Hey Babe!
Woke up before 7:00, got up and had breakfast and finished packing and was on the road by 8:30. A pretty straightforward drive, a stop at Lake Higgins State Park to buy a Michigan Recreation permit, a requirement of the Shore-to-Shore ride, which was right off the highway so it didn’t take long. One more stop to top off with fuel so I would have enough for all the stops along the way, then arrived at camp just after noon. Poor signage, so I had to stop at a fork in the road and walk into camp to see what was what. Met two guys named Sam who helped me scope out the best site, then went back to the truck and drove in, but not without incident. There is a sharp turn followed by a narrow gate, without enough room to straighten out a rig my size, and I ended up grazing a pine tree that took out me ladder, again. The screw that the welder put in the lock latch the other day was about the only thing that held, my ladders was bent to hell and both bottom rubber stoppers were a mess. I’m told this is the worst camp for getting in to, so I’m hoping the rest will be easier. The spot I picked, while it was easy to get into, was on a pretty steep slope, so I had to partially disconnect just to get some semblance of level, and that’s not even enough, so the blood will be rushing to my head while I sleep tonight. Evidently the exit will be easier than the entrance! Not long afterward, two other women showed up, Lori and Tracy, and we chatted for quite awhile. In fact, once I got Flash all settled in on his highline, and spent some time fixing my ladder, which required new screws and a lot of hammering, we all hung out, including the two Sams, for most of the rest of the day. Bad news, though, there’s a fire that started near Grayling, not long after I passed through there, that has shut down I-95 and is spreading like, well, wildfire, as they haven’t had any significant rain here in nearly a month. There’s a red flag warning for the entire state, and the fire seems to be very near one of the trail camps that we’re supposed to be going to on the second June ride, so it will be interesting to see how that all pans out. Overall, though, it was a very pleasant day, and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the folks tomorrow, assuming they can get here with the highway being closed due to the fire. Apparently, it’s a pretty small group, maybe thirty people on the first ride, way down from the scores, even hundreds they use to have. Just another example of not nurturing the younger generation and/or being proactive in bringing in riders from outside the area, a syndrome not unlike that of the OTL in Florida. Sigh… Anyway, it was a good day, Flash already seems a lot more rested and ready, just like I want him, but I’m going to give him one more day of rest just to make sure he’s fully recovered and ready for this next week. Crazily it’s almost 10:00 and it’s just finally gotten dark. I hate daylight savings! And you should have seen the red sun, obscured, I think, by the not-so-distant fire. Good news, though, is the wind is pushing it away from us, so we shouldn’t have any trouble here at camp. Hopefully they’ll get the fire under control overnight, especially since temps are going down to below 50 tonight. Finger crossed! Heading to shower and bed now, so good night, sweetheart! Love you !

Hiya Sweetie!
While Flash and Lola rested, I spent the day getting ready for tomorrow’s departure. I went through all the stuff that had been in the storage compartments under the mangers that I had taken out for the welding, went through it and got rid of some junk, re-packed them so they look a lot tidier and more organized now. Did a couple of loads of laundry, filled up all the water tanks, since getting water during the ride may be problematic, but I should last most of the week with what I have now. Gave Flash and Lola a bath, which, of course, lasted about two minutes before they were both rolling in the dirt (washing animals, biggest waste of human time and energy ever!!) Put everything away that I could, got the truck all lined up, all I have to do is drop it on the hitch and we’ll be ready to go. it’s only about a three hour drive, though I have one stop to make at a state park to pick up a Michigan Recreation Pass, something I didn’t realize I needed until I read through the material today. Can’t believe I’ve been here for nearly two weeks and there hasn’t been a drop of rain here, though it looks like they had a little along the trail we’re headed to, so hopefully that will keep some of the dust down. Everything here is just covered with it! It’s been unseasonably hot and dry here, don’t mind that when I’m riding, but sure would be nice to cool things down a bit! I’m sure Flash appreciated his day of today, he’s been eating constantly, so I’m hoping he’s putting on some weight. Watched a feel good movie about a wild horse tamed for a do-or-die, save-the-farm horse race, but am soon headed to my shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Really been sleeping great out here in the woods, then laying in for a bit to read, so I got up just before and got busy. After chores and breakfast, I started working on my first problem, the electric jacks on the trailer. They’ve been intermittent, and the last time I checked (after I got here and got it off the truck) it wasn’t working at all. Not a problem I want to have, so I got busy. Last time this happened it was solved by cleaning all the contact, particularly a connector that’s right behind one of the batteries. So first thing was to disconnect that battery and have a burly neighbor slide the 72 pound sucker over so I could reach everything. I then proceeded to carefully sand every single contact that had anything to do with the jacks, including both batteries, the relay behind the one battery, and all the connections on the jack motor itself. Put it all back together and viola! It worked GREAT! Put everything back together, and just as I was putting the last propane tank in place, I managed to pinch my finger underneath, ouch! Put some ice on it right away, so no problem. I walked down and to help Alayna loading her grandma’s mare Glory (not that she needed any help), then she stopped to listen to my brakes and said she could hear a hum on all four brakes, so evidently they’re working okay, which is very good news! There’s a stray wire near the blown tire, but I think that goes to a side marker which is missing anyway, so I guess I’m good! Loaded up Apollo to take the Grandma’s, figured it would be easier on everyone to just do that in one trip and get him settled in over there for the month. We put him in the big pasture, going to let the mares look him over for a few days, then put them together when Grandpa gets back from his fishing trip on Tuesday. Meanwhile, she baked me her famous cinnamon rolls, which were delicious as usual, and made me take four more home with me. I’ll be cursing her when I get on the scale the next few days! 🙂 Got back to camp and spent some time trying to straighten out the bent parts of the trailer near the wheel well, was hoping to get the bulging panel back into place, but that didn’t work. Anyway, settled down for the evening, listening to Flash whinny for Apollo, expect that will go on for a couple of days, especially now that camp is all but empty except for me (the way I like it!). Much quieter out here now! Looking forward to a good night sleep! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep but still felt a bit tired through the day, so much to do! After chores I began the day with a load of laundry, for which I had just enough water to get done, then getting out my new pressure washer and started cleaning out the water tank in the truck, it was a real mess! Of course, I couldn’t reach it all, so I had to resort to using elbow grease and a toilet brush to reach most of the nooks and crannies. Managed to get it reasonably clean before filling it up again, then back to my site and filling the fresh water tank again so that I could do a second load of laundry. Hung the first up to dry outside, and got online to order the tire I needed for the trailer. Drove into town to the Tractor Supply for a new handle for my manure rake, which broke this morning, and to refill two propane tanks, then a quick trip to Walmart where miraculously I got out of there for under $100! So many things on my to do list, I can’t believe it! I tried to lower the trailer jacks to get more water in, and they didn’t work. They’ve been giving me problems intermittently but I thought it had to do with low voltage, but that was definitely not the case today considering I had been running the generator to do laundry. Something else I need to look at! Seems like every time I turn around I’ve got another problem to be solved! Long list of things to do these days, but I can’t ignore my riding, either, have to get Flash in shape for the Big Ride in two weeks. Slightly regretting coming so far north this early, as there is a frost warning the next couple of nights! No doubt being above the 42nd parallel is good for July and August, it may not be so good for May. Put the light blankets on the horses for the night already, hoping I don’t regret not putting on their heavy blankets and set the thermostat for 58, hoping it doesn’t come on during the night, but suspect it will. No worries, plenty of propane. Looking forward to crawling into bed and staying there tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Spent the vast majority of my day on the computer and phone trying to solve a myriad of issues that have piled up. Looking for someone to weld a new bottom on my storage compartment and fix the brake wire (Alayna’ gramps stopped by this evening to look at it, and will follow-up with some ideas), spent time chasing down some refunds that were due me from last month, researched a replacement tire, since none of the three previous brands I’ve used are available any more, learned more about some tools I need to get, including a pressure washer, took apart my solar fence charger and talked to tech support about it, might have to be replaced, and on and on and on. I let the horses out to graze for a bit, they started to get a little far away so I had to move them back here once. Hooked them on the highline before going off on some errands, first to the local tire store to check out a tire they had that I thought might work (it doesn’t, so I’ll have to take my chances with SimpleTire again), went to the feed store to pick up some hay (they don’t start haying here for another two weeks, so I was low), which turned out to be really high on alfalfa content, so I’m going to have to watch their intake. Alayna’s gramps says he can bring me some, he’s got a few hundred bales leftover because they had one less horse this winter. Went to Lowes and got a new pressure washer, I really need to clear out the water barrel in the truck before I put any more water in my trailer tank, and I’m going to have to bleach that down as well, hopefully tomorrow. Finally got back to camp and sort of settled down for the evening. I didn’t sleep all that well last night, so I’m feeling a bit sluggish, getting to bed earlier tonight, for sure! Busy day, and more to come! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Up with the alarm, packed up and ready to leave by just after 8:00, with a little help from Mike who generously offered to do my site cleanup, which saved me a good ten minutes. Took a wrong turn out of camp, though, and ended up in a parking lot where I had to turn around. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but I think I over-torqued one of the tires in the process, because just north of Ft. Wayne, I had a major blowout. I heard it go just as I was approaching an exit, so I pulled off and stopped asap, because I knew the weight was too much for a single tire, and I didn’t want to blow a second one! I tried to loosen the lug nuts, but it was too tight and the tire was so shredded that it would spin around when I put force on it, so I called Progressive and they got me road service within half an hour. Meanwhile, I took out the spare and lined up the Jiffy Jack, so we were able to make short work of it once he got there. Of course, the spare only had about 70 psi in it because it’s such a tight fit on the rack, but he pulled out a little Milwaukee inflator that actually got it almost all the way up to 125 before the battery ran out. I had one other tire that was a little low, I was hoping to get that filled, but there was a Pilot at that exit, so after we finished the job (no charge to me, yay Progressive!), I pulled into Pilot looking for air, couldn’t find it, but managed to sweet talk a passing Goodyear tire repair truck into topping it off for me. I got the impression he just hangs around at the truck stop to pick up work there, it was VERY busy there! Anyway, I was on the road again with only about an hour delay, and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Unfortunately, when the tire blew, it took out a big chunk of the wheel well, which also serves as the bottom of my storage compartments, so I’m going to have to find a welder or repairman to fix it. It also blew out the wiring that works the trailer brakes, so they didn’t work either! I’m hoping I can fix that myself. After paying $1100 to get them fixed a few weeks ago, I’m ticked that I had to drive all day with no brakes! Fortunately, it was pretty flat driving all the way, and I only had one “bucking” problem when there was a sudden traffic jam at some construction near Grand Rapids. Arrived safely at Hungerford, was a bit surprised at how many sites were taken on a Monday! And unfortunately the site I was planning on taking, which is the easiest for me to get into, was closed for “safety” reasons, so I had to find another one. Tried one, couldn’t make it, but did finally find one I could get into easy enough. The challenge is all the trees that are close to the road, my rig just doesn’t have enough room to avoid them, so I need to find one with lots of open space on both sides of the road. Anyway, I got the highlines up, though I let the horses graze for awhile, there was some nice fresh grass scattered around. Got set up, went down and got some water in the truck tank and got the horses water filled up. Heated up leftovers for dinner, put the horses to bed (naturally, they wanted to keep grazing. They really don’t like the hay I got for them in TN), and settled down for the evening, with a long list of things to do tomorrow, none of which include riding, but they probably need to rest anyway, after so many hours of bumpy roads. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Very quiet here but still didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked! After chores and breakfast, I hooked the horses onto the hitching rail (much as I hated to do that!) and was just about to head out to town (Wabash) to do some shopping when the ranger (Amanda) came by. Not surprising, I was told, in a nice way, that my portable fence was too expansive and I would have to reduce it. Not unexpected, but disappointing. She was very nice about it though. Also asked about the big divots my trailer made in the soft ground, told here I would be fixing it. After she left, I headed out to town, first to find a notary (a nice guy named Terry at the local Merchants Bank), then Tractor Supply for horse feed and propane, then Walmart for basics, though I’m sorry to say they sold liquor inside the store and I splurged on a bottle bourbon, then back to the park with a stop at the office to buy an Indiana Horse Pass, a necessity here, though only $20 for an annual pass. Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, moved the fence around (though I let the horses loose with Apollo on an anchor, so they got to graze all afternoon), chatted with a local rider who stopped by for awhile, then finally settled in for the evening, with plans to ride tomorrow. It started out raining this morning but cleared up this afternoon, supposed to be cooler tomorrow, but lots of sun! Another beautiful day of living! Love you and miss you, my darlin’! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Up good and early, as planned, though I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so not as many hours as I like to get, but c’est la vie! Managed to get to get everything packed, finished the dump and get the horses loaded, pulling out just before 8:00 Central. Just barely got around the barn (by inches!), but was on my way right on schedule. One stop south of Indianapolis to get fuel (the price jumped to nearly $4/gallon for some inexplicable reason), but the rest was all uneventful. Arrived right on schedule at 3:00 Eastern, had a little trouble finding a spot long enough (what else is new!), but finally got in one, though I created some fairly deep tire tracks on the corner that I’ll have to try to repair (once my foot gets better.) I forgot that the “horse containment” here is metal hitching posts (my LEAST favorite system), but I ready all the rules and they didn’t say no portable fences, so I put up mine. Unfortunately my solar charger doesn’t seem to have any juice in it, so hopefully they don’t escape tonight, though there isn’t really any reason for them to go very far, there’s a lot of lovely grass and clover around the campground. Fingers crossed it gets enough sun to get charged up a bit tomorrow, though the forecast is cloudy skies. Finally finished up getting set up around 5:30, did a little Facebooking, had some soup for dinner, watched a rom/com movie, heading for my shower and bed and an early night, much cooler, but should be great sleeping weather! Looking forward to a fairly peaceful week there, though I have several friends who might join me for riding one day. Should be fun! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Well, after two days of hard riding, I was looking forward to a more relaxing day today. I still got up fairly early, since I’m trying to stay on Eastern time (it’s central here, but I’ll be back in Eastern tomorrow), had breakfast, started some laundry, and finally decided on which Mammoth Cave tour I was going to take. I really wanted to go on the self-guided walking tour, because I’m still limping and I didn’t want to slow the group down, but they weren’t doing it, so I had to go on the guided tour that followed the same route. I was limited to how far I could walk and how many stairs I could climb as well, so I was trying to not do anything too strenuous. If I had known how ridiculous the “Passage Tour” was, I wouldn’t have bothered! Their 1:15, .75 mile tour was a joke! There was literally nothing to see. Two large open caverns that were reached by, I kid you not, patio pave stones. There was absolutely nothing of interest to see along the way. The ranger was a tall, long-legged young man who walked so fast even the healthy folks had trouble keeping up with him (I had been assured the tour would be slower, but that was not the case), then we’d arrive at a spot (which didn’t seem to have any real focal point of interest) where he’ talk too long about the general history, but mostly make really pathetic jokes, poorly delivered. The .75 is round trip, so the actual walk is nothing. I’ve never been on a tour of any kind that was that boring. No colored rocks, no stalagmites or stalactites, no dripping water, nothing. One tiny bat that looked like a black spot on the wall, and only because someone asked about them and the ranger managed to find one on the way back. Nothing enlightening whatsoever. In fact, the highlight of my trip over was taking the Green River ferry back and forth, and diverting over to the Maple Springs trailhead and Group Camp, just to see what they looked like. I was surprised to find that the group camp actually had electricity at every site! No one was there, though, not surprisingly. Got back to camp about 1:00, and was atypically hungry for some reason, so I made my “dinner” early, then took a nap for an hour, before getting busy doing a little housework and packing up as much as I could. Need a pretty early start tomorrow, it’s 300+ miles (mostly freeway, though, fortunately), plus I lose an hour changing time zones. I’ve managed to line up the truck tonight, Kristen the owner said it would be fine to block that part of the driveway, everyone can get around. We moved a picnic table and a swing, just to make sure I had good clearance. The dump is on the wrong side of the road, so I’ll have to pull out then back up to it, then swing all the way around the barn to exit. No biggie, plenty of room and gravel so I shouldn’t have a problem, just have to consider all that as I’m leaving in the morning. It was a great stay here, these folks are so much friendlier than either of the other two horse camps here, and I’m so glad I had a chance to stay with them. That’s it for today, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Got up just before the alarm and got busy. Everything took long because I was still hobbling around, though I started using the beautiful walking stick of yours, and that helped a lot. Had just about everything packed up, horses in, all set except for hooking up, and I had already pretty much lined it up last night. When I started to drop it, though, I found I had to move the truck forward a bit, which I did, and then I started dropping it onto the ball. Just as it got on the ball, my finger slipped off the switch, and suddenly, it wouldn’t work again, no power. I figured the voltage was low, so I had to start up the generator (which meant getting out the jump starter from inside the trailer) and turning on the charger. Usually that works right away, but this time it didn’t. I expect that was because I left the inverter on last night and the batteries got really low, so I had to let it sit for awhile to charge enough. I was beginning to think there was a more serious problem, and was getting discouraged, when it finally kicked in and I was able to finish connecting. I would have really been in a pickle if I had a worse problem, since I couldn’t get the jacks up or down, and I was halfway on the hitched… what a mess! Thank goodness it sorted itself out. Anyway, instead of getting out at 8:30, I was leaving right at 9:00, which was fine, at least I missed all the Chattanooga rush hour traffic. The rest of the trip was uneventful, thank goodness, and my brakes are working better than I think they ever have, so I was gaining a lot of confidence. I was still being extra careful, of course, but it felt a lot more secure. Stopped once for fuel at Exit 6 in KY, found a truck stop that had diesel for just $3.29 a gallon, where the other chain truck stops were all at $3.95! Pays to shop around with that much of a difference. Made it to the new camp at 2:15 Central time, but it took awhile to get set up, because of my hobbling. No one was here, but Kristen had already told me which site to take. I’m a bit too long for it, so I had to unhook the truck, and the jacks worked fine this time, happily. Maybe I do get a bit of power from the truck, I didn’t think I did. Anyway, I got the horses settled into their stalls, played with Lola a bit, got in touch with Trish and her friends about when and where we’re meeting tomorrow, and settled down for the evening doing a couple of loads of laundry. Forecast says rain tomorrow, so we’ll likely get wet, but at least I’ll finally get to ride the trails at Mammoth Cave! Another one off my bucket list, if all goes well tomorrow! My foot feels better this evening, and when I unwrapped it, I noticed that the bruising had started, but only up around my toes, I’ve managed to compress the rest of my foot enough, so far, to avoid that. I’ll wrap it again and try to get it closer to my toes. I hadn’t realized that’s where it was centered, it felt more like on the top of my foot. Anyway, time for my Sleepytime tea, shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!