Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 – Longest Ride Yet at Guntersville

Hiya darlin’!
Despite my best intentions, I ended up not going to be early. Just as I was ready to shuffle off to my shower, I got a message from the guy in China about the Beatit battery charger. It fell over one day awhile back, and the casing cracked just enough so the screws wouldn’t hold, so now it won’t charge up properly. I tried to tape it, but to no avail. Anyway, they said they’s let me replace it for less than half the price I’d have to pay for a new one, so I needed to chat with him on Messenger to make arrangements for that. I’m having it sent General Delivery to a post office nearby my next stop, so hopefull that will solve the problem. Meanwhile, my generator just doesn’t seem to want to start up no matter how many volts are in the batteries, unless I use the charger, so I hope I get it soon! Anyway, I got to be later than I have been, but still woke up before 7:00, stayed in bed a bit longer, then got up and started the day. My plan was to finish off the rest of the marked trails (I can’t go chasing all the renegade trails here!), so I saddled up Apollo and was out by just after 10:00, but not before doing a load of laundry and hanging it out to dry while we’re gone. Flash is a lot better, is putting weight on his foot, and when I pressed around it looking for any pain, he never flinched, so I’m guessing he’s almost well, but this was a long and rocky ride today, so I didn’t want to set him back, so I took Apollo. Since he’s had two days off, it should be good for him. Anyway, we went out the old trailhead and headed out the white trail, taking it all the way to the end to Callahan’s Cave, another one of these interesting rock formations that has a spring emerging from it seemingly out of nowhere. There were a few interesting features along the way, several picnic areas, a duck blind (there was a big turtle sitting on a log just off the shore that never moved as we came by) and the cave itself. On the way back, I stopped at the turnoff to Kirby Cemetery, tied up Apollo and walked up the hill to see it. It turns out it wasn’t a cemetery, which connotes several graves, but in fact just one grave, a civil war soldier from the Confederacy. It’s surprising someone went to all the trouble to bring a headstone way out here, he must have had a loving family or some realy connections of some kind. It’s just up on a hill, and you can clearly see the indentation in the ground where he was buried. Anyway, after that we veered off onto the final trail, the purple trail, which Janet had described as “serene,” and it was rather nice. It was a climb to get up there, but once you reached the old wagon road, it was pretty smooth as it paralleled the white trail. There are lots of old wagon roads in these woods, but some are cordoned off as private property, which is a shame because they would make great carriage roads. Any, we got back just before 4:00, having done over 12 miles in just under six hours, just about what I expected. I’m tired, but satisfied I got all the trails mapped. I wasn’t going to head down to McClennan until Wednesday, but there’s rain coming in that day, so I’ve decided to move tomorrow instead. I spoke to the club President down there, and he seems very welcoming, I’m looking forward to meeting him and his group, which are evidently extremely active since they acquired the property a few years ago. They’ve even got that TV show, the Best of America by Horseback coming in a few weeks, so I volunteered to help them as they get ready for that in exchange for camping. It’s a primitive camp, so I sure hope my charger comes soon, or I may and up having to use the truck to jump start my generator! Finally settling down for the evening, having fed the horses and getting my laundry in, ready for my ice cream and shower and bed! I don’t even think I’ll try to watch a movie, the cell signal is so poor here I’ve been having trouble streaming anything, and of course there’s no broadcast TV anywhere close by. So off I go! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

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