Got up early to dialyze Hubby, and downloaded my plan for my ride this afternoon. Got everything wrapped up (including having to retrieve Dottie from the kennel at the main gate, she somehow managed to slip out of both her collar and the new harness I bought for her last week!. Such a slippery girl!), and was saddled up by 1:00. I had double-checked at the gate about dogs being on the trail, and evidently that's fine, as long as they're leashed in the campground, so Lola was able to come with us this time. I headed out the trailhead at the foot of our loop, and promptly missed the opening of the trail I had intended to take. By the time I realized the trail I was looking for didn't run into the trail I was on, I was too far along to turn back, so I kept going, revising my ride as I went. Unfortunately, the trail I was on was only a couple of miles long, and before I knew it, I was heading right back into camp. I looked at my GPS and reckoned that if I followed the utility line for a bit, it should take me to the back end of the original trail I had intended to take, and then I could do it in reverse. Turns out there are a LOT of trails out here that aren't on the trail map, and the one on the utility line quickly became a well traveled path that did, indeed, take me to the trail I wanted. I had no more trouble following the trails and map after that, though I'm a little surprised as how few trail markers they've put in, essentially only at the intersections, which are few and far between. No tree markers, not even a paint splotch occasionally to give one reassurance. If you miss a marker at an intersection, there's very little else to go on. I ended up doing a bit over eight miles, and I have to say, even though I love being on the back of my horse, this was a pretty boring ride. There was maybe a quarter of a mile of single track trails, all the rest were at least ATV width, some were full-on forest roads, and there was even a paved road or two that became part of the horse trail. Not my idea of interesting riding. There was a lot of deep mud made worse by the hundreds of horse hooves that had plowed through them, and there was a honeycomb of alternative trails in many places, all trying to avoid the muck. That didn't last very long, and was replaced by some heavily graveled areas (thank goodness I had put my horse boots on before leaving camp!), and a lot of roads that circled around fields. It felt like I was riding on someone's farm. Not my favorite kind of riding. I'm hoping tomorrow's ride will be a bit more interesting, with maybe some more single track, wooded trails, but I'm not holding my breath. After a beer and dinner, remarkably, after not having a cell signal all day, it suddenly popped into one bar of 4G if it was left sitting in a chair outside, enough to start up Netflix and watch a few more Longmires before the battery on my phone crapped out. That was it, bedtime!!

Well, the weather finally cleared up and warmed up a bit (though it's chillier than the last day I rode), so after getting Hubby dialyzed, I set out to explore the northern part of the park. On my last ride, I only got the southern part done, a little over five miles in that loop I made, but it was a great exploration because I learned that instead of just one giant loop, there's a lot of fields that you can cut across, and always eventually lead back to a single trail along the road that takes you back to the campground. Not to mention, being that we were both out of shape (Apollo and I), I didn't want to overdo it the first day out! But today, we were both ready to go longer, and since we got a pretty decent early start, we headed straight up along the trail that parallels the road, all the way to far north end of the park (which really isn't that far!), before the trail cut into the woods. This was one of the most interesting parts of the trail, actually, with some little grades and sharp turns, until we reached the trail that took us along the shoreline, where it became level again. There is really only two types of terrain here. You're either following a single track trail through the woods and weaving along each shoreline, or you're on the edge of a field, where they have done some nice mowing, with a wide track perfect for faster paces and side by side riding. It's a nice combination, but after a while, I found it got a little boring. We did see quite a bit of wildlife, though. Some beautiful white pelicans with black babies were gathering in the lake, we saw some kind of 4-legged critter which I didn't see clearly enough to figure out what it was, but it was the size of a large dog, but more round like a baby bear. Hard to say. At one point, a HUGE wild turkey flew up right after we passed it, and Apollo started to take off sideways. Fortunately, that meant he headed straight for a tree, and he had to stop and think about what to do next, at which point I had regained my balance and kept him standing still. Got a nice bruise on the inside of the my thigh from the saddle horn, as you would expect! Lots and lots of deer out here, really big deer. It seems they grow everything bigger up here! The turkey's seemed bigger than usual, too! Anyway, we kept following the trail, even down to the lake, where we tried to find another route up to the trail and couldn't, so we backtracked the way we came down and picked up where we left off. After about two hours, we stopped at a nice spot with a picnic table on a ridge, and I checked our time and GPS. I realized that if I continued to follow the entire length of the trail, it would be another two hours, which I thought would be a bit too much, so we headed on a more direct line to get us home in about an hour, which we did. Three hours is enough until we both get in better shape! Nevertheless, it was a fabulous ride, we had a wonderful time, it is SO GOOD to be back in the saddle again! Now we just have to get Hubby strong enough, and get him another horse, so we can go back to riding together! I do miss him on the trail, though I have to admit, it's nice to have a little time on my own once in a while. Being his nurse takes up a lot of time, and being solely responsible for his well-being, more so than ever before, does get a bit weighty, but we're settling down into a routine again, I just hope he can get strong enough for that routine to include him riding with me again!

Had a full night's sleep and woke up feeling absolutely great! Yaaaay! Got Hubby dialyzed pretty early, though I had to call the park office to see if they could change out the 30 amp breaker at this site. It kept tripping for no apparent reason, even when the load remained the same. They came by moments later to take a look, and said they would be back later in the afternoon to change it out. It was a beautiful warm day, but the forecasts had been saying sunny for days today, which of course turned out to be wrong, we had scattered showers all morning. But I was so determined to have a ride on Apollo, I didn't care if I had to get a bit wet. Fortunately, it had mostly cleared out by the time we finished dialyzing, so I went out and started getting Apollo ready. He gave me no trouble at all putting his boots on (he almost seemed glad about it!), and stood quietly while I saddled him up. Just about then, the rangers came back and started to repair the circuit breaker. I found that none of the batteries I had for my GPS were any good any more, but I saw a little mini-mart just outside the park entrance, so I took a quick ride over there and bought some. I finished getting Apollo ready, wearing my new Troxler helmet, and Lola dog and I headed out to the trailhead. What a nice ride! Though I thought there would be gravel on the trails, in fact, there was almost none. It was all dirt covered with layers of leaves, well-enough used so that it was easy to follow. I was also relieved to see that there was a lot more variety to the trails than the map indicated. It essentially showed one long, winding trail that followed the erratic shoreline, with a straight run down the road back to the camp at the end. In reality, the windy trail loops into the straight trail, which runs parallel to the road, many times along the way. You can circle each field and come back to the straight trail, take any number of cutoffs if you don't want to go all the way out to the shoreline, just lots of variety which made it more interesting. Though the park had delayed the trail openings from this weekend to next (due to the rain expected tonight and tomorrow), today they were just beautiful, mostly dry with just a few wet spots around the fields, but absolutely no big deal. I can see why they want to preserve the trails by holding off another weekend, but today, it was a gorgeous ride. Best of all, Apollo did brilliantly! This is his very first ride on his own, without his Mama (mine, too, without Roy! Well, except a few times on other people's horses), and he just did perfectly, totally responsive, seemingly happy just to be doing something besides eating and standing around. He never got excited, though he walked fast at first, as always, and I waited until he was good and warmed up before jogging and eventually even getting a little canter in. He's obviously as out of shape as I am, not having been ridden since last June, and he started to sweat and lather after the first few jogs, but I didn't overwork him (or me!) We stayed out about 90 minutes, doing almost five miles of the 9.2 miles of trails here, and I was surprisingly not the least bit sore, as I thought I might have been after so long. By the time we got back, the circuit breaker was fixed, Lola had thoroughly enjoyed her run (but she immediately found her ball and started tossing it at us to play, of course!), and Apollo seemed very pleased that he had had a break from his routine. I must say he seems to be much more settled since we got on the road, particularly since we've been at the park (he's not much for stalls), and he's relaxing back into his old self, which is great to see. I put him on an anchor so that he could munch on some of the new grass that was springing up nearby, and before long, Hubby and I were both enjoying a nice steak dinner, our first real solid food in days, before settling into the only really comfortable place in this little trailer, our bed! A few more Longmires on Netflix and lights out!

Woke up to a beautiful morning, fed the horses, and while I was waiting for them to finish their breakfast, played fetch with Lola as is our habit. After getting some amused looks from our neighbors across the road (Lola can be very entertaining to watch), I crossed the road for a chat and met, Max and Tracy and Callie, who's celebrating her 17th birthday today. We had a nice chat, and Callie took over throwing the ball to Lola for a while, until dirty looks from Apollo reminded me I had to take off his feed bag before he could eat his hay, so what are you standing over there for, Mom? As it turned out, Hubby didn't quite feel up to riding today, so I offered to take Callie along, since I didn't want to ride alone. She had never been on a horse in her life, though she had been planning on taking the ranch ride later this week, so it took a little extra instruction. After she helped me get the horses ready, we went through some basics, but I wasn't too worried, Clio is pretty much bomb-proof, at least usually. Of course, as we were walking past some corrals toward the trailhead, one of the horses kind of jumped towards us, and Clio stepped into a trot, then a bit sideways, not much, but just enough for a newby who forgot to hold onto the saddle horn as she had been instructed to lose her balance, and she did a slow motion fall onto the dirt and gravel road. She brushed herself off and immediately was ready to get back on, with just a scrape on her arm to show for it (more will come out later, I'm sure! 🙂 ). But she was actually glad it happened so early, it was the lesson she needed to learn how important balance is! We headed down the trail, around a field, then across the road to the REAL trails, which turned out to be a lot more challenging than I thought they would be, especially for a novice like Callie, but she had learned her lesson, and listened well to what I told her about going up and down hills, so we headed into the woods with confidence. The trails here are not very well marked, especially at the intersections, we got lost many times throughout the ride. I had made a GPS trail to follow, but there was one intersection (at least it looked like an intersection on the map) that we could never find, so we missed the trail we wanted several times. Our mistake actually turned out to be fortuitous, as it actually brought us past Loretta Lynn's actual residence, a beautiful, bucolic setting with a very modest house (for a star like Loretta!), guest house, barn, cows in the pasture, a really nice spot. Again, we couldn't find a trail marker, until we turned around and finally saw a sign across the road indicating a one-way horse trail. We headed down that, which followed along the river in the right direction, and finally came out at the end of the field where we had started. It was a great ride, beautiful country, though the trails were quite rocky (and naturally, one of Apollo's boot fell off and had to be re-installed), and even Clio's boot turned sideways at one point and needed to be fixed. There were some pretty good grades, which made it interesting, and Callie certainly learned a lot about balance today! No more falls, though, as she remembered to hang onto the horn! We were gone more about two hours, going just over 5 miles, just right for a determined novice, though I suggested she take some aspirin as a precaution tonight, as she was going to be sore! By now the hip where she landed hurt more than the arm scrape, as I suspected it would, but nevertheless, she was a trooper and was glad it happened as it did. She helped me rinse the horses down, and came over later to help me feed them as well, so I think she might be hooked! Hubby, bless his heart, had a cold beer waiting for me in our lounge chairs when I finished, and we sat and chatted with Cali for a while, until it was time for dinner when we all went our separate ways. She came back again, though, when it was time to feed the horses, and helped me with that as well. It's so refreshing to meet a millennial who is grateful and appreciative, and not afraid of work! Nice job, Mother Tracy!

Hubby woke up late, but feeling better this morning, and decided he was up for a ride, so after breakfast we saddled up the horses and headed back out on the orange trail, this time going in the counterclockwise direction in order to learn where we missed the trail last time when we took the wrong trail out of the picnic area by the bridge. The weather was perfect, the trail (except for the occasional patch of unnecessary gravel) was in good shape, though there was one large tree that had recently come down that we had to circumvent. This is really a beautiful area, single track trails that weave around in the forest, with some moderate grades, lots of small creeks, just a really pretty area. There is one section where there had been a fire that wasn't too pretty, and where they also seemed to have put more gravel down, so that was the only unenjoyable part of the trip, but fortunately that was short-lived. Unfortunately, one of my Cavallo boots kept coming off, and eventually the strap holder completely broke off the boot, making it only hanging on by the velcro ont the body of the boot, and that started slipping off, so I eventually just had to take the boots off. I hate to say it, but I've always been a fan of Cavallo's, but not so much lately. I don't know if they've stretched, or if the fit just isn't right anymore for some reason, but I've the boots have been falling off pretty regularly lately, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. Will have to look at my other options. I had originally bought Size 2 in the new Cavallo Treks for Apollo (because my previous regular Cavallos, the one with the double straps, were 2s), but they were too small and I had to return them for a 3. The 3's seemed to be a bit big, but unfortunately, last I looked, they didn't make half sizes, so it was the best fit I could manage at the time. When I get a chance, I'm going to trip Apollo's feet really well and try to fit on Hubby's 2's just to see if it's possible, otherwise I'm going to have to look for an alternate brand. Anyway, today we packed a lunch and reached the picnic area in due course, and stopped for lunch by the picnic area next to the bridge, enjoying a nice relaxing 15 minute break. Hubby was starting to feel a little bit pained in his shoulder, but he was determined to carry on, so that's what we did. It was another great ride, though, we really enjoyed it, even though Hubby really had to brave the pain by the time we arrived back in camp. It started to cloud up as the day went on, with rain in the forecast again, so we were so happy we were able to get a ride in before that happens! Another fabulous day on the trail!

Woke up feeling very refreshed after a great night sleep, thank goodness! Waved good-bye to our neighbors as they drove off this morning, and shortly afterward, several day riders came in with their trailers. Guessing it's going to be busy this weekend! Anyway, after breakfast, we saddled up the horses, who seemed quite ready to take a ride, and headed out on the orange trail, an 11 mile loop, which we took in the clockwise direction. What a beautiful trail! Other than some patches where someone got a little carried away with putting large, sharp-edged gravel down, this was spectacular, a real gem of a trail! Entirely forested (though some areas had obviously experienced a burn, and others had been cut for timber a while back), most of it was near-virgin forest, with lots of rock outcroppings and caves and little streams and hills, single-track all the way, exactly the kind of trail we like the best! About 3 miles out there was a picnic area with several highline strings set up, and we stopped for a quick break there. Then halfway around there is a bridge over a nice little stream to another short loop (which also leads to another long 10+ mile loop) and next to the bridge, down a short trail, there is another picnic area that was even larger. What a lovely spot for lunch! We hadn't brought any this time, but we certainly will next time! After taking another break there, we headed out along the stream, but when the trail looked like it actually crossed it and headed away from the trail we came in on, I began to think we should have gone back up the short trail to the point where we started, so I headed uphill until I hit what I thought was the main trail. I started following flags, which seemed to be a newer trail, but that started heading us in the wrong direction. Eventually we found a trail that headed us back north again, and after a while, we were back on the orange trail. Nice to know there are more trails than just the one loop! That will require some more exploration! We saw several deer, and heard and saw lots of birds, which was a nice change. The last few rides, Hubby had been having problems with his legs, not being able to get them far enough out front, and his circulation (which isn't great anyway) was making his legs hurt, but he did a little modification on his saddle before this ride, and it made all the difference. He did the entire 11 miles and didn't have any pain at all! So I'm looking forward to longer rides, as we had been making them shorter for his benefit, but if he can handle it, we're going to do it! We got back to find one new camper parked near us, and within an hour several more had joined us. Also, we had met a couple on the trail toward the end of the ride who invited us to a charity lunch and auction the next day for a neighbor with breast cancer, and Hubby sounded enthusiastic, so we said we'd come along. I invited them to stop off at the camp if they were coming back in that direction, and sure enough, they did! We had a nice chat with them, as well as our other neighbors (one even brought a Weed-Eater to cut down the grass around their camper, which was quite long, with lots of yellow flowers in it, but a little prickly) and offered to whack our yard as well! So we've got a nice little weekend neighborhood going here. I love the South! Eventually we managed to get inside for dinner and a nice evening. What a great ride, a great day!

Now that we're fully rested, it's time to go for a ride! Saddled up and were out by noon, figuring on doing the entire 10 mile loop, unless we ran into some trouble in which case we could shorten it to about a 5 mile loop. According to the map, several miles would be on forest road, which we assumed would be the dirt/gravel road like the one that went by the camp, but once we got onto the trail part, we would lose the gravel. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. Some of it became dirt and grass, but much of the "trail" as described in the map was still forest road with dirt and gravel, more than we usually like to travel on. Maybe three miles of the 10 mile loop wasn't on a dirt/gravel road, that's all. But the weather was perfect, the horses were perfect, and the day was a great one for a ride! Hubby thought Clio was limping a tiny bit at first, but once she was warmed up, she seemed fine. Probably just a little arthritis kicking in after standing around for so many days. Somewhere along the line, I lost a metal water bottle, so I'm planning on taking short ride tomorrow to see if I can find it, and maybe take Billy along, since he didn't come today. We felt it was too far for the old guy. Lola had a great time, though! Of course, even after ten miles, her first action when we got back to camp was to find her ball and start putting it in the fetch machine! Indefatigable, that girl! We had a number of nice canters and trots, and there were many ascents and descents that were a wonderful change from the flatness of Florida, and the ride seemed to go quickly with all the variety of landscape. We even surprised a couple of wild turkeys along the way, so obviously the hunters missed a few! Arrived back at camp just before 4:00, put everyone away, broke out the beer and relaxed until dinner time. A very nice day!

A quiet night last night let us have a leisurely morning, then we put the new tire on and replaced the spare back up under the RV, which only took about 15 minutes. We then saddled up and headed out, following a series of trails I had drawn from the map I got from the office the first day. Unfortunately, the first "trailhead" off the road was completely unmarked, and even though I thought I knew where it was from a map, I had to force Apollo up a sharp incline over a ditch to get into the woods, and then after two steps he tripped on something, and when I looked back I realized he had tripped over the bottom string of a barbed wire fence! The top strings had been removed, but I've never seen any kind of trailhead that had barbed wire across it, so we decided we must be in the wrong place, and stayed on the road until we hit Deer Pen Road, which was the next crossing that would get us where we wanted to go. Hubby didn't like being on the gravel road, but Deer Pen was grassy and dirt, so it was much better from then on. We eventually picked up the route I had planned, and the farther we got along the route, the less traveled the trails were, but it was lovely! We had some nice straight-aways for canters, then lots of un-maintained forest roads that had some deadfall, but nothing too hard to get around. On the way back from the farthest loop, we decided to try my original plan backwards, so we could see if we just missed the entrance on the other end. By now we knew what kind of condition the trails were in and could easily identify them, so we followed along, adding a few side trips along the way, until we finally came out at exactly the same location where we had tried to get on the trail in the first place! So my map had been right, but the trailhead was all but invisible from the road! And I've never heard of anyplace that hadn't at least removed the barbed wire from the entrance, or put a culvert of some kind over the ditch, or had some kind of trail marking that at least let us know we were going in the right direction! But once you're on the trail, it's lovely, just under-maintained, so a lot of downed branches. This place is really a diamond in the rough! I was told by a ranger that there is another equestrian trail that is still unofficial, but better marked by a local equestrian club with pink flags, but that's more on the north section, not near the campground. Of course, the group camp on the other side of the lake, with corrals and trails, but ONLY group camp, so we weren't about to stay there! In any event, we did more than eight miles before I took Apollo down to the boat ramp for a drink. Of course, Lola immediately went to find her ball to start putting it in the GoDogGo fetch machine, despite having just covered eight plus miles! We grabbed a beer and sat at the picnic table chilling for a bit, then Ranger Bill came along and chatted with us for awhile, and I shared some of my ideas for making this a much more attractive place for horse campers. Dinner and some chores preparing for our departure later, and we are ready for an early night sleep!