Set the alarm extra early today in order to be able to cope with all the potential problems that might arise, and managed to get out of camp is around an hour, including topping off the water tank in the back of the truck, since we know Turnpike only has a hand pump for water (gotta love that 1st century AD technology!), and we're only planning on spending the weekend here anyway. As soon as we had a cell phone signal, I stopped and called the ranger station, and the man I spoke to wasn't positive about what size rig might fit in there, so he sent someone out to take pictures and text them to me so I could see for myself!! What incredible service! We had a few stops to make anyway, and headed down to the Tractor Supply in Olean (which, remarkably, carried the Nutrena Balance I feed Apollo to keep him from getting fat!), and stocked up on feed, but, unfortunately, I used my last bale of hay for their breakfast in the trailer this morning, and no one could point me in the direction of a feed store or haymaker that had some. They've been having rain up here, too, so I guess they've had a hard time getting hay in this year as well. I'll have to check on craigslist when I get where we're going. Then we diverted to Walmart to do some shopping, and sure enough, I got a bunch of pix texted to me, showing several large horse trailers already there! I asked if there was still room for us, and he said, but it's first come, first served, and after all, this was Friday! We flew back onto the freeway and drove the 40+ miles to the campground, coming in the more difficult west side of the forest road loop where it's located (naturally!), so it was a bit of a rough ride in, but sure enough, we arrived at this small camp in good order, and found a perfectly level spot that we fit into easily enough! I've had such mixed reports on this camp I was afraid it would be unsuitable, but with covered stalls, covered picnic tables, and enough room to get the slide out (though where I parked I can't quite get the awning out the entire way, so no screen room unless I move the trailer again), so I think we'll be quite comfortable here for a few days. The only drawback is the only water source is a hand pump, but we left with a full 110 gallons in the tank in the back of the truck, so we should be good for a while! Once we got a little settled, I went over to meet the neighbors, a total of three LQ trailers, and to see if they knew where I could get some hay locally, and unfortunately, they didn't because they bail their own, and didn't bring enough to spare. Sigh. Anyway, I went back to the trailer and found I did have enough cell signal to get online, so I did a search for hay and found just one source near Bath, which is a bit of a drive, but it can't be helped, since no feed stores around here seem to have hay. A few minutes later, one of the ladies from the group named Carol came over and told me she was sure she had met me before, and it turned out we met had met at Sugar Hill back in June 2012, and she recalled with great clarity how we had all watched the International Space Station do a flyover, and there were Boy Scouts in the camp that weekend, and all sorts of other details, most of which I recalled. She also told me she had just been at Sugar Hill last weekend, and have had a conversation with someone there about us! What a small world, full of connections! Anyway, we had a nice chat before I started to get Hubby ready for dialysis, and a little while later, she came back again and told me that she had arranged for one of her group to bring me some hay! How incredibly thoughtful! Not long afterward, Glenn came by with six small bales of hay, and when I went to pay him, he refused it, saying it was a gift. Above and beyond, for sure! So my immediate need for hay disappeared, though I'll still need some more in a few days, but at least the horses won't be going hungry anytime soon! Finally got on with the dialysis, which, for the first time since last December we were able to do with our new Fresenius Ipad (yay!) then settled down for the rest of the evening, though some rain came in, which was fine because I put all the buckets out and collected enough rain for at least a day or two for the horses!
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