Hi Babe,
Not a bad night sleep, but got up with the alarm so I wouldn’t be late meeting up with Alayna. We had arranged earlier to ride today, so I got my chores done, which included two loads of laundry through the wash and hung out to dry, then had Flash saddled up in time, though I was delayed a few minutes because I put on the breast collar I had bought for him back in late May. I didn’t think it would fit him, but once I got it on, it was fine. We headed off to do the new trails, surprisingly Alayna had never done them before, so we went directly up there. They are both beautiful trails, again alternating between beautiful deciduous and gorgeous pine plantation sections. It was a bit over 11.5 miles. The last trail we did was Trail 10, which is along a pipeline (though it doesn’t look like one), and it’s a straight shot back to the day parking area. By that time, Flash was tired of going slow, and Alayna’s horse Glory wasn’t quite up to it, so Flash and I took off at top speed, just to use up some of his excess energy. We cantered and gaited the entire trail, jumping over logs and just having ourselves a good old time. We reached the trailhead in no time, and waited for them to arrive. She had told me her grandma was disappointed that she didn’t see my Snowy River performance the other day, so I offered to come over to their house, which is only a few miles away, and do it for them, which I did after I had dinner. They had some company that enjoyed it, too, and we all had a nice visit. After I got back to the trailer, I packed a few more things away before settling down for the evening. I’ve already had my shower, I’ve made the bed, and now I’m heading for it! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Slept well, did my chores, then saddled up Flash, just mounting up when Alayna arrived at exactly 10:00 as planned (love it when people are prompt!), and we headed out. We had a lovely two hour ride to get to the Woodville store, which is just a nice little convenience store with gas, one of those old-fashioned, family operated kind of places. It had a couple of hitching posts in back (built by Alayna’s relatives a long time ago), and a bench seat. We decided against lunch, and instead splurged on ice cream (even their smallest cone was two scoops!), before heading back to camp. Got back right around 3:00 (took the trail by the lake so it was a little longer), got Flash put away, then Alayna came by to sell me a nice pink bandana with the trail map on it, which I had asked for. Then I headed into town, thinking I would be picking up my truck, but it turns out they weren’t happy with the paint job and wanted to spray it again, so it won’t be ready till tomorrow. I went into town anyway to get some propane, stopped at the post office for my package from Jeff with my mail, and pick up a couple of my books from the truck (Alayna wanted a copy for a friend). I went to Lowes to get the supplies I needed to build a new frame for the water tank in the truck, and couldn’t believe the poor quality of their 2X4s. I mean, seriously, it looked like they were rough cut straight off a tree! None of them were square, all of them had terrible knots, and that was the pressure-treated stuff! I managed to find some “project” wood, whatever that means, but they were the right size so I won’t have to cut them. Not so with the 2X10, all I could get was a 10 foot length and it was extremely expensive, but there’s been a shortage, apparently someone’s been hoarding it, plus their lumber saw wasn’t working (how often has THAT happened to us. Like, EVERY TIME!), so now I’m going to have to figure out how to cut it down. All I’ve got is a hacksaw and a jigsaw, but I only need two cuts, so hopefully I can manage that. I’m pretty sure my assortment of jigsaw blade includes a wood one, we’ll see! Finished off my running around by picking up a few things at Walmart, got back to camp, just got settled in, then had a video call with Pam Daly, you remember her from Actor’s Rep in WPB? We knew her before we got married! She’s still married to her husband (30 years), and she’s been very busy working, she’s teaching and coaching actors and has apparently quite successful at it! And she’s been doing most of it via video, so she’s stayed busy throughout the pandemic. Anyway, we had a nice chat, and we’re hoping to get together at some point in the future. Afterward, I signed off, then settled down for the evening. Time for shower and bed! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a hard time getting to sleep last night, read till pretty late, but eventually managed it. A beautiful cool night, too! Did my chores, then proceeded to turn a 5-minute job into a 30-minute one. Every since I fixed the washer, I’ve been meaning to reapply some of that crack foam around the hoses where they come up from the floor, and I finally decided to do that this morning. I pulled all of the drawers out of the linen closet and take the panel off the side wall, only to figure out that I couldn’t reach it from there and all I needed to do was pull the two little drawers out underneath. Oh, well, at least the job got done! Then I had to put it all back again, of course. Finally finished, I saddled up Apollo to take him on a ride today. I decided to do the same ride that we did here back in 2013 (the one and only ride we completed, since the first one we took, I crashed before we got 100 yards up the trail, and was in too much pain the next few days to ride again, plus it rained, according to my diary entry of the occasion), except I did it backward. It was truly a lovely ride once again. So many beautiful trails out here, and as you know, they always look completely new when you ride them in the opposite direction! Once we got back, I eventually took him down to the water spigot and gave him a good wash with medicated shampoo and sprayed him with antibiotic spray to try to diminish his rain rot. Had a chat with some new folks that moved in down the road. Oh, I forgot to tell you, the other night, there were a couple of tenters that were running their chainsaw at midnight, as well as either shooting a small caliber gun or very loud fireworks, not sure which. Kind of glad they moved on today, that was a little unnerving. Did a little research on some more Michigan horse camps, watched some TV, grilled an Angus burger and settled down for the evening. My truck is supposed to be ready tomorrow, I’m riding to the Woodville store with Alayna from the local trail association for lunch, and I have some shopping to do in addition to dropping off the rental car, so it’s going to be a busy day! So I’m heading off to shower and bed early, hoping to get a good night sleep. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Not a bad night sleep, did my chores and breakfast, then eventually saddled up Flash to go on a nice 11.5 mile ride. I just can’t say enough about this beautiful forest! Every section has a different character. Some areas are pine tree farms, others still have some original old growth trees that just spread their limbs so wide it seems impossible for their trunks to hold all that weight. We did hills and curves and long straight-aways where we were hopping over downed trees like we were on some kind of cross-country event. It was just marvelous! I also took my picker-upper and a garbage bag and did some cleanup along the way. I’ve seen the occasional beer and soda cans, wrappers and deflated balloons, and it just disheartens me so to see such a pristine forest ruined by a few thoughtless or careless people, so I thought I’d chip in and do my part today. I also found a hidden gem, literally! There’s a large green crystal hidden along the trail, and I noticed it the other day because the sun was shining right on it and it glowed like fire. I thought it might have been part of a scavenger hunt for Independence Day, but I found out on Saturday that it was just a “feature,” not to be removed but to be photographed and admired and hidden for the fun of it. I managed to find it again, but without the sun on it, it was definitely much harder to find! I’m going to post a picture on the Hungerford Facebook page, without any clues where it is, of course. Eventually got back to camp around 3:00, let Flash munch for awhile, and I just relaxed and read and did a little more research on other Michigan horse camps for the rest of the day before settling down for the evening. I had a few little jobs I could have done, but really wasn’t in the mood today, I’m sure I will be one of these days! What a lovely day! Couldn’t have been more perfect! And the perfect ending, me off to the shower and to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Had a great night sleep, woke up raring to go, did my chores, then saddle up Flash to join the Hungerford Trail Riders Association Christmas in July ride. The information I had was that they would meeting at the pavilion at 10:30, but by 10:20 there was nobody there, so I figured they must have meant over on the Day Parking side. I didn’t want to be late so I drove over there and let them know I was on the way, and they were, in fact, gathering over there. So I came back to camp and got Flash and we got there pretty quick. They did a gift exchange (I donated an autographed copy of my book), then headed out on the trails. Alayna and another gal took the lead with me right behind. Flash, of course, wanted to go faster and kept his nose in the tail of the horse in front for most of the ride, though I tried to keep him back, but it’s gets tiring to fight him. He wasn’t too bad, but by the time we got back to camp nearly three hours later, he was ready to run! Since everyone was gathered I did my Snowy River, then they redid the gift exchange because there were a few folks that showed up late, though the gal who got my gift didn’t want to give it up, which I thought was flattering! I ended up with a nice bottle of red wine, perfect! I got back to camp, then several other folks stopped by to buy a copy of my book as well, always nice to defray some of the camping costs! Did some reading and stuff, settled down with a nice piece of grilled chicken and rice for dinner, then joined my neighbors Sheila and Tara (who got my book gift) around the campfire and chatted for quite awhile. Turns out Sheila winters in Florida near the Suwannee Music Park at a place she rents out, so I may have to stop there on my way back down south. I’ve always wanted to ride those trails, but the horse camp there is so expensive I could barely afford a weekend. Sheila is a lot more reasonable price-wise, so it might make a better stop than McCulley Farms, particularly since I’ve already been there so many times now. Need new trails! When the mosquitoes started coming out I headed back to camp, the sun just setting and still light out at 9:30 (I still can’t get used to it being light so late!), so I’ll barely have time to do the dishes before taking my shower and heading to bed. Better get that started! Good night, babe! Love you!