Hiya Sweetie!
Woke up right at 7:00, the perfect time, just before the sun rises, but light enough to see by. Of course, when the clocks change in two weeks, that will screw it all up again! Anyway, it was a nice morning, and after breakfast I saddled up Apollo again. I was originally going to go riding with the mule folks, but decided I didn’t want to be restricted, and frankly, was concerned one of the mules might kick Lola, or that she would get confused with a big group and head back to camp, which I didn’t want her to do since we’re right on the side of a busy road, especially with a lake over on the other side where she might wander off to, so I left on my own about 10:00. I had two trails I wanted to get in, neither of which was on the map, the pink trail and the extension of the yellow trail. The pink trail was really nice, had a nice stretch where you could see the lake down below, and once you climbed the hill it was pretty level for a long time, a nice change over the other trails I took yesterday. There was also a nice overlook on a spur trail with a picnic area and highlines, which is where the mule folks caught up to me, as well as a couple of other gals on a horse rental ride. Then I headed out on the yellow extension, which I thought would be fairly straight forward. I knew it ended up on the blue trail, and thought it would be a parallel to the white trail, but NO!! It meandered around for miles into the wild. It’s so new it was almost raw, and the markings were few and far between most of the time, but then suddenly you’d get a spot where they’d have large yellow paint splotches, a fanfare of ribbons, and a sign with a horse on it with an arrow. Then you’d go half a mile without hardly anything again! It was kind of strange, but it did end up taking me to the blue trail, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would. It was over eleven miles by the time I got back to camp, but Apollo did great, though it took about five hours to do it. Lola had fun, too, and I’m sure she’ll sleep tonight! After rinsing Apollo off and putting him back on the highline, I rested a bit, then walked Lola over to the lake for a little swimming frisbee, then settled down for the night. I had a trailer move in right next door to me, one that had their awning on the opposite side, so they’re facing my porch directly, and they were gone all day, but left their generator running! I have no idea why people do that! I sat outside reading for a while, but I had to listen to that all the time. They finally got back just before sunset, and I asked him why he kept it running, and apparently he left it on to run the AC, which evidently wasn’t working anyway, so the whole exercise was pointless. Crazy! Nevermind, they seemed like nice people, and the woman thought running the generator when they weren’t there was just as crazy as I did. Anyway, I eventually wandered over to Bubba’ trailer, where many of the group had gathered, and after a lot of chitchat, I did my Snowy River for them just before dinner. I’d already eaten, so I left just after, came back to the trailer for a bit of ice cream and a movie before shower and bed. Heading there shortly, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Woke up at the crack of dawn this morning, which is what happens when I get to bed at a decent hour! I would have read in bed for awhile except I looked out the window and saw Flash laying down, and he was completely motionless. I kept looking for some movement, but he wasn’t even flicking his tail, so I was worried, and got up to check on him. Turns out he was fine, he got up as soon as I came out, but he’s still not putting any weight on one of his back feet, so I’m going to let him rest some more to see if it straightens itself out. I went ahead and fed them, and got my day started. Had breakfast, read for a bit, then started saddling up Apollo for our first ride here. I was all mounted and ready to go, then Lola rolled so hard the velcro on her vest tore off, so I had to dismount, get out my sewing kit, sew up the velcro, then finally hit the trail about 11:15. I had printed a map, but understand there have been a lot of additional trails made that aren’t on the map, so I was hoping I don’t get lost. I had been told by a neighbor here that it’s not too rocky here, so I didn’t put Apollo’s boots on, but I did take them with me. Turns out there was quite a bit of rocks along the White trail and I stopped once to put the boots on, but the new (used) boots that I had bought from E-bay were almost new, and nowhere near stretched out (which made me realize just how much my old boots HAD stretched out!), and there was no way I could get them to fit. Fortunately the trails improved, so we managed okay. We took the white trail to the blue trail, did that loop, discovered that the yellow trail had evidently been extended to meet the blue trail (which was not on the map), but passed it for now, got back to the white trail, then picked up the yellow trail. I was really pleased with the way the trails are marked here, plenty of signage and paint on the trees, and a clever idea I hadn’t seen before, where they had put wood squares painted the color of the trail with numbers on them, increasing about every quarter mile, with the smallest numbers closest to camp, so that you could tell right away if you were going in the right direction. They also had a lot of arrows with “camp” written on them, so there wasn’t much chance on not finding your way back. I did have questions at one spot, though, when the yellow trail made a sudden right turn, which would have been away from camp, and I figured that must have been that new trail that led to the blue trail, so I turned left instead. Though there was a lot of horse sign and hoof prints, and was heading in the right direction, there were no markers at all for quite a ways, and just as I was thinking I was on the wrong track, I finally came upon a marker that indicated I was almost back to camp, yay! The trails are interesting, inasmuch as the lake is in a basin, so most of the trails are on the hillsides, but many are fairly easygoing switchbacks, which keeps it from being too steep. But they are mostly linear with small loops, so it won’t take too long to finish off what trails I didn’t take today, which is probably good, since I’m not loving living on this slope. When I got back into camp, I discovered a number of trailers had come in, including one with Bubba, the guide I met at Loretta Lynn’s back in June, along with several other folks who were there, including the older fella that was dumped in the creek on one ride, the one who I helped get back up when he had trouble standing. When he realized that it was me, he thanked me profusely for “saving his life.” I wouldn’t go that far, but I was happy Flash moved where I wanted him and stood still when I asked him, well enough for him to hang on to his lead line till he got himself back on his feet. Anyway, Bubba made a skillet of dinner and invited me over for some, and a few other folks joined us for a bit of chit-chat until it was mostly dark, then I came back and fed Lola, then settled down for the evening. I’m watching the final Presidential debate as I’m writing this, I haven’t watched the others, and I’m pretty much wondering why I’m watching this one, it’s so absurd. Don’t think I’m going to stay with it for long. Anyway, I still have to shower and I want to get to bed early, to keep my new habit going of early to bed, early to rise, so off I go! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Coldest night yet, it got into the 30’s last night! Maybe I’ve stayed too far north for too long… Though fortunately it’s warming up again in the next few days, so maybe not. I blanketed the horses last night, so they were good, but it was a frosty morning. At least yesterday’s cold wind had died down, so it warmed up quickly by the end of breakfast. I had asked about going on the long ride and was told it was leaving at 9:30, so when a group went by at 9:15 I thought I was going to miss it, so I quickly finished saddling Flash and ran after them, only to discover they were the “short” ride today, so I went back to camp and joined the long ride, which didn’t end up leaving until nearly 10:00 anyway. It was supposed to be 19 miles but ended up only being about 12.5, but it took nearly six hours, not counting a lunch stop. We started out with probably over 20-25 riders, most from a local barn coming in for the day to trail ride, and frankly, some just weren’t suited for it. One woman was in tears barely 100 yards onto the trail because her horse was acting up. We ended up splitting the group on occasion to take easier trails vs. harder trails, and poor Lola got so confused she ended up giving up and going back to camp. Fortunately there was a woman in camp that we met on the cattle drive that she went to, and she put her in the trailer, which I learned a while later when she texted me, thank goodness! Then some of the group turned around and went back at one point, then another bunch turned back a bit later, until we ended up with barely half a dozen riders plus the trail bosses, which was a much more manageable group anyway. They were sturdier riders, but they were drinking beer non-stop, and one woman was vaping away, which was fine when she was behind me, but at one point she took the lead and I had to keep pulling Flash back so I wouldn’t have to breathe her second-hand cloud of smoke, or vapor, or whatever it was, because it wasn’t agreeing with me. Of course, we had to stop every 15 minutes for people to relieve themselves, what with all the beer they were drinking (remember what time we left? Beer for breakfast, really?), so it was a very long, slow day. I mean, if it were just Flash and me, we’ be done with 12 miles in three hours, not the nearly six that it took us. The only advantage was I didn’t have to worry about getting lost, and frankly, that’s a big concern for me out here. The trails are only marked so-so, and the map is terrible. It has all the contour lines on it, which just makes it hard to read, the trails are dotted lines, not solid, which also makes it hard to read, and they absolutely do not match what’s out there. I’ve tried to line up the actual rides with the trail map overlay on Google Earth, and it’s not even close! It would be nearly impossible for someone NOT to get lost out here with the situation as it is right now. I couldn’t plan a ride with this map without some serious reservations. That said, they have some beautiful scenery, but so many of the trails are so rocky, it makes it very challenging. Fortunately, Flash’s feet have hardened up pretty nicely, and he didn’t seem to have much problem even though he didn’t even have boots on, no injuries at all that I could see, so I’m happy. Anyway, it was a good day’s ride, followed by a nice dinner, then a heartwarming movie called the Peanut Butter Falcon, now it’s off for my shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Busy, busy today! When I went to bed last night and set my alarm, it said 9:14 until my alarm would go off. Ridiculous, right? I tried to read for a bit but fell completely asleep in moments, then woke up once or twice when Lola was really restless (which surprised me, I thought she would be tired from the ride yesterday!), had some weird dreams, but didn’t wake up until the alarm went off! Obviously, I needed it! Had a bit of a scare first thing, though, when I went out to feed the horses, the gate on the electric fence was on the ground and the horses were gone! I called but got no answer, so I jumped into my truck and started heading to the back of the campground, and there they were, just meandering up from the trailhead! I thought they’d be on the grass eating, but they evidently decided to explore the woods, too! I led them home and gave them breakfast, and tightened the handle on the gate. It was really windy last night, so I though maybe the handle had swung loose, so I tightened that up. After breakfast, I saddled up Flash, and I was going to meet my new friends from Alabama and ride with them, but I missed them, so I ended up with the group ride, catching them just as they were heading out, I only just had enough time to get Lola in her orange vest and catch up with them. It was another lovely ride, a lot of variety of trail surfaces, but this was a group that really wanted to move out, so Flash got a good workout whenever we were on roads where they could stretch out. There was another dog with us, Waylon, and they got along fine, but at one point, one horse kicked at Lola because she got too close (she’s gotten over her fear of being in a pack of horses, too much so), so it was a good lesson. She didn’t get hurt, but she spent the rest of the ride paralleling us in the woods rather than being on the trail with us, so lesson learned! When we got back to camp, I called out Apollo’s name, and when he whinnied back, it came from the barn rather than the pen! Lo and behold, the gate handle was on the ground again, and upon further examination I found the ground clamp had come undone, so there was no current going through the fence, so that explained part of it. I fetched Apollo out of the barn (my neighbor put him away for me, thank you very much!), and I rinsed down Flash and put him away, then saddled up Apollo for the second ride of the day. After all, I came to ride, so I’m going to ride! I had mentioned to one of the guides that I kept seeing this sign for the waterfall and cave but hadn’t been there yet, so it was decided the afternoon ride would take us there. Another lovely ride, and the cave and the waterfall were beautiful, and Apollo had to work hard at keeping up with all the gaited horses, which was a good workout for him. Got back with him, rinsed him down and put him away, gave them some hay, put my tack away, emptied the back of the truck with the feed I bought yesterday, got that put away, cleaned up the manure in the paddock area for the first time in a couple of days, I’ve been so busy! Headed off to the dining hall for dinner, met up with my Alabama friends and got their contact info, something I should have done this morning, though from what I heard they had quite a rough ride, so I’m guessing I was better off on the group ride anyway. Tried my hand at a game of poker (the poker run kept getting postponed so we had it tonight), lost with a pair of twos, then headed back to camp to feed everyone and put the horses’ blankets on. Rain is coming in, and colder weather, highs only in the mid-50’s tomorrow, quite a plunge from the upper 70’s we’ve been having, going to have to wear my long underwear tomorrow! Anyway, even though it’s not even 8:00 yet, I’m going to take my shower, maybe watch an hour of TV while I have some Sleepytime tea, then head to bed again nice and early. I took Lola on the morning ride, not the afternoon ride, but I’m hoping it’s enough to keep her sleeping through the night. Heading off now, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a great night sleep, but still doesn’t seem like I’m entirely catching up. Maybe at my next stop I can actually take a whole day off! Had a nice breakfast, then saddled up Flash because I wanted to go on the longer morning ride today, and arrived at the meet point on time at 9:00. No one else showed up until almost 9:45, apparently everyone was talking at breakfast and got delayed. Most folks here all know each other, I’m the odd woman out, but that’s okay, I’m making friends. Once woman on the ride today has a winter home near Vero, and we had met her on the cattle drive. I remember getting her information, but never got around to calling her to ride. Maybe this year since I’m not so busy. Anyway, it was a fabulous ride, about eight and a half miles. Some of it was on gravel, but most was better footing, though there were a few stretches with a lot of rock. The round natural rocks don’t seem to bother Flash too much, it’s the rough-edged cut gravel that he hates, so he was mostly in good shape today. He got so beat up by the herd at the boarding place, he’s got cuts and scabs all over him, but they seem to be healing. Though it was only 8+ miles, we were out nearly four hours, these groups tend to do a lot of stopping and chatting, plus a stop for a munchie. I hadn’t brought anything, but one of the wranglers had plenty, so I got fed. We went through some very nice areas, typical Tennessee with lots of cliffs and crags and Indian caves and the occasional waterfall, and lots of fall wildflowers. Some of the trees are changing, but not too much yet. As soon as we got back I started calling around all the Tractor Supplies for horse feed, and practically no one carries the Perform or the Balancer anymore, but I did manage to find some in Tullahoma. I headed up there and bought enough to stock up, but hadn’t gotten my coupon for a discount until I got home. I knew I should have checked my email on my phone, I would have had it then! Anyway, now I’m set for awhile. Went to the Walmart in Winchester, filled up with fuel and shopped for some essentials. I didn’t bring Lola with me because the people that board her forgot to give me her leash, harness and vest back, they’re supposed to be sending it to me today but it hadn’t gotten there before I left. The package was sitting on my chair when I got back, and when I opened it, I discovered they had only sent the vest and the harness, not the leash! I have no idea why they would do that. Anyway, before dinner I did a few quick chores, then headed over to the dining hall for another nice meal. There was enough of a crowd over there (though still pretty small) that I decided to do my Snowy River for them, and most of them were very attentive, especially two little kids that sat right down front. After that they were doing karioke, so I headed back to camp to feed the horses. I’m feeling tired and am hoping to get to bed earlier tonight, so I’m getting this done early, and hope to get everything else done early, too. So good night, sweetie! Love you!