Hey Sweetie!
Another busy day here at Loretta Lynn's June Ride. Another long line at breakfast before saddling up Apollo. I was making good time, and just before they made last call for the panoramic picture of the group, as I was about the mount up, I suddenly remembered that I had readjusted the stirrups for Callie's short legs, so I had to make the quick decision to change saddles, but that meant I had to also swap out the saddle bags, fleece cover and cantle bag, but that was still easier than messing with the stirrups, so I raced to do that and made it just in time for the picture. I did the all day ride again, but since it was Apollo, I ended up more toward the back than the front, he was really being a slug today, worse than usual. He hates the gravel footing, and I don't blame him, but we struggled through. When we got back I tried him on the teeter-totter, thinking he would be easier than Flash, but he was terrible, I had to spend 20 minutes getting him over it two or three times. I may just enter Flash in the trail competition! From there, I actually took Apollo out into the creek bareback for a swim, it's actually deep enough in spots to do that. We only went a couple of steps, but we did it! When I put him back in the paddock, I pulled out Flash out and got him out there, too, though he was a a lot more reluctant, but eventually I got him out there. Once I put him away, I got my chair and joined the ever-increasing group that sits in the creek for happy hour, had some decent conversations, and played with Lola. She got everybody playing, and when I finally took away her frisbee to make her rest, she wandered off and found more kids to throw sticks for her. She's going to sleep tonight! Then I went to dinner, meeting up with some ladies who rather suddenly realized it was me who wrote the horse camping book, which they had a copy of. I've been doing a lot of networking, I'm hoping to have a whole bunch of folks I can ride with at places I'm planning to go, which would be nice. Eventually I got the horses fed, took Lola for her last walk, and even though it's early, I'm planning on an early shower and bedtime tonight, which is momentarily! Love you, darling! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Another busy day here at Loretta Lynn's Wrangler Camp. More trailers came in throughout the day, but I managed to dissuade everyone coming in from parking in the spot next to me, because the handle on the water spigot was missing, and true to form, it didn't get fixed today, so hopefully, my front yard will continue to be an opening in the row, which many people are starting to use as a pathway from row to row. I slept a bit later because I couldn't get to sleep very well last night, but Callie and I were back on the trail before 11:00. I had planned a shorter route today, one that took us out to the Western Town, but we got turned around a couple of times, again, despite following my GPS, because the intersections are so poorly marked it's pitiful. On one wrong trail we met a couple of women who were also trying to find a way to town, so they ended up following us as we backtracked up a hill to get back to the right trail. We eventually came out behind the old town church, but instead of following the trail out on the loop I had planned, they wanted to go into town, so we followed the road into the town, only to be met with a "No horses beyond this point" sign. But friends of these two women were already in the town, they apparently didn't see the sign, but I found a way around the back and we met up with them just as they were leaving. I wanted to get back to the trail loop, but the women followed the part of the group that went back by road, while three of their riders, two men and a woman, decided to join us on the trail back. I managed to get us back with only one missed turn, but that just was a shortcut across a loop anyway, and by that time, we were already much longer than I had expected, so that was fine. We got back to camp and Callie helped me tremendously getting the horses put away. After her parents came to get her, I took Lola back down to the creek to play fetch for awhile, then as I was walking back, Bubba, the trail boss with the mules who let me put the paddock up for the horses behind his trailer, told me I should take a walk along the creek and join "the party" that was back there. Members of the Lynn family were gathered back there, along with some other friends, and there was a karioke setup and a number of folks were singing, and a lot of people had obviously been drinking and more most of the afternoon, so many were very merry. I met a woman who went gaga over Lola, she had a German short-hair named EmmyLou that she took out of her cage to introduce her. They seemed to get along okay. While we were chatting, we heard some live a cappella singing, and her eyes got big and she said, "That's him!" And I asked, "Who?", and she said "Kid Rock!" Evidently he's a friend of the family and came out for the day (maybe more, I don't know), and he ended up getting roped into singing several songs with some help from other friends and family. Quite the party! I probably stayed for close to an hour, though some of that was keeping an eye on some kids (and some adults, too) who were playing with Lola. After that I fed the horses and headed up to the riders meeting where I learned a bit more about what the plan is for the week (I literally couldn't find hardly any information on the internet!), then I headed up to where Callie and her family were camped up on the hill and they fed me an incredible steak dinner, a HUGE piece of meat I could only eat half of, but her mom Tracy gave me a bag to bring the rest home, very nice! We sat by the campfire and chatted, got to see the space station fly over (they had no idea you could do that, and they loved it!), and chatted some more before I finally had to come home. Breakfast is only from 6:30 to 8:00, so it's going to be an early morning! Took my shower as soon as I got home, now it's off the bed for me. Good night, my love!

Hi Baby,
Another good night sleep, though there's a lot more street lights here, but with the blackout drapes it doesn't matter! Had a leisurely morning before saddling up the horses and having Callie come down for our ride together. I created a map on Google Earth and downloaded it on to my GPS because I have memories of getting lost here last time. I put the boots on the horses, too, because I remember it was rocky in spots. Actually, it was mostly rocky on the trails we took, and despite my diligence with the GPS we STILL managed to get lost a couple of time. The trails aren't very well marked, especially the intersections, and there are so many renegade trails out there you can hardly tell which way you're going half the time. Lots of really steep hills, too, though Callie did great. She didn't mind the uphills so much, but the downhills made her understandably nervous, she was afraid of going over Apollo's head, but she managed very well. We went over 7 miles, which was longer than I had planned, almost three hours, but everyone did really well, and it was a gorgeous dry day for a change, so we were all happy campers by the time we got back! Callie's parents came down to get her, and we sat and chatted again for awhile before they left, they're taking her out to dinner for her birthday tonight. I inflated the river tube I had bought at Walmart yesterday, and took Lola down to the water where we played with the frisbee while I sat in shallow water in my ring. I actually had her towing me upstream occasionally to keep me from drifting too far away. The water was quite cool, since we haven't really had any terribly hot weather, at least not enough to warm up the creek, and the nights have been cool as well, but that's supposed to change later in the week, going up into the 90's. Trailers kept coming in all day and now it's getting really crowded. You would hate it! I'm just glad I came early so I could claim a good, big spot to fence in the horses, people coming in today are picketing them everywhere, every tree is taken. After I fed the horses I stopped at a couple of my neighbors to chat, met some folks who live in West Georgia, and some others that live near Coldwater in Milton, FL. I'm sure I'll meet even more in the coming days, it would be good to create a personal network of fellow horsecampers, in addition to the ones from my Facebook group. After dark and dinner, I took Lola for a walk, and ended up following the sound of music to a campfire a few trailers up, where some of my other neighbors had joined in, and I listened for a bit. You would have hated it, too. Apparently they're here to do a concert at some point, don't know when, with some other musicians that are supposed to be joining them. It was only vocal and guitar right now. In between songs that frankly got lamer and lamer as time wore on, half-finished, questionable lyrics, the two guys and some of their followers started telling stories that devolved into bathroom humor, humiliation of their friends in public places and sex jokes, so I didn't stay around very long. Sorry, I just don't find that kind of immature humor very funny. I was kind of hoping for the opportunity of a preview audience for my Snowy River bit, but most of that crowd wouldn't have appreciated it, and besides, it was more their "show," so I didn't want to intrude. I'd rather find a more receptive audience for that. Anyway, back in the trailer, finished off one DS9, now I'm off to shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetheart,
Well, it never rained last night, at least not noticeably, and the partiers didn't bother me again because I had my earplugs in, so I got a good night sleep. Once again, the forecasters were all over the map, from 20 to 60+ percent chance of rain. I decided after breakfast I was going out anyway, though Carol decided not to go, so I saddled up Flash, put the orange vest on Lola, a precaution I've been doing lately so I can see here when she dodges off into the woods, and headed back up Bucksnort. My plan today was to try to knock off as many of the main trails as possible, just so I would have a complete GPS map, so I headed on to Oak trail, but only got about 2/3 of a mile before I hit a marsh. If we were having a drought, I might have tried to go around it, but with all the rain, I didn't want to take any chances, so I turned around and went back to Bucksnort. I followed that clear up to I-40 before turning around, then took Clem, going in the opposite direction from where we took it the other way, just to see how far I could get. At one point, I made a wrong turn and ended up at a house with a sign that said "Trails End" which had a watering trough, but it wasn't on the map. I figured out from my mapping program where I went wrong and headed back south again, and was able to find an easy passage over a couple of small streams to the rest of Clem, so I was able to make a complete circuit. Not quite sure why we turned back on it last time, it looked pretty easy coming from this way, I think maybe we just tried to cross in the wrong place. Anyway, from there I went on a couple of sections of trail I had been on before, and just before I was deciding whether to take the slow route or the fast route back to camp, a great crash of thunder boomed overhead, so we opted for the fast route, back to Bucksnort, where we cantered and largoed most of the way back to camp. I managed to get Flash unsaddled and even washed with the citronella shampoo as the skies darkend and the thunder kept booming, but in the end, it never did rain here, though Carol said it rained at her house, which was right by the freeway, apparently I almost rode to it today. Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, playing a few computer games, and nodding of in a nap every once in a while. I fed the horses early trying to beat another rainstorm that seemed to be building up on radar, but that never came in either! Very strange weather, but I'm glad I've avoided getting rained on the last few days! There's a higher chance tomorrow, but supposedly not until late in the afternoon, but we'll see. I don't believe any of it anymore! I took my shower early and settled down early, too, planning on going to bed early as well. Trying to move my body clock a little, been staying up too late. So I'm posting this early in the hopes that I will, in fact, get to bed earlier! So good night, sweetie! Love you!