Hi Sweetheart!
I had another great night sleep, did my chores, then decided my saddle and saddlebags were long overdue for a cleaning, so I pulled them all out and spent quite a few hours getting those in shape. I had to switch out the other stirrup from the other Aussie saddle, because I felt the wood crack on the OTHER side when I was riding yesterday, so now both stirrups have been changed out. My saddlebags were absolutely filthy, mud everywhere, so I took everything out an re-sorted it, washed everything down, restocked the first aid kit, and discovered that my emergency blanket had pretty much disintegrated. Who knew it could do that? Got everything cleaned up and put back together, so it was a productive day. The rest of the day was spent arguing with our union about how I’m supposed to meet all their covid requirements (ridiculous!), so that I can get a contract so I can keep my pension contributions and health insurance going. Sigh, I hate bureaucracies! Anyway, it’s been threatening with rain and thunder all day, Lola keeps diving behind my chair whenever the storms get close, but it’s only rained a little bit so far. Supposed to be worse tomorrow. No worries, I’m snug as a bug in a rug here in my luxury trailer! I finally settled down for the evening, watched a decent modern western for a change, then broke down to watch the last 90 minutes of the Republican Convention. I tried to watch it once or twice earlier this week, but seeing all the awful presentations just made me crazy. But I was compelled to listen to Trump’s speech, and he did a good job. He’s got himself a pretty good scriptwriter now, and if he didn’t keep leaning sideway on the lectern, I’d say he did a half decent job of it. Anyway, I showered long ago, and Trump didn’t finish until about midnight, so I’m getting to bed late. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Well, I’ve had my first birthday since 1985 without you, without anyone today really. I know we never made a big deal out of holidays, so I’m not making a big deal out of this one, either. I did some computer work in the morning, mostly rearranging park reservations, then finally saddled up Apollo for a 7 mile ride on a couple of trails I hadn’t done here yet. He did pretty well, considering some of the climbs were pretty steep today. We managed to only lose his boot once, and got it put back on right away, not losing it again for the whole trip thank goodness. There was one long stretch along a road, and I put Lola’s leash on because she tends to get too far ahead and out in the road, but she stayed perfectly beside me once the leash was on. No cars came by anyway, but better safe than sorry. Got back, rinsed him off, then let him eat some clover for awhile, while I smacked a couple dozen horseflies as they landed on him. Eventually made a nice surf and turf dinner with shrimp and steak, rice and asparagus, then settled down for a usual evening. It was an enjoyable day, and that’s all I can ask for! Heading off to shower and bed, so good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
A good night sleep, but still feeling a bit tired after the exertion of the last couple of days, which is fine, since the only thing on the books today other than my usual chores is laundry and rest. I had to fill the tank up twice to accomplish it, but otherwise, I spent the day binge-watching ST Voyager, that’s it. Already had my shower, and I’ll be off to bed soon. Not much else to report! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
For once I managed to go to be early, as promised, and fell asleep while I was reading, slept through till almost my alarm going off, a nice full 8+ hours, which I really needed! Had breakfast, then saddled up Flash, who was willing but not thrilled about heading out again, and even Lola needed a bit of encouragement after our long day yesterday. We headed out on the orange trail (probably my least favorite here, mostly because a lot of it is either muddy or gravelly), but I had to do nearly five miles on it to get to the parking lot where I was meeting the rest of the gang at 11:00. I gave myself 90 minutes, and was just a couple of minutes later, mostly because Flash was really a slug this morning. I put his boots on when we got through the muddiest sections, just before the gravel got really bad, and that improved his tempo considerably. We headed across the road from the parking lot, and within minutes arrived at a couple of the hot spots on the map, Table Rock, which is one of those crazy big rocks teetering on a much smaller pointed base, and Fat Man’s Squeeze, which was where the trail went between the main escarpment wall and a couple of big rocks that had fallen down eons ago, leaving about a four to six foot wide path between them. We then continued on the trail all the way down to the overflow parking for the Old Man’s Cave, which, it turns out, is a real destination point. The place was packed! A big main visitors center and a constant stream of foot traffic followed the path past a couple of waterfalls, along a creek for a bit more than a quarter mile, to the actual cave, so named because of a settler back in the 19th century that lived there, and circled back again. It reminded me of Watkins Glen without the incline, but nowhere near as big or long or interesting as that. I was kind of surprised it had such a crowd, and was such a big tourist site. I mean, it was nice and all, but it wasn’t all that big a deal. Well, maybe for city folk who never get out to the country, but the cliffs weren’t much more interested than the ones by our house back in Tennessee! But it was a beautiful ride, nonetheless. After we walked through, we headed back to our horses, who were waiting patiently across the road at a hitching post, had our lunches, then headed back. That was the only drawback, it was all linear, just out and back again, but still, a lot was in pine forest, which I always like, and there were some nice trails and grades to traverse. It was about 18.5 miles for me, but I had a few more miles than the group, because their camp was closer to the parking lot. Flash did great, I even put him at the back of the pack just to get him used to not being in front all the time, and he was pretty good. Once the group peeled off, he started to run faster, but that didn’t last long, wisdom set in, and he slowed down for most of the rest of the way. As soon as we hit the gravel again, I put his boots back on, since I had taken them off earlier when we hit dirt trails. We managed to get all the way back to camp without losing one, even when we went through some pretty deep mud, yay! Washed him down, put everything away, and after awhile, headed back over to their camp for supper, which this group takes great pride in. Beautiful grilled pork chops and lots of sides, delicious! And always better because I didn’t have to do any cooking or cleaning up!. Got back just before it got dark, fed the horses, showered, had my ice cream, watched one Voyager, and now I’m SO ready for bed! Tomorrow will be a laundry/equipment clean up day, with as much rest in between as I can manage. I need a day off! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Another departure, another arrival! Woke up to the alarm at 7:00, managed to get packed up, horses loaded, and off the old dump by 9:30. I say "old dump" because they put in a new dump, in such a way as to be truly to dumbest position I've ever seem. It's conveniently placed just before the camping gatehouse where the road divides into two one-way roads. It's the perfect location. The only trouble is, instead of making it so you can curve into it and curve out again, they made it perpendicular to the road. Two dump stations, with really high curbs, and the made it almost impossible for a trailer of any length to get in and out of it. Truly brainless. That's why I went to the old dump, because even though it was a little tough to get into, and I had to pull forward and back into it a little, it was easily manageable. It's a head scratcher, that one. Anyway, we had an uneventful trip all the way here, and when I arrived, it was completely empty! Not a single other person or vehicle was here. At first, I thought I would go into one of the pull-throughs at the bottom of the hill, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided to go back in the spot we stayed in last year. Yes, there's a bit of a hill down to the horses, but at least we have our own little bit of yard on either side. Of course, I had a bit of trouble avoiding ditches since I didn't have anyone behind me to signal, and I almost got stuck, but in the end I managed to get in place just fine. A few minutes after I got in, another trailer came in, with a guy by himself and he pulled into one of the pull-throughs I had dismissed. Nice guy, named Nick, we chatted later in the evening. Anyway, since I'm staying here two full weeks, I set everything up, screen room and even grill, and grilled up a nice pork chop that a family had given to back at Tippecanoe. They actually gave me pork chops and some nice mild sausage, obviously home made, and very good, I might add! Later on, a couple more trailers came in, but they parked at the top of the hill. I heard the sound of a guitar a while ago, so maybe I'll have a chance to practice my Snowy River on them later in the week. Anyway, I've settled down, ready for a good night sleep. Love you, darlin'! Good night!

Hi Honey!
After a good night sleep, I was determined to not overdue it today. My back still spasms occasionally, but less often, thank goodness, so I only worked slowly. I ran up to the office to post a couple of letters, and it turned out that my package of mail from TN was still in the box, having arrived yesterday I guess. I had to fill up the water tank of few times because laundry was the order of the day, so now that's all caught up, I put the outdoor carpet under the awning and brought the two big chairs out, but I don't think I'll bother with the screen room again, though the flies are pretty bad here. I discovered the tire that blew is under warranty, but after chasing down half a dozen leads, it seems almost impossible to collect on it. They were bought in Iowa at a 3-store chain, and it seems it has to go back to them in order for the warranty to be honored. Ridiculous! The tire was only three years old and had never been used until two weeks ago, and it fell apart! Not sure why I'm buying another one of that brand, except that it matches the rest of the tires that are on there. Anyway, I ended up just ordering one and having it shipped to a town near by next destination next week, so I'll get that taken care of. One of my camp neighbors, Carla, had a dead battery just as she was getting ready to pull out, so I took out my little BeatIt device and jump started her. Later, I went over to the camp of her two other companions, Mike and Tom, and let them be my guinea pig audience again for Snowy River. I've got it down, I just want to get really secure with it so that if a larger audience presents itself, I'll be ready. Carla said she'd like to come back later this week and bring some friends, but we'll see. Meanwhile, the horses have settled into a nice big area I fenced in, and the guys are leaving tomorrow, so I may have the place to myself for a day or two. Planning on riding tomorrow, fingers crossed! Took my shower early, so now I'm heading off to bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!