Tuesday, June 23, 2020 – Search for Cell Signal

Hi Sweetheart,
Lola was restless all night, what with the thunderstorms that kept coming in, so my night was interrupted numerous times with her scratching at the bedroom partition. Ended up getting up lat because of that. I decided to put the electric fence up around the back end of the site, since I hate leaving tied to a hitching post, and I couldn’t leave them on their anchors without being here to watch them, and I knew I was going to have to go out and find a cell phone signal and get some computer work done. I managed to find a hill with a pulloff not too far up the road, but I was there for a lot longer than I had planned, but at least I got some stuff done. When I got back to camp, I did put the horses out for a few hours, which they appreciated. Toward the evening, Apollo decided to go on walkabout, and I had to go fetch him back all the way from the other side of the campground. The rest of the day I spent reading and playing computer backgammon. I’m in a nice sunny spot for most of the day, so I’ve been getting a lot of power from the solar panel, even with the clouds this morning. Once it cleared up in the afternoon it worked well. I’ve been watching the voltage on the inverter to see how low it can get before the generator won’t start, but so far, I’ve been able to, and I’ve been running it for about 10-15 minutes twice a day. So far so good! Of course, I haven’t been using much power anyway, so it will be interesting to see just how low I can let the batteries get before I have to bring out the BeatIt battery jumper. I remembered I had some stuff on the Dish PVR, so I watched a one hour movie from 1936 just for fun. Now I’m ready for my shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Monday, June 22, 2020 – Travel Day to Brown County, IN

Hey Baby,
Well, I finally made it to the famous Brown County, south of Indianapolis. I should know better than to follow Google maps without double checking it, because it took me on some roads that had such tight turns that I had to back up once or twice, and I still ended up with my back wheels going into a culvert because I didn't have room for the truck to swing wide enough, and one hill I went over was so short, my front was on one side of the hill and my back end was on the other side of the hill, and the middle of the trailer was scraping bottom on the top of the hill! Jeesh! I finally reached a better road that let into the camp, which I'm guessing would have been a much better way to come, but there you go! I guess I had to learn that lesson again! Anyway, It took me well under two hours to break everything down at Deam Lake and go to the dump, so I was well on my way before 9:30. I don't usually like to stop at Walmart on the way, I like to offload the trailer first, but today was an exception. I needed some things and there was a Walmart just off the freeway, so I made the stop. Of course, I took Lola in with me, temps have been in the mid to upper 80's so I couldn't leave her in the truck, but I had the fans on in the trailer (what a luxury!), so the horses kept their cool. Anyway, we arrived at the camp safe and sound, and my spot is mostly in the sun, which might be problematic with the temperatures, but I wanted to be in sun so I could experiment with the solar panel and see how long a charge would last without running the generator, or maybe just running it for an hour a day. With four 5-gallon propane tanks, and we figured out that we burn about a gallon an hour when we run the generator, I should be able to get 20 hours out of them. But, of course, they're not all full at the moment, but it should give ma an idea. And who knows? Maybe on sunny days I won't need to run the generator at all! We'll see, it will be a learning curve, for sure. Anyway, I got the horses settled, got the trailer level (easiest one I've had in a LONG time), filled up with water (the nearest spigot is one long and one short hose away), had a nice chat with Jackie who was mowing the lawn. I made the mistake of asking at the gate if portable fences were allowed, and was told, "only around the hitching post," just like in that ridiculous Mystery Cave in Minnesota, which, as you know, is the LOWEST rank camp we've ever been to. Not to worry, though, I put them on anchors instead. Flash still gets a little excited if the rope gets around his feet, but he's getting the hang of preventing that from happening, and seems to be calming down a lot lately. Only took me a few minutes to get him in the trailer this morning, and he went in a lot calmer than usual, no running up the ramp so fast he slipped on it, like usual. Not instant, but getting better. Apollo, of course, was nickering at him to get on with it, because HE knew breakfast was waiting inside, and when it came his turn, he went right in. I'm getting faster at setting up, too, it didn't take me too long to get everything organized. I even broke out the barbecue grill, it's high time I ate some of those Zweigles white hots we got in NYS last year. I even bought some hot dog buns when I was shopping today. Not a very good cell phone signal here, I've had to put my booster antenna on the top of the trailer and power it with the truck, and even then it's pretty iffy, though I was able to get online for awhile. Flies are bad here, though, just like at Deam Lake, and since the zipper on the screen room is broken, they're getting in. I've got my fly spray ready, though! And the distributor has said they're willing to send me an entire new screen room just because a couple of the plastic teeth on the door panel have broken! We'll see, we have some logistics problems to solve on that one! Anyway, no more A/C unless I'm running the generator, so I hope things cool down at night here! Had my barbecued white hot and some shrimp cocktail I splurge on, but not much else to do here. No cell phone signal, so no Netflix, no local channels either. Good thing I have a book, though I'll have to download a few more. Jackie told me there is a signal up by the firetower, looks like I'll be making a trip or two up there every day. Guess I'll just have to get a lot of riding it! Supposed to be rain tomorrow, though, but we'll see. Clouds are coming in now, temps are mercifully dropping, so I think I'll get my shower in and spend the evening reading. Well, I say evening, but it's almost 9:30, I've just eaten, and it's still not dark. Too much darn daylight in the Eastern time zone! Oh, well. Love you, darling! Good night!

Sunday, June 21, 2020 – Relaxing Prep Day

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, then after I got up I immediately started to pack for my departure tomorrow. There’s a storm front due at around noon and I wanted to make sure everything was done before then. I’m obviously getting more efficient in m packing, because it didn’t seem to take much time for me to put everything away. I did every scrap of laundry I could find while I have electric, since I will only have my generator and the solar panel at the next couple of campgrounds, which should be an interesting experiment, to see how much energy I can save when I don’t have a dialysis machine to run every other day. Of course, there’s rain the in forecast for the area for the next few days, so without sunshine I’ll be using my generator more. Like I said, a good experiment, a good chance to see exactly what my energy conservation will be like. Once I got everything packed, I had breakfast and did a few chores before the rain came in, so I literally spent the day binge-watching DS9, then one so-so movie before shower and bed. So a nice quiet day, much quieter than any packing day I can remember. By the time the rain came, the place was mostly empty, and was completely empty by the time I went outside again. No earplugs necessary tonight! So I’m off! Good night, my love!

Wednesday, June 17, 2020 – Hay Day and Not Much Else

Hiya Darlin’,
While I had all good intentions to go riding today, I never made it. As you know, I filed a complaint with the state licensing bureau about that terrible realtor, and yesterday I received the realtor’s response to my complaint. Not surprisingly, it was filled with more lies. I don’t understand it, I have written documentation that proves he’s lying, but he still lies! Anyway, I was compelled to write a rebuttal, which took a lot longer than I expected, and by the time I finished, it was after 3:30. Since I had arranged to pick up hay at 5:00 today, it was too late to go riding. I’m going tomorrow for sure, though! I drive the 25 minutes to they hay farm and picked up 8 nice bales at $4.50 a bale, which will be enough to get me well into my next stop. After unloading the hay, mostly into the first stall and the rest under the gooseneck, Lola and I walked down to the lake and played fetch for a while. We were joined by a young mother, her little boy, and a little brown puppy about 12 weeks old, who kept trying to play with Lola, who ignored her, because she was too focused on playing fetch. They eventually left, and Lola and I walked back up to the trailer. Flash has been doing a Houdini on me lately, somehow he keeps getting off his highline and his anchor, so I had to do some work on that to make sure he stays put. Not that he goes very far, but I had to solve it before the weekend when this place is bound to get crowded again. A few campers came in today, mostly without horses, and I expect that trend to continue, not really looking forward to the crowds. Anyway, took an early shower, watched one DS9, now I’m ready for bed. I have to get my body clock adjusted, this going to bed right after the sun goes down makes me feel like I’m 4 years old going and it’s only 7:00 or something. Hard to live by the creed Early to Bed, Early to Rise with this kind of schedule! But I’m determined to at least get into bed earlier, even if I end up reading half the night, which is what I’ve been doing lately. Crazy! But, off I go! Good night, babe! Love you!

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 – A Little Trailer Maintenance

Hey Baby,
Had a hard time getting to sleep last night (probably because I was so static all day yesterday), so was a bit lazy when I got up this morning. After chores and breakfast I finally mustered enough energy to run down to a hardware store to get the screws I needed to make the repair on the exterior panel of the trailer that’s been bulging. Got back and did my best to put them on, but could only get about half of them done because it was bulging so badly and I couldn’t get enough leverage standing on a ladder to put enough weight behind it to get the screws in, then they were rounding out so quickly, which just made things worse. Randy at Harmar said if I can’t get it done myself, he’d be willing to let one of his guys do it when I pass through that area in a couple weeks. I’ll keep trying, maybe someplace where I can get a picnic table close enough to manage it, but we’ll see. I also put some sealant around all the windows, just as a precaution, so now all I have left to do is the roof, no hurry since I did that last year, but I do need to check on it to make sure there are no leaks, particularly where that panel buckled. Meanwhile, Lola escaped for a while when I was busy working, and when she didn’t come back in a reasonable time I went looking forward, turns out someone had “found” her and the DNR guy was driving around with her in the passenger seat. I was near the lake when they passed by and I flagged them down. If only people would stop detaining her, she’d come home in her own good time, and a lot quicker! Oh well, I know they mean well. Anyway, that was pretty much the extent of my day. I’ve found some hay on Marketplace about 10 miles away, I’ll be getting some tomorrow, and Flash’s foot seems fine now, I’m going to take him out in the morning and see how it goes. Watched a rather fun mystery movie with Daniel Craig (with an indeterminate Southern accent), Christopher Plummer and an all-star case on Prime called Knives Out, done rather Agatha Christie, put them all in a room and reveal the murderer sort of style. But now I’m ready for my shower and bed, and hope that I can get to sleep earlier than last night! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Monday, June 15, 2020 – Paperwork

Hi Sweetheart!
A much quieter night, a good night sleep, and a beautiful morning to wake up to today. I didn’t want to ride Apollo two days in a row, so I decided to go through the mail I got last week and get caught up on my bookkeeping, pretty boring, but it took up most of the day. I talked to Jeff, and it seems I did leave the GoDogGo machine at his place, on top of his A/C unit, and it’s been sitting out there the whole time. He thought it was one of the bad ones, but I’m sure it was the new one. Of course, after sitting outside for two months, chances are it’s going to need some repairs anyway. He said he plugged it in and it didn’t work, but it needed a new sensor any, plus if it got too wet that would affect it. I’ll have to rebuilt it probably when I get back down there. At least I know where it went! Lola and I walked down to the lake and did fetch for awhile, I let the horses graze on the grass a bit, gave them wormer, and settled down for the evening. Couldn’t get Netflix for some reason, so I ended up playing backgammon, which I downloaded, and, I’m sorry to say, am starting to get addicted to. I got an answer from Harmar, and they said they’ve been actually screwing the aluminum panels on these days, and told me exactly what kind of screws I need, so I may be taking a ride out to the hardware store tomorrow. I’d like to get that done before this dry spell ends. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day. I’m actually having to think up things to do now, instead of having a list so long I thought I’d never get to the end. A few jobs hanging, but nothing critical. Never thought I’d see the day! Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Saturday, June 13, 2020 – Noisy Day at Campsite

Hi Sweetheart!
Once again, weekends at the park turned into a noise fest, one of the worst I’ve experienced since the 4th of July in New York, when it was packed but we were the only ones with horses. Right across from me I have tenters with lots of kids, who keep coming over wanting to pet the horses (you know I’m a sucker for that!), but at least their not yelling at each other all day. I decided, though, to stick around camp today, just to keep an eye on things, it’s so busy and I have so much stuff laying around. All day, more and more people joined the group across the road, now there’s like four cars and half a dozen tents, despite a sign out front that says one vehicle per campsite and provides a parking lot for the rest. The worst was around 4:00 someone showed up and turned their truck radio on full blast, with awful modern “rock” I guess you’d call it. I had to go ask them to turn it down, it was making my teeth shake! They turned it down some, but it kept increasing gradually as the day went on. I truly don’t understand why people come out to a natural environment of peace and quiet and then want to get as noisy as they possibly can! Much less inflicting their choice of music on others! I’m looking forward to more primitive, horse-only camping, it’s always the non-horse people that make all the noise! So I spent the day updating the Facebook page with all the horse camps since Jefferson Lake in Ohio last year, where I left off. I got it up to date now. I hate to say it, but I even felt compelled to write a pretty scathing review on that awful Double J at Mammoth Cave, I just wouldn’t want anyone else to make plans there and have them turn out to be terrible because they didn’t know. Three days of wasted time and money, not to mention how it ruined my plans for our wedding anniversary. Anyway, water under the bridge, as you’d say! Flash’s ankle seems to be a little better, but he’s still really favoring it, so I think I’ll just let him rest some more. I put them on anchors so they could graze, fortunately the other campsites on my side of the road are mostly empty so they have room. Of course, within an hour or so of grazing, they ended up standing right by the highline anyway! Overall it was a pretty relaxing day, though. I resisted the urge to do some work on the trailer, convinced myself I could wait until either tomorrow or next week, nothing urgent, so all my work was on the computer, nothing physical. It’s almost 9:30 and it’s still light outside, which drives me crazy! I’ll be glad to get back in Central time! So even though it seems early, I’m ready for my shower and bed and another good night sleep with my earplugs! Good night, baby! Love you!

Friday, June 12, 2020 – Errands and a Kayak Ride

Hey Baby!
Got up a bit early this morning, and got on the road to do some shopping as soon as the chores and breakfast were done. I headed northwest to a town called Salem, which looked oddly familiar, I think we must have driven through there another time. Anyway, I went to the Walmart because it was the only one with a mosquito plant in stock. My old one died, again. I grabbed it first thing, did the rest of my shopping, then skipped over to the Tractor Supply because I was low on Flash’s food, and, of course, this is the only store in the area that DOESN’T carry the Nutrena Perform. They stock the hard-to-find Balancer (which I had already stocked up on), but not the Perform, so I had to run down to Sellersburg SOUTH of Deam Lake in order to get it. It wasn’t really that far so it was no big deal, it just took longer than I expected. I bought one of those ball launchers, the ones that look like an air gun but it works on a spring, since I don’t have the GoDogGo anymore, wherever that is, so I played with Lola for a bit. Once I wore her out with that, I got a hankering to get on the lake, so I inflated my kayak, put it in the back of the truck and headed to the boat launch. I didn’t want to drag it on the rough ground, so I managed to put it on my head African-style and take it down to the lake. It’s a pretty small lake, you can pretty much see the whole thing at once, and it was a nice time. I headed north against the wind until I reach a spot where the tops of the dead trees were still sticking out of the water, then turned around and just let myself drift slowly all the way back down, taking in some sun, saving a strange-looking bug from the water, which I put in the grass when I got back to the launch area, and generally relaxing, would you believe! It was so peaceful, as only electric motors are allowed so it was pretty quiet. There were a few fishermen, but mostly it was folks on all kinds of human-powered vessels, like paddle boards (where the paddler stands up like on a surfboard), paddle boats (where they pump their feet like on a bicycle), a lot of one and two-man kayaks, and even an inflatable or two like mine. As I was heading back to the boat ramp, though, it was getting busier, as was the campground by the time I got back. I’m glad I got to see what this place looks like during the week, because now it’s become utter chaos. It’s very busy, and evidently they use the horse camp area as overflow, because though every site is almost full, most don’t have horses, but they do have lots of kids. I mean, LOTS of kids! Lola will have a field day tomorrow if I don’t keep an eye on her! A lot of small campers and tenters, so I expect it won’t be a very quiet night (thank goodness I bought a new supply of earplugs!) I did a load of laundry this morning, so I have fresh sheets for the bed, so now I’m off to take my shower and get into bed early. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Thursday, June 11, 2020 – Very Productive Day, and A Ride Day, Too!

Hi Sweetheart!
I had such a good night sleep, I woke up with lots of energy, so I got busy putting up the screen room, installing the new springs that were delivered yesterday up in the hay loft, taking down the GoDogGo box and my inflatable kayak for a future date on the lake, filling up the water tank in the truck, all before breakfast. After breakfast, I started to get out the fetch machine when I realized the one in the box was the old one I was keeping for parts, but I couldn't find the new one! I then went on a thorough search of every conceivable place I could think of, but I could never find it! I had the power plug and all the extra sensors I bought just before I left Florida, but I never could find the machine! I either must have left it at Jeff's, or put it in the back of the truck and someone stole it. I left a message for Jeff but still hadn't heard from him by bedtime. Great mystery, I just can't imagine me leaving without it! Finally, I decided to take Apollo for a ride, since Flash's foot is still suspect. He doesn't seem to be limping anymore, but I'm not sure it's completely healed, so I thought I'd give him some more time. I didn't put Apollo's boots on at first because I didn't know what the trails were like, but I took them with me, and within about 50 yards of the campground it became clear there was a lot of gravel, so I put them on. He was so tentative, trying his best to avoid the gravel, so naturally I ended up being smacked in the face with branches all day. I don't think he was in any pain, he was just trying to stay off the gravel. We decided on the Lake Loop, a six-mile ride that does exactly as the name implies, though at one point I veered off onto a renegade trail, and it was pretty good for awhile, even though there were some trees down, but eventually it just petered out. I tried to find a way through to the road, but I was too far off the track, so I headed back to the trail. Once we got back on the renegade trail, I looked down and realized Apollo had lost a boot, right in the midst of all that cross-country we were doing. I figured it was hopeless, but I went back and took a look around anyway, and was just about to give up when I suddenly spotted it! A miracle! He lost it a couple more times during the ride, as we went through some mud and it got slippery. Anyway, it was still a nice ride, slower than usual, but it was a gorgeous day, so no complaints! As a reward, I put him on an anchor and let him graze, there isn't anybody near us and there's lots of clover, so he really enjoyed that. Then I went on to do a bunch more stuff, like fixing one of those little fans in the horse compartment, one fell off a few weeks ago so I had to put it back up and rewire it. I tightened the door handles on the back of the trailer, they tend to loosen up after awhile. Then I remembered I had received a new wand for the pressure washer, and figured I had better check it out to make sure it worked before it was too late to send it back, so I climbed back up to the "attic" and brought it down, changed the wand, plugged it into water and electric and checked it out. Everything seemed fine, so I packed it all up again and hauled it back up into the attic. Then when I came inside I remembered I had a cornice piece on the slide-out that came off that I needed to repair, so I cleaned that up, glued and nailed it back into place, good as new. I've discovered through trial and error that if I can just pull the slide in the tiniest bit while I'm pressing the button, I can actually bring it in on my own, a problem I've been trying to solve for a while. I just need to put in a hook of some kind so I can put a rope on it and pull it, something I'll do on another day before I leave here, hopefully. So a long, busy, really productive day, got lots of little jobs done. Tomorrow morning I plan to shop, then hopefully I'll take the weekend off like a normal person and just enjoy myself! I'm still adjusting to the time change (Indiana doesn't change for Daylight Savings, so they're technically on Eastern time), which means it doesn't get dark until well after nine, still getting used to that. Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Wednesday, June 10, 2020 – Happy 31st Anniversary!

Hello my Beloved!
Well, I didn't spend our anniversary the way I had wanted to. I have envisioned a nice ride out in the forest of Mammoth Cave, but instead I finished packing up, waited for my final package to arrive, which it did, mercifully, just after 11:00, got the horses loaded in, collected my refund, received the last bit of condescending and unnecessary advice on how to get out of my site without taking out a water spigot (I was driving wreckers before these people were born!), and hit the road by 11:30. I had to stop for fuel since I hadn't gone out while I was there (I usually like to fill up without the trailer for simplicity's sake), but fortunately there was a Love's truck stop right along the way. It was only about two hours, but there was a time change, back to Eastern time (well, Indiana doesn't do Daylight Savings). I arrived and checked out the two campsites I thought would work, and it turned out I didn't particularly like either on, so I picked a third one and proceed to park. For some reason I had a bit of trouble getting in, narrow drive, a little short, a tree stump I had to avoid in back, not very level in any direction, but I finally got it done. I got the horses out about halfway through that exercise because it was taking too long, then finally got it leveled off with boards to level it side-to-side, and the front so high I maxed out the jacks and still wasn't quite level. The bottom of the front skirting is about 6 inches off the ground, it's that high! At least I won't be bumping my head like I was at Natchez Trace where I had the opposite problem. Once I disconnected I drove back and paid for the site, their prices are a bit steeper than I remember, but it will be worth it. The site has a water spigot across the road, a manure dump almost behind us, and the bathhouse not too far away (not that I need that), so it's fairly convenient to everything. I'm a bit further away from the lake that I've been before, but not so far I can't walk down with Lola and throw for her, though not today, too tired. There's only a couple of other campers here at the moment, but it looks like it will be busy this weekend. I put down the mat and got out the furniture, but the wind was blowing so much, plus I was reaching the end of my energy, I decided to wait on the screen room until tomorrow. I have a bunch of little jobs to do on the trailer tomorrow, I'm hoping to get those done early and maybe go for a ride in the afternoon. The breeze is a cold front coming through, supposed to get down to 59 tonight, and I'm loving these cooler temps! Tired of the 90's. Had a sandwich for dinner, not exactly anniversary fare, but it's all I had the energy for, I'm fading fast. I guess it was good that we never made that big a deal out of holidays, but I am feeling the loss of not having you here for our anniversary. I love you, darling, forever and ever, but you always knew that, didn't you? Good night, my sweet!