Hiya Sweetie!
Today was quite a bit more relaxed. While I woke up around 6:00 to the sound of bells, foot stomping and horses grazing (evidently that all came back to camp), and I was wishing I had put my earplugs in, I got up and started packing. Breakfast was a breakfast muffin with eggs and bacon, and the tempo was pretty relaxed. It takes a lot of time to pack up and load the mules, so I mostly read until we finally departed around 10:30. Today we had an extra special occurrence. We stopped at the famous Thorofare Ranger Station, which is billed as the most remote place in the lower 48 (50+ miles from the nearest road,) but because there's a fire nearby, it was being used as a staging position for the firefighters, and was therefore manned. In fact, we had seen multiple helicopter flights heading in that direction, and either dropping off or picking up gear. The man coordinating the rangers, I think he said his name was Zack or Zeb, was very kind and generous, and gave us the rare opportunity of a tour around the inside of their cabin, which is typically unmanned and locked. What a treat! The ancient wood stoves and other paraphernalia were amazing! We also got to see inside their barn, which was mostly being used for storage for the thirty firefighters currently stationed there (mostly in tents) and the corrals and pastures that have obviously been there for ages. We heard a lot of history and had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch time with them. Tony found a very odd tooth, possibly a fossil, and the ranger took it, promising to find out what it belonged to. We finally headed out and weren't out of that camp for five minutes when another helicopter dropoff came by. We were worried about how the critters would react to a helicopter close up if it came into camp while we were there, but the timing was perfect. It wasn't long before we crossed a wide valley to our new camp. I was surprised that in the miles of open fields that we traveled that we didn't see a single specimen of wildlife. Not a deer, or bison, elk or mountain goat. I had high hopes of seeing wildlife, and have thus far been somewhat disappointed. But we're only Day Four, so there's still hope. I'm hoping to stay up late enough to see some starts. I still remember that magnificent night sky we saw in Wyoming that one time when we were camping, when the stars were so thick we couldn't even pick out the constellations. Since we're so remote here, I'm hoping for something similar, if I can stay awake that long! We did see some spectacular scenery, but frankly, nothing that surpasses some of the other sites I've seen. Looking forward to the rest of the trip! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Since today was slated to be our longest ride of the excursion, nearly 20 miles (though it turned out to be less than 18, for which I am grateful!), I was up bright and early, before 6:00. I again had a fitful night, waking every few hours, even though I had taken ibuprofen and melatonin, though the last segment was the longest and deepest, and again, I almost missed hearing my alarm. I had put my earplugs in after the wind kicked up and it got noisy. A quick breakfast of yogurt and granola, packing up (my tent took me five minutes just to squeeze it into the bag), and we were on the trail shortly after 9:00. Where yesterday was hot, dry and cloudless, today was cooler, cloudy and windy. We had one tiny couple of raindrops, but otherwise it was an uneventful, though beautiful ride, first along the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake, then following Yellowstone River, finally cutting into a draw that was our campsite for tonight and tomorrow. Everybody needs rest and this is a lovely, out of the way spot. I managed to get my tent up with only one small correction, and I'm working on getting more air in my skinny mattress than last night, in hopes I will get a full night sleep! I need to stop eating lunch, though, it's way too much food and I'd rather have dinner. It's touch eating on horseback with all the dust. Almost wishing it would rain and settle it, I've had my bandanna over my nose all day, almost! Dinner was chili and cornbread with cheesecake for dessert, and I finally cracked open my box of wine, since we have the day off tomorrow. Back in my tent just after 8:00, sure hoping I get a good night sleep tonight! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!



Hiya Sweetie!
Despite my exhaustion, it still took me awhile to get to sleep last night, and I end up waking up at 3:40 anyway. I got up and took a couple of ibuprofen, and before I knew it, I was barely hearing my alarm! Almost slept through it! As it turned out, I could have slept later, because I decided to just finish the cereal dry that I had leftover from the airport "meal" from yesterday. Got everything packed up and ready, then got a text from my outfitter Chase that he'd be there just before 8:00, so I just read for awhile. He arrived right on time and we got everything loaded in his truck, and we drove about an hour to a trailhead south of Fishing Bridge, where two more trucks with livestock trailers and the rest of the crew and guests were. I met Keaton, the young wrangler working his first summer at Yellowstone, and also a newbie on the Thorofare Trail, Maureen, Chase's wife and partner (and boss :-)), and Ann and Tony from Louisiana, though they spent many seasons volunteering at Yellowstone. It took most of the morning to get everything packed on the horses and mules, and we finally hit the trail around 12:15. The day was glorious! Hardly a cloud in the sky, only a bit of haze from some distant wildfires that hopefully won't interfere with our trip. The first part of the trail still looked pretty barren from a huge fire back in 1988, but eventually we got into some older growth pine forest. We went just under nine miles to a lovely camp right on Yellowstone Lake, arriving around 3:30. I've been assigned a lovely, tall (just under 16 hands) Morgan/TN Walker gelding named Randy, who I 'm glad to report does not have that awful camel walk we experienced with those TN Walkers in Alaska! Of course, it was 3.5 hours of walking, though the mules kicked up a little in their string, so we had to stop briefly to get them straightened out. The lake was so inviting, I ended up putting my bathing suit on and taking a short dunk, which got all the day's dust off. Keaton showed me how to put up my tent, and a really cool self-inflatable mattress and sleeping bag. I reorganized my duffel (this morning I just threw everything in to see if it would all fit. It did, barely), and we had a sausage dinner, and it wasn't long before I came back to my tent to get an early start on my evening. We have a long 20 mile ride tomorrow, and they want to break camp by 7:30, and I saw today just how long it takes to pack these mules, so I'll be up early so I can figure out how to pack all this new gear! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin'!
Despite being tired last night, I had trouble falling asleep, so didn't feel as rested this morning as I had hoped. The day got off to a busy start, out on the trail by 10:30 with the intention of finishing up everything in the Horseshoe Bend Park and leaving only the Frenchtown Preserve to be done tomorrow, but that didn't quite work out. I got most of it done, but had to stop and remove several trees that had come down presumably because of the storm last night. Flash and I worked non-stop until nearly 3:30, and still have a couple of small trails to finish up. Then Richard called and asked for my help, and we ran out a load of woodchips to cover a section on the trail, and ran a small section of the trail, only discover more trees down, one that was totally impassable, so we had to clear all those up. It was nearly 6:00 by the time I got home, and we're going to have an even busier day tomorrow from the looks of it. We now have to run every trail looking for downed trees and any markers that may have come down (though from what I saw, remarkably, the ones I put up during the week seemed to all be still in place!), we have to put the signs out, but we're not going to get them before 10:00, so it will be a late start and a busy day. Off to bed early, with plans to take a Tylenol PM is I don't get to sleep right away, I can't afford another restless night! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Ribboned another four miles of trails this morning before heading off to town to do a major shopping, to get everything else I need for my trip to Yellowstone. Went to Lowe's first to get an "action hoe" (we used to have one for weeding which was brilliant, hoping to finish off her garden with it sometime soon!) and a shelf board. Then to Walmart for everything else, took several hours to work my way through, though there were quite a few things they didn't have, and one thing I completely forgot despite the fact it was at the top of my list, so the first thing I did after putting groceries away was to get on Amazon and order everything else I need. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, or won't forget to pack everything! Filled up with fuel so that's done for my trip to the airport (if Amanda wants to use it), and even managed to get a round bale of hay moved into the horses' pen so I won't have to worry about that anymore! Worked some more on the signs, but am SO READY for bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Busy, busy day! Flash and I headed out early to put ribbons up on several of the private properties that we're using, starting with the pink one that's the most southeast on the course. Got back after noon, and lo and behold, my loppers were sitting on the top step of my trailer!! Moments later, I received a text from Meg telling me that volunteer Al had found them! Amazing! I'm so happy they have been recovered! I took a short break, then grabbed blue and orange and did another seven miles of riding to do some other properties. It was 4:30 by the time I got back and put Flash away, tired but feeling very productive, and very happy about those loppers! Settled down for the evening, did some work on signs for the trails, watched a Haven, ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
I'm very mad at myself. Somewhere along the line yesterday, I lost the foldable loppers that I so depend on when I'm out clearing trails. It was deep in my saddle bags, so I wasn't too worried on the occasions when Flash and I cantered, but somehow, they've disappeared. I went out on Flash this morning, sure that I could find them, and ran the whole trail we took yesterday after the last time I used them, but there was no trace. I posted on the local FB groups, so I'm hoping that someone will find them and turn them in. Grrr!! So mad about that!! I'll be spending a lot more time on the trails this weekend, so who knows, maybe they'll turn up. Meanwhile, Annie and I went out in the side-by-side and finished doing the trim on the rest of the middle eastern section, while Meg did some work on the farm. Ready to start putting up markers tomorrow, at least on the private properties, which shouldn't be disturbed during the week. Need to pace myself, don't want to be exhausted when I leave for Yellowstone! Having trouble viewing TV now, think Verizon is seriously throttling down my usage, even though I upped my plan last month. Don't have time to mess with it now, so I'm doing a lot of reading instead. Did two loads of laundry today, so I'm ready for shower and bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Got lots done today! Rode Flash all around the southeast portion of the trails that we'll be using, doing a final trim on all but one section which has yet to be mowed. After that ride, Meg, Annie and I went out in the side-by-side and cleared almost all of the middle eastern section, until all of our equipment ran out of battery power. Not much left though. Got back after 4:30 having had a productive day! Settled down for the evening with some more episodes of Haven (I'm really hooked on that last few seasons), and once again planning for an early bedtime! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
The focus today was to check some more of the trails, do a little clearing and planning for next week's Horseshoe Bend Boogie Endurance Ride. Really beautiful trails here, and it's great that the neighbors are so helpful and willing to let us use some of their fields in between the government properties! There are multiple tracts being used, which creates a lovely diversity on the trails. Flash did a great job, as usual, with only the occasional heavy sigh when I made him stop to do some trimming when he would have preferred to run, but he did make up some speed when we circled some of the fields. My go, go, go guy! Did nearly ten miles today, in about three hours with all the stop-starting. After we got back, I spent a little time gathering all the old forms and documents for the 2022 Ocean to Lake trail ride and sent them all off to the new committee members who are trying to organize the latest rendition of the ride. Then I relaxed a bit in the evening, and that was pretty much it for the day! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Another good night sleep, managed to get on the trail by 10:30, mostly just checking some of the other trails, GPSing some trail changes to get an accurate mileage, and also doing a little clipping and pruning along the way. Flash did a brilliant job, as always, but with the occasional heavy sigh when we had to keep stopping. He's so funny! Had his newer boots on, didn't lose anything today, thank goodness, not that the terrain here was difficult. No mud, a few creek crossings, some stony bits and a lot of grass and dirt, so footing wasn't an issue. It is quite lovely here, and the trails are nice. No major blockages, so it was all good! Spent some time working on the trail maps, still not 100 percent finished, but we're working on it! Lost all of the work I did on my Google Earth from the last two days when my stupid computer decided to reboot without asking, a problem which I've tried to remedy many times and haven't been able to accomplish. Grrr! Other than that, it was a beautiful day! Lola's been playing with Meg's big rescue dog and getting a workout, and even started chasing one of her cats! I guess the cosequin is doing a great job! Settled down for the evening, planning on an early bedtime. Good night, sweetie! Love you!