Hey Sweetie!
Woke up around 4:30 this morning, then couldn’t get back to sleep until dawn, ended up sleeping past 10:00! Finally got up and moving, and after chores and breakfast, headed into the nearby town of Williamsburg, first to Tractor Supply to get propane (and fortunately, this one was willing to fill my tanks full, rather than stop at 4.2 gallons, yay!), then to Meijer for groceries. While in their parking lot, I had a great signal, so I loaded up my book to the printer. Did my shopping out to some rain (forecast was clear for the next four days, go figure!), went by the post office to see if my packages had arrived, but it seems UPS doesn’t get the specific delivery instructions I gave to Amazon, the ones that explained the building didn’t open until 12:45. UPS arrived at 11:24, so obviously they couldn’t deliver it, darn it! Hoping they’ll try a bit later tomorrow. Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, saw that another horse camper had arrived so I walked down to say hello, found them down by the creek and we ended up chatting for quite some time. I’m hoping to tag along with them tomorrow on a ride, since once again, there is not map of any of the trails at this place. Got an email from the printer, they discovered there was a font error in my book, weird because I’d never knowingly change fonts, but somehow it did on a chart I added. Anyway, I changed that and resent it this evening, so hopefully it’s correct now. Had a nice dinner, watched a couple of Big Valleys, now I’m just about ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Though I had a bunch of plans to do other things today, they never got done, because I was determined to finish updating the book and getting it to the printer. Of course, it took MUCH LONGER than I expected. I thought I was almost finished, but one thing led to another, led to another, and I didn’t get it fully the way I wanted it until past 5:30, but decided not to upload it tonight, rather take one more good long look at it in the morning to make sure everything is right before sending it off. I really need to do some shopping, so I’m thinking I’ll take my computer and find a wifi somewhere so it won’t take too long to upload it. Anyway, that was my entire day, that and waiting for a phone call from a mobile RV guy, who never called me back. Another job I have to do in the morning, find another RV guy! Hope I get time to do some riding out here! After dinner I took Lola down to the creek and played fetch with a stick for a while, just to get her some exercise. Settled down for the evening, looking forward to another great night sleep! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hiya Babe,
Had a great night sleep, ended up sleeping until nearly 8:30, so I woke up refreshed and ready. Of course, as always, whenever I think, oh, well, a short day today, lots of time to spare, those are the days when things happen that take up that time! I finished packing up outside, leaving Flash to graze while I got the whole highline area cleaned up before breakfast, and just as I was eating breakfast, I heard him heading up the ramp into the trailer on his own. Only went halfway, but I went out and got him in the rest of the way, since there wasn’t much left to do. Well, one of the last things to do was to get the awning in, and wouldn’t you know, it wouldn’t come it. I figured maybe low voltage in the batteries, so I turned the generator on and let it run for a bit, then it cut out after a few minutes. Not enough to make the awning work, so I tried starting it again. After several attempts, where it would start then cut off, I thought maybe it was the low oil cutoff switch, so I put some oil into it. It didn’t look low, but it never does, it takes awhile for it to trickle down. In the end, though, that wasn’t the problem. I didn’t think it was low on propane, it seemed like I just changed the tanks over, but then I remembered that the last time I filled up, the girl stopped at 4.2 instead of the usual 4.7 (because some folks complained about them being to full, so I complained about them not being full enough!), so I’ve been going through tanks faster than usual. Anyway, that solved the generator problem, but not the awning problem. I’ve also been really worried about making that 1.7 mile single lane sandy road trip out of the campground, but amazingly, a couple of young DNR folks came in with mowers to do the lawn, and I was able to get their help. After several efforts, we finally managed to get the awning in by hand and I held it in with bungees, so I could at least move on. Then they did me a second favor, by driving out the road and blocking it off so no one could come in, so I could safely make my way down the road. Still a white knuckle ride with all the patches of deep sand, though, but I made it! Thanks to Fawn and Jack!! I had originally figured I’d be at Schecks by noon, but by the time I arrived it was nearly 2:00. I took the long way around again, so I missed the four miles of rough Brown Bridge Rd., was surprised to see a lot of campers with no horses (and none with, except me), pulled up to the well and filled my tanks with my now working generator (and this one had laminated instructions on how to use it, including the hidden switch!), and found the perfect spot right next to the Trail Boss site, which had a couple of non-horse folks parked in it. Apparently they moved in without noticing the sign, and when I explained what it was about, they moved over one, even though I told them no one would be coming till the end of the week. A nice young couple, we had a nice chat later. So now I’m all settled in, solar panel included, without an awning (I’ll open it once I confirm that someone can come out and look at it soon, there are numerous mobile RV services around), I put the fence up around the unmowed area around the highline so Flash has some room to roam and grass to mow and fertilize. The charger isn’t working, but I’ve ordered a new one that’s supposed to arrive in a few days, though Flash isn’t likely to escape, he respects that fence too much! So glad to have a better cell signal here, no trouble watching a movie or doing stuff online today, researching the awning problem. Anyway, it’s getting late, I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Didn’t feel very rested when I woke up this morning, but had a lot of work to do. Once I managed to get myself going, it seemed everything I did led to something else having to be done. I needed to move a few bales of hay from under the gooseneck into the front stall, and found that the bracket that holds the door open had lost a screw, so I fixed that. Inside, I noticed the cover over the air conditioner had two screws that weren’t holding and had dropped down, so I found a couple of anchors and fixed that. I did one load of laundry, did some dusting and vacuuming while the generator was on, finally took a break around noon. During the day I put some stuff away, cleaned out the back, discovered my cell phone booster power cord wasn’t working, tried to jury rig that, unsuccessfully. I either need a new cord or a new booster, spent a little time searching for that. Got the back cleared out and ready for Flash. Met the woman who posted the original endurance ride map for this place, which became the foundation of the trail map I made and posted on the Facebook group. She rides a big thoroughbred, 17 hands, handsome. After dinner I put the chairs and grill away, and pretty much everything else that I could. Not that I’ll be in a hurry to get out of here in the morning, considering Schecks is only about 45 minutes away! Hope I get a better night sleep, though. I’m having Sleepytime tea tonight instead of bourbon, maybe that will help! Anyway, a mostly busy day, I’ll be ready for bed soon! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Baby,
Just when I think I’m making headway on the book, something turns up that bogs me down. I discovered a little hitch, and spent hours trying to resolve it, still not sure I’ve fixed it, and I’ll have to talk to the publishing people on Monday to try to figure it out. Meanwhile, I decided I needed to fill up with water, and since I was having to run the generator to fill up with water, I figured I might as well do a quick load of laundry since I was running short of riding gear, and once I move to Shecks on Monday, I may not have easy access to water until next Saturday when they show up with a generator. Not sure I can park within reach, though I’ll try. Other than that, a pretty quiet day. Last week, a whole bunch of trailers came in on Thursday and Friday, this week, only a very few. Surprising, but apparently that’s the norm here. The forecast was calling for a good chance of rain this afternoon, but nothing showed up except the tiniest sprinkle around dinnertime. Supposed to be a cool front coming in, which would be very welcome, as it was near 90 degrees today. Hopefully overnight it will get cooler! So another rather mundane on the road, looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Spent pretty much the whole day working on the book, putting the camps in bolder type and adjusting the spacing to try to get back to the 499 page length of the last book. I seem to remember there being some reason I tried to keep it under 500, though I don’t recall what it is now, and the cell service is so bad here I’m having a hard time doing email and other internet stuff, much less making any phone calls, though occasionally a spam call will make it through, naturally! It started raining about midday and has been continuing off and on all day, so a good day to be inside anyway. Not much else to report, just one of those mundane days that I have to go through to get to the more exciting ones! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Had a good night sleep, despite several bouts of rain, woke up to clear blue skies, which held out for a few hours before some serious rain came in. Spent the entire day working on updating the book, but it was very frustrating due to my intermittent internet connection. Things would be going along fine for a couple of pages, then suddenly the signal would drop and I’d be struggling for awhile, then it would pop back in again. Made it a very long day! But did manage to get to the end by about 5:30, though I still have to do some serious proofreading, which fortunately, won’t require an internet signal for the most part. Finally settled down for the evening, but I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Spent the entire day working on updating the book. It had been suggested that it could be improved by adding nearby towns and cities rather than just GPS coordinates, so I’m going through and putting that additional information in there. Of course, that’s going to change the whole format of the book, so it’s going to take a little time. I managed to get through to North Carolina, but there’s still a lot to do. I was going to ride tomorrow and work on it again on Thursday, when it’s expected to rain, but I ran out of propane! I was sure I had one more tank, but I either opened it accidentally or just forgot to mark it properly with my magnets, but in any event, I have to make a trip into town tomorrow. That would be Cadillac, MI, so I sent online and ordered some feed from the Tractor Supply there (they even have the rare Balance that I need!), so I’ll go out and pick it up in the morning, along with propane, and do what little shopping I need to do to get me through. I’m not looking forward to doing that long, nearly two mile, one lane road to get out of here, but at least I won’t have the trailer behind me. Who knows, maybe I’ll just stay here for two weeks, since I’ll be fully supplied, and I’m trying to fill a week between now and Labor Day. Anyway, glad to be getting the book updated, looking forward to some more book sales! Settled down for the early evening (not wasting power on TV), so a quick (probably cold) shower and I’ll be off to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Let myself sleep in a bit this morning since it’s such a short drive, and because we had a big thunderstorm after midnight that kept me awake as well. No worries, it was 10:30 by the time I left camp, and arrived around 12:30 as planned. Had a bit of a white knuckle drive the last 2 miles, though, when I turned off the highway onto the road to camp and discovered a lot of loose sand, the kind that screams, “just keep moving!” It was made more harrowing by the fact that is was only wide enough for one vehicle, and I didn’t see a single turnout the entire 1.7 miles to camp! Scary! Thank goodness I didn’t run into anyone coming out or it would have been a huge problem! Arrived okay, though, and found a nice big spot right across from the pump, and got myself all set up, including grill. Got all the equipment out to fill up my water tanks, though, only to discover I couldn’t get the pump to power on. I called DNR (probably should have just called Gale or Jeff B!), and after a bit of a runaround, finally hooked up with a ranger from the nearby state park, who maintains this property as well. First he promised to send someone out within the hour, then he called back to tell me about a sneaky little toggle switch on the bottom of the otherwise locked circuit breaker, and once I flipped that switch, everything worked the way it was supposed to, thank goodness! Got my tanks topped off in no time once I got it going, then settled down for the rest of the day. Got some emails and texts accomplished, then dinner and a movie, now shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!