Sunday, December 14, 2025 – Busy Day Unmarking Trails

Hi Babe,
Was in bed by 10:00 last night, and didn’t last long reading, then woke up around 6:00, so I got in my eight hours. Then I read for awhile and fell asleep again, woke up when Jo called me after 8:30! Obviously needed the sleep! It wasn’t long before I was on the trail on Flash, taking down the Red/White markers. I was only a couple of miles into it when I came across a group of riders who were taking the markers down! Obviously, I politely asked why they were taking down my markers, and they made it out like they were worried about trash in the forest, and told me they had found markers six months after an event still out there, but they admitted they knew the event was just yesterday! I suggested that they may want to wait a few days for the markers to be removed before deciding they were trash! It’s not like we can get them all down overnight! Anyway, it all ended on a happy note, and I suggested if they want to take down markers, they can certainly contact the organizer of each particular ride, and we would be happy to assign them a section of trail where they can remove markers, officially! Danny, the woman who was taking them down, gave them to me, and I headed out to pick up the trail again, which I fortunately remembered, since I didn’t have my Garmin with me! Managed to get all the markers and signs down before 2:30, and had just gotten Flash rinsed and put away and sat down when Jo arrived. She had gone out and picked up the remaining water buckets, so I helped her pick up the last two signs for Horse Crossing on the road, and to take the water buckets back to Val’s house. We chatted for a few minutes before she headed out, and I came in a resumed my usual evening routine. Yesterday I got lucky and managed to get enough bandwidth to watch a couple of episodes of Bones, using my computer and projecting it to my smart TV, but I could never get it more directly. But that worked, which was good enough! Trying to do the same tonight, but so far, no luck. Meanwhile, I treated myself by opening the bottle of Merlot I got at the Biltmore Ride, felt like I deserved that after everything this week, not to mention what’s to come tomorrow! I’ve arranged to pick up the rest of the markers with DeDe, but it’s going to be a cold, long underwear kind of day tomorrow! Fortunately, that’s only going to last a couple of days, and I’m staying here at the BP trailhead with electricity until Wednesday, when it’s going to warm up again. Feeling very tired, of course, but it was a successful event, which is very satisfying! Good night, darlin’! Love you!