Got up with the alarm at 7:30, made coffee and proceeded to finish packing up and departing. We ran back to the regular campground to dump, then hit the road for an "all back road" route up to Crawfordsville. With a quick stop for breakfast and another for shopping, we arrived at the park around 3:00, where a young man checked us in with no problem. Last time we were here, we only stayed overnight, this time the plan is to ride, every one of the 14 miles of trails. Despite a weather forecast that assured me of NO chance of rain today, we had a few stray sprinkles just before we arrived, then just as we were finishing setting up, it began to rain quite a bit more, so I had to run out and put the tarp on the hay. They offer stalls here now, for an extra charge, but we decided to put the horses on the highline again. They're building another 10-stall barn on the other side of the campground as well, so I guess they've learned how to cater to the equestrian community. In fact, we parked in the same site we did last time we were here, and it was perfect for getting a good satellite dish signal, and of course, since it's only a few miles off I-20, the cell phone signal is great here, too. Looking forward to doing some riding here, hoping Hubby's shoulder is up to a quick ride tomorrow. Meanwhile, with the rain, cold breeze and low temps tonight, we elected to put the rain sheets on the horses, since they no longer have any winter coat left, and they've been in such warm temps until now! Settled in for the evening, same living room, different back yard! Gotta love it!

Got an early start on the day, opting to get breakfast, and even coffee, on the way to save time. We did our final cleanup and packing, headed down to the dump at the other campground, which was farther down the road than we figured, then headed north on US 27. We stopped near Leesburg to get fuel and to meet up with our other set of friends, as she wanted to get a copy of the book, which I gladly gifted her. We thought that gas station had a Dunkin Donuts, but they didn't have sandwiches, only donuts, so our first stop after leaving there was a DD at at place called Paddock Square, a cute little "town" that is part of the famous Villages here. They discontinued what we wanted, breakfast burritos, so we had to get the croissants, which were frankly the worst ones we'd ever had from DD. Dry and pretty tasteless, overcooked, etc. Anyway, it still served it's purpose, and we were on the interstate by 10:30. One stop at the Ag station and we were on our way! Arrived at General Coffee outside of Douglas, GA, and after some finagling, got check in to the horse camp. Evidently they don't have many horse campers, as it took the woman quite a while to get the rate straightened out. Can't say I blame her, it was confusing! $12 a night for the campsite, which included water and electric (though the website says 15 amp, it's actualy 50, thank goodness, so we'll be able to run our AC!), then a one-time $5 per vehicle entrance fee, then a one-time "second horse" fee of $8. So $30 for the first night, $12 for every night after that. We paid thru Monday, not sure how long we'll be staying, though she assured us we could extend it on Monday without paying all the extras again. We left the trading post, went back out on the road, east to the next entrance, then up to the horse camp, which is just after the ranger residence. Once we got there, we started to remember our previous visit, which was 5 years ago, picked the same site, #1, highlined the horses in the trees next to us, and even managed to get a decent satellite signal (well, on 119, anyway, couldn't get 110, and 129 was just tiny signal we may have to revisit later) before we settled in for the night. It was great to have AC overnight, we're looking forward to a great nice sleep!

After a couple of days of packing up and getting organized, visiting with brother Jeff and his vacationing girlfriend, and working ourselves to exhaustion, we FINALLY got out this morning, at the rather late hour of 11:00, but it took that long to make sure we had everything. Made several stops along the way before arriving at Lake Louisa State Park around 4:00. Filled up with water at the ranger station (because one of the rangers said we could, though after we started, another ranger came out and said that technically we couldn't since we were camping in the primitive area), and found out there was also potable water available at the dump down by the regular campground. Slow pressure made that a half hour job, before we moved on to the campground area. It was fully paved until the turnoff to the equestrian area, then it became a hard sand road for the last mile of so. The camping area is lovely, with 5 separate corrals scattered around under trees large enough to provide considerable shade, for which we were grateful as the temps are supposed to be in the mid-80s over the next few days. Corral 1 was a double corral, with plenty of space for both the horses, so we got them quickly put away before we began setting up, which despite the fact we were so out of practice, didn't take us long. Satellite dish took the longest because of some trees, but even so, we were fully settled in, with animals fed, long before dark, and fell exhausted in our recliners. To bed by 8:30!