Hey Babe!
After a pretty good night sleep, I got up around 8:00 and finished packing up and moving out. I was on the road by about 9:30 after saying goodbye to Tami. My first stop was the Love’s Travel Center in Dublin, with the intention of using the RV dump and topping off my fuel tank, neither of which I ended up doing. The first thing that happened was when I turned in, I heard a crunching sound, and immediately knew that something was going on with my tailgate. I only latched one side, since the other side wouldn’t unlatch with the handle, and somewhere along the line it had jumped loose, so my “new to me” tailgate is crunched up a little. Don’t know if it’s fixable or if this time I need to go to a real body shop and get it taken care of right, we’ll see later. I tied it up with a rope the best I could then went hunting for the RV dump. The signage was terrible, and I ended up having to go inside and ask where it was, turns out I was practically parked in front of it, but it was on a stretch of curb that made it literally impossible to get close enough to it to use it. Seriously! If I pulled along the curb, my front end was right up against the propane pump, and the dump was about even with the back tires of the truck, absolutely ridiculous! I abandoned that idea, so then I drove around the building to the truck pumps. Usually the only pump with a “car” sized handle rather than a huge truck handle (which I end up having to pump slowly because it comes out so fast it immediately turns itself off) is the pump nearest the building. So I pulled in behind a big truck that was there for a couple of minutes. There didn’t seem to be any activity on the pump so I got out to check that it had the smaller handle, only to see that it wasn’t really a pump at all, the truck was just parked there! Okay, so forget that, I wasn’t going to wait around, so I pulled around the pump and headed around the station to finish the same circle I started, only to see that there was no exit! I had to make a giant u-turn and go all the way back around the building to the way I came in. Seriously, I’ve never seen a more poorly designed truck stop in my life. So I failed to accomplish either of my intended goals, I just got on the freeway and headed out. I finally stopped at a Marathon about 80 miles later just to top off my tank (I can’t believe diesel is up to $3.89 a gallon!), re-tied my tailgate back on because it had slipped again, then continued on. Driving the freeway was uneventful, then I got off on US 27 and came in that way. Unfortunately, Google Maps screwed me up and tried to bring me in from the north side, even though that road dead ends in the middle of a forest. Well, it doesn’t actually dead end, it turns into a mud-filled four wheel drive mess. I knew it didn’t look right so I called Pistol to confirm it was the wrong end of the road, which she did, and I had to back up about a hundred yards to another road and carefully turn around, avoiding ditches on both sides. There was a guy in a truck there who confirmed that there are potholes filled with water that would come up to the grill on his truck, so I DEFINITELY would have gotten stuck if I had gone that way! Anyway, in another ten minutes I was pulling into her driveway the RIGHT way, and with the help of her son Travis, got the horses in their nice pasture and the trailer backed up and in place. The whole trip, the radio kept saying it was mostly sunny skies, but it was gray, cloudy and occasionally rainy the whole trip! I had two bales of hay in the back of the truck, because the forecast had said sunny skies. Thanks again, weather forecasters! Just as I got backed into place, the heaviest rain of all came in, but I was able to throw my tarp over the hay just in time, so hopefully they’ll still be good. Shortly after that, Pistol came home, we chatted, then she had to run out and do some stuff, and I had to get my electric hooked up, as well as finally dump into her sewer system, which worked just fine. She brought pizza when she got back and we ate and chatted for a bit, but we both called it an early night. I’m really crashing after all the activity, so it’s off to shower and bed very soon! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Slept soundly, though I did fret a bit about the problem I’m having with the front cap on the trailer, but after chores and breakfast, I took another look at it, and decided the best and thankfully easiest route would be to put a bead of sealant along the edge and then use Gorilla tape to hold it in place while it’s drying, then after I get down to Florida, put another layer on, and hopefully that will do it. So that’s what I did, and it seemed to work okay. I’ll have a better idea how well once I make the 250 mile journey, see how it holds up. Anyway, I got that job done, spent some time cleaning the front cap since it had so many streaks in it from all the different things I tried using to get the hold adhesive off. I started doing laundry first thing, since I suddenly remembered that my plan had been to do all the extra things that I only do occasionally, like the mattress cover and all the blankets, plus all the rags I’ve been using, so I was doing laundry nonstop all day. Then I remember I still had to do the seam on the awning where it meets the hard cover, it tends to drip whenever it rains, and I’ve been meaning to do that for awhile. On the way down from the roof, I got a tube of red tack grease out of the oil change box and cleaned and lubricated the hitch, which I’ve also been meaning to do for a few weeks, plus rubbed some on the jack stanchions, as they’ve been squeaking a little bit. I put a few things away as well, though not as much as I usually too, just too tired. When I finally sat down in my chair outside, I practically fell asleep! Just stopping made my body want to shut down. So I read for a bit, grilled a brat, then later put that and Lola’s ball machine away. Tami came by and gave me almost a full bale of hay, so now I have a couple of extra. Good thing there’s no rain in the forecast, fingers crossed! Tami came by again in the evening and we chatted again for awhile, enjoying her company, but finally had to kick her out just after 9:00 because I still had some things to do and I wanted to get to bed fairly early. Just put my last load in the dryer (after 9:30), so I’m heading out for my shower once the water heats up and I finish my tea, then off to bed, with fortunately, I made earlier so I can slip right in! So I’ll say good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Another good night sleep, another busy day! I took some ibuprofen last night just to make sure the aches and pain didn’t wake me too early, so I slept like a baby, thank goodness! After chores and breakfast, I ran back into town to pick up my package, and as soon as I got back I installed it, so now I have a working CO2 monitor AND my kitchen light, which was on the same circuit. I also dropped down the air conditioning framework to see if I could figure out where a strange puddle came from, but there were no obvious signs it came from there, but I washed out the filter while I had it apart. Finally, I got back to waxing the rest of the trailer, and finished the job just as my wax ran out, perfect timing! Then I looked at the front cap of the trailer, figuring I would just reseal it, but it’s turning out to be a bit more complicated than that, the front piece of aluminum is actually pulling away from the trailer, so I started trying to get off all the old sealant, not an easy task, and brushed a bunch of rust neutralizer along it, since it seems a little rusty up there. Not bad, but I don’t want it to get any worse. It’s supposed to dry in 24 hours, but I’m going to tackle the problem in the morning, the most challenging being how to hold the piece in place after I seal it, as there’s no way to clamp it. I have an idea, don’t know if it will work, we’ll see in the morning. I also compounded off some paint overspray I had forgotten was up there, washed the windows, pounded a couple of things back into place, cleaned the gutters out better, and generally just kept cleaning, since I seem to be on a cleaning tear right now! Finally quit around 5:00 again, had my grilled burger and settled down for the evening. Tami walked up and we chatted for a couple of hours, we’re getting along like a house on fire, and she gave me some GREAT ideas for some stopovers on my trip north next summer. Apparently there are a number of trail associations like here at Mingo trails that have properties they maintain for horse camping and trail riding, she gave me some names, and the idea to research for more, so hopefully I’ll have a whole new bunch of camps, yay! Tired again, not surprisingly, and I have another busy non-riding day tomorrow, so I’m heading off to shower and bed momentarily! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Another good night sleep, despite someone nearby running their air conditioner all night, not sure what that’s all about, it’s been beautiful weather. Whatever! After chores and breakfast, I started to wax one of the panels on the trailer, and realized that despite my washing it yesterday, it still had a lot of black streaks and water stains, so I decided I had to take care of that first. After realizing those old cans of Streak Away weren’t going to work, I discovered a video yesterday that claimed a product from a Dollar Store, called LA’s Awesome Cleaner would do the job. Though the video was compelling, I was still a skeptic, but with no other ideas to hand, I headed into town. First I went to the post office to follow up on my package, which they were now saying wouldn’t be here until MONDAY, but set it up with the postmistress that if it came in earlier she would call me, and I could either come and get it or she would arrange to have it delivered via the carrier. Then I went to the Dollar General, the only store in town (the place is about the size of Altamont!) and sure enough, they had a half gallon of the cleaner, so I got that and a small spray bottle and headed back. Amazingly, the stuff really worked! I had to apply it a couple of times on the tough spots, but it worked almost as well as the old stuff, with a little elbow grease. So then I had to pretty much wash the whole trailer by hand again to get all the marks off, then I started applying the wax. What a job! There’s no easy way to was a 47′ trailer! I only got one side done, and it’s not coming out quite as good as I had hoped. I’m using a high end Maguires ceramic wax, which I had high hopes for, but it’s not quite doing the job. I guess there’s too much oxidation in the paint, so that means next time I do this, I’ll probably have to do a little compounding on it first. Oh, joy! Another two days of work. I was so exhausted by 4:30 I didn’t even have the energy to walk down to my neighbor Tami’s trailer, which I said I would do when she rode by earlier in the day, but later, she came up and visited with me for a few hours anyway, which was very enjoyable. Oh, and an hour after I got back from town, the postmistress called to say my package had arrived! I think I’ll just go and pick it up, though, don’t want to take any chances on not getting it tomorrow. I’m exhausted, had an ice pack on my knee all evening, more than ready for my shower and bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had another great night sleep, got my chores done, and headed out to pick up ten bales of hay. This has got to be the closest hay maker I’ve ever gone to, literally just five minutes up the road! A lady named Tanya, and she had some very nice coastal (yeah, we’re back in coastal country again!), but they are big bales for just $6 a bale, so I’m a happy camper. Got them stored away, and was starting to wash the trailer by 11:00. What a job! I was determined to be very thorough today, since my plan is to wax it this time, a LONG overdue exercise. I also found a few more jobs that I need to do, like at the front, there’s a gap between the front aluminum panel and the roof, so I’m going to have to seal that again. I sealed the leaking drain pipe under the refrigerator at the end of the day, too, and it seems to have stopped the drip that was down there. Still don’t know where the water leak is, though, not sure I’ll have time to find and fix it until next week, but we’ll see. Also spent an hour on the phone trying to change a delivery of a package, that, surprise, surprise, was supposed to be here Friday but got delayed, this time by UPS, and they’re saying it will arrive on Saturday before 7:00 pm, which won’t help me because I had it sent General Delivery and the Post Office closes at 11:00 a.m. Sigh. Tracking has it about 100 miles away, so I’m hoping it comes tomorrow anyway, or that I can arrange with the post office to have it sent here to Mingo Trails on Saturday rather than risk missing it at the post office, which means, once again, I may have to delay a day to wait for it. I hate waiting for deliveries, they never seem to get here on time anymore! I am really getting sick of the Covid excuse for everything, but considering that everybody seems to be shorthanded, and there’s not enough people around getting hired, or seem to want to work. Heck, they’re getting $20 an hour at McDonalds now, for heaven’s sake! Between that and fuel prices going up and up, inflation is going crazy right now. Whatever, no sense ranting about it. I guess it is taking its toll, though, Colin Powell, who gave us that incredible praise after you worked with him so many years ago, passed away a few days ago from complications of Covid. I never watch news anymore, too depressing and biased, but I saw an RIP on a church sign as I was driving the other day. Strange but effective way to learn about things, huh? Anyway, I worked my butt off today and managed to get the trailer washed, except for some black streaks, you know how hard they are to get off. All those cans of Streak Away that we bought, what, twenty years ago now, have mostly rusted and can’t seem to get much out of them, so I’m on a search for a replacement, since they don’t make that anymore. Got an idea, I’ll let you know how it works tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’ve had my shower and I’ll be off to bed soon, trying hard to get on a schedule that’s a bit earlier to bed, since the days are getting so much shorter now. So I’ll say good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a good night sleep, another beautiful morning, got my chores done, and after breakfast, headed out to the nearby town of Dublin to do my shopping. Went to Home Depot to look for several things, none of which they had, then on to Tractor Supply to get a couple of propane tanks filled, happy to see their price was still only $3.15 a gallon, up a bit, but not outrageous yet. Prices for everything have been going up like crazy, thanks Uncle Joe! Finally got to Walmart and spent almost $200, though it didn’t seem like I bought all that much. Diesel was almost $3.50 a gallon now, higher in a lot of places, dang it! Got stopped a couple of times in Walmart who wanted to chat (thanks to Lola!), including one veteran named Dean who lost his wife last year and is having a hard time adjusting. Anyway, got my shopping done, but it was nearly 4:00 by the time I got back to camp. I bought a few items to help me get more organized, so I spent a bit of time doing that. Finally settled down for the evening to a nice piece of bacon-wrapped sirloin I cooked on the grill, but I’m feeling tired again, long day. I have another long day planned for tomorrow, I want to wash and hopefully wax the trailer, though it may take two days, but it’s long overdue. The trailer is looking a little dull, and we can’t have that now, can we? Getting to bed early, hopefully, so I’ll say good night now. Love you, babe!

Hi Babe,
Woke up to a beautiful morning, a bit chilly but not for long! I had so much to do today, I got busy right after chores and breakfast, and cracked at it all day long! I started by replacing the bedroom window. It took longer than I expected (what else is new?), but since I didn’t have any help, I had to get creative. Cleaning all the old adhesive was the hardest part, then once I got the new window in I had to tape it to keep it there while I went inside to screw it in properly. Wasn’t a perfect fit, but good enough! I sealed around the window (though the instructions claim I didn’t need to, but I’m not taking any chances!), and while I had the adhesive open, I also fixed the handle on the slider window over the kitchen table that had come off a long time ago. It stayed for a while, but finally came off for good a few weeks ago, so I Gorilla glued it in, so hopefully that will be permanent now. Then I had to tackle the tailgate problem, I just couldn’t get the darn thing open, finally had to go ask the camp host for help, and she came over and gave me a hand. Had to pull the shaft that locks it with a pair of pliers to get it done, but we managed it. I took off the tailgate, and was hoping if I could straighten it out enough it would solve the problem, so once again, I creatively dropped the trailer back onto the truck, raised the jacks, put a board on the ground to make it more level, put the tailgate under the jacks and proceed to drop the trailer on it, figuring the weight would do a good job of straightening it out. It actually did, too, for the most part. Not enough to get the handle to work right, but at least it’s a little better. I just can’t slam it completely closed, I just have to push one side in lightly until it locks, which will hopefully be good enough for my purposes. I’m not sure if it’s just the handle not working properly or because it’s still slightly bent, but never mind! Well, all of that took me until about 4:00, and I felt exhausted because it was all nonstop all day, but I managed to get a lot accomplished. I still have a long list of things to do, so I’m not even sure I’ll get a chance to ride here, but I plan on getting a lot of stuff done, fixed, maintained, etc. while I have water and electric and almost no one around to distract me. Finally settled down with a grilled burger, a little more Goliath, and soon I’ll be off to shower and bed. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Up with the alarm at 7:30, another very foggy morning. Strange, the only day it wasn’t foggy in the morning was yesterday right after the cold front came through, back to being foggy, weird geography here! Anyway, it didn’t take long to finish packing up, and all indications, from emails, texts and the shipper, indicate that my window is out for delivery on a FedEx truck out of Macon, with the delivery at Mingo Trails, so, unless they completely screwed up again, it looked good for getting it today. The drive was uneventful, though I probably shouldn’t have taken the freeway, it took me to close to Atlanta and I got stuck in some traffic, but still managed to arrive at Mingo Trails around 12:45. Got signed in, parked in my usual parking spot, got the horses highlined and everything else unpacked. I couldn’t get my new tailgate down, though, I’m going to have to do something about that. It does me no good if I can’t get it up and down easily. So the truck is stuck under the trailer until I figure out what to do, or get some muscles to help me unstick it, then figure out a way to prevent it from happening again. I lubricated it yesterday, but that obviously didn’t help. It’s nice to have electric again! I put Lola’s ball machine out, and she fetched herself crazy for awhile, which kept her busy while I was doing other things, and tired her out for the night, I hope. Got a load of laundry done, too. I have a water leak somewhere, the pump keeps running intermittently every couple of hours, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. I did find a drip out of a drain pipe (the one I put in last year), so I’m going to have to revisit that, hoping I can just seal the seams with some silicon sealer. I bought two tubes for the window, so I should have plenty to do several odd jobs that need doing. Meanwhile, I’m not hooking up to the water directly, don’t need to invite a flood, but I may do when I have time just to see if it helps spot the leak. It was a beautiful day, but I have another 45 degree night ahead of me. FedEx FINALLY arrived with my window just before 7:00 pm, so that’s my first job tomorrow. I’m hoping I can find someone to give me a hand getting it in, but if I have to do it on my own, you know I’ll find a way! Finally settled down for the evening, got the fireplace going so I won’t freeze tonight, I might not even need all four layers of bedding tonight now! Heading off soon! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Well, it did get cold during the night, but my plastic wrap and tape over the window, plus my four layers of bedding and my wool cap did the trick keeping me warm! Actually slept kind of late, but so what? Nothing to do today but pack up a few things, let the horses run around the field, read, sew a bit of Lola’s bed (what else is new?), ordered a few things online and otherwise relax. One of the camper couples that moved in yesterday afternoon turned out to be the same couple I met here last year, and our horses romped around the field together, although it was a bit dicey for a minute, because she let them out before I took off Apollo’s anchor, and that spooked her horses, and they all went for a rousing gallop across the field going the wrong way, towards people and other horses, but it didn’t last long. Mine found their way home to me after I called them (good boys!), but she had a bit more trouble catching hers. Well, actually another ride caught them, but it all ended well. I kept mine tied up until later in the afternoon when most folks were gone and put them out again, and a bit later, she did too, and they all looked great out in the field grazing together. Got everything packed and the truck hooked up, but still not sure if I’m leaving tomorrow or waiting for stupid FedEx to bring me my package. I can’t find out until I call the shipper and THEY call FedEx to find out where it’s actually going. What a ridiculous system! Anyway, I’m hoping to leave here tomorrow, just have to wait and see! Settled in for the evening, started a new Prime series with Billy Bob Thornton called Goliath, had my shower, and just going to finish off my Sleepytime tea and head to bed nice and early. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Just before going to bed last night, that little voice in my head said I should go out and put plastic over my broken bedroom window, even though there was only a 30 percent chance of rain at 6 a.m. Glad I listened! I used one of the big 55 gallon drum trash bags and managed to cover it pretty well, at sure, enough, at 6:00, I woke up to the sound of heavy rain pounding on the roof, with a breeze coming from the direction that would have brought it right into the drape. Got back to sleep for a bit, then got up and did my chores. The rain got rid of most of the mist, but it was cloudy and windy, but that didn’t seem to bother the 4000 people that evidently showed up for this track meet today. I was very glad no one asked me to move, but I didn’t put the fence up like I was going to, so I spent most of the morning minding the kids wanting to pet the horses. It was cool enough for me to put a jacket on while I was out there! The sun finally came out around noon, and by 1:00 or so, the place was emptying out fast, so we had the place mostly to ourselves for the afternoon. A couple of other campers came in, one regular and one horse camper, but I haven’t spoken to either of them. I binged on TV and read most of the rest of the day. Discovered that my package is now at a FedEx place about 40 miles from here, but naturally, it’s closed to the public so I can’t go pick it up. It still says it’s sending it to Toomsboro, which is fine since I’ll be there next week, but I can’t be sure it’s not coming here, either, so I’ll have to check on it for sure on Monday. If it’s coming here, I’ll likely have to stay another day just to wait for it. Sigh… FedEx strikes again. I’ve said it before, in 30+ years, I don’t think I’ve EVER received a package when and where it’s supposed to received. I honestly don’t know how they stay in business! At least with UPS I can change the delivery with little problem, with FedEx, I can’t even arrange to pick the dang thing up! Anyway, I’m still going to pack up tomorrow as if I’m leaving on Monday, but something tells me I’ll be staying here another night. Anyway, didn’t do much the rest of the day, except research a few items I need, and ordered a new carbon monoxide detector, since by all accounts it has outlived it’s performance date by many years! I also put the blankets on the horses since it’s supposed to be going down into the 40’s tonight, another reason I also finished taping up the window, and since I’m evidently going to have to travel with it broken as well. Heading to shower and bed before long. Good night, sweetie! Love you!