Hello, darlin’!
Finally, a nice day! It’s been the strangest weather lately! We’ve had wet weather and cold weather, and nothing like the kind of weather you’d expect in May in Tennessee, so unpredictable! But today was wonderful! It started out cool but warmed up nicely, and since more rain is forecast overnight and cold temps to follow, I figured I better take the absolute best chance of riding this week and making the most of it! So after breakfast, I saddled up Apollo first, since he’s my go-to trail horse, and we headed out. Like Brookfield in NYS, the only way out of camp is uphill, so that’s where we started. I decided to try to follow the stable’s horse trail ride, but before long we got off track somewhere. I was glad to have my GPS and a map one of the ladies from last Sunday gave me, it had some hand-made markings of where some horse trails are. This place is really nuts, I have no idea how they get away with it! There are miles of trails interweaving in the wood, yet none of them are marked, nor is there a map that identifies them. The only maps just show the main roads, and though they delineate between a “dirt” road and a “gravel” road, frankly, I couldn’t tell the difference. Apollo didn’t much like being on the gravel, so I ended up following the edge and getting smacked with a lot of branches, including one where I think I got a leaf cut in my eye, so that’s all red and hurts now. We did almost six miles, about half on gravel and the other half on a not too bad single-track trail. The only saving grace was that I could figure out a general direction every time I came to a road intersection, but even then I had to figure out how to read the signs. Apollo was great, though, he’s such a sure-footed old guy I had not trouble letting him pick his way up and down hills. Once we got back to camp, I put him away with a flake of hay and saddled up Flash. I put boots on him because I expected to be on more of the roads, and had GPS’ed a track out to Lake Loop, which also passed by the Owen Cemetery, where I met a caretaker that I spoke to for a few minutes. Flash loved being out on the road, but even with boots, he wasn’t too thrilled with the footing. We got turned around a couple of times, just trying to explore a bit, so now I have a better feel for the place. We passed one group of day riders, but other than that, it was super quiet out here. Lola came with me on both trips, I sincerely hope she’s tuckered out tonight, she woke me up a dozen times last night with her scratching and restless, so much so I’m considering putting her back in the truck so I can get a good night sleep! Since there are storms forecast for tonight, I might just give here a pill to be on the safe side, but we’ll see. She’s been pretty knocked out since we’ve been home. Anyway, it was a really great day, I feel better than I have in a long time. Just something about being on the back of a horse in the wilderness that’s just good for the soul! Both horses seemed to enjoy themselves, small wonder, it’s gotta be better than standing on a highline all way, hay or not! I put their rainsheets on because of the rain coming in, and it’s supposed to get colder so this might be my last chance this week. There was one campsite that was supposed to be reserved for today, but no one came is, maybe the weather scared them off and I’ll see them tomorrow. Anyway, this is the start of a new rhythm in my life, it’s going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure! Meanwhile, another DS9, another shower, and off to bed, hopefully to get a better night sleep than I have been lately! Good night, my love!

Hi Baby,
Well, the clocks changed last night, so it was still almost dark out this morning when my alarm went off at 7:45. I took my time getting ready, then loaded up the horses and headed out to meet Anita and her boyfriend Scott out at Camp I. The plan today was to try to find a trail that would keep us off that long stretch of canal, and the Florida Hiking Trail is probably the best option. I was prepared to just follow that, but Anita wanted to try one of the main trails, where all the swamp buggies go, but we didn’t get very far as the water was still to high, even though it had come down a lot in the areas that we rode during the OTL, so that won’t work. Eventually we went cross country to pick up the Florida Trail (I had downloaded it onto my GPS so I knew we weren’t far from it), and it turned out to be the perfect choice. Yes, there were a few sections that were cypress swamp, but we have to deal with that on the Saturday ride anyway, though not for very long, so I figured if we can handle that, we can certainly handle it on the other side as well. Anyway, at one point Anita was worried she was putting too many miles on her old horse, who had gone a little lame a few weeks ago from stepping into a gopher hole, so I headed out to finish mapping the trail while they turned around and headed back. Flash, of course, got in a hurry once we separated from the other two (Scott was riding Apollo), which was fine, as we managed to map the trail quickly, reaching the road in short order. There was a discussion at the meeting last week about how to get access, but I discovered there was already a horse gate there, so that’s a moot point, fortunately. Anyway, once we got to the gate and turned around, he really started to book, so we had a nice ride. He got a little panicky when we reached the spot where we had left the other horses, and he started whinnying up a storm, naturally, but that didn’t stop him, of course. We finally caught up with them about a half mile before we reached camp, wading through a long lake. Lola came along, and she had a great time, and has been crashed in her bed all evening! Anyway, Flash and I went about 17 miles, so he got a decent workout. Apollo kept trying to kick Anita’s horse, but not seriously, just being a bit ornery, probably jealous with Flash around, since those two got along just fine when Flash wasn’t there. Anyway, it was a good ride, a beautiful, though cloudy day, and I got the job of mapping done. Once I got back home I straightened the map out and sent it to the interested parties on the OTL board, so we’ll see what happens. The plan is to try to get permission to officially designate an OTL equestrian trail that we can then mark permanently and save us all these temporary marking jobs, scores of volunteer man hours, not to mention saving on markers. My idea for next year is to have a two person team leave out of camp about 2 hours before the riders and mark the trail on each day, with a drag team picking up the markers along the way. Makes more sense to me, but we’ll see if I can sell it. Anyway, got back in time to witness Jeff finally settling his rebuilt motor back into his van, so hopefully he can finish putting it together over the next few days. Looks like I’m going to have to start cleaning his house by myself, since he’s been so occupied. It got dark later, so my evening seemed to start later, but I’m off to bed on schedule, trying to recover from the time change. I need all my strength for the week ahead! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Flash and I went out to retrieve trail markers today, and boy, what a ride! About 19 miles, starting at the Cypress Creek parking lot, crossing Indiantown Rd., down to the stable where folks stayed over Saturday night, then I cleared out all of Riverbend, went as far south as almost to the Loxahatchee Slough, then north all the way to Hobe Ditch before finally coming back to Cypress Creek. Whew! Flash did pretty well, though he was a bit sluggish today, understandable since he was adding to the 65 miles he already did this week. He handled it well, though! He’s really becoming a fantastic trail horse, really doing a lot of thinking and decision-making on his own, just like I’ve been working to get him do these last 18 months or so. Got back home around 4:30, grabbed a meal, then got ready for another financial seminar down at Nova University, this time on taxes during retirement. The presenter was late, spoke really fast, and seemed a bit bored with his subject (or maybe just having to explain it to a bunch of grayhairs!), but he seemed earnest enough. The last one I went to was all about selling me insurance-backed annuities, this one was more about retirement portfolios in the stock market. I’ve made an appointment to go see them next week, still trying to figure out my best options on a whole bunch of financial topics. Had a rough week on the stock market, though, the media is trying to make out that this recent virus is the end of the world as we know it, even though only 60 people in the U.S. have it, and they’re all under quarantine. The worldwide fatality rate is only about 2-3 percent, vs. 20 percent for the 1918 flu epidemic, so it’s looking like it’s a lot more a political issue than a health issue. I wish these dang politicians would start doing what’s right for the people of this country, not for their own hides, but I suppose it has always been thus! Anyway, got back after 8:30, did my chores, heading for bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Once again, we got an early start today, though Jeff dragged his feet a little this morning and we were about 15 minutes later than I wanted, but you know me, I built a little extra time into it anyway. We headed straight for the Cypress Creek parking lot, which was going to be the starting point for Jeff and the two ladies we met last night, and for me, though I was headed in the other direction so that I could once again get out before the riders. A few had already left, but they had to stop at Riverbend to check in and listen to the riders meeting, so I jumped out in front of them, taking down some orange markers and checking on the pink. The weather was absolutely perfect today, partly cloudy, low 70’s, a little breeze, just fabulous! Most of the markers were in pretty good shape, except one entire section from Cypress Creek to the cow pastures, where every darn marker had disappeared, and I didn’t really have enough to replace them all, so I had to make the markings a lot farther apart, which caused a problem for a couple of people, but they managed to get on track again. That’s the problem with marking so much earlier, some stuff goes missing! If it were up to me, I’d just mark the trails a few hours ahead of the group, and have a drag team take them down again, it would be much more efficient, because an awful lot of time and energy is spent doing it beforehand, not to mention we probably lost 50 plus markers that I needed to replace over the three days. I thought I would catch up to Jeff et al earlier than I did, but they had a good head start, so it was only a couple of miles before the end when I finally did meet up with them. I got slowed down a couple of times because someone had come out after I marked the trails in JD earlier this week and added a few turn markers on the left side of the trail, even though the turn was to the right, so they were in the wrong place and were really confusing, so I had to pull them down. Later at the pavilion I met the woman who did it, she’s one of the original founders of the OTL, and I explained what I did, and she seemed to understand, she had just never heard of that before. Anyway, the four of us arrived at the pavilion, grabbed some beer and burritos and chatted for a long time. My truck and trailer arrived, but we soon had to unhook it and have another truck take it into an area that needed 4WD to rescue a horse that pulled a ligament or something. The next group that came in was a long time later, and the Sunday group was a lot smaller than I remember from last year, though the numbers were better on Friday and Saturday evidently. Anyway, we ended up getting drawn into a long conversation with the organizers, which was fairly enlightening, and finally packed up to leave. We had arranged to meet the ladies Jeff had ridden with at Uncle Micks for rib Sunday, and we all left about the same time. Service there was really slow again, and they were out of all but a half rack of ribs, which we let the ladies have since they’re from out of town and Jeff and I can go anytime. I didn’t really need any more food, but it was good company, and we were there for more than two hours before we finally left, getting home around 8:00. Got the horses settled in pretty quick, took my shower, and now I’m more than ready for bed! Good night, my love!

Hello my love!
Well, miracle of all miracles, brother Jeff was up and almost ready to go at 7:00 this morning, as planned! He’s been working so hard on his van, he really needed a break, so I persuaded him to volunteer today as our ambulance driver, but I was a bit concerned he might not make it in time (you know, Jeff time :-), but we made it! We managed to get all the way down to Camp I just after 8:00, and again, I was on the trail by 8:30 adding markers and generally scoping out the trail in advance of the rest of the riders. There was still a lot of water on the trail, and there’s one section that really has a swamp feel to it, lots of mangrove trees very close together, it felt like being in the bayou! Flash and I had a great time, though, and we passed the halfway point on the Beeline crossing where Jeff was supposed to be before he actually got there, though I heard he got there a few minutes later. I arrived at the stable where we ended the ride in good time. There were a number of riders that rode on Friday but decided to rest on Saturday, so they moved their rigs in the morning and were waiting at the stables. I think that’s a better way of doing it, truly. Anyway, I ended up chatting with a couple of ladies at one trailer, where they lent me a halter and let me tie up to their trailer, and then sat with them for a while. Eventually a couple of riders came in, but it was a long time before the rest arrived, I guess they were really taking their time today. They took one wrong turn (because they started to follow a pink marker, which they had been warned about during the riders meeting, what can you do!), but it was only for a tiny loop near the end, so it didn’t really matter. They figured it out and ended up in camp anyway. Fortunately, they had enough volunteers so I didn’t have to take a truckful of passengers back to Corbett, and when Jeff finally arrived, before the last group came in, we ended up chatting with the ladies again, Maggie and Bev (aka Pistol). Turns out they weren’t sure if they were going to ride on Sunday, they were worried about it being too long, so I suggested they skip the Riverbend portion and start from the Cypress Creek parking lot, which is precisely what Jeff wanted to do on Apollo. I was a bit worried about Jeff being out there on his own, not knowing how stubborn Apollo might get, so it was the perfect solution! Anyway, we worked out the logistics for the morning, and went on back to the house, got my chores done, and was quite ready to hit the hay early. Another great day!

Hello My Sweet!
What a day! Up before the crack of dawn, had breakfast since it’s going to be such a long day, and had Flash loaded up and ready to go by the time Anita’s boyfriend Scott arrived at about 7:10. We got out about 7:30 (he was admiring one of the boats brother Jeff has stored in his yard), and we were at Dupuis by shortly after 8:00. I got Flash ready to go, and by 8:30 I was on my way out in front of the pack. When my head started to get wet from a light drizzle in the air, I realized I forgot my hel-hat so I had to come back, though I hadn’t gone far, thank goodness. A nice turnout, something like 35 riders, which I’m told was a good number for the Friday ride, especially since it was a bit cool and windy as a front was just finishing going through. Glad to say most of the markers were still there, though I did have to add or replace a few just to make it to my standards :-). The rain quit before long, and though it stayed mostly overcast, I didn’t mind. I remember last year it was sunny and hot and when I went through the southern section where there wasn’t much shade, it was pretty uncomfortable, so it was actually better this way. Besides, I had my slicker on, so I didn’t get very wet, at least not until I got to Corbett, where the water was still high and there was a lot of splashing going on! There was NO activity along the canal, we were worried because they had huge machinery out there a couple of weeks ago, and at the last minute, one of the sub-contractors was going to STOP US from going along the canal because of insurance liability (good Lord, insurance will be the death of this country! Forced to raise wimps!), but we got a reprieve at the last moment, and there was no activity anyway, so it was all a storm in a teacup. Anyway, it was a great ride, especially since I didn’t have the stress of getting lost, and I received many accolades from the other riders as they came in, no one got lost. There was one group from Miami, however, who had a leader who claimed to know Dupuis really well, and he took his group on a different route (supposedly a shortcut, which added 6-7 miles to the day), and we had volunteers waiting for an extra two plus hours for them to come in after everyone else. Of course, his horse lost a shoe and they had to walk the last 5-6 miles, which slowed things down even more. Sigh. Some of the folks had just come from the Cracker Ride, and they were telling me how they move the trailers in the morning and shuttle them back to their horses, which is the same thing the Michigan Shore-to-Shore folks do, so I’m going to suggest that for next year. Makes more sense, since everyone will be arriving at their own rig at different times, and we won’t have to make anyone wait for enough drivers and a volunteer to shuttle them. Just means they have to start a little later in the day. All the delay also meant that my truck didn’t get to me until well after all the riders but that one group came in, so I had to borrow a halter and lead rope to tie Flash to someone’s trailer for awhile. He did brilliantly, by the way. Unlike last year, he didn’t get any swelling or limping at all, so he was in great shape. I took a group back to Dupuis (over an hour!), then got home after dark, got Flash settled in, and I’m not going to be long out of bed, I’ve got another early call tomorrow morning! Good night, my love!

Hiya Sweetie,
Started off the day by giving Flash a short ride, just to keep him in shape for the big weekend. I didn’t want to take a long ride, but I did want to limber him up a bit and not leave him too many days without a ride, so we just went around the neighborhood for a little over six miles. We were actually about to head home when I saw a couple of ladies in a horse-drawn buggy, so I decided to see how Flash would react to walking near a buggy, so I caught up to them to chat for a bit. They were just as interested in seeing how their Haflinger would react, and fortunately, nobody got excited about anything, and all went well! I ended up taking them around the block just to see how things went, and learned they boarded a few blocks west, but came out occasionally with the buggy. Once I got home, I gave Flash a nice bath, hoping to make him look nice for the weekend (as if he wouldn’t roll himself dirty again, but maybe it will brush off easier!), then showered and dressed and departed for euchre. I did well today (were you watching over me today?), got some very good cards and made the most of them. Then Lola and I went shopping up in Port St. Lucie, and then went to an educational seminar that was supposed to be mostly about Social Security, but turned out to be more about retirement planning, which was fine, since I obviously am going to need help in that area now. This particular firm is actually in Jupiter anyway, so I made an appointment for Tuesday to learn more about the various options, including some that seem too good to be true, so I’ll be doing a lot more research between now and then. That went until nearly 8:00, so it was close to 9:00 by the time I got home. Fortunately, Jeff had already taken care of the horses, which I had asked him to do earlier in the day, so I only had to unload the groceries, pour a glass of wine and settle down for the evening. I was happy to receive word that Michelle is planning to come to the Celebration next month, I hadn’t expected her to travel from Tennessee, but she’s making it into a little vacation, extending her time to go down to Key Largo. It will be nice to see her, considering she’s the only person I know that knew you before I did! And of course, she’s offered to help me prepare for the day. Donna is coming down from Cleveland, too, so I should have plenty of help. Anyway, I’m headed to bed, I have a busy day tomorrow, getting the truck and trailer ready for the weekend of riding and volunteer work, so off I go! Good night, darling! Love you!