Hi Sweetie!
A warm night last night, no breeze, so a bit uncomfortable sleeping, but I’m getting used to not having air conditioning. Did my morning chores and a few other things, then headed out with Lola to do some shopping. The nearest Tractor Supply was almost 50 minutes away, in Harrisburg, which also had a Walmart, so that’s where we went. I filled up two propane tanks (I just switched over late yesterday), and got some horse feed. Wouldn’t you know, they normally carry the hard-to-find Balancer, and it was on sale, but they were out of stock! Just my luck. I didn’t need too much at Walmart, so we were back on the road again before long. I filled up with fuel at a station halfway back to camp that was much cheaper than in town for a change, so I’m good to go on Monday. The Campground Host, Amy, texted me to say she came over to check on the horses (I mentioned I would be going out today) and that everything was fine, so sweet of her to do that! Got back around 4:00, got everything put away, fixed the hoses in a few more places (I might be caught up now, but it seems to keep springing leaks in new places every time I hook it up and turn the water on!), then finally settled down for the evening. I had to use the BeatIt! Charger to start the generator today, first time in a long time, but I’m in so much shade and I wasn’t here to move the solar panel around to catch the most sun, so I’m not surprised. Doing pretty well, though, so far, but I must admit I’ll be glad when this cold front comes through on Monday and cools things down a bit. The next place appears to be a bit more out in the open, though I’m not positive about that, so hopefully I’ll get more solar power going, though it does stay cooler in the shade. Anyway, finished off the series I was watching, then watched a movie, now I’m off to shower and bed. A cool shower, mark my words! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Another warm morning, another relaxing morning, finally saddled up Apollo for a short ride today. I wanted to check out the northbound trail that is part of the River to River Trail, thinking I might take Flash on Saturday, though a long section goes right beside a road in order to get the the next section of it. That didn’t exactly work out, though. We followed the creek trail, which is pretty nice, though a bit narrow, then turned up the northbound trail. It was fine for awhile, then we came across a very steep climb that was almost entirely large smooth rocks, exactly the kind the Flash was slipping on yesterday. I had put the boots on Apollo hoping that it would help with traction, but even with those on, we didn’t get 10 yards up before he started to slip. Well, I’m not out here to prove anything, and with another 30 or so yards of climbing, I wisely chose to turn us around. I dismounted and walked him down, not wanting to fall onto any of that rock. Honestly, I don’t know how horses with shoes even make it up that slope considering how much worse they are for slipping. Anyway, we diverted over to another trail that took us past some hunting fields, which were generally much easier and safer, before heading back to camp on the creek trail. Despite the boots, Apollo was till trying to avoid the gravel, so I got online and ordered some comfort pads for the Cavallo boots, figures if I was going to keep doing this rocky trails I had to do something! I also looked at some other boots I’ve heard about, and am particularly intrigued by the Scoot boot. They look well-designed, though maybe a bit flimsy-looking, but they have folks raving abouth them, so I may have to give those a try next time I need to replace boots. I like the fact they don’t rub on the bulb, which is Flash’s problem right now. The Cavallo folks just told me I had to break the boots in slowly, but how am I supposed to do that? I ride when I ride, I can’t do 20 minutes here and there for days or weeks on end. Anyway, they’re sending me something they say will help, we’ll see. Meanwhile, I’ve been mostly letting the horses graze in the yard until bedtime, watched a couple of episodes of The Duchess of Duke Street, and old BBC series I’ve been watching, took my shower early to cool off (we’re having a heat wave, lower nineties the next few days before a cold front moves through), be ready for bed soon! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Woke up early, about the same time as yesterday, my body clock apparently reset itself to the crack of dawn. Stayed in bed for a bit anyway, then finally got up to finish packing and adjust the brakes. I was halfway done with the brakes when Joe showed up, we chatted for a bit while I finished adjusting the brakes and doing the rest of my chores. He finally said his good-bye and I loaded up the horses and headed out. Left the dump right at 10:00. A few miles on the highway and my phone blew up with all the voicemails, texts, messages and phone calls I had missed for the last two days. Sandy was wondering if I would go ride that horse she was looking at, she can’t get her out of her mind. A great “I told you so” moment, I had suggested several times she at least RIDE the horse to see if she liked it, but she didn’t. 🙂 It’s only about 85 miles away, so if she wants me to, I’ll drive back down and do that for her. Maggie made it home LATE because her second flight was delayed by more than three hours, apparently due to storms in the Orlando area where she was landing. Fortunately, I have a very good cell phone signal at my new location, so I can handle all of these things when I have a few minutes. Arrived at Ferne Clyffe just after noon, missed a turn and ended up having to turn around in a very small loop at the end of the picnic area, then had to make a sharp turn to get on the correct road. This is a very small camping area, with just enough room to turn around and back up into one or two spaces, the rest are good for tents, but not much else. There’s one spigot and a couple of pit toilets, and it’s VERY shady, so it feels SO MUCH COOLER than the last place. I thought the forecast said it would be cooling down, but now it’s saying it’s not, but I think with all this shade and cooler nights, it will be just fine. I managed to find a spot to get my solar panel going, though I’ll have to keep moving it to follow one or two spots with sunshine. Beautiful day today, though! A nice uneventful drive, except for that narrow loop in the picnic area, but we’re here! I put Apollo on an anchor and let Flash and Lola run free, there’s no one else around for quite a ways, but there is some grass to graze, which they did while I finish getting set up. I did some repairs on the longest hose as well, it’s leaking in three different spots, I managed to repair two, and might do the other one next time I run water through it to find the hole. Finally made some dinner (a burger, of course, I have to get rid of them before they or their buns go bad!), and settled down for a lovely evening, planning my ride for tomorrow. Not a lot of trails, and no real loops to speak of, just have to explore what’s here! There is a section that’s part of the River to River trail, another linear, but that’s a lot longer so I’ll save that for another day. Tomorrow is just to find out how the footing is and whether Flash can handle it or not. Anyway, it’s early, but I need a shower to cool off, so off I go! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, it certainly was an early morning, plus I had a hard time getting to sleep last night (as did Maggie, because Lola was restless), but we managed to get dressed, get hay and water to the horses who are now on a highline, and still get out in about thirty minutes. It was a beautiful morning, actually got down into the upper 60’s, a beautiful day for flying. We had an uneventful drive to the airport, which was busier than usual so our good-byes were rushed, but I enjoyed having company these last few weeks, was sorry to see the both of them go. Stopped at the post office on the way back to drop off a priority mail book order, then stopped again at the gatehouse to let them know I’d be leaving early and to arrange for a refund. Then I discovered their cancellation policy is NO REFUNDS, PERIOD! Can you believe that? Regardless of the fact that I only made the reservation for this week at the gatehouse last Tuesday, they fully intended to keep every penny I paid for the extra six nights I wouldn’t be here! I’ve never heard of such a thing! Well, naturally, I made a fuss about it, refusing to accept that ridiculous policy, and eventually, after about 45 minutes, one assistant superintendent finally succumbed to the absurdity of the situation and issued a refund for five nights at least. Still, what a crazy policy! Yet another reason not to come back to Wranglers. I finally made it back to the trailer and started putting things away, took down the screen room, etc., though since my next stop is less than two hours away, and it’s supposed to be cooler in the morning, I thought I’d leave some of it until then. I did a load of laundry, then kept falling asleep all afternoon on and off while I was reading. Joe came over later in the afternoon to chat for awhile, we exchanged contact information, then after he left I decided to put more stuff away. I don’t really like breaking down and setting up all on the same day, so I got as much done as I could. I’ve also decided that it might be a good opportunity to adjust my brakes, since I’m in a long driveway and I can just keep pulling forward to get it done. Mileage-wise it may not need it, but I figure better safe than sorry, since I’m not sure what kind of terrain I’ll be driving through tomorrow, and brakes are my most worrisome thing mechanically. Got everyone fed and finally settled down around 7:30 with soup for dinner and a movie. Got my shower done, now I’m heading off to bed for hopefully a better night sleep! Good night, darlin! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Slept well again last night, no rain or storms, but still pretty hot this morning, and again we deferred from taking a ride because of it. I had called Tractor Supply yesterday and they said they thought they had my Balancer, and they’d put two bags aside for me to pickup today. I also made arrangements to pick up hay up in nearby Benton, just 20 minutes away, which was advertised as $4, but when I got there I discovered that was for last year’s hay, but he had this year’s hay for the premium price of $5! I opted for that, getting 10 bales, 8 for me and 2 for our neighbor Joe, who also has a paso fino and is also a full-time horse camper. After hay we went to TSC, then back up to The Pond Restaurant, a local favorite specializing in catfish, before coming back to camp. I dropped off the hay to Joe, and he ended up coming by later to talk about some of the places I’ve been, comparing notes, and ended up buying a book. Nice guy, former insurance guy, more white collar than you usually find in a horse camp, so a refreshing change. Anyway, we had a nice chat, but I also got a lot of stuff packed up, all the camping stuff since Maggie will be sleeping inside tonight again, that was put away up in the attic. Checked all the fluids and tires on the truck, that’s good to go. Oh, and a ranger came by this morning and told me I had to take down my fence. I widened it this morning in order to provide better pasture management, it was staring to get a bit worn down but there was plenty of clover still next to it, so I expanded a little, and management suddenly discovered it and ordered me to take it down. I complained that their highline area was dangerously muddy, asked them for more mats, which they never delivered. So I put up a highline from one of the posts to a tree in the back, plenty long enough for both of them, and got them hooked up there, took down the fence. Strange, their rules say no electric fences but metal panel are okay. Not sure what the difference is, when I didn’t have the electric turned on anyway. Well, just another reason not to come back here, not happy with the rocks on the trails, not happy with the heat, now not happy with the rules, so this will be the last time I come here. On that note, I’ve decided to leave on Tuesday, already got the answers I needed for Ferne Clyffe and it looks great, albeit primitive, and the weather is supposed to be cooling off a bit, plus I’ll be further north, so hopefully six days there will go well. Maggie’s all packed up for her flight home tomorrow, so I have a long day of driving ahead of me, plus packing what’s left to pack in the afternoon so I can get out of here on Tuesday. With that said, it’s getting late, and we have a VERY early morning, so I’m off for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a terrible night, tossed and turned for hours, until I finally took a Tylenol PM around 3:30. I guess there was a lot of caffeine in that Frappe I got last night, didn’t think of that until this morning. So woke up tired, only to discover that all of my friends from Indiana had packed up and left, the heat and humidity was just too much for them. Sandy finally came to the decision to not buy the horse she was looking at, realized she wasn’t really ready for that, too much work to do, and she still wants to do some traveling, so in light of that, and the fact that the girlfriend she’s meeting up with is already there, she packed up and left before 9:30 as well. So now we’re back down to just Maggie and me! It was really hot and humid today, and I’m still a bit worried about resting the horses, so we opted not to even try riding today. We pretty much just sat around inside in the air conditioning, reading and watching a little TV and eating and generally just chilling out. I extended the horses’ paddock a bit, they’re overgrazing the area they’re in, so a little pasture management was in order. I’ve looked at the schedule, and I’ve decided I don’t want to stay here another week, the trails are just too rocky and hard on their hooves, and with the early heat, I want to get north asap. I’ve been in touch with my next planned stop, Ferne Clyffe in southern Illinois, a primitive camp but it looks nice for a few days, and am making arrangement to move there, probably on Wednesday. I put together a preliminary schedule for the next month, which will get me to Sandy and Bill’s around the third week of July, and that will likely be my northernmost point this year. Managed to find a good enough signal in the day parking area to contact the local Tractor Supply, looks like they finally got in the feed that I need, so tomorrow we’ll run around and get hay and feed. Lots of lightning as I’m writing this, so I think Maggie will likely stay in the recliner tonight rather than her tent, can’t say I blame her! Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
A good night sleep with just a few sprinkles of rain, and it was gray and cloudy in the morning. I drove over by the office and Maggie and I both spent a little time connecting on our social networks, and a look at the radar and the forecast seemed to show a great swath of rain heading right for us, so we figured we had better skip riding today. We got back and mostly chatted and read all afternoon, but the rain never really arrived, just about five minutes of a fairly light sprinkle, that was it! So a wasted day, at least for riding, but it was very relaxing, which I think we both needed. I’m sure the horses didn’t mind another day of rest either! I had some leftover steak we cooked up, had a nice dinner, even had a bit of coffee in the afternoon for a nice change. Ended the day watching a movie. Since we have no service here, so no internet, so no streaming services, I cranked up the Dish PVR that I had loaded up with 300 hours of movies, and we watched Trading Places because we were both in the mood for something funny. It did make us laugh! It was a nice ending to a nice quiet day. Shower and bed now, of course. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
More rain, so everything is still muddy, but then it cleared up just long enough for us to rinse everything down and even to dry a bit before more clouds moved in. Since we didn’t do any packing up yesterday, and had much more to pack up what with tents and all, it seemed to take a long time, even with extra hands. It was noon before Maggie and I had finished at the dump, and Sandy headed straight south to visit her cousin in N. Alabama for a few days. We made it to LBL around 2:00, taking some skinny back roads I would probably have been better off missing, but it was fine. Then we followed the signs for the Wrangler’s Camp off the Trace, and it took us on another long, windy, skinny road, which I’d never taken before because I’ve always come from the other direction, where it’s a very short drive from the main road to the camp, so wasn’t real happy about that! But we got here okay, got settled in to a lovely corner spot where I put up the electric fence (though I was told later by a ranger that I couldn’t actually put the electric on, but the fence was okay), mostly because the rain had made the highline area a total mess, plus there was lots of clover, which the horses just loved! We got everything set up, took our time, and even got the tent up by 5:00 before finally having dinner, which was a wonderful piece of leftover steak from dinner last week, with rice and veggies. Settled down for the evening chatting and reading, but then went off to bed by about 9:00. Pretty much no cell service here, which may be problematic, but I did manage to find a good one down by the office, so that will be our hotspot for now! Meanwhile, showers were done early (we were so sweaty after load-in!), now off the bed! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Slept late today, guess all this activity is catching up with me! Felt rested this morning though. Started raining again overnight and lasted part way through the day, forecast says the same all week, so I guess we’re going to get wet for awhile! We had a lazy day today, since it was so wet we didn’t feet we needed to pack up much, particularly since our next stop is only about 80 miles away. Sandy will be leaving us temporarily to go visit a cousin in N. Alabama, while Maggie and I set up camp at Land Between the Lakes, KY tomorrow. With nothing else to do, the gals decided to drive up to Waverly and do a little shopping, while I stayed home and did some computer work, almost napping for some reason! After they got back we grilled some Angus burgers, made mac ‘n’ cheese and vegetables for dinner, then they decided they wanted to see you in action, so I picked out the video of the world premiere of Legacy of Galileo that we did in Huntsville, AL. Not the best quality, but not bad, and they both enjoyed it. Maggie had seen some of your videos before, but it was the first time for Sandy, and she seemed to like it. That pretty much took care of the day, they’ve gone to bed, I’ve taken my shower, and now I’m off to bed as well. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Well, we weren’t in bed very long before there was a pounding on the door, Bubba telling us the creek was rising and that we ought to move the horses. I went and looked and I didn’t think they were really in any danger, though one fence post was starting to get water around it. I took off the fence charger and debated a bit, but then saw on the radar that another big band of weather was coming, so rather than spend the night getting up and down to check on them, we figured it would be easier to just put them in the trailer, so that’s what we ended up doing. It was after midnight by then, and we were all pretty exhausted by then. I got up with the alarm and fed the horses, then finally woke them both up in order to get to breakfast on time. We were a little surprised that there were so many folks still going for a group ride what with all the rain, and it rained a bit after they all left, but Maggie and Sandy decided not to ride today. The creek was slowly receding by the time breakfast was done, and we all got back to the trailer, and before long, we were all napping, Sandy outside, Maggie inside, and me up in my bed. I didn’t wake up until 11:55! Needed it though. After lunch we watched the Extreme Trail Competition for a couple of hours, then had dinner (still eating way too much!), listened to a great band that Anthony had brought in, sat through the awards program, stayed a bit for the music, then finally came back to the trailer about 9:30, pooped! Can’t wait for my shower and bed, which I’m off to do now. Good night, honey! Love you!