Hi Babe!
Another rain and cold night, and I’m sorry to say that my window leak was actually worse! I think by tightening the bottom, which is all I could reach, the top may have opened up a bit, and there was more leakage than ever (though not that bad, I easily dried it up with a towel), but it means I have to take apart the whole shade and maybe even the window frame itself to reach it. Fortunately it’s not going to rain for a few days, so hopefully I’ll have time to get to it before it does. After chores and breakfast, I went down to the Lumbermen’s Monument to try to get some work done, but got such a lousy signal I came back and got my cell phone signal booster, which helped a tiny bit, but not too much. I did manage to get in touch with a body shop in Big Rapids that is well-rated, and their backlog is only about a week, so my plan now is to head down there, probably on Monday, back to Hungerford, where I know if I park a few space farther up the hill I’ll be able to get a decent cell phone signal. Actually, way up on top there were a few spaces with a lot more open area, which would be good for my solar panel, so my only challenge is water, which really isn’t a challenge since all I have to do is fill up the 110 gallon tank in the back of the truck and refill my trailer and the horse buckets as needed. I’ll be down to two horses then, so it should be a lot easier. I also struggled to find some hay, one guy really had an attitude problem, even though he was the closest, but I didn’t want to deal with him after one conversation. Found another one about 45 minutes away, and scheduled to meet him at 5:00. Finally did all I could stand to do and got back to camp, where I proceed to change the oil and filter and do a lube job on the truck. I knew it was due, and coming across the state the other day finally made my “oil change” light come on, so I picked up what I needed shopping yesterday, and since it finally stopped raining, and the ground miraculously wasn’t very wet a short time later, I went ahead and got that done. It had been a long time since I lubed it, too, so I got down the grease gun and got that done, too. I even checked the fluid in the rear axle, something I’ve never done on this truck, and I’m happy to say it was just fine! Just as I was finishing up that job, Sandy arrived, to tell me she had arranged to pick up hay a bit closer than the one I had arranged, so it wasn’t long before we headed out to that one, while I messaged the other one to cancel. It’s so frustrating not having a cell signal here, having to drive miles to the Monument to get a half-assed signal while sitting uncomfortably in my truck. It turned out to be nice hay, though, bales three weeks ago (well, except a couple of bales that looked like leftovers from last year, but still good), with about 20% alfalfa and the rest nice grass. Didn’t really need the alfalfa, but the horses will like it, for sure! Sandy went home from there, I got back to camp and stored all the hay, fed the horses early then settled down for the evening, watching a movie on DVR. I’ve already taken my shower and I’m ready for bed, even though it’s still a bit light outside, crazy! I debated putting the blankets on the horses because it’s going down to 50 degrees tonight, but I figured since it was going to be dry they could handle it. If it was raining, I would have done it, like last night. Supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow, so I’m probably going to do some laundry in the morning, as well as trying to fix that window problem, then Sandy’s coming over after a doctor’s appointment, and we plan to ride after she gets here. So another busy day tomorrow. Sure could use a day or two off! Maybe next week! Anyway, headed to bed shortly, so I’ll say good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Well, we had a bit of a change in weather, like crazy! Last night I had both paddle fans and both floor fans on trying to get it cool enough to sleep, then the rain moved in, and by this afternoon, I was running the furnace to warm it up in here! Whew! It rained off and on all night, and was happy to find the there was only a small bit of water around the bedroom window, so I may have solved most of that problem. I tightened the screws again, so maybe I’ve fixed it now. It was a cold and rainy day, so I made it a productive one. After chores and breakfast I headed off to East Tawas, first to the Tractor Supply to get three of the propane tanks filled (with all the rain, I’m not getting much solar energy so I’m using more propane, of course!), then to Walmart, where I sat in the parking lot for a bit doing some computer work, since I have no signal at camp. Then I did my shopping, then headed back to camp to print out a letter and label for a book order I got. Though the nearest post office is a long way away, I managed to talk to the folks at the Lumbermen’s Monument just up the road, and they agreed to let me put it in their mail, so once the package was prepared, that’s what I did. Then I drove out to South Branch where we had camped in 2013, because I couldn’t remember it, and thought maybe it was a better facility and cell phone signal than where I am right now. Turns out it’s not. In fact, I couldn’t even find where we got water from when we were there, though when I got back I looked it up, but I swear, I couldn’t find the spigot we used last time. Plus it’s another $15/night (half price for Golden Access), whereas where I am now is free, so I see no reason to move over there. There’s a decent signal at the Monument, so at least I don’t have to drive too many miles now. They don’t really have any horse facilities over there either, we evidently just highlined the horses on trees last time, at least they have some posts here. A lot of running around, but got my shopping and propane, which was the most important thing. It had rained on and off all afternoon, and the forecast is for more of the same tomorrow, cold and wet, so I’m thinking I’ll call a couple of body shops to see if they can do an estimate for me, I have to make arrangements to get this done, but everything is so far behind, I don’t know how long it will take, that’s one of the things I need to find out. Finally settled down for the evening, got the grill out to do a hamburger, then watched a couple of movies while the generator was running and charging the batteries. I’m going to have to run the furnace for a bit before going to bed, it’s supposed to be getting down to 54 degrees tonight! I even put the blankets on the all the horses, they were shivering a bit this morning, I figured after all the hot weather they would need the extra protection. Headed off to my shower and bed, just another day on the road! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Finally had a decent night sleep, with earplugs, because we had an unexpected thunderstorm pop up right around bedtime, slept almost straight through to just after 7:00 when I got up and started getting ready to go. Sorry to report that despite resealing the bedroom window, there was still water along the edge of the window, so I tried one last thing, I tightened the screws that apparently hold it together and it place. I can’t think what else it might be, but some of them were a little loose, so maybe that’s the problem. I’ll know after the next storm! Didn’t take me too long to get everything done, headed out of camp right around 9:00. It was a straightforward and uneventful drive to Standish Milling where I was FINALLY able to pick up three bags of Balancer, then on to Sandy’s arriving about 12:15. She had gone out and hadn’t gotten back yet, but she showed up not long after. It didn’t take long to realize that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to get into her yard! They have a narrow driveway with ditches on either side, and the road is also very narrow with a big ditch on the other side, just no way I was going to be able to get in there! Fortunately, I was able to reach live people at the National Forest office, and arranged to have the gate unlocked at the River Road Trail Camp, which is one of the stops on the Shore-to-Shore Ride across the state of Michigan, and they managed to get out here very quickly! We arrived just after 2:30 (Sandy was leading the way), and it didn’t take too long to get set up with two of us doing it. We brought her mare with me because her yard still isn’t quite ready for her, and if I’m not there, she doesn’t have a riding partner anyway. This is quite a large camp, though isn’t generally open, and is one of those that has water IF you have a 5000 watt generator to plug into the pump to make it work. Not quite sure why they don’t have one of those solar pumps like at Hungerford, that would make a lot more sense. Anyway, doesn’t matter, I put my generator on there and got everything filled up, the trailer, the horses’ buckets, the truck tank, Lola’s pool, and even her automatic water bowl, so hopefully I won’t have to do it again, unless I stay here longer. Unfortunately, I have almost no cell phone signal again, even worst than at Hungerford where at least I could drive up to the top of the campground or walk over to a picnic table a couple of sites away and get a signal. Here, almost nothing. I’ve managed to get a text or two on occasion when 3G pops in momentarily, but it’s very sporadic. Oh, well, that’s been the story of the summer, practically everywhere I’ve gone I’ve had no signal. I have to do some shopping tomorrow, I’m going to have to take my computer along and get caught up, I’m so far behind on so many things right now. Anyway, Sandy left about 4:00, it’s been uncomfortably hot again today, but there’s a cold front moving in overnight that’s going to drop the temps about 25 degrees, be nice not to sweat for awhile. I have no real map of this place, Sandy said she might know where to get one, hopefully she’ll have one tomorrow. Well, it’s after 9:00, still plenty of daylight but the mosquitoes are starting to come out, so I’m heading in for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
I’ve been having a bit of trouble sleeping lately, though I’m not sure why, maybe just the change of activities and meal time or something, I don’t know, but I decided to take a couple of acetaminophen PM last night, and did knock me out pretty good. I did wake up long enough to say good-bye to Trish at 7:00, she was packed and all ready to go. Afterwards, I came back to bed, fell right back to sleep, and the next time I looked at the clock it was 11:37! I can’t believe I slept that long! I think I had better only take one of those pills instead of two, they REALLY knocked me out! And I can’t believe Apollo didn’t make a fuss about breakfast being so late, he usually tends to get vocal when he’s hungry, but I didn’t hear a thing. Once I did get up, I didn’t do much, felt too groggy for most of the day, but it was nice to just sit and read all day. It was so hot by mid-afternoon that any movement evoked a sweat anyway, so sitting still was the best option. By 7:00 the temps started coming down a bit, so I ended up sealing the bedroom window, now that it’s had a few days to dry out inside, hopefully, and leaking is one thing I can’t delay repairs on! Hopefully I did it well enough to prevent any further drips around the edge. I put most of the hoses away as well, so I won’t have too much to do tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even get that last ride on Apollo in if I feel more rested tomorrow. Anyway, didn’t do much so there’s not much to report. Off to shower and bed shortly! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
More rain overnight, but a beautiful, almost clear sky this morning while I finished packing up to move. I had to do the horse stuff, of course, and hook up, which I didn’t do last night, then finally pulled off to the dump a bit after nine, so I was out of camp by about 9:30. Fortunately, had an uneventful drive, though it took longer than I originally planned because I wanted to stay on U.S. Highways rather than cross country. All the interstates around here head northwest toward Chicago, so the wrong direction for me (northeast), and the regular map was calling for routes with lots of turns on small roads, so I opted for the bigger roads with less turns. Worked out well, though, I arrived at Potato Creek around 4:00 local time, having lost an hour changing time zones. The girl assigned me a site, but I had to change it because it was way too short for me (didn’t she notice how long I was, or doesn’t she know the site limits back there?). Anyway, I ended up in a fine spot, simply tied the horses to the hitching post (my least favorite horse containment system), but I didn’t want to take any more time setting up and breaking down, since this was just an overnight stop. I was slowed down a bit by a weak breaker, wouldn’t heat water and run the AC at the same time, but I couldn’t get anyone out despite two phone messages. Did manage to get two loads of laundry in, though, watched a Dish movie (no cell phone signal here, which I’m really getting tired of!), had my shower, now I’m off to bed. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Once again had trouble getting to sleep, but made up for it later on by sleeping a little later. Was up by 8:00, and because I did so much prep work yesterday, I was on the road by 9:30, which means I arrived at Middle Fork by just after noon after a nice, uneventful drive. There was only one other trailer in here with three girls, so it didn’t take me long to find a spot up on a hill. They have highline posts with cables already on them, which I don’t particularly like, not to mention they were VERY high up, no chance of reaching them without a ladder, which fortunately, I have! Put my own highline up for my boys, then just put a spring lock and a ring up for Coco, which worked out just fine. I’m very close to a water spigot, so I filled up all the water, and just got everyone settled in, got my chairs and awning out, had a short visit with the neighbors, then came back just as the rain started to come in. I had left Apollo on his anchor and Flash nearby, but then some man in a truck came by to tell me that my horses had to be tied up (really? There’s no one anywhere near me, but okay, fine), so naturally that was when the deluge hit, so by the time I had my guys on the highline, I was wet through. He immediately disappeared, don’t know who he was but he didn’t look like anyone official, not sure why I even listened to him. Thanks a lot! Settled down for a quiet rainy afternoon, mostly reading until dinner time, got everyone fed, including me, then relaxed for the evening. I’ve arranged to go riding with the girls tomorrow, and since they have stock horses, it will be on Apollo, who needs to be ridden anyway. Then I’ll take a quick trip to town for shopping. Good news is that will the rain, at least it’s not hot today! Put my solar panel up in hopes of sun in the morning, but we’ll see. Meanwhile, time for shower and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Whew, what a busy day this turned out to be! I thought I’d be doing little more than waiting for Sandy’s horse to be delivered today and letting my horses get acquainted with her, but then they called and said they were bringing her fairly early this morning, I got into a whirlwind of decision-making. Rather than lose the precious day of travel to a horse camp less than two hours away, I decided that as long as this new horse isn’t too stressed out by the trip that I would go ahead and pack up and move to my next planned horse camp a day early, which then means we can get to Middle Fork a day early. Frankly, I’ve been worried about arriving on a Friday, it’s always harder to find a good spot at a popular horse camp on a Friday, so this way we can get there on Thursday. Since Forbes has electric, I’ll still have time to do my laundry, pick up my package from the local post office, and take Flash on the 15 mile loop around the lake tomorrow, and still be able to leave on Thursday. Then I decided to skip the stop I was going to make in Indiana (I’ve been to both of my choices anyway) which means I can stay a couple of extra nights at Middle Fork and still be able to get to Hungerford in Michigan by Thursday, maybe even Wednesday, though it will be a very long day of travel. I’m concerned about it being 4th of July weekend and it falling on a Sunday, not sure if people will take off the week before or the week after, hopefully both so the crowds will be smaller. In any event, arriving on Wednesday will probably be better than Thursday, and I’ve made Sandy promise to get over there and save me a good spot, big enough for me to fit and near the water supply. So I got busy and started packing. Tim the ranger stopped by and helped me move the feed cans into the back of the truck, so that job’s done. Then the girl arrived with the horse (they’ve been calling her Scarlett, but she screamed “Coco” or “Cocoa” to me, so I’m going to call her that until Sandy changes it), and I put her on the highline for awhile just to let the horses see each other for awhile. Once we got our business done and she left, I finished packing up, got the truck hooked up, and finally started loading the horses in. About half way through, two ladies who are camping up in the primitive campground arrived, saying they’ve been reading my blog and wanted to come down to say “hi!” How nice is that? I write nearly every day, but never really know if anyone besides me is reading it, so it was heartening to hear that someone does. They weren’t horse gals, they were just looking to see what was happening at Ferne Clyffe and came across me. How fun! Thanks for stopping by, ladies! Well, it wasn’t long after that that I finished packing, headed to the dump, said good-by to camp host Amy, and headed out around 12:30. A quick stop at the post office to drop off a priority package (book sale), then straight north, mostly on the interstate, so easy driving, then no trouble finding the horse camp. It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot (I’ll have a straight shot out and didn’t have to worry about any sharp turns in the loop because I backed right into it), got the horses out and tied them to some crazy triangular pipe stand, I’ve never seen THAT before, but it was just temporary until I could get their highlines up. That took a little doing, I had to get the ladder out, and I put Flash closest to Coco, now they’re snuggling, but Apollo and her have been “having words”, probably because Apollo can be such a bully, but Coco is holding her own with him, no problem! They’ll get it sorted out in no time. Meanwhile, I’ve had dinner, done a load of laundry, and settled down for the evening. Won’t be long before it’s shower and bed! I had a great night sleep last night because of the cool weather, waking up only once to add a blanket! Nice change, I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts! So I’m signing off, my love! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Had a pretty lousy sleep again last night, it was so hot as to be really uncomfortable, and there were storms heading out way so Lola was as restless as ever. She kept trying to scratch at the bedroom partition, and I was sweating just laying there. Finally got to sleep, but kept getting woke up practically every hour by one thing or another, storms and dog. After chores and breakfast I got busy reorganizing the back of the trailer in order to make room for Sandy’s horse. Moved the tool box to the stud stall, which made most of the room, but it’s obvious I am going to have to move the feed bins into the back of the truck. I measured them and they’ll just fit, though I won’t have much room to take the lids off, so they’ll have to be near the front. Unfortunately, I just filled them up yesterday, so they’re too heavy for me to lift now, so I’m going to have to get some help to do it, or empty half of it out somehow. Then I took a ride down to the local hardware store in Goreville to get the hardware and rope I needed to create another highline, but they didn’t have what I needed, so I ended up running up to Marion to get it at the Home Depot. I called four different places looking for half inch cotton rope, and no one had it! I’ve had to get some kind of polymer which I don’t really like but was all I could find. Managed to get everything else I needed, though the pulley I bought was bigger, I may exchange it. So I’m all set to accept delivery of the mare now. Unfortunately, it turns out Sandy wants her in western Michigan near her daughter’s house by July 1, which essentially means I have to run up there practically non-stop in order to get there in time. Basically drive a day, rest a day, drive a day, with pretty much no time to do any riding. Wasn’t exactly how I planned it, I had hoped to take it a little slower and enjoy the camps I went to, but I guess that’s not going to happen, at least not until the horse is delivered. No good deed goes unpunished, as they say! Anyway, I’ll be able to slow down once I get there, I guess, I just won’t see as much of Illinois as I had hoped this summer. The good news is that throughout the day, it got cooler and cooler, until now it’s in the mid-60’s, which feels positively fabulous, even if it is a bit damp! Going to be a beautiful day tomorrow, just sorry there aren’t any more trails to ride here, and I’ll be spending my day waiting for the horse. Just looking forward to a really good night sleep tonight, fingers crossed! Had my shower, so I’m off the bed now, to read and hopefully sleep through the night! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Still very warm here, keep waking up early because it’s so hot. Fingers crossed the promised cool front comes in tomorrow! Well, today would normally have been my day to start packing up, but everything’s been in a state of flux while I wait for Sandy to decide whether she wants me to help with her logistics on getting her horse home. After waiting most of the day, and thus, not packing up anything, I finally contacted Trish and learned that she and Candy just can’t get their schedules to mesh in a way that works before the second week of July at the earliest, so Sandy finally decided to let me just bring her. I mean, I’m only 85 miles away, it doesn’t make sense for the Indiana gals to drive eight hours round trip to get her when I’m still in her back yard! Anyway, that’s settled, and they’re even going to deliver her to me here so I don’t have to worry about finding a trailer and making that trip. Seems like it might be Tuesday, which is no problem, I’ll probably stay an extra day so the horses get to know each other a little before putting them together in the trailer, but we’ll see. Tomorrow I’ll reorganize some things to make room in the last stall for her as well. I also had a visit from one of the rangers and from the campground host today, just about the only folks I saw today, except a few passers-by that just came and went. A very quiet, hot day, kind of glad I didn’t have to do much today. Was going to do laundry but changed my mind because the next place has electricity, figured I’d save it until then, so I won’t be sweating on clean sheets, either. Anyway, things will be busy this week, so a rest day was probably a good idea. Off to shower and bed soon, so good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Another warm night, but slept okay for the most part. After chores I decided that rather than ride today (there’s not enough trails here to make it interesting), I decided to hike the waterfall trail, which is evidently the highlight of this park. Lola had to be on a leash for some of it, which was fine. There’s an “improved” trail much like some of the horse trails (improved with gravel, unfortunately!), that’s flat and straightforward, and I took that the half mile to the waterfall, which, since we haven’t had rain in a while, had no water in it! The cliffs were quite striking, and covered with ferns (thus the name of the park), but the whole thing was much to civilized for me, ruining a “natural” spot like they so often do. Elaborate bridges, decks so you don’t have to walk on uneven ground, benches, etc. Since the purpose of the hike was to give my knee a challenge, on the way back I climbed up a trail that took me to the top of the waterfall, then around the back of it, then eventually over to a campground, which was the wrong direction but wasn’t even on the new map (how crazy is that?), but eventually came back down again to the main trail and back out to the parking lot. Just under two miles, with lots of ascending and descending, so it was a good workout and my knee did just fine! Drove back to camp, grabbed a quick lunch, then had a conversation with Amy, camp host extraordinaire, who stopped by and chatted for awhile. After she left I decided to take the opportunity to wash the trailer. Somewhere along the line I accumulated a lot of dirt, especially on the hay loft, it was really an interesting mosaic. It looked like someone took a bunch of leaves, covered them with black paint, then plastered them all across the roof. It would have looked lovely if it weren’t for the fact that it was dirt! Well, it took several hours to get that done, but working with water wasn’t a bad way to spend a hot afternoon. Had to run the generator again, not getting as much charge out of the solar panel as I had hoped, probably because I have both extensions on it to reach where the sun actually is. No problem though, since I refilled two propane tanks yesterday anyway. During the evening I spoke with Sandy, who has finally decided to buy the horse she saw in Kentucky, so my plans may change in order to help her get the horse up to her. She’s working on some logistics now, hopefully I’ll know better tomorrow. I was planning on leaving Monday, but it looks like a lot of rain in the forecast for that day, so I may just stay another day anyway, and if she wants me to pick up the horse, it will probably be Tuesday anyway. She may just want me to get her in Indiana after Trish and Candy go get her, but that’s all in flux right now. We’ll see! Meanwhile, I’ve had my shower and watched a movie, so bedtime has come! Good night, babe! Love you!