Hi Sweetie,
Well, it isn’t often that I go for a ride on that old slug Apollo and NOT be the slowest horse in the pack! But that was certainly the case today! After a better night sleep (though I read for a lot longer than usual before finally turning the light off), I did my usual morning chores, had breakfast, then saddled up Apollo at 9:30 and arrived at the stable just before 10:00 for their “two hour ride.” Of course, first they had to finish tacking up the horses and doing an orientation and getting everybody mounted up, so we ended up leaving the barn about 10:30. As we followed the trail I stayed in the back out of the way, but Apollo, despite his sluggish ways, kept catching up to the two slowpokes just in front of me, a buckskin and a palomino mare who kept laying her ears back and kicking every time we got too close, so I had to keep pulling Apollo back to avoid that. Imagine, pulling Apollo back to slow down! Crazy! Anyway, we rode out for a little over two miles, stopping to let the slowpokes catch up a couple of times. The trails were pretty rocky in some places, and we had a serious switchback that was fun and reminded me of the Grand Canyon, then reached a beautiful overlook that spread a lovely landscape before us. It was right on the road, so several cars stopped to take pictures, and of course, there was one little girl who wanted to pet the horses so I took Apollo to her. We hung around there for, I swear, over 35 minutes, before heading back on a slightly different, less steep trail. Toward the end, we actually got an opportunity to trot (at which point I jumped to the front of the pack, since there was no way I was going to stay behind a bunch of slowpoke amateurs), and before I knew it we were back at the stables. A total of about four miles, that was their two hour ride. But it was about what I expected, and it gave me a chance to get a little bit of the lay of the land, and I’ve already planned my ride on Flash (with Lola) tomorrow, though it’s going to be pretty chilly in the morning. Frost warnings for tonight, would you believe! I’m not far enough south yet!! Been using a lot of propane with the furnace, no doubt I’ll have to run out to the nearest Tractor Supply soon to make sure I don’t run out. I baked myself some chicken for dinner, with rice and vegetables, the first real meal I’ve had in ages that wasn’t soup or cereal or eggs. A nice change. So now I’m headed off for an early shower, have to wash my hair tonight and don’t want to go to bed with a wet head. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up before 4:00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep hardly at all, read for a long time hoping to doze off, and only did for a couple of minutes. Got up and fed everybody, had breakfast, then Bobby showed up to ride, but we waited for Stephanie, who I thought was coming early, but turns out that she didn’t make it until after 1:00 because she thought we were going for a morning ride, which I didn’t know. Anyway, we finally got out on the trail, then Lola started getting all funny for some reason. She was so nervous about being behind the horses that at one point she actually headed back to camp, I had to return and bring her back. Fortunately we weren’t too far along at that point. I’m not sure what’s up with that, she was fine at McClennan with three horses, but today it made her nervous. She finally managed to get out front, and she was much better after that. I guess it’s just being behind the horses that’s bothering here. Anyway, we had a nice 5+ mile ride today, with leaves dropping all around us as we rode though the late peak woods. We were only out about two hours, but Apollo managed to keep up with me and Bobby’s Tennessee Walker Legend, doing some jogging to keep up. I let them out on the grass when we got back (after I filled up the truck water tank), then Steph made us all some dinner, which was a nice change for me. Afterwards I had to get the horses in, and they weren’t very forthcoming so I had to meet them halfway out in the field to persuade them to come in. Then we sat around the campfire for a bit, I did Snowy River for them, then we broke up for the evening and I headed back to the trailer. Had my usual ice cream with Sleepytime tea (no wine today, though), which I’m hoping will help me get a good night sleep. I only managed to put a few things away, but the next place is only just over an hour south of here, so there’s no reason to rush out in the morning. I watched a couple of shows, now I’m ready for shower and bed, so I’ll say good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
A slightly better night sleep, woke up just once and managed to get back to sleep fairly quickly. Was up at dawn though, about 7:00, to a lot of thick fog. I read a little, then got up and fed the horses, then drove into Carrollton, the nearest town, to get the propane tanks refilled. It was cold last night and I had to run the furnace a bit, and it’s going to get worse over the next few days, so I didn’t want to run short. I also ran into Kroger for some things I haven’t been able to get at Walmart, then got back to camp by 10:00. Stephanie and her daughter are coming today, they were supposed to get here fairly early but got delayed so they didn’t get here until after 3:00. I did some work in the meantime on the trail analysis I’m doing for Camp McClellan until they arrived. I had already saddled up both horses, while her daughter brought her own, and we took a short ride, just about an hour or so was all we could get in before it was too close to dark. I let the horses wander in the field for a bit before their dinner, they were slow coming in when I called but got there eventually. Stephanie’s delay prevented her from staying here overnight, but she’s planning on trying again tomorrow, hopefully she’ll get here early enough. They left just as it was getting dark, so I just got some leftovers together and settled in for the evening. Watched the worst Mel Gibson movie I’ve ever seen, then another episode of a charming British series about a couple of old folks that dated when they were teenagers, then lost track of each other, then got back together sixty years later and discovered they were still in love. Sound familiar? Reminds me of Charles Davis. Anyway, time for a quick shower and a long sleep, having had my sleepytime tea again. Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetheart,
Well, despite the sleepytime tea and the melatonin, I still woke up in the middle of the night and had to read awhile before getting back to sleep, darn it. Then I slept through till practically 9:00, so I guess I made up for most of it. I did a couple of loads of laundry, though this time I hung them up to dry since it was an absolutely gorgeous day here. I saddled up Apollo and took off around noon, doing the trails on the east side of the park, of which there were only about 4 miles worth, so we were back by 1:45. I actually got him to do a bit of jogging, which helped our time. The trails are quite lovely here, though at times they’re a bit hard to follow because newer tracks have been created when the older tracks got too worn down. Some of these trails look very old, and not surprisingly, this is a very famous historical spot as there’s a shoals right here, which was originally a crossing point for a number of trails that met here. Lots of Indian and pioneer stories from around here, very interesting. Anyway, it was a nice ride again, though still a bit slippery, but not bad. Apollo seemed to enjoy himself once we got out there and he discovered it wasn’t all rocky and really steep. A bit reluctant at first, understandably, considering the trails I made him go on last week. Once I got him put back on the highline I took my laundry down, then I had some visitors. A guy I met at the last camp had a friend, Stephanie, who lives near here that wanted to meet me and chat, so she and two guys from her barn came out a spent a couple of hours picking my brain about traveling and other things. After they left I drove up to the entrance gate to pay for my extra days (which I forgot to do yesterday), and Stephanie was up there asking about camping, so it looks like she might be coming back tomorrow and staying over tomorrow night. The guy that introduced us is probably coming on Sunday as well, so I guess I’ll be surrounded by folks the rest of the weekend. Seems I’m making an impression on folks in my “community,” which is rather nice. I’ve met a lot of people lately who are quite envious of my trailer and my whole lifestyle, and I can’t say I blame them, I’m so fortunate to be able to do what I’m doing, grateful every day! After they left, I let the horses out in the field, and my neighbors saw me and did the same, so the horses frisked around with each other for awhile. They did end up wandering quite a ways away, this time in the other direction (away from the many campers who came in during the day, fortunately), and we both had to holler for them before they came back at dinner time, but the eventually made their way back. I put their blankets on tonight, since it’s supposed to get down in the low 40’s tonight, I’m still hopeful I can prevent them from growing too heavy a winter coat, though their necks are starting to get some thick fur. Something else, I discovered Lola is missing some teeth, almost all the little ones between her big canines on the top. At first I thought maybe it was from using a hard frisbee (which I only did for about 5 minutes, so not likely), but then I thought that it must have happened when that horse kicked her up a Circle E last month. I don’t remember her bleeding, or even having difficulty eating, but she must have had some problems and I didn’t notice. Anyway, she’s eating fine now, but she’s lost her perfect smile, which is sad. But she did get too close the back of a bunch of horses, and she’s learned the lesson the hard way, and now she’s stays away from other horses, and mostly stays in front as well, so I guess she’ll be all right. I took my shower early so my hair would dry, and now I’m off to bed early, too, since I don’t know what time things are starting to happen tomorrow. And tomorrow is the big day for the folks at McClellan, I hope everything goes all right for them! They were forecasting rain for tomorrow almost all week, but finally the forecast is for sunny and in the 70’s, so it will be perfect for their ride. Hope it goes okay! Anyway, off to bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Couldn’t get to sleep yesterday, probably too much rest during the day! So I read late, and woke up at the usual time, so not really enough sleep. It was foggy and cloudy and wet, so I decided to do my laundry and use the dryer rather than hang things on the line, since water next week is going to be at least as much of a problem at the next place as it is here. I had to transfer water from the truck tank as it was, which required me dropping the front end down to the bottom of the jacks and raising the truck height by pulling it onto the Jiffy Jack. I used more propane than I would have liked, but I had three full tanks, and only had to switch over about halfway through the second wash, so I’m not worried. I’ve decided not to sweat using propane, after all, it’s a lot cheaper than paying for the electric in a house! Meanwhile, I worked on my computer for quite a bit, putting together some mapping ideas for McClellan like I promised. It finally cleared up around 1:30 and turned into a beautiful afternoon, so I decided I still had time to take Flash for a ride. It’s been awhile since he’s been ridden, and he was full of beans, which was compounded by the fact that the trail I took essentially looped a mile around the field across from the campsite, so Apollo was whinnying the whole time, and Flash was answering, and dancing like he wanted to go back, but eventually we got out of range once we got in the woods and started climbing. I had a map, and I’d made a GPS route and downloaded it, thank goodness, because there isn’t a single trail marker out here! Not at the trailhead, or intersections or anywhere! How crazy is that? I managed to find my way around, but I’m sure I missed a couple of corners, and if I didn’t have my GPS route programmed, I’m sure it would have been much worse. Anyway, we managed to cover about two-thirds of the trails out here, seven plus miles so far, which we did in barely two hours. I’m thinking I’ll take Apollo tomorrow, since there’s only about four miles left. Lola enjoyed herself, and so did Flash and I, it was great to be back on the trail again! Very little stone, thank goodness, but with all the rain, it was a bit muddy in a few spots, and Flash slipped on the wet leaves a few time, but nothing serious. When I had come out to saddle him, I discovered I had a neighbor move in a few sites down, a woman names Marin, and (I guess) her husband. They took a ride after I left, and got back before I did. They had put up a portable fence for their horses. I stopped by to say hello and we chatted a bit. I told her my reasons for not putting up my fence (Apollo, the escape artist, would have no problem pulling out fenceposts in the soft ground here), and she asked me if I ever thought about putting them on the field. Turns out, she’s the one the ranger was talking about that lets her horses out, so we agreed to give it a try together. She said hers don’t go that far, and I figured they wouldn’t get too far apart from each other, what with horses being a herding animal, so after I unsaddled Flash I let them both loose. A few minutes later, she let hers out and they came galloping across the field straight for my two, and they all did a little friendly dance together for a few minutes, then settled down to graze in their original pairs, about fifty feet separating them. They all looked great together! About an hour later, she called hers in for dinner, and all four of them came into my site. I grabbed my two and hooked them to their highline, and her two went off to her camp, just like all good little horses should! Like a bunch of big, well-behaved dogs! So I fed them, then settled down for the evening as the sun set over the river. A lovely day, with another one scheduled for tomorrow. Good to be someplace quiet and away from a busy road! But now it’s bedtime, so I’m off to the shower. Tonight I drank some sleepytime tea, so I’m hoping to sleep through the night for a change. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
After another good night sleep, breakfast and chores (which once again included sewing up Lola’s bed, which she ripped all up again), I saddled up Apollo with the plan to finish off all the rest of the trails, which I figured would be about eight miles, most of which would be on the side trails. We managed to get it done, took us about four hours. I have to say, though, that the more I ride here the less I like it. Mostly that’s because of the fact they’ve marked the trails the way they have. I hadn’t realized just how ingrained my trail expectations are. Every time I saw a marker on the left I was expecting a left turn. Not only were there no left turns, there were many cases when there was a RIGHT turn, but they didn’t have any markings for the turn, no double marker, no arrow, nothing. I found myself in a constant state of frustration. Furthermore, some of the side trails just don’t take the terrain into consideration the way they should. This place is really hilly, and they had so many opportunities to create some fabulous switchbacks, but many of the trails go practically straight up and down. Several trails really went through some really rocky bits, too, not my favorite. Suffice it to say, I had the map or the GPS in my hand at all times, and never got to relax, at least not until we were on the main trail heading back to camp, which is the antithesis of why I ride. This place has so much potential, but they really need to revisit their trail design and their markers to at least meet minimum “industry standards,” which they are far from at the moment. Riding the carriage roads are about the only stress-free riding there is, and even that can be frustrating with all the letters and numbers and names that it takes just to get around using their map. Oh, well, I’ve done it now, and I’ll write them an analysis and leave it with them, they can do what they want with it. Meanwhile, it was 3:00 when we got back to camp, I put Apollo away and fixed the stirrup on my saddle. I lost the nut on the end of the carriage bolt while climbing a hill, but fortunately I found a spare and repaired it. Not long after I was joined by another camper, Wendy, who is here for the work day tomorrow, though I gather she intends to ride her horse out to her adopted trail to check it out. I fed the horses, made some noodles and settled down for the evening. At 6:00, I swear it felt closer to 9:00, these evenings are just dragging out in the dark! Well, I have a busy day tomorrow on the work crew, so early to bed would be a good idea anyway. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
A beautiful morning this morning, with temps starting out warmer than they have been, thank goodness! After chores and breakfast I did a load of laundry and hung it out, then filled the trailer and the horses water buckets from the tank on the pickup, then took two of the older propane tanks down to Walmart to trade them in. I discovered that the reason I couldn’t get one filled was that despite the fact the tank is rated to last 12 years, there’s an Alabama state law that requires them to expire after 10 years. Guess the gas lobby has some pull in Montgomery! Anyway, these two were original with the trailer from 2011 anyway, so I decided to switch them out so the issue wouldn’t occur again, so I made sure I got two tanks that were very close to being new, and with a 2020 date on them, will last about as long as I will! On the way back to camp I went to the highway dept. and refilled the truck’s water tank just in case I need any more, though I should have enough now to get through to when I leave, probably Monday or Tuesday. I still haven’t decided yet where I’m going when I leave here, there are pros and cons to every place I’ve looked at, but I do want to end up at Mingo Trails as my last stop before Florida, and hopefully stay for at least a week or more. I have a vet lined up to get my horse passports so I can get into Florida, that will take a few days to complete, which should be no problem. I got back to camp and saddled up Apollo, and we headed out to hit some more sections of the trail that I wanted to experience. They were mostly marked “challenging” but I wouldn’t consider them more than moderate, except possibly one trail called Jerry Hill, which is very rocky and quite steep. I probably should have done that one earlier instead of last, Apollo was pretty wrung out by the time we came off that trail, but who knew? He did great, though. I’m finding the trail markers a bit unsettling because they aren’t all on the same side of the trail as they should be, and every time I see a marker on the left I keep looking for a left turn which isn’t there. On top of that, there are no double markings for turns, so I got off-track several times today by going straight on a trail before realizing the trail had turned off somewhere and had to backtrack. There are some hills where they really need to add some switchbacks, or they’re going to have erosion problems later, plus it’s a lot steeper in some places than it needs to be. Anyway, I’m going to write a report for their trail committee with more details when I get the chance. It was a good ride, though, I enjoyed it other than that, though Apollo worked up quite a sweat on that last hill! Got back to camp just before 4:00, I grabbed some dinner, got my laundry in, then fed everyone else and settled down for the evening, once again lamenting how early it gets dark these days in the central time zone. I managed to finish off the Gary Cooper movie I had trouble with the other day, and tried to watch another movie, but again, halfway through it quit, so I took my shower, then went to a SHIELD while I had my sleepytime tea, now I’m ready for bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Stayed up later than I should have watching election returns, went to bed thinking Trump was ahead in all the important places, but woke up this morning with the numbers not looking so good. I didn’t want to think about it, and I needed to start getting a handle on these trails, since I volunteered to see if I can create a more user-friendly map, so after chores, breakfast, and poking the big fires a bit, I saddled up Flash and headed out. I wanted to see what all these side trails were like, so I started out on the south trailhead and took the first couple of trails there. The first section wasn’t too bad, though there were a couple of places I would have liked to see another switchback or two, but then I got on to the second trail, War Horse, and after about half a mile the markers just seemed to disappear. I circled around awhile but never could pick it up again, and Flash, for some reason, was getting very excitable on these relatively raw trails, so rather than risk it, I got him back to the main road, which I think they should refer to as a carriage road. Anyway, that nixed my idea of riding all of the yellow trail today, which was the plan, so instead I stayed on the carriage road and took pictures of all the trail entrances so I could figure out which trails were easy, moderate and challenging. When I got back to camp, I switched horses, because you know Apollo, he doesn’t get very excited about anything, unless he’s jacked up on alfalfa, which certainly hasn’t been the case lately. Anyway, I started on the north trailhead this time, and it turned out that the first two sections of trail there were both easy and with a lot less stone and rocks, which will actually make a very nice four mile loop for beginners. My plan for tomorrow is to pick up where I left off on Apollo (though getting there more directly), and doing as much of the rest of the side trails as I can. From there, I should be able to gang some trails together that make sense. Anyway, because of the geography of the place, it seemed like it was practically starting to get dark barely after 3:00, since the sun is setting behind some hills, and I was getting chilly early, so we got back to camp shortly after 3:00. After putting Apollo away, I fixed some leftover Mexican for my meal, then I finally took down the fence and did some cleanup, fed the horses and Lola, then was settled down by the time it got dark at five. I can’t wait to get back into Eastern time, at least it won’t seem like it’s getting dark THAT early! Watched a movie and a couple of SHIELDs, but now it’s shower and bedtime! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Despite the fact that a waning tropical storm came through overnight, I never heard a thing with my earplugs in, and the trailer never shuddered in the wind, so it didn’t seem too bad. There were some limbs down around the camping area, but not much. I did my chores, worked on my computer for a bit, then the skies cleared up and it turned into a beautiful day, so I saddled up Flash, who seems to be back in fine condition, and we headed out on one of the trails. I quickly abandoned it, however, because even though it was designated a major trailhead, I only got about 100 feet before the trail petered out to nothing, and I wasn’t in the mood to go cross country, so I decided to go back and stick to what are essentially forest roads. The map is very detailed, with elaborate names for every side trail, but every one of them is marked as yellow. The intersections are well-marked, with names for every trail and a letter for every intersection, but I found that I had to keep my map in my hand the whole time just to keep track of where I was, and that became a bit tedious after awhile. I would like to have just said I’m going to take the blue trail to the green trail, etc., but that wasn’t possible. Again, the locals that come here a lot would find it very easy to learn, but for a newcomer, it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I would have liked. Most of the roads I went on had quite a bit of gravel (Flash had his boots on, of course), and there were quite a few trees down, so I guess the wind was stronger than I thought, or maybe some were down before, I don’t know. Just before I reached camp, though, there was a massive tree right across the main road that looked like it brought a couple of other trees with it, and that road goes down to the area where they’re doing a lot of the work of clearing, so I imagine that will be the one they’ll have to tackle first. It was a nice ride anyway, Flash did just fine, and was full of energy after having so much time off, so we made good time. Once I put them away, fed them, and put their blankets one (it’s supposed to get down to the low 50’s tonight), I settled down for the evening. I finished off the rest of that limited series Queen’s Gambit, it was quite an enjoyable piece of entertainment, but of course, the main character had to go through a bout with drugs and alcohol before she achieved success, which seems to be the only plot Hollywood can come up with these days. But it’s over now, and it’s time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya darlin’!
Despite my best intentions, I ended up not going to be early. Just as I was ready to shuffle off to my shower, I got a message from the guy in China about the Beatit battery charger. It fell over one day awhile back, and the casing cracked just enough so the screws wouldn’t hold, so now it won’t charge up properly. I tried to tape it, but to no avail. Anyway, they said they’s let me replace it for less than half the price I’d have to pay for a new one, so I needed to chat with him on Messenger to make arrangements for that. I’m having it sent General Delivery to a post office nearby my next stop, so hopefull that will solve the problem. Meanwhile, my generator just doesn’t seem to want to start up no matter how many volts are in the batteries, unless I use the charger, so I hope I get it soon! Anyway, I got to be later than I have been, but still woke up before 7:00, stayed in bed a bit longer, then got up and started the day. My plan was to finish off the rest of the marked trails (I can’t go chasing all the renegade trails here!), so I saddled up Apollo and was out by just after 10:00, but not before doing a load of laundry and hanging it out to dry while we’re gone. Flash is a lot better, is putting weight on his foot, and when I pressed around it looking for any pain, he never flinched, so I’m guessing he’s almost well, but this was a long and rocky ride today, so I didn’t want to set him back, so I took Apollo. Since he’s had two days off, it should be good for him. Anyway, we went out the old trailhead and headed out the white trail, taking it all the way to the end to Callahan’s Cave, another one of these interesting rock formations that has a spring emerging from it seemingly out of nowhere. There were a few interesting features along the way, several picnic areas, a duck blind (there was a big turtle sitting on a log just off the shore that never moved as we came by) and the cave itself. On the way back, I stopped at the turnoff to Kirby Cemetery, tied up Apollo and walked up the hill to see it. It turns out it wasn’t a cemetery, which connotes several graves, but in fact just one grave, a civil war soldier from the Confederacy. It’s surprising someone went to all the trouble to bring a headstone way out here, he must have had a loving family or some realy connections of some kind. It’s just up on a hill, and you can clearly see the indentation in the ground where he was buried. Anyway, after that we veered off onto the final trail, the purple trail, which Janet had described as “serene,” and it was rather nice. It was a climb to get up there, but once you reached the old wagon road, it was pretty smooth as it paralleled the white trail. There are lots of old wagon roads in these woods, but some are cordoned off as private property, which is a shame because they would make great carriage roads. Any, we got back just before 4:00, having done over 12 miles in just under six hours, just about what I expected. I’m tired, but satisfied I got all the trails mapped. I wasn’t going to head down to McClennan until Wednesday, but there’s rain coming in that day, so I’ve decided to move tomorrow instead. I spoke to the club President down there, and he seems very welcoming, I’m looking forward to meeting him and his group, which are evidently extremely active since they acquired the property a few years ago. They’ve even got that TV show, the Best of America by Horseback coming in a few weeks, so I volunteered to help them as they get ready for that in exchange for camping. It’s a primitive camp, so I sure hope my charger comes soon, or I may and up having to use the truck to jump start my generator! Finally settling down for the evening, having fed the horses and getting my laundry in, ready for my ice cream and shower and bed! I don’t even think I’ll try to watch a movie, the cell signal is so poor here I’ve been having trouble streaming anything, and of course there’s no broadcast TV anywhere close by. So off I go! Good night, my sweet! Love you!