Well, contrary to our best laid plans, it turned out that sleeping (or not sleeping, as the case may be) in the van was a disaster! The wind whipped around us all night, and we soon realized that this was the equivalent to the "bridge ices first" scenario. The wind under the van made the air mattress ice cold, we were never able to get warm enough, we were freezing and wide awake all night (thanks in part to the coffee, no doubt, which I'm sure wasn't really decaf), and no matter what we did (short of running the van all night, which we didn't do), we had what was probably the worst night of our lives. I finally had Hubby pull a parka off the clothing rack in the van, and that helped me on one side, but the bottom side just never warmed up. We did our best to laugh at ourselves, but by morning, we were pretty uncomfortable, and the chill had started to seep into Hubby's lungs, which is never a good thing. He got a little sleep, but I'm not sure I got any, certainly no more than an hour off and on at best. We turned the van on at last, which helped a lot, then got dressed. Once the sun came up and started to warm things up, it improved, but it took a long time to feel warm again. After locating our group leader's camp, we found out that they wouldn't be moving trailers over until at least afternoon, so we decided to stay on our original plan and head to St. Cloud for breakfast. We unhooked the van and drove to IHOP, where we finally got fully warm, and had a nice big breakfast designed to get us through until dinner. We went to Walmart in the hopes of getting a couple of emergency thermal blankets, but, of course, they were out. We got a few other sundries before heading back to camp. We then learned that the line of corrals were, indeed, the ones that we had rented (and could have put the horses in last night, had someone mentioned that to us), so we moved over to the corral, driving across the field where others hadn't been yet, which was a lot less slippery. We learned several other people had gotten stuck in the mud in the same area as we had yesterday as well. We put the horses together in one corral, and put up the tent. We started with a tarp on the ground, then the tent, then our slickers in an effort to keep the cold away from us, then the air mattress, sleeping bags and quilt. Although the air mattress just fit into the tent, it didn't leave much room for anything else, though we managed to put our two bags along one edge, but it shoved me pretty much into the back side of the tent. The temps were supposed to be marginally higher overnight (37 as opposed to 33), so we kept our fingers crossed that being on the ground would help keep us warmer. Once that was done, I returned to the group leader's trailer to find out when we were supposed to be leaving (which I had understood we would do in groups at a designated time), only to learn that people were just going over when they were ready! I'm getting a bit concerned about the lack of communication, nobody seems to be communicating anything to anyone. I saw a long line of trailers departing the camp, so I decided to join them, having been told that there was a shuttle to bring us back. I headed down to the arena where the cattle drive will end, and managed to persuade them to let me stay near the front, as I would be selling books at the arena on the last day and needed to be close. Farther back it was so wet that trailers were getting stuck just trying to park, they had a tractor there pulling people around. I managed to get into a spot next to a Forest Service semi just off the gravel, so I'm hoping I won't have any trouble getting out later. After making a final check that I had everything we needed, I was directed to the "shuttle" that turned out to be a livestock trailer! Thank goodness Hubby insisted I take my coat with me, I would have been frozen again without it! Twenty minutes later I was back at camp, trying, along with Hubby, to get warm in our tent. Eventually we headed out to the dinner tent, looking forward to getting a bit more information than what we had been able to acquire thus far. Dinner was a couple of beef ribs, a quarter of a chicken, potato salad, corn, beans, and lemon meringue pie, all of which was cold by the time we reached a table. After dinner, the meeting started, and we were basically told our circle boss would fill us in on everything, so we broke down into smaller groups and waited... And waited... And waited. Our circle boss was nowhere to be found. The generator for the caterer was so loud, I don't think anyone could hear anything, so we eventually moved to the other side of the tent and waited some more. Finally, we headed over to the circle boss' trailer, where we finally found her, and she gave us a few facts. It seems another group was supposed to herd the cows in the morning, but that had changed to our group, so we would be heading out by 8:00, though she wanted us there by 7:30. That was it. We had to ask "Where" were we heading out from, and never got a decent answer. So we headed back to our tent in the dark, hoping it would all become clearer in the morning. The wind had diminished somewhat during the day, but it was still quite cold and breezy when we went to bed, hoping for a better night sleep than last night!

Had a busy and productive day today, doing the majority of our packing and preparation for the upcoming cattle drive. We also spent a couple of hours working on the performance that Hubby is planning to give the cattle drive, we finally received part of the shipment for our promo materials for the book, and even managed to get a ride in, running out to the gazebo in Hungryland, doing lots of jogging, trotting, and cantering along the way. We actually ran into more horses this trip than ever, with two women meeting up with us very near the beginning and catching up to us at the gazebo, and another woman heading out of the park as we were heading in. We got back just before 5:00, just in time for a meet and greet with a pet-sitter, and hired her to come in and play with Lola for 30-60 minutes every day, a small price to pay to save the interior of the RV, which I'm afraid Lola will tear apart if she's left alone without getting a lot more exercise than my brother has time to provide. Finally settled down for the evening, confident we're well on our way to being fully prepared for the week, though we have taken a pause about arriving early on Saturday, as the forecast is in the 30's overnight! Brrr! But Hubby says he's prepared to be adventurous, we'll just have to cuddle and keep warm!

The storms continued through the night, I had to get up and bring the awning in, the wind gusts got so bad. The yard is a swamp again! Watched the playoffs and some other shows in between getting out the tack and attire we'll be taking with us on the cattle drive. Getting everything spit polished! Then towards late afternoon, my brother, who had been working on a cleaning project all weekend, decided he still had enough energy for a ride, his first since we've arrived in December, so we saddled up the horses and headed out the driveway, taking our usual nice 90 minute ride back into the picnic gazebo under the banyan tree in Hungryland. Being so late in the day, there was a lot more bird activity, we saw a couple of storks, a young hawk, and lots of other birds hunting dinner. Being the Sunday before a Monday holiday, there was a lot more human activity as well, we had two vehicles pass us on the access road back to the gazebo, which was unusual. I always thought that gate was locked, but brother seems to think they unlock it during hunting season, and indeed, one of the vehicles that passed us held a couple that promptly started putting camouflage gear on when they parked. Later we heard rifle fire coming from that direction, so obviously, something's in season in January here! Got back just as the sun was setting, and it didn't take long to get the horses, and us, settled in for the night.

Since the forecast was predicting rain coming in this afternoon, Hubby and I got up a little earlier and were out on the trails by 11:00 (okay, that may not be early for some, but we want to make as many deposits in our sleep bank as possible, since we'll be getting up around 5 a.m. during the Cattle Drive!) This time we took a slightly different route, heading east on the canal that heads to Mack Dairy Road before going out to the gazebo, adding some extra mileage, though not extra time because we spent a lot more time jogging and cantering along the way. Dogs enjoyed it as well, and we managed to get back by about 1:00, the time when rain was supposed to be moving in. Of course, it didn't, but it was getting cloudier. Hubby and I had some shopping to do, for clothes for the cattle drive and a few other odds and ends, so we headed out after putting the horses away, getting back just before the rain finally DID arrive. There's a major front coming through that looks like it will sock us in all day tomorrow, which is fine, because I'm due to receive my new new computer (I sent my old new computer back earlier this week, too unreliable), and that will be a few days to get that up and running and everything moved over. Settled down for a pleasant evening of dinner and movies!

After a rainy day yesterday, it was back on the trails again today, once again weaving through the neighborhood, down to Hungryland. This time, instead of going to the gazebo, we had noticed they had opened up a pass-through gate along the canal on the southernmost edge of the WMA, which had previously been blocked off. We didn't know how far we could go, so we went exploring. It was a good mile from the gate to the corner of the section where the canal turned south, and we followed that nearly another mile, almost to Route 706. Down and back fit the allotted time frame we had set aside, and we did a huge amount of jogging and some cantering as well, to up the condition of the horses and us. Hubby's back is still doing fine, the dogs had a great time, and the horses, of course, we once again brilliant! Another gorgeous day in Florida!

After a week of recuperating from completing the book, plus doing a bunch of other mundane stuff, the weather has finally turned perfect and Hubby and I have, at last, been able to take a ride! With the Cattle Drive looming, we simply have to get ourselves and the horses fit before we head up to St. Cloud. Hubby's acupuncture has been doing wonders for him, he's feeling much better, and we have high hopes that this will solve his back problem, if not permanently, at least for a long time. So under gorgeous skies, we saddled up the frisky horses and headed down the driveway. We decided this time to take the dogs, as we'll only be going past a few houses before reaching the canal, then heading back out to the Hungryland WMA. It's not a thrilling ride by any means, but it's nice, and it gets everybody back into the swing of things. Apollo was brilliant, he was so frisky yesterday when I trimmed his feet I was afraid he would be hard to handle at the beginning today, but he seemed so grateful to have something else to do, he was fabulous. The last few days, the horses have been hanging out at the gate, looking longingly down the driveway, so I know they were ready for a change of venue! We did a bit more jogging than we've done in a while, for conditioning as well as to check out Hubby's back, and he was fine when we got back. He's feeling so much stronger, and he's able to sit his horse so much better now that he has improved his posture considerably. Acupuncture seems to be doing the trick! Anyway, another very nice 2 hour ride to start our conditioning, we have plans to do at least 2 more rides this week. We'd love to ride every day, but there's some nasty weather in the forecast, and until it's absolutely necessary, we're still fair weather riders for the most part! And the dogs finally got some exercise, too, Lola's been going crazy with only tennis balls and frisbees to catch!

Well, today will be the test for Hubby's new acupuncture treatment. He has his second appointment this afternoon, so we decided to take a two-hour ride this morning beforehand, to see how he holds out. Two hours is about the max he can do these days without his back really starting to bother him, and that's if we don't do too much jogging. Well, we headed out the driveway and up the road to the first canal, then turned east to the next canal, then north. Previously, to get to the Hungryland WMA across the canal, you had to ride down and up a steep incline, usually through a few inches of water, but my brother had told me they had put in a bridge. I was expecting an actual bridge, but instead, they had put in a metal culvert and completely filled it in, making an actual road with a gate across it, with a horse pass next to it. Wonderful! We decided to ride into the WMA to a pavilion that's about ¾ of a mile into the area, took a short break, then came back out again. On the way back, we carried on along the canal all the way to Indiantown Road before making our way around the neighborhood back to the house, finishing at just the two hour length we wanted. Hubby said he was just starting to get a twinge in his back, but nothing like the way it used to be, so progress is made! Afterward, we headed back to the doctor's office for another treatment, which helped even more, before settling down for the evening.

Though the trail map indicates a good choice of loops, they are almost all at least 10 miles long, but Hubby said he was up for that, so I planned out a route that would take us west on the main road (no motor vehicles) until we met up with a left turn that would take us to a primitive camping area, then pick up the Grasshopper Sparrow Trail west, then loop back around on the main road. We headed out walking and jogging on the straight as an arrow road until we reached our turn, only running across a few patches of standing water on the road. That changed a bit after the turn, the water became deeper and more often. By the time we went through the camping area, the water was everywhere. We changed our plan, deciding to take a shorter loop south on the Ozmore Trail to the Boundary Trail, then back north on the Kilpatrick Prairie Trail. Problem was, the water was between ankle and knee deep on the horses almost all the way, and after about ¾ of a mile, we agreed that it was likely not to improve, and that no one was having much fun (except Lola, who was right in her element, leaping and jumping around the sawgrass), so we turned back and retraced our route back to the campground, getting a few canters in once we got back on the high ground of the main road. No doubt, if it were drier here, the trails would be fantastic, albeit kind of boring with all the flatness, but they've had so much rain here in the past few weeks, it's just too wet. We got back to camp, got the horses away, and settled down for the evening, as usual.

Bound and determined to plan a route that doesn't take us into the brush today, I mapped out a route that appeared on Google Earth to be sand roads almost the entire way. I always try to map as much of an area as possible, which gives us ample opportunity to see many different parts of the forest, and today was no exception. We headed south out of the camp, then east, and within a mile we were on a new road heading due east for a ways. Then we turned north for about 50 feet, then east again, along the back of some rather trashy homesteads with lots of junk, dogs in kennels and cows and horses in pastures along the way. That eventually turned north, and we were doing great so far, every trail more like a road, which made us both happy. Then despite a forecast with NO rain in it, it began to drizzle, though very lightly at first, then it stopped, then it started again, until it was hard enough for me to put on my poncho (Hubby decided he was already too wet to worry, though I'd asked him several times earlier if he wanted one.) Finally, we had to turn west again, and the road I chose, which looked perfect from the satellite, had evidently overgrown some since that picture was taken, because we quickly started running into overgrowth again, which by now was quite wet overgrowth. Much less than our previous encounters, at least, but still enough to cause us some concern for half a mile or so. Apollo once again turned into a bulldozer, picking up his pace and literally plowing through, and my only recourse was to grab my hat and lean over his neck, letting the branches skim my back as we went by, getting me drenched in the process. Hubby only caught a bad branch once, when the stampede strap on his hat broke, but otherwise we made it through, once again bursting onto a two-track trail, covered with pine needles. Whew! Happily, the rest of the trip was clear sailing, and we even got a bunch of canters in on the way back. I've been holding back since my fall two weeks ago, but we can't ignore the need, so we worked on cantering, trying to get him to slow down, as his habit is to start to canter, then get faster and faster, then catch something out of the corner of his eye and sidestep, which doesn't always end well for me. We managed half a dozen canters, with me doing my best to slow him down, and eventually he relaxed and was more cooperative. I hope when we get to my brother's house we can trailer them over to a nearby public arena and run them to death for a while, until they learn there is such a thing as a slow lope! Anyway, completed another 7.5 miles in good time, got the horses settled in, filled the RV with water for showers and hopefully a couple more loads of laundry tomorrow (drying weather permitting), then settled down with a nice bottle of wine and a barbecue chicken dinner.

After a nice rest day yesterday, and having played bulldozer a bit too much on our last ride, I did my best this time to plan a trip on roads I could actually see well on Google Earth, not paying any attention to what GE has marked as a trail. This proved to be a bit easier, but we still ran into overgrowth that had apparently sprung up significantly since the last GE picture was taken of the area. This time we circled the perimeter of the campground to the north, then crossed the road early and barely found the trailhead on the other side. There was a pretty big ditch on the side of the road that had been made by heavy equipment, but my big guy just stepped over it and hauled himself (and me) over it. Hubby and Clio followed, and we stayed on a two track trail for quite a ways. Even so, there was a lot of lumber that had fallen over the road, really amazed at how little maintenance goes on at this forest Fortunately this section was a lot more open, so getting around them was pretty easy. We turned north, still following a rather nice track, getting a bit concerned when a road that should have been on the left wasn't there, but as we continued on, the road eventually turned west, and I realized that when drawing the map, I had taken a shortcut because I couldn't actually see the road at that point. In any event, we stayed on the road, which stayed on track, and circled back east again, crossing the main road, missing a fork to the south, which, thanks to my GPS, we quickly realized, and got back on track. Then we came to a section that had a big berm, and several large trees blocking the way. We had to climb over trees to reach the top, then over a tree that laid across the berm and dropped directly downward. A bit tricky, but my guy managed it okay. Clio hesitated a bit, being the smaller of the two, but Hubby managed to move her to where the tree was slightly lower, and made it down okay. We followed that to a T, then turned left. That part of the trail, unfortunately, began to be overgrown again, not quite as bad as Monday, because there weren't any trees down that we couldn't get around, but lots of branches that were horse-head high, which meant lots of ducking and scraping for us, and a lot of bulldozing for Apollo. One time Hubby lost his hat and almost lost his glasses as the brush became too thick. Fortunately, that didn't last too long, and we soon came back out on a two track road, much to our relief. The rest of the way was pretty uneventful, thankfully, and we made it back to camp after completing our seven mile loop in relatively good condition. The weather was perfect, low 70's and sunny, with just a light breeze, just what we come to Florida for! Settled down to a drink and dinner and relaxed in this beautiful, live oak, mossy-covered park!