Hey Babe,
Slept WAY too late this morning, so it was too hot to go riding by the time I got up, so I ended up going to Tractor Supply to fill up my propane tanks, and that was about it. I did make one discovery, though. I was able to reconfigure my understanding of how long one tank of propane lasts, about 6.5 hours. I started with a fresh tank this afternoon, and that's how long it lasted. Was happy to finally figure that out! I spent the afternoon working on my travel plans for the next couple of months, booking my flight to Rochester for the reunion and researching more hotels in Peru. Several of the recommended hotels are already sold out, so I'm having to scramble a bit, but I also want to research the Spring Festival in Trujillo, it seems it has a lot of Paso centric activities, so I'm a bit interested in that, but that may keep me away too long. More research tomorrow! Not much else to say! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a very good night sleep last night, thank goodness for the excellent insulation in this camper! Only woke up once during the night, and only because Lola got too close to the carbon monoxide detector and set it off, but otherwise, she hardly did any panting, and all the fans worked just fine through most of the night. Another hot day today, too hot to do much of anything, so I spent the day reading and bingeing on TV. Was pleasantly surprised that my generator has been running all day with no overheating (I'm thinking now that when it stalls out it has more to do with the pressure of the propane tanks), and have been running since 1:00 this afternoon on less than 1 1/2 tanks! Guess I'm getting better "mileage" than I thought! I had it figured out once that one 20 lb. tank lasts about four hours, but evidently, I need to refigure that. Anyway, very happy at that result, though I am going to have to run to Tractor Supply and stock up again tomorrow just to get me through the rest of the weekend. Did some research for horse camps to keep me in the area, but I'm stuck with either staying at the same few horse camps that have electric, or going significantly farther north to escape the heat. Guess it will depend on the weather what I will do! Absolutely nothing else going on today, so I'll be heading to bed soon. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Lola was restless at 2:00 a.m., panting so hard it woke me up. Took me almost an hour to get her cooled down, putting a fan in front of her, an ice pack on her, taking her out to her pool to wet her down. She finally cooled off enough to minimize her panting, but I finally had to put in earplugs if I was going to get any sleep, which I finally did. Got up with a plan, though! After chores and breakfast, I saddled up Flash for a ride. I decided that I wasn't going to let myself become a weather wuss! So what if it's hot out, it's always cooler in the woods, and it hasn't been that long since this gal spent a summer in south Florida putting in an entire trail system in 95 degree heat with 100 percent humidity, and survived! So Flash and I took a nice ride, about 6.5 miles, during which I stopped at the fire tower and climbed all the way to the top, just to see the view! I'm wondering if I'll be able to see fireworks from here, like I always like to do at Watkins Glen. Considering doing that if it isn't raining. Anyway, it was a lovely ride which didn't phase either of us. Once we got back and I put him away, Lola and I got in the pre-cooled truck and drove up to Tractor Supply to refill three of my propane tanks. It's only about 15 minutes away, so my plan is to simply run my generator as long as necessary to run the AC during the hot spell. Fortunately, it never overheated on me, and ran all day and evening with no problem, and managed to get it comfortable. It's sure to get stuffy overnight, but that's the best I can do for now. I had the horses loose on the grounds, since there is no one here, and yesterday the gal ranger had no problem with it, but today the old guy ranger made me put them away. Sigh... Such nice grass and clover going to waste! Finished off my Being Erica series and started on House, which I had heard was good but never saw, so that will be my latest binge. Time to take my cold shower and go to bed. Fingers crossed Lola lets me sleep through the night! Good night, babe! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Babe,
I ran the generator much later than I normally would, just to run the AC until I went to bed. Even then the outside temp was still 80+. Not comfortable! It was okay after my shower for awhile, until the cooler air eventually dissipated, leaving a pretty hot and steamy rest of the night. To try to make it a bit easier today, I booked a float down the Tippecanoe River, and for three glorious hours, I paddled quietly in some lovely cool water in a tube. Of course, once I got back to camp, I had to deal with the heat again, but there was a decent breeze, so at least it was tolerable, though it got bad in the peak of the heat in late afternoon. Once again, I'm running the AC until I go to bed, and I'm on my last tank of propane, so a trip to Tractor Supply tomorrow is a must! The forecast for the rest of the week isn't any better, with mid-90's and a heat index as high as 109! Really should be farther north, won't make the same mistake again! Already took a shower this afternoon, and will be taking another one before I'm going to bed. Starting to wonder if I can find someplace with AC that will take dogs where I can hang out, but don't really want to leave the horses all day either. May just have to bite the bullet and run the generator most of the day, but it's been overheating and turning itself off when it gets too warm, so that may not be a viable solution. I considered moving, but with July 4th weekend coming up, everything with electric is booked, so I'm just going to have to grin and bear it! Yet another challenge of living on the road! The good still far outweighs the bad, so no complaints! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
My morning habit seems to be waking up around 5:00, reading, then falling asleep until about 8:30, which seems to suit me just fine at the moment. Today was a very hot day, and frankly, if I had seen the forecast before booking another week here, I may have changed my mind and gone someplace with electric. Instead, I'm just expecting to make it up with using more propane than usual to run my AC when necessary. It was too hot today to do just about anything! I did manage a couple of loads of laundry done today, but that was about it! I mostly read and watched TV, had a few problems with my generator overheating, but managed to make it work, made arrangements to tube down the Tippecanoe River tomorrow, figuring at least I'll be cooler on the water, since tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. Poor Lola was panting like a fiend, so I finally broke down and got out her dog pool, and once she saw it filled up, she laid it in for quite a while, then came in and blessedly slept for several hours. I also put an ice pack on her to help as well, and put some ice cubes in a bandana around my neck for me. Still, it's unbearably hot, which is why I usually get above the 42nd parallel by this time of year! My mistake this year! It was so lovely last week, I had high hopes, but they've been dashed. Too hot to even ride, and more on the way. Oh, well, we have to take the good with the bad! I finally managed to get the AC running in hopes of blowing out the hot air before bed, not sure it will work, but I'm definitely burning more propane than usual, but I don't care! Tractor Supply is only 15 minutes away, and this is me, not worrying about using an extra tank or two or three a month to try to be comfortable. Something weird happened last night with my phone though, it inadvertently sent out an SOS, which I discovered happens when the power button is pushed five times in a row. Not that I did that on purpose, but I was having problems with my charger on the phone. So I got a couple of text this morning from folks that were notified, even though they weren't on my emergency contact list, so I updated that, and learned something important! Now I know! Anyway, a long, boring day, heading for a cold shower and hopefully a good night sleep, if I don't sweat to death in the process. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
First job this morning was the check the oil in the generator to make sure that wasn't the problem, and was happy to see it was fine. Started it up and ran it for a good couple of hours, finally managed to make a dent in recharging the batteries, yay! Did a few other chores and computer searches, and was quite surprised when it started drizzling, as there was not one word about rain in the forecast! When it finally cleared up in early afternoon, I saddled up Apollo for a change. I am starting to see just how detrimental letting him atrophy is becoming, so that's something I need to remedy. I trimmed his front hooves, then rode him for a very short ride down to the Tippecanoe River, then added a bit more by going around the west loop of the campground. Just at two miles when we got back to the campsite, which I thought was a good start, all things considered. By then, most of the camp was empty, there are only a few folks left, typical of a Sunday. Took Lola for a couple of walks today, she is doing so much better! She's been going in and out by herself without injury, so I'm really beginning to think it's not a torn ACL, just some other soft tissue issue. Settled down for some more binge watching, ran the generator again for a bit, happy to see it really charging up the batteries again. Headed to bed shortly! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Lots of folks came into the campground last night, so it was a bit busier than it has been, not unexpected, of course! Did some chores in the morning, picked up my mail at the office and posted a letter as well, chatted with some of my new neighbors while walking Lola around, then finally saddled up Flash for a nice 6+ mile ride. I actually found two short sections of trail that I've never been on, so I incorporated them into today's ride, so now I've officially done every bit of horse trail out here. This is a lovely place, but they really need about ten or fifteen more miles of trail to make it interesting! Only ran into two other riders on the trail, and we chatted a little, but then I stopped off at their trailer later and we had a long chat. They seemed very interested in my Africa trip, so I happily answered all their questions. Finally settled down for the evening, watched a little TV, took Lola for one last walk just before mosquito hour before settling down for the night. Sorry to say that the temps are really warming up in the next few days, so I'm a bit sorry I have no electric. Normally wouldn't bother me too much, but my generator kept kicking off this evening, with an overheating fault, and it's in the shade and not even running that long! I'll look at it in the morning, but I already checked the filter and the oil, and they both seem okay, so I don't know what's causing it to overheat, especially since I left the compartment door open. Hope I can figure it out, this is going to get a bit uncomfortable if I can't run my AC long enough to cool down the inside of the camper during these upcoming warm days! Time to pull out my little portable ice AC unit, for what it's worth! Enough said, time for bed! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
I had hoped to take Apollo for a short ride today, but the weather forecast was for rain most of the day, which never actually materialized, so I spent the day getting caught up on a lot of little chores. I finally put the right taillight on the truck, it's been needing to be replaced for a long time, and I've been carrying around the new pair for ages, so I finally got that done. I also did a few inside jobs, like hanging some photos and trying to fix some hooks and things. Took Lola for three walks today, but mostly just hung out waiting for it to rain, which it never really did. Did some planning for the next couple of months, seriously considering just staying in the Indiana area rather than go all the way east, figured I would save over 1000 miles of driving that way, but it depends on a few things that I need to hear back on before I decide for sure. Feels like so much is in flux right now! I guess you could call that freedom, since nothing is carved in stone! Read, watched TV, not much else to share! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Despite the rain through the night, with earplugs in, I had an excellent night sleep! By morning it was over, and even Lola didn't get too excited about it, thank goodness! Did my morning chores leisurely, then saddled up Flash for a ride. He's really taken a liking to these trails, he was definitely back into a 6 + mph range! We only did about four miles before we got back to camp, when I put Apollo on a line and ponied him around the camp a bit just for exercise. Once we got back and I put them away, I headed out to do errands, stopping at a couple of hardware stores to see if they had the materials I needed to fix the legs on my solar panel (they didn't), and finally ending up at a welder/fabricator in the little town of Winimac who said he could help, so I left the legs with him and drove off to Rochester, IN, where I got fuel and shopped at Walmart to get a few essentials. Was delighted when I got back to the welder and he was able to fix my legs, though honestly, I'm not sure how long they will last, but it was worth the $20 bucks for even a temporary fix. Took Lola for a couple of walks, she is doing so well these days! Almost like before the torn ACL! Settled down to a couple of hours of binge TV, off to bed soon! Really hating DST, still light at 9:30, yuck! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Woke up a bit early but slept again afterward, got up and did my chores, did some research on gas regulators, only to discover later that it may not be a problem after all. Took Lola for several walks today. I had fully planned to ride today, but then I found some hay not too far away, 80% grass, 20% alfalfa, so I headed over there to pick up enough to last me the next two weeks. By the time I got back and got everything stored, there were a lot of clouds around (in fact, I ran into a little sprinkle on my way back, but fortunately everything dried out before I got back to camp), so I decided not to ride. Had a leisurely afternoon readying and doing some research on the computer, especially learning about Peru, watched a few episodes of my latest binge, now I'm ready for bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!