Hey Babe!
Another good night sleep, then got busy today, had a lot to do. Did two loads of laundry and my housekeeping, then started putting some stuff away, and did some computer work. The parking lot was busy all day today, must have been a dozen trailers or more coming and going all day. Popular place! Chatted with some folks, sold a book to a woman who I met at Hungerford who said she wanted one, did some more packing. I took Lola for a walk on the final trail I hadn’t GPSed here, which was about half a mile loop north of the camp. Wasn’t worth the effort to saddle a horse, so we just took a nice easy walk, took less than 15 minutes, so at least that’s done. Settled down for dinner and another Jack Ryan episode, still taking forever to load up. I sure hope the next place has a better signal, though I had a good signal at the last place and it didn’t help. I’m thinking that whenever Verizon updates they download a bunch of crap I don’t need or use, and it’s taking up so much space that it won’t run efficiently. We’ll see! Anyway, getting to bed early, since I’ll be getting up early. We have a long drive tomorrow, I’m going to Youngs Creek in Southern, IN, about 350 miles, but it’s almost all freeway so it shouldn’t be to bad. Off to my shower! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Well it was pretty hot last night, and I slept better, but still not as well as I would like. I may have put a little too much air in the bed, but I let it go another night and see how it goes. It was cloudy when I got up, and rain came in around 9:30, which put me in a lazy mood. I started writing an article for the MTRA, read some, then binge-watched some Jack Ryan episodes in the afternoon. Had a couple of different blasts of rain, heavy downpours, and one storm had rumbling thunder for more than 20 minutes before it hit me. It was so strange to listen to, it wasn’t just an occasional round of thunder, it was a constant, never quiting, just rolling along. Lola is either losing her hearing or she’s finally getting used to thunderstorms, because the last few that we’ve been through, she’s hardly reacted to, not trying to crawl under the back of my chair like she used to. She still seems to hear me okay, so I’m hoping it’s the latter. Anyway, a very uneventful day, and I was glad the horses were under cover during the storms. Found some hay about 20 minutes away, so I’m going to pick up ten bales tomorrow, then ride in the afternoon. It seems there are more trails open to horses than I thought out here, so I’m going to have to get busy riding the next few days in order to cover them all! Temps are a bit cooler tonight, so I’m hoping for a good night sleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Didn’t bother to set the alarm, but was still awake by 7:00, up and move about 45 minutes later. Didn’t feel hungry so I skipped breakfast and started packing up. Even though I hadn’t packed much ahead of time, I was still out of the horse camp before 9:00. The drive to Fort Custer was along a lot of country roads and lake sides, but it was only about 30 miles by road, and I took my time. Arrived before 10:00, then spent about an hour at the dump rinsing out my black water tank and filling up all my fresh water tanks. Once again, this is a camp with 1st century AD technology, just a hand pump, unfortunately, but it’s not too far to the people camp where I can fill up again later in the week when I need. to. Arrived at the horse camp before noon, and discovered they had some pens with ShelterLogic roofs on them, so at least there was a little shade. The rest of the campground is wide open, so naturally I got out my solar panel as soon as I could. Got set up pretty quickly, then stopped to cool off for awhile. Really hot today, in the 90’s, and worst because there’s no shade for me and Lola, so I just sat and read for awhile, too hot to do anything else. Then I checked on my packages and found that my bed had arrived at the post office, which was only about a mile from the entrance to the camp, so I ran in and picked it up. Got back to camp and started putting the adapters in that I needed. The mattress is the perfect fit! Then I discovered that the adapter for hooking it to the pump wasn’t going to work, that I would need some kind of tube to connect the two things together, so I ran back into town to the only store there, which wasn’t the general store that was advertised on the outside, but rather a discount palette store. Just as I arrived, though, an Amazon truck showed up at the post office with my second package, which was a remote for the TV. Two nights ago it wouldn’t work, so I ordered a new one (it had inadvertenly gone through the wash, but seemed okay afterward, at first), then last night it worked just fine! Go figure! I think the stupid smart TV was updating and that’s why it wasn’t responding, so now I have a spare remote. The palette store didn’t have what I needed, but I did buy a pair of sunglasses for five bucks, my other ones have been getting pretty scratched. So I drove east to a hardware store a few miles away, but they didn’t have what I needed either, and they sent me a few more miles down the road to a full fledged Do-It-Best store that had exactly the tubing I needed. Stopped for fuel (diesel has gone up a bunch in the last few weeks for some reason), got back to camp a started putting the rest of the adapters together. Had a little problem and had to call Airbeds Unlimited, (Michael has been fantastic with support!), and we got it worked out, and before long, I had a full air mattress! Yay! This one has a 25 year warranty, so hopefully this will be the last bed I’ll ever need. Can’t wait to try it out! Of course, by the time I got finished putting it all back together, I was sweating like a pig, and the night isn’t going to cool down much, so I may not sleep as well as I would like. Anyway, time for a cold shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Slept late this morning and missed saying goodbye to the Gypsy Girls, they got out really early. By mid-day most of the campers were gone anyway, so I ended up putting Apollo on his long line and let Flash wander, they enjoyed grazing. I did a load of laundry and did my housekeeping, then spent the afternoon either reading or on the computer, mostly downloading pix that Leah had taken (the signal is still so slow here, I was hoping when folks left the bandwidth would open up, and finally did around 7:00, so I got to watch a little TV at last) and finishing my bookkeeping exercise from the other day. Put a few things away, but not much, as this next trip has to truly be the shortest one ever, just 25 miles, about 45 minutes supposedly. The next spot has no shade and apparently no grass, so tomorrow is going to be a hot one for everybody! Back in the low 90’s here! But there’s a cold front coming in Wednesday night, so the rest of the week looks nice. Like I said, a quiet day! Not much else tell! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up before 4:00 this morning for some reason, only got a little bit of sleep after that, so I was feeling a bit tired today. That was fine, since I wasn’t going to ride today, and didn’t have much else planned, except to fill up the truck water tank, which I did in the afternoon. Then I nodded off my chair before dinner! The Gypsy Girls asked me over for dinner, and I made some Spanish rice to go along with their stackable dinner, which was layers of Fritos, beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. and had a very enjoyable meal with them and their friend Alaina, who’s in the process of gentling a BLM mustang she adopted less than two years ago. Had a nice chat, then headed back to the trailer to settle in for the evening. A nice quiet day, though camp was very full, and busy, but no drama in the least! Looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
While I had all good intentions to take Apollo for a ride today, in the end, that didn’t happen. Instead I did a few repairs, including JBWelding the knob on the generator door and doing some refrigerator cleanup, but most of the day I spent trying to order a new air mattress for my bed. I once again woke up with a flat mattress, and couldn’t find the leak, though frankly, I’m tired of looking, and since the baffling is starting to pop on my side, it’s time to just replace the two chamber system with a single one. Since they don’t make this size very much anymore, at least in vinyl, I spent the day trying to work out how to make the one mattress I could find that fit work with the pump I already have. It required a lot of conversation with several different people, and in the end, it seems like I’ve found the solution, but we didn’t quite get far enough to actually order it today. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to do that. The problem, of course, is the delivery time and where to ship it, which is always the challenge, though the advantage is that I’ll be at a state park for the next ten plus days, and since they have a manned entrance (as opposed to most places that don’t), I should be able to arrange for them to accept the package for me, providing they can get it to me in time. That’s where we ended up leaving it by the end of day. I did let Apollo and Flash graze for awhile, so at least they got out of their pens. I also pulled out that old drill pump that we bought so many years ago (back in 2010, so my diary says!), because the front end of the trailer is so much higher than the truck tank that gravity isn’t working very well to transfer water, I thought that might be an option. The battery drill didn’t work, but I got out the power drill and that did work, with the trick being the drill had to be below the waterline, and it would shove that up to the tank inlet. I didn’t fill it completely, but I did enough so I can take showers and do a load of laundry tomorrow. I have to take the truck in for an alignment tomorrow, so I’ll fill it with water again on my way back in, and I should be set for the rest of the week, hopefully. Anyway, it wasn’t the day I planned, but hopefully it will all work out. Settled down for the evening to dinner and a Hallmark movie, headed to shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
I let myself sleep in a little, but it didn’t take too long to get packed up and moving by just after 10:00. I made a stop at Tractor Supply just south of Grand Rapids for Flash’s horse feed, (they apparently don’t carry Perform at the Big Rapids TC anymore!), and picked up some longer bolts for the awning, though I’m not sure they’ll fit. Arrived at camp before noon, though I missed the turn to the dump, so that will have to wait until the next camp. I was a bit concerned about having enough room in here, because on their reservation website they limit the trailer size to 40′ (I’m 47′), but when I got it there were cleary plenty of places long enough for me, and fortunately, the spot I chose was one of them. It also has a corral, so I’m sure the horses will be glad to not have to wear halters for awhile. Didn’t take me too long to set up, then I went over to my nearest neighbors, Amanda and Cameron, and they filled me in on some of the details. The only have a hand pump here in camp, but they have fresh water over at the people camp’s dump station, and they were just on their way over there anyway, so they led me there. I also checked in on the way back, so I’m all taken care of! They ended up buying a book, which was nice, and said they might come back in the next few days to ride and chat again. Then I got online to make an appointment for an alignment, it’s been pushed back to Thursday, which was fine, except I was about out of dry dog food, plus I had a book order online, so I packed that up and ran to the nearest post office, which is only about 10 minutes away, and took care of that. Family Dollar had the dog food as well as some LA’s Awesome Cleaner, which I’ve been wanting to get to clean my now working awning. Got back just as they were leaving, then I settled down to dinner and a Big Valley. It’s a beautiful evening, perfect temps, mid 70’s to mid 50’s at night, low humidity, no rain, absolutely stunning! I’ve been so fortunate to have such good weather this whole summer, it’s been fabulous. Anyway, movie, shower, bed, loving life! Love you, sweetheart! Good night!

Hiya Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep, did my chores, then got busy with all the packing and extra little jobs that always accumulate when I stay in one place for a while. Did a load of laundry, did some housekeeping while the generator was on, moved the books from the truck to the back of the trailer, cleaned out the back of the trailer since it’s been over three months since I’ve had to carry two horses, sewed up Apollo’s feed bag, which he’s already managed to chew a hole in big enough to start losing feed, filled up his feed container, restrung the chair with baling twine since the stuff I used before broke already, and generally just put stuff away throughout the day. I waved at everyone leaving, Jody came by and chatted for awhile (and bought a book!), then Chris and Mervin came by and visited for awhile. After they left, I lined up the truck, did a little more packing, had dinner, and settled down for the evening. It’s a short drive tomorrow, so I’m not too worried about leaving early, so I left a few things to be done tomorrow. Watched a movie, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
A restful night, the usual chores, then I got busy getting the new motor into the awning. I managed to do it on my own, wasn’t sure I’d be able to, but didn’t really have a problem. I did pop a screw that connects the awning to the RV, and the other one was evidently missing, so I’ll need to get a couple bigger and/or longer ones to replace them. Debated whether to do that today or tomorrow, but I was in a lazy mood and the day slipped by. I did manage to update my website for book orders, now that I have new books, and that took awhile. After that, I just ended up watching a couple of movies, having a chicken burrito and relaxing the whole day. Didn’t even feel much like riding today, it was pretty hot and humid, so just a day off! I’ll get busy the rest of the weekend, a lot of folks coming out again, apparently, some that want to ride with me, so I’ll have company. Anyway, enough said, heading for shower and bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Slept late this morning, after not getting to sleep until very late last night, so my internal clock is getting a little screwed up. Happy to report that my air mattress stayed up, yay! I’ve been waking up on the bottom of the floor, but it seems to be fixed for now. I killed some time until 1:00, then went into town to pick up some things, stopping at the post office because I had an Amazon package being delivered there, General Delivery, like I’ve done many times before at many post office, but for some reason, the clerk there gave me a hard time. She claimed they NEVER accept packages for delivery services, despite it being addressed to General Delivery. I explained that I’ve done it many times before, and couldn’t see the problem. She said they hadn’t received any packages for me anyway, so I left. I finished my errands, then went over to my friend’s Chris and Mervin, who looked after Apollo while I was gone all summer. When I got there, I checked with Amazon and found that my package had since been delivered, so Merv and I went into town to go retrieve it, and something at the pharmacy for Chris. When I walked in and asked about my package, the clerk told me that yes, they had received it, but the Postmaster had instructed her to mark the package Return to Sender! WHAT??? She said that they don’t accept deliveries because, according to the postmaster, they can’t track whether the recipient has actually received the package, because they don’t have a USPS tracking number. What BS!! If someone sent me a first class letter to General Delivery, they wouldn’t be able to guarantee that either, so what’s the difference?? I couldn’t believe my ears!! I told her I’ve done this many times all across the country, and no post office has every questioned me about it, and she might want to straighten her Postmaster out. I mean, I’d already stopped by there, they knew I was expecting a package, and they STILL think they have to be able to guarantee delivery? How ridiculous! I finally just put my hand out and said, “Just give me the package,” and she finally went and got it. Thank goodness I didn’t wait until tomorrow to go back and pick it up (I was considering it!), or it would probably be gone already. I’ve had problems with this post office before, but I never imagined they would be this stupid about this. Anyway, it was my awning motor, so that will be my job in the morning. We went back to their house and had a nice dinner (breakfast for dinner!), I picked up my order of books, which I had wisely had sent to their house, so now I’m flush with books again, and got back to camp before 7:00, fed the horses and settled down for the evening. Very warm today, not cooling off too fast, so I ran the AC for a bit, taking a cool shower tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!