Hey Darlin’,
Up before dawn even broke this morning, days are getting shorter very fast now! Was ready to go well before 9:00, I remember Linda came early last time and wanted to be ready. This time she was a few minutes late, but no worries, we got to the trailhead in plenty of time. There was a good crowd, and one girl showed up even later than we did, but Linda was ready to go, so she and I and one other woman, Terri, started off with Lola and Linda’s dog Annie. The rest of the group caught up eventually. We began at a small trailhead that barely had room for all out trailers, and started climbing. There was a lot of stones and rocks, but Flash’s feet are so hard these days, he doesn’t seem to be the least bit bothered. I did a little rasping on that one hoof that used to be split, and it’s almost perfectly back in shape again. After climbing to the top, then we went back down again at a slightly less grade until we came to a little bridge where we watered (Flash was the only one who drank, the other two horses didn’t), then came back a bit to pick up another uphill climb. The rest of the group caught up to us several times, but then Linda or Terri or I would start to move out. How wonderful that was to actually do some nice gaiting! After last weekend, where all anyone wanted to do was walk, walk, walk, it was fantastic to actually be moving again. Flash was a much happier camper being able to go at his own speed! Eventually we reached the end of that loop and started back toward the trailhead. If I had wanted, I could have ridden back to camp at one point, as the hill that runs the crest of the mountain eventually hooks up with the trails that come out of Lost Corral, but that was not in the plan today. We made it back to the trailhead no problem, with only one stop long enough to drop a log that was across the trail. Everyone got over it, but it was still a bit high for comfort, so they dropped it down. It was a nice ride, about 9.5 miles, with lots of mountain climbing, though I have to say, it wasn’t nearly as pretty as the Lost Creek trail that we did in the Spring when I came up north. Linda’s already enticing me with some other rides for the next time I come through, and if I wasn’t in a hurry to get down to Florida to help with the hurricane cleanup, I would have stayed through the weekend and done another ride with them. It was a beautiful day after the rain we had yesterday evening, starting out with some mist and fog which cleared up nicely, not too hot or cold, just right today! After the ride, we all went down to a nice Mexican restaurant in Etowah where we sat out on their patio, with Lola sleeping nearby, and had a great meal with a nice cold cerveza! I don’t eat out much these days, so it was a nice change. Got back to camp around 3:00, relaxed for a few hours before packing away the few things I had taken out, ready to get out bright and early in the morning. Long drive tomorrow, nearly 400 miles, I’m figuring it will take me about eight hours, but you never know what the traffic in Atlanta will be like! I’ll be up even earlier tomorrow, so I’m signing off to head to shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, it’s amazing what earplugs can do! Jumped out of bed when I heard Trish leaving, said good-bye to her then went about my usual morning chores. Doug and his group fed me breakfast again (I’m afraid I’ve set back my cholesterol goals by a large margin this weekend!), then watched everyone pack up to leave. Got a little help moving my hay from the truck into my trailer, which was nice, then watched as everyone finally left. Started a load of laundry, then saddled up Apollo, boots and all, for a short five mile loop just to give him some exercise. He was a bit slow at first, but managed to warm up enough to move along a little. Trails here are a bit rough, lots of rocks and downed trees, so it was challenging, which for him is a good thing, it keeps him engaged. Took about two hours for that five miles, though, still a slug! Arrived back at camp and gave him a nice rinse and some extra hay, then jumped in the truck and drove into nearby Corydon. I had arranged to meet someone from marketplace that was selling an Etrex GPS (my old one has about given up the ghost!), but unfortunately, it was some weird model that didn’t have a cable to connect to my computer, it needed some special cable that was “optional” and hooked to a serial port on a pc. I wasn’t even sure if I HAD a serial port on my laptop anymore, and the fact that I would also have to buy a cable? That was a bridge too far for me, so I turned it down. Turns out I do have a serial port on my pc, but it was just too much trouble to convert over. I managed to get online and find another one in GA where the buyer was willing to mail it to me, for a reasonable price, so I bought it sight unseen and he’s mailing it tomorrow, so it should be waiting for me when I arrive in Florida, which I’m now scheduled to do on Friday. Staying here one extra night, leaving Tuesday for Tennessee, hopefully riding on Thursday with my buddy Linda, then heading to Florida on Friday so help do some hurricane cleanup. Settled down to some homemade dirty rice, ate way too much it was so good, now I’m not long for shower and bed. Considered riding tomorrow, but decided I’m not that enamored with the trails out of here, so I’ll wait until next time I come to O’Bannon State Park and stay at the primitive horse camp, which is right in the thick of things, although with no real facilities other than water. Or I might check out the modern camp at the top of the hill to see if they’re not too expensive. Anyway, a good day, Apollo did a good job, didn’t lose a boot, and didn’t stumble as much as he had been, so I guess he enjoyed himself. Another beautiful day with perfect weather! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had an excellent night sleep, thanks to my earplugs, and slept a little later because we had already decided to take a shorter route today. Was fed breakfast by Doug, our main camp cook (nice to not have to cook or clean up a meal!), then got on the trail about 11:30 or so. Today was a shorter ride, but we had a couple of folks that didn’t usually ride much, and should have probably been on a much shorter ride than the one Doug had planned, but at least today I had put his proposed ride into my GPS so I felt a little more relaxed about the trip. We started out with boots on Flash, but he kept losing the one where his hoof is flat in front, so I finally just took them off. He didn’t seem bothered after all the gravel and stone from yesterday, so I guess it was okay. He didn’t seem too bothered today either, but I was just trying to make him more comfortable. We took the trail down to a different river crossing, the eventually out to what’s called the Twin Chimneys, which are the remnants of a homestead house that’s been gone for, I’m guessing, at least 150 years, though, as the name suggests, two chimneys and a basement of stone remain. The newbies were suffering by that point, being a much longer ride than they should have attempted, so the going was pretty slow. As usual, Flash was impatient, and a couple of times I had to run him out to keep him from bunching up on me. It was a nice ride, of course, and I arrived back in camp around 5:30, just ahead of the rest of the group, since I had to let Flash finish the ride at his own pace. Got everyone put away, and once again got fed by Doug and Jason and some other contributions by folks, a lovely potluck. Lola was brilliant, laying down on a mat by their trailer door while a couple of the other dogs sat and begged. She’s such a good dog, and I’m very proud of her! Finally headed back to the trailer around 9:00, dealing with my website still being down, and considering staying here an extra day just to finish off a few trails I haven’t done yet, possibly on Apollo for a short ride. Found someone selling a Garmin GPS locally, my old one keeps fading out and turning off without warning, planning on meeting him tomorrow, I need to solve the problem since I rely on my GPS so much. Anyway, time for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Ended up having a lousy night sleep, woke up around 3:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep until almost 6:00, after three aspirins and putting in my earplugs. Amazing, it was such a long drive out in the boondocks, I never imagined I would end up a stone’s throw from an interstate, with traffic all night, but that’s what happened! Finally fell asleep for an hour before the alarm went off. We were scheduled to start the ride between 8:30 and 9:00, but it was more like 9:30 before we finally hit the trail. I had been under the impression that our guide for the day knew these trails really well, but that didn’t turn out to be exactly the case, so we ended up taking a few wrong turns and misjudging several distances, so we ended up going over 26.5 miles. I didn’t really mind, since Flash hasn’t been asked to do any long distances since the Shore to Shore, so it did us some good. Of course, I was fighting him every time other horses were in front of us, but before long, we were in front, and he relaxed and all was good. We crossed the Blue River a couple of times, and we were supposed to get down to the Ohio River, but never made it that far. Didn’t meet any other riders on the trail, but there were a lot of folks camping down at the O’Bannon primitive site, where I stayed last time I was here. The trails were a lot rockier than I would have liked, but Flash seemed to handle it all okay. At one stop, I checked his feet, and there was no sign of heat or bruising, so I guess his feet are hard enough to take the rocky ground. I’ll know better tomorrow when I check him again, but for the entire 26.6 mile ride today, he was barefoot. The last couple of miles I finally let him set his own pace, to get it out of his system, which has become our habit whenever we ride with other people, so we arrived back at camp a good ten or fifteen minutes before everyone else. Got him put away and fed, then we all gathered around a central trailer and had a fabulous meal of deep fried pretzels, pork tenderloin steak, breaded fish and a bunch of sides. I ate too much, but it was wonderful, especially since I didn’t have to do any cleanup afterward! Finally got back to the trailer at 8:30, headed to shower and early bed tonight, have to make up for the hours I didn’t get last night. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!