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!

Hiya Babe,
I had every intention of going riding today, but when I started moving around today, my back was in serious pain. Even taking three Tylenols didn’t touch it. I must have twisted it somehow in the last couple of days. It’s the kind of pain that isn’t too bad unless you sneeze or twist just the wrong way, then it completely spasms. Since I couldn’t ride, I decided to try to clean out the water tank in the truck, it had a lot of algae in it and considering I’ve been using that for the horses, and once for me, I decided it needed to be done. I don’t have a working pressure washer anymore, so I had to do the best I could with just a regular hose nozzle. I moved down to a spigot that didn’t leak so I could get maximum pressure, and rinsed it out as best I could before filling it up again. Moving as slow as I was, it took me till past noon before I finished that, plus putting a bit more in the trailer to get me through my departure on Thursday morning. Spent the rest of the afternoon in my outdoor gravity chair, which is the most comfortable for that kind of back pain, and read practically an entire book, though I did doze off occasionally. I got a call from a gal named Julie who heard I was looking for someone to ride with, she’s going to pick Flash and me up in the morning and take me to some of the trail over on Starr Mountain. Looking forward to that! Hoping all this rest today has done me some good, but I’ll definitely be taking some Tylenol in the morning, just as a precaution. Started on my next series binge, the old Big Valley series, which I remember I always liked as a kid, and of course, it’s got lots of horses in it, so there’s that! Done with my day! Shower and bed next! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a lot of rain overnight and into the morning, and a lot in the afternoon, too, until it finally cleared up and I was able to get my solar panel in the sun for a couple of hours. Spend most of the morning just working on applying for my union pension, managed to get most of it done, though it seems one page has to be notarized, so now I’ll have to find someplace local where I can do that. So a relaxing day, didn’t do much. Had a little ache in my hip, maybe from some sleeping position or something, so it felt good to rest it. Watched a good movie, and finished off the final few episodes of Remington Steele, going to be looking for a new series now. So, a relatively lazy day! I put Apollo out on an anchor for a bit, had to go looking for a lost anchor that came off his rope, but it was pretty easy to follow the drag marks in the dirt and grass until I found it. Nice change for him. That’s about all there was today, pretty quiet! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
I made plans to me our old friend Michele today, she’s driving up from Atlanta back to Monteagle and we decided to meet for brunch, though that turned out to be lunch as she was late getting started. Her aunt Joyce, who you worked with in Cincinnati all those years ago, passed away unexpectedly a few days ago, and they had the memorial today down there. After breakfast and chores, though, I decided to try to solve a water leak issue. Whenever I’ve got the pump on the fresh water tank, it’s been running every few minutes, which, of course, told me there was a leak somewhere, and I search for it a couple of times, looking for puddles under every plumbing joint in the trailer, but couldn’t find anything. Then the other day I finally pinpointed it to the outside spigot, which was good news inasmuch as I didn’t have to worry about floors or walls rotting through, which was my biggest concern. I decided to spend a little time seeing if I could fix it, so that’s exactly what I did. Didn’t take long, just had to cut a rough edge of the end and replace the clamp with a newer, smaller one, and the pump hasn’t run all day, so I guess it worked! I headed over to the restaurant, which was just five minutes away, just after 1:00, wasn’t sure exactly what time Michele would be there, and she arrived awhile later. Then we chatted and ate (Shepherd’s pie) and chatted some more, then came over to camp and chatted some more while Lola entertained us with her usual fetching game. It was 6:30 by the time she left, and right afterward, I looked up and the sky to the east was pitch black. I pulled the truck over to the water spigot to put some water in the tank, as it was almost empty, but it was running very slowly (this pump has a big leak at the bottom), so I just let it run and came back to the trailer just before the rain started really coming down. By the time the rain was over, the tank was nearly full, so it worked out perfectly. Watched a fun little rom/com shot in Vietnam, now I’m ready for shower and bed! A very pleasant day! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Baby!
What an incredible adventure today! You would have SO LOVED this trip today! Just five minutes from the Lost Corral campground is the starting point of the Tennessee Valley Railroad Hiwassee line, which goes from Delano to a place called Copper Hill, which is right on the Georgia/Tennessee border. The first half is mostly passing through the gorgeous Cherokee National Forest along the Hiwassee River, pass dams and finally through a few small towns before arriving at Copper Hill. It includes a rare loop around the top of a mountain, the only railroad loop east of the Mississippi, and only one of four in the country. Apparently they originally built it with switchbacks, but that was unworkable, and they went bankrupt. Then it was bought out and they brought in an engineer who figured out how to loop around the mountain so the tracks actually cross over each other on a trestle. Amazing! The whole thing was narrated with the fascinating history of the area, the ride back included some bluegrass banjo, Copper Hill had an abundance of restaurants for the two hour layover, and plenty of gift shops for those prone to shopping. I had lunch at a ritzy joint called the Waterside, which had a beautiful patio overlooking the river, which changes names at that aforementioned border. In fact, the town is divided in half between TN and GA, there’s an actual blue line crossing the main street, and it goes right through a couple of restaurants and the IGA. Whose sales tax you pay depends on which side of the line the cash register sits. No kidding! Government at it’s worst, wouldn’t you say? Anyway, it was an incredible trip, definitely one for the memory book! I was in one of the first class dome cars, so I got a good view of everything, plus free snacks and beverages, and the whole experience was fantastic. Plus I met a bunch of interesting people as well. It was 6:00 by the time I got back to camp, the horses were fine, I had left them with plenty of hay, but I gave them a couple more flakes, did some cleanup, and am settling down for the evening. Great day! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hiya Darlin’!
What a great night of sleep! Was in bed before 10:00, didn’t take long to fall asleep, and woke up around 6:00, so I got my full 8 hours! The intense quiet here was certainly a factor! I’ll be happy to get back in the circadian rhythm of the day and night, rising and setting with the sun. Laid in and read for a bit to give it a little chance to warm up (thermometer in the back of the trailer said 41 degree), but I just put on some layers and it was all good! After breakfast, I arranged to return the brake parts, so I got those all packed up, then headed out. First stop was to drop off the packages, second stop was Tractor Supply for propane and horse feed (they actually carry the hard to find Balance!), then Walmart for a few essentials, then off to a haymaker named Tim Adams, where I bought 13 bales of hay. First time I’ve ever paid $10 for TN hay, but that’s what I’ve been paying in Florida, and the horses gotta have it, so that’s all there is to it! Got back and discovered no one had been around to fix the spigot, so that gave me more to do in the afternoon. After putting away the groceries, I then had to pull the slide in so I could back the truck up, off-loaded 8 bales into the front stall, leaving four in the truck and one I mixed with some of the old stuff and gave to the horses. Then I had to gather up some hoses and got to another spigot so I could fill up the tank. The first spigot I went to leaked like a sieve, so I ended up going to another one. Even though that one didn’t leak, it still took a long time to fill up the tank. Didn’t have enough pressure to clean the tank, and it is kind of nasty, so I made sure to put a bleach tab in my fresh water tank when I was filling it up. Good thing I don’t drink that stuff! But at least I have enough left for the horses for a few days. That all took until nearly 5:00. Cut a few stems off my mosquito plant and stuck them in a pot. I’m trying to keep it more like a bush, but it keeps wanting to grow tall like a tomato plant. Not that I’m worried about mosquitoes in these temps! Cold forecast again tonight, and even colder tomorrow night! Horses are back in their winter blankest, of course. Watched a good Helen Mirren movie, just have tea and Spanish lesson left, and it’s shower and bedtime for me! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Up before dawn this morning, quick breakfast, finished packing up, loaded the horses, and was on my way a bit after 7:00. Through the Ag Checkpoint at 7:15, the rest was clear sailing except for a couple of slowdowns around Atlanta, the usual. Found diesel at a growing chain called QT, they’re giving Flying J and Pilot a run for their money, finally. Ever since those two merged, their prices have gone way up. They’re typically 60 cents more a gallon than everyone else, but the QT was just $3.39, best price I’ve seen in a long time. A little tricky getting into the aisles, and there’s a big truck section in the back, but the line was a mile long! Only stop I had to make, though, and the rest was super easy. Got off the freeway onto US 411 which was a perfectly serviceable road with hardly any hills, and, of course, the road surface was fantastic as soon as I hit the TN line, as always! TN had the best roads! Was delighted that I arrived at 2:30, plenty of time to get set up. Took me nearly an hour, though, to find a good spot and get into it. I wasted about half that trying to swing into a pull-through, but it just wasn’t level enough, so I ended up moving to a back-in, which was just wide enough to get in. I parked near a spigot, which, after I got all set up, discovered wasn’t working, so I called the Forest Service, they said they’d send someone out in the morning. Thank goodness I filled my truck’s water tank half full yesterday! Had to fiddle with the jacks, though, put the generator on to get enough voltage to it. There’s still a problem with the electrical system on this trailer, but it will take a real electrician to figure it out. The battery has never charged when the truck is plugged in like it should, and I don’t think both batteries are getting to various power points, but that’s another project, and I’ve been working around it all this time, no need to worry about it now! Finished setting up, got the horses settled in and put their winter blankets on, because it’s supposed to get down to 42 degrees tonight, and they’ve barely got their summer coats in! Flash jerked his head up unexpectedly and conked my forehead, now I’m getting a pretty good bump there. Ouch! Anyway, I have every intention of taking a quick shower and going to bed right around dark, and to read rather than watch TV, figure it will be warmer in bed. Going to be tough getting up in the morning with the chill! Just getting used to 50’s at night, not quite ready for 40’s! Daytime will be gorgeous, though, so I’m a very happy camper! Remember, May 1 is my personal independence day, third anniversary this year! Hard to believe! Well, I’m just going to finish my tea, take my shower and crawl into my nice warm bed (with a wool cap on), and recover from this long day! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
I can’t believe I spent the whole day communicating about these brakes, and at the end of the day, I barely made any progress. Every new person that got involved kept going back to the same remarks, things that I had asked about from the very beginning! Very frustrated! By the time it got to 4:30 and I get a call from someone in California, who informs me that the ONLY guy who could give me an answer had probably already left for the day, I was LIVID! And if the answer from him is that there are no replacement parts, then I should get new axles put on, because they claim their axles only have a 5-10 year life span. That sounds ridiculous to me, but that’s the best he could offer. And, of course, there’s a 4-6 week wait for new axles. But I’m stuck. So the end result, after all of that, was that the mechanic is going to come back tomorrow and try to cannibalize whatever parts he needs from the new brakes to get me back on the road. So the whole day was wasted and I’m back to where I started. Meanwhile, Sheila and Dave are leaving in the morning, and Deb will be gone early Monday morning, so I’m going to be pulling out of here on my own. If I get stuck, I’m in trouble! I’m actually thinking about trying to move out of this spot on Sunday to harder ground, so at least I can be sure of getting out early on Monday, now that I’ve decided I have to drive straight through to TN. It’s 400 miles to Lost Corral, which I don’t normally like to do that much, especially to a place I haven’t been to before, but it’s mostly freeway, so I’m just going to have to tough it out. At least when I get there I’ll be back on schedule and I should be able relax a bit. Meanwhile, I’ve found a place where I can leave Apollo while I’m on the Shore-to-Shore ride, and got a few other minor logistical things accomplished, but I missed another day of riding (and will again tomorrow, and probably Sunday, too!), so we’re behind on conditioning now. Very frustrating day. At least I won one of the games of Farkle tonight, and relaxed to a fun Sandra Bullock movie. Ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, I had high hopes today that I would be leaving tomorrow, so I packed some things up, did another load of laundry, got caught up on my bookkeeping, and generally got the place picked up. Lined the truck up, did as much as I could. Time kept passing and I was getting more and more discouraged about the mechanic getting out here. He and a young apprentice finally arrived, right around 5:00. They got started, but 45 minutes later he came to tell me the parts didn’t fit, that the holes didn’t line up. He showed me what he was looking at, and sure enough, they weren’t right. We discussed trying to cannibalize the new parts to make them fit, but didn’t have a sure solution. Finally, I just checked the parts website again, and sure enough, they sent the wrong parts. Grrrrrr! The number on the part came up as a similar but not identical brake assembly, so now we’re back to square one. Being that it’s Thursday, even if they ship the part overnight tomorrow, and even if the mechanic could get out here on Saturday and put them in, I still wouldn’t be able to get out of here until Monday, since I won’t drive on Sunday. I’d already half made the decision to drive straight through to Lost Corral in TN, even though it’s 400 miles. A bit longer than I usually like, but it’s mostly freeway driving so it won’t be taxing, just long. If I have problems when I get there, it will be more challenging, but hey, that’s what life is all about, right? At least I’ll be able to get in a couple more days of riding here, having a more firm schedule. All this sitting around waiting has been driving me nuts! Plus there’s rain in the forecast for most of the weekend, with clear skies on Monday, so hopefully that will be my travel day. Not making any bets on anything right now! Anyway, heading to shower and bed after my tea. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a terrible night’s sleep, could NOT get to sleep for anything! It was after 2:30 when I finally nodded off. Then I kept waking up remembering things I had to do before I leave here, and I knew I’d never remember them so I started a list on my phone. By the time I got out of bed at 8:00 it was a pretty long list! So I spent the day doing all that, a lot of computer work, printing out my Coggins and Travel permits, changing my reservations at Mammoth Cave, writing back to a student from my last workshop, etc., then I spent some time flushing out the black water tank. It was past mid-afternoon by the time I got everything done. Played Farkle after dinner, won one, lost one. Started watching a Johnny Dep movie but couldn’t stay with it, he was just too over the top trying to play a more subtle character. Switched to another pretty boring movie about an artist that goes to Norway to paint a barn, not much to say about that one either. Getting to bed early tonight, though, after last night! The brake parts came, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that the mechanic can come tomorrow and put them on, should be fairly straight-forward, I hope. I’ll have to get everything packed up tomorrow if I’m going to leave on Friday. I hate moving camp on Friday, I only hope my usual spot is open, because there aren’t a lot of spots there where I can fit! Anyway, ready for my shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!