of course, but still, nice viewing today! Got back to find that one camper that had come in earlier had spread her paddock in such a way as to take up about three spaces, and her friends had come in and were about to park in the space I had hoped to have my friend Louis across from me, so there was a bit of awkwardness as we tried to straighten that out. They really cut back on our camping sites this year for volunteers, so it's definitely going to be crowded in this little space. I put out a couple of orange cones next to me, I'm hoping they'll still be there when Louis arrives. Anyway, it was a lovely day of riding, I just LOVE MY HORSE SO MUCH! Flash was brilliant, we cantered and gaited for miles, and had the best time! Hope he'll be as enthusiastic tomorrow! Finally settled down for the evening, looking forward to an early nice and another lovely ride tomorrow. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
A terrible night sleep, which often happens after a day of too much rest! It was after 3:00 before I nodded off, but got up at 8:30 to get the day started. Started doing a little packing, then after chores and breakfast decided to take Flash for a short ride with Lola. I wanted to make sure I didn't have any more pain as a result of my fall in Africa (thankfully, I didn't!) and to reassure myself that I could, indeed, ride a canter without fear, which, thankfully, I did! We galloped around the entire perimeter of two of Linda's back fields, which, of course, wasn't 10 minutes, but at least I felt very comfortable for the duration. First, though, we went down some other trails, and ended up doing about 3.65 miles out and back, which was just about right, since Lola was along and I didn't want to wear her out. She doesn't often get to come along when I'm riding Flash, so it was a really nice adventure for you. Felt so good to be back in the saddle of a horse I know and trust! Once we got back and he was back out in the pasture, I did a bunch of little chores that have been staring me in the face. I riveted the wheel well that got pulled off with my flat tire the other day, re-hung some pictures that have pulled off the walls, did three loads of laundry, got the truck lined up and the four extra bales of hay moved into it, packed up my lawn chair and table, and generally just got ready for our departure tomorrow. Once that was all done, I sat in my recliner and ended up falling asleep! Finished my evening with the last of the leftovers and a few more episodes of Damages, heading to bed early, need to make up for all the hours lost last night! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Got up at the usual wake up time at 6:30, followed by breakfast around 7:00 and then finally preparations to go riding at 8:00. Luke had arranged for me to go out with my own guides for a short walking ride, which I approached with great enthusiasm as I did wake up feeling a little bit better this morning, and it was a very nice ride, just over an hour long. By the end of it though I was feeling quite sore again, so I was glad to get back to camp. I decided then that I really wasn't able to have an afternoon ride, much as I would have liked to, but I'm just still a bit too sore, and I'm afraid I'm exacerbating a cracked rib or something similar. Spent the rest of the morning reading until lunch time which we all did together again, and then spent the afternoon doing the same, reading and resting. They all went out on another ride at 4:00 but I stayed in my tent recuperating. Morisa came by around 6:00 and invited me to what he called Bush television, which was a campfire. They had some meat-on sticks broiling around the edge of the fire, which turned out to be fresh goat meat. Shortly thereafter the rest of the gang arrived back from their ride, and we were soon situated by the campfire having our daily sundowner. We munched on some of the goat meat, and then I kept my promise of providing some entertainment, and recited the Snowy River poem. Everyone else went to take a shower, getting back just in time for dinner at 7:30, where we got fed even more delicious food. Dessert of chocolate cake was then presented to us in a parade of the entire crew chanting and singing around the table, of which I got a great video. Afterwards, I had a three bucket shower so I could wash my hair, then off to bed! Early start tomorrow, as we head back toward civilization. Good night, my love!

Woke up about a half an hour before the 6:30 water delivery, was up and about right after, packed up my bags because we were moving today, before going to breakfast. Carried everything that I needed during the day out to breakfast, leaving my big bag fully packed, behind. Enjoyed the lovely breakfast and was ready to go by 8:00. Headed out amongst the usual herds of wildebeest and zebras, saw one elephant but unfortunately we were up wind so as soon as it caught our scent it meandered off. We reached one point where there were a bunch of giraffe, and we stayed and watched them for a while, all the time they watched us. It was hard to tell who was the audience, and who was the entertainment! Lots of fun. Stuck mostly to the plains again, fully enjoying the ride. We were out about two and a half hours, then stopped at a waypoint for lunch. Not back at camp but at a place under some lovely trees, where we were soon practically surrounded by thousands of wildebeest and zebra, who seemed rather surprised to discover that we had taken over this part of the plain, and were a bit confused about how to get around us, but they managed to find a route and we got a real parade. We had lunch and then relaxed around on large pillows on a canvas, feeling like sultans of Old Arabia. We chatted a bit, show each other pictures of our horses and other important things in our lives, exchanged contact information, but didn't get any nap time in. We saddled back up again and headed out circuitously toward camp, this time going through more of a forested area, in the hopes of finding a lion, because apparently this is their habitat. Unfortunately, one of the horses shied badly at something, which was rather amusing since they were not the least bit troubled by the thousands of zebras and wildebeests going through at lunch time, but it caused a chain reaction amongst the horses, and my horse Roy made a dramatic step sideways and I lost my balance and ended up on the ground. I hit back on the ground first, then my hip on my fanny pack, and my helmet on the ground. It took me a few minutes to regain my breath and get back up into the saddle, but I can tell that the fall on the hip and is going to be probably the worst of it. Nothing broken but I guarantee you I'm going to have a bruise the size of Australia on my hip. We carried on in the best fashion possible, getting back to camp around 5:00, where I medicated myself with several gin and tonics and an ice pack. It was a lovely evening, a fabulous dinner watching the sun set. It looks like there was some rain off on the horizon, so hopefully the grass will be green and the animals will stick around, and then finally it was time to head to bed. Katya offered up some pain relief cream, which I accepted gratefully, and I headed to my tent, took a couple of Naproxen, had a lovely shower, and headed straight to bed. I'm hoping against hope that by the morning I will be recovering nicely and not be too stiff to ride tomorrow morning. I really don't want to miss any of this, but I'm not going to kill myself in the process. Apparently tomorrow we are jeeping it into a town for the afternoon, and having a fly camp, which will be much more primitive, for the night, and then we will Jeep it back to the camp we're in now, which they call the sunset camp. I'm going to just take it one day at a time and see how I feel tomorrow. I'm a bit ticked off about this, because I was just saying how grateful I was that I was in good physical health during this ride, not getting sick or not feeling badly like I have for my last two vacations, I hope I just didn't jinx it. I did have sort of a premonition overnight last night that I would take a fall but I was hoping I was wrong. Anyway, time for bed, and we'll see how it goes in the morning. Good night my love!

OMG! To try to describe this day would be all but impossible! After arriving back at my tent last night, to a bed warmed with a hot water bottle, I couldn't decide whether to wear earplugs or not, but after several minutes of loud wildebeest grunting, I had no choice. I woke up once around 2:00 in the morning, worrying about how I was going to overcome my discomfort about riding, determining that I would wear the half chaps I borrowed and the seat cushion that I brought, then when I discovered what time it was, I decided I needed to get some more sleep, so I managed to nod off again, and slept through until I heard the staff pouring water into the wash basin outside. I actually think he poured it three or four times just to make sure that I was awake, so I finally just said good morning and he acknowledged and went away. Got up, washed my face, did my morning ablutions, and was soon off to breakfast, where once again we were spoiled by incredible food. Finished getting ready to go riding and we all walked down to where the horses were at 8:00, as planned. I had expressed some uncertainty about my mount Nadal, which Luke took to heart, so by the time we got to the horses, he had decided to remount me on a horse named Roy. How's that for kismet? I had mentioned that if things did not work out with Nadal today, that I would prefer a horse that was lower to the ground and that had a mane that I could grab onto, and that was exactly the bill that Roy fit. A lovely chestnut, a bit smaller than the rest, but with my new saddle cover, it provided a much better sense of security, and I felt much more comfortable about the whole thing. We headed across the plains to the north, winding our way through herds of zebra and wildebeest, and then locked on to an incredible sighting of a predominantly nocturnal creature called the honey badger. It looked like a giant skunk, black with a white stripe all the way down it's center. We watched it for quite some time as it foraged through the grass until it finally arrived downwind of us, at which point it galloped off. Our guide Luke expressed his delight at being able to see that particular creature, since they are apparently very rare at midmorning when we were viewing it. We continued on, heading toward a flock of vultures, who are making short work of a fairly recent carcass of a Thompson gazelle, all the while winding through herds of everything imaginable, including ostriches. We did a number of canters, which took a little getting used to again, but Roy was quite willing and his canter was reasonable. He was a little bit more stubborn about taking direction, but for the most part he followed along with the rest. Since he was smaller and his strides were shorter, we often got behind the rest of the pack, except for the drag rider, but I didn't care because I felt a lot more secure on him than I did on Nadal. Still hanging on to the saddle during the canters, but still feeling a bit more secure about it. We did a nice loop around the plains area, seeing multiple herds of a variety of animals, and ending up along the tree line looking for additional animals. We got back to camp, had a lovely lunch, the other girls had a shower but I'm holding off until later tonight, then managed to get a nap in the afternoon for more than an hour, surprisingly. Headed back out for our second ride of the day, this time into a valley that was full of trees and bushes and thorns and a bit more interesting than the plains, and we're quickly rewarded by a string of giraffes right by the tree line. We gazed at them for a while, then we cantered alongside them, before finally heading down into the valley. We were extremely lucky to quickly find an elephant who was playing in some water deep in the brush, and eventually after he finished playing, he laid down along the edge of this puddle and took a nap. We watched him for a good 20 minutes or so, maybe longer, as he flapped his ears and slept. Evidently it's very rare to see them in that relaxed a position, so it was quite an event. There was another elephant nearby who we also watched for a while. Quite a sight! We carried on a little bit longer and ran across some more zebras and wildebeests, and then came across some more giraffes, including four babies and an adolescent. We watch them for a while as well. What an amazing, amazing day! The first ride was nearly 14 miles, and the second ride was just over 4 miles, which I was kind of happy about because I was starting to feel a little bit tired despite the nap. But it was absolutely filled with incredulity at all of the creatures that live freely out here. We headed back to camp, got the horses put away, and had a well-earned gin and tonic or two as we watched more herds pass by and the sun go down. It was amazing! It was so easy to feel like one of the early explorers, out in the bush with a tribe of help meeting our every need. The two girls both took a shower after happy hour, but I waited until after dinner. Dinner once again was extraordinary! We had a beef curry that was second to none. Stories were shared, lessons were learned, and the entire evening was absolutely delightful as the stars began to appear. I finally asked for my shower water, which was quickly delivered, I've had my nice warm shower and shampoo, and will soon be off to sleep. We move camp tomorrow so I have to pack up everything in the morning, but I'm looking forward to the next place, though frankly this one has been so remarkable, I could probably stay here all week! Almost feel like there's not much more I can see that could be better than what I've already seen but I guess, we'll see! Absolutely remarkable! Far exceeding my wildest expectations. Spoiled for any further adventures in the wild, I'm sure. Time for sleep! Good night, my love!