Hi Babe,
Well, another year has come and gone, my second birthday without your physical presence, but no worries! You’re still with me! Had a quiet morning, did some reading, and thought about going riding but frankly, my hip has been sore for the last few days, maybe from the fall, maybe night, I don’t know, but in any event, I decided against it for now. My friend Sandy drove down to spend a couple of days with me, and it worked out well that we met at an Irish pub for a late lunch/early dinner, so I had a nice plate of bangers and mash and a couple of Guinness drafts, all served in delightful air condition, so I was a happy camper. Got back to camp and decided to head for the beach to cool off, as it was very hot again today, too hot to ride anyway! We got in our bathing suits, grabbed Lola and headed for the beach, where we tossed Lola’s frisbee and swam a bit to cool down, it was lovely. There were several other dog folks around, and Lola had a good time playing with a big German Shepherd names Ava, and we all had a good time while we cooled off. Stayed until nearly 7:00, when some clouds moved in, and radar showed some rain headed in our direction, so we got back to camp, Sandy went ahead and fed the horses while I cleaned up, and then we sat in the screen room enjoying the cool breezes that preceded the storms. It cooled down beautifully, so it was a much more comfortable evening, thank goodness! I even got phone calls from every one of my brothers today, what a nice surprise! Sandy and I discussed plans for tomorrow, now she’s gone off to bed and I’m headed for the shower and bed, too! A nice day, a nice way to spend my birthday.Thinking of you, my love! Good night!

Hi Darlin’,
Another late night to bed, though I woke up before my alarm this morning. I had scheduled a massage this morning, I’ve been rather achy lately, and I found this well-reviewed woman about 25 minutes away so I went to see her. My priority is still trying to get my shoulder straightened out, and I have to say, she seems to grasp the problem better than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. She spend the entire 90 minutes working on my upper body, and there was a lot more tension there than even I thought, which she attacked vigorously. I can say that my arm and shoulder do seem to be freer, but the rest of me is still in pain. I had some unexpected lower back pain when I got up this morning, and was hoping we’d have time to work some of that out, but we didn’t, so I left with that still hurting, as well as most of the rest of me. I scheduled another one for Thursday so hopefully we can get a full body massage in, with a final checkup on my shoulder, I’m hoping by then I’ll be able to tell if she truly fixed it or not, which would be a damn miracle if she did! We’ll see. When I left there, I headed east for about an hour to solve a problem for Jeff. He’s been looking for a replacement deck for his John Deere lawnmower, and apparently they’re very difficult to find, but one of his friends found one for sale in a town north of Detroit, so I agreed to go pick it up for him, which I did. A long drive out and back, but it seems like it’s in good shape, so I trust Jeff will be happy with it. He doesn’t want to ship it, but his friend Mike, who has a place in Michigan, is heading to Florida later in the week, so hopefully he can take it off my hands and deliver it. Otherwise, I’ll be lugging the thing around with me until I get down there, months from now. Not sure where the best place to store it is, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Not really a big deal, just an extra 100 clumsy pounds to carry. Got back to camp, filled up the truck water tank, then let the horses out to graze for the rest of the day. Settled down for the evening, feeling tired, probably because I took three ibuprofen to help with my backache. Heading off for shower and bed shortly, hopefully a good night sleep. Slightly cooler with less humidity tonight, so fingers crossed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
My body clock is definitely on the late night cycle now for some reason. Can’t seem to fall asleep till long after midnight, can’t seem to get up before 9:00. Gotta fix that somehow! Well, I had planned on doing some housework today, but just couldn’t get up enough energy to do it. This heat is really taking it out of me, made worse by the fact the trailer is baking in the sun most of the day. Inside the trailer is the hottest place in the park! I did get my laundry done, that was one thing, then I decided to blow up the kayak, and in the afternoon, I took it over to the nearest pond, which is very close to the horse camp, but it was so choked with weeds and the water was so low I decided against it. Someone else that was there looking suggested the lake over by the main campground, so I went over there instead. Not much of a lake, I managed to paddle around the entire thing in less than an hour, probably a half hour, I don’t know I didn’t check my watch. There is a beach there, which was full, naturally, and they have something I’ve never seen before, something called Jump Island, which is essentially a collection of huge bounce houses of various shapes and sizes right in the water. It looked like fun, but then I discovered it was run by a concessionaire and it was pretty pricey, so I’m probably going to skip that! It was a nice paddle, though, and it did cool me off a little. Got back to camp, took the rest of my laundry down, let the horses out to graze (everyone else in camp was gone by late morning), and settled down for the day. Then I got some sad news. Wayne, the ranch manager at Loretta Lynn’s ranch, was swept away in the floods that followed 17 inches of rain in a 24 hour period, he didn’t make it. Most of the ranch is underwater, except the mansion and Loretta’s house, it looks like at least one of the barns has been destroyed. The mill and the town around it looked like it was barely hanging on by a thread, and the main road through that whole area was completely underwater. Apparently there are dozens of people missing, countless homes destroyed, a real mess. I got to know Wayne a bit when I was there in June, he was even going to help me by welding a new set of steps on my trailer but didn’t have time before I had to leave. So sad, and so sudden. Apparently a lot of animals drowned as well. Not sure how this bodes for upcoming events, I’m sure there is way too much damage to be fixed quickly or easily. My heart goes out to them and their latest challenges! Well, enough of that, I’ve had my shower, trying to get to bed soon, but am still trying to solve a problem for brother Jeff. Will head out soon. Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a better night sleep, then a rather slow morning while I was waiting to go to the Woodward Car Rally, in Pontiac, MI. According to brother Jeff, this is a major car event, one he dreams about entering his refurbished 442 in at some future date. Anyway, Dan had asked me if I wanted to go, so I decided I might as well. Wasn’t quite what I expected. He had a friend who belongs to a car club that had staked out a yard along the Cruise route, but all the main action apparently happens down the road a bit, though there were a few classic cars parked in the yard we were in, and a lot of cars did drive by. It also happens more in the evening tonight, and all day tomorrow, so I guess you could say we saw a preview. Not bad though, there were a lot of fun cars that went by, too many pix to post, and I took a lot! It was a very hot day, but most of the time there was a little breeze and the occasional cloud that thankfully came by. I took Lola, and she was a bit hot, and the loud cars gunning their engines bothered her a little, but she did get used to it, though I imagine her hearing will never be quite the same! We stayed for several hours, finally left around 6:00, dropped him off, picked up fuel, got back to camp around 7:00, then went down to fill up the water tank. Several trailers had just come in, so I guess it’s going to be a busier weekend than I expected. It was so hot in the trailer I had to run the AC just to blow the hot air out. Not enjoying these high 80’s temps! Unfortunately that’s the forecast for all of next week! Well, it is August, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, at least I CAN cool it off in here when I need to. Settled down for the evening, off to take my second shower of the day, then to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a very good night sleep, slept even later than I expected, but since my journey today is only taking me about 30 miles, I wasn’t worried about it. I even had breakfast instead of my usual travel day protein bar! It took less than an hour to get here, two straight roads and I was here, very easy. I stopped at the ranger office to get the scoop, and discovered I had to go to the modern campground a half mile away to register, but I figured I better find my spot first, so I drove back to the campground to check it out. Sorry to say that despite what their website says, there are virtually NO level sites here! They are all on a hill of some kind, except or may a couple of really short sites which I had no chance of fitting into, but I finally selected site #7, which only had what seemed like a side to side slope. It also gets a lot of sun so I should be able to pick up some solar energy as well. Once I picked it out, I headed back to the modern campground to register, and to use the dump as well, then headed back and started to set up. I had a real problem getting some semblance of level, I sure wish I had that extra board I lost at Ionia a few weeks back! At least here the horse camp is separate from the regular campers, and it doesn’t look like it get a lot of use, but we’ll see. I let the horses out of the trailer and just let them graze around the yard for awhile, and since we had the place to ourselves, I let Lola wander a bit, too. There’s a central spigot where I filled up the truck tank once I disconnected, finally put the horses on a highline. Was also glad to see that the manure bin is right next door, too, though it looks like most folks just scatter in the woods around here. The site is surrounded by trees so there should be some shade, and the horses are so close they can practically stand in the shadow of the trailer! Took my usual two hours to get everything set up, then settled down to read and eventually watch a little TV with my grilled hamburger. I was hoping to not have to wear earplugs here, but the bugs are really noisy (unlike Highland, where traffic and sirens were the predominant sounds), and then I heard several trains go by, and remembered I crossed tracks between here and the modern campground, so it’s definitely earplugs again tonight! Should be a nice quiet time here, though. A couple of pairs of riders rode through camp during the afternoon, but I didn’t speak to anyone yet. Apparently their day riding area gets a lot of use, and I think there’s an actual stable that rents horses as well, so I’m hoping the trails are in good shape, even though apparently there is only about 15 miles of them. I thought it would be more, but that will keep me busy for a few days. Nearest town with all the things I need is only about five miles away, so it’s convenient. Anyway, I’ve settled in, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!