Hiya Babe!
Another good night sleep and a pretty lazy day. I invited Steve and Cam for a pancake breakfast, though they slept in later than usual today, and it was almost 1:00 by the time they finally headed home. I only had a few things I could put away, which I did, so it should be an easy exit for me tomorrow. Since I don’t have any trees to hang clothes on, I didn’t do my usual Sunday laundry ritual, so that will have to wait for a day or two, depending on weather. Watched some of Charlie Kirk’s funeral on CSPAN, then binged the rest of the day on Hart of Dixie. It’s not quite as empty here as usual, my friend Jenny is still here, though she’s all the way down at the other end, and her new friend and riding partner is close to me, so I don’t have it to myself as usual, but that’s okay, I’ve been sleeping so well when it’s been busy, I’m sure I’ll do the same tonight! Won’t be long out of bed, of course, just need my tea and shower! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Sunday, September 21, 2025 – Quiet Day of Prep
Saturday, September 20, 2025 – Volunteer “Work”
Hi Darlin'!
Generators and activities started early in camp this morning, as expected, so I woke up early, but laid in bed for awhile before getting up. After all my morning chores, I got my marching orders for the day. I drove over to the main bridge, met up with Steph and Ann, and they guided me to the top of the hill in the vineyard (with a beautiful view), with instructions to warn the approaching riders of a particularly rambunctious young Great Pyrenees sheepdog and his partner that went a bit over the top doing their job. They would bark and lunge at every horse that went by, and it was decided that for safety's sake, the riders needed a special warning, which I was happy to provide! From 10:00 to about 4:00, I diligently did my job, taking Lola for the ocassional walk, and mostly read a book or Facebooked on the phone in between. A storm came up just as the gals came by to tell me I was done for the day, surprisingly early, but we waited a few minutes until it quit raining before we took down the shelter and headed out. I took the opportunity to pick up my chucker from Meg's truck, and just as I was pulling in next to her semi, spotted a gal wearing the same Moonshine Run t-shirt that I had on, and realized it was Jenny, whom I met at that ride. I had just messaged her a few minutes earlier to try to locate her and hadn't heard back yet, and there she was! We ended up chatting for an hour, getting caught up, then I headed back to my trailer, where Cam and Steve were hanging out. It wasn't long before Steph and Ann showed up needing help to put some glowsticks together, apparently an odd oversight that it hadn't been done earlier, considering they have 75-milers on this ride. Anyway, we threw those together as quickly as we could, then Steve and the gals raced off to put those up. They weren't back by dark, so I'm not sure how much help they'll be for some of those riders, but apparently there is one particularly slow person that I guess will benefit. Cam and I tried to watch an ISS flyover, but there was too much fog. We said our good-nights, and I'll soon be off to shower and bed! A fulfilling day! Good night, my sweet! Love you!
Friday, September 19, 2025 – Two Rides and Ride Dinner
Hiya Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, foggy this lazy morning, before I and my neighbors saddled up for a short ride. I took Apollo, since it's been a long time since he's been ridden, and I was still a bit worried about Flash, though he seemed to be fine this morning. Apollo was the ultimate slug today, and felt pretty stiff most of the way. We only went a couple of miles, and, of course, we ended up way behind them, so when we passed by camp, I pulled in to switch horses. The plan was to ride down to the main tent to see if they had our volunteer packets, but I was hoping to have one of the vets look at Flash anyway, so I figured there was no time like the present. I put Apollo away and quickly saddled Flash and rode him down, only to meet my neighbors already on the way back. No problem, I kept going, and it turned out there were no packets for us anyway. I had a vet look at Flash, but I couldn't get him to gait (he hates running beside me, and I just haven't taken the time to teach him to do that very much, since I hate running beside him!), so it was pretty pointless. But on the ride down, he was full of energy, and kept that going all the way back to camp, so I decided to see how far we could get, and headed out on the orange trail backward, which is the trail we were going to do yesterday. He acted perfectly fine! We went as far as the intersection just before the carriage barn, and turned around to make sure the markings were clear going in the correct direction. I did some trimming, and reported one intersection that needed a marker, but otherwise it was in good shape. Once we were clearly heading home, Flash picked up speed, and we even cantered for half of what used to be the finish field, and fast gaited (largo) most of the rest of the way, without any apparent detrimental effect. His ankle possibly felt the tiniest bit puffy, but otherwise, he seemed fine! With a few more days off, and if I'm careful not to overdue it, I think he'll stay fine. Got back to camp and rinsed him off, which turned out to be moot in time, then rode up to the tent with Cam and Steve for dinner and the riders meeting. We no sooner got there than another torrential rainstorm rolled in, drowning out the presentation that was going on before dinner. That lasted a good half hour. Yesterday the forecast showed dry for the next week, today it shows rain for all of next week. Sheesh! It stopped by the end of the riders meeting, but another black sky was to the north, so we hurried back to camp (which is now full of trailers, tents and cars), walked the dogs and settled down for the night. Rain started again about an hour later, looks like it's going to be another soggy night, and a soggy ride tomorrow, darn it! Watched an hour of TV, had my Sleepytime tea and shower, and off to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!
Thursday, September 18, 2025 – No Ride, Flash A Bit Lame Today
Hey Babe,
Had another good night sleep, got my chores done, but when it came time to saddle up Flash, he just wasn't moving right. I had given him bute last night and this morning, but there was a little puffiness on his right rear fetlock, so I decided not to risk further injury. Fortunately, the trail we were supposed to do today was shared a lot by the trail we did on Tuesday, and Steph had run around most of the same trail with the FEI folks, so she was okay with me not finishing it off today, thank goodness. So it turned into a pretty lazy day, beautiful weather, read and did some research, finally deciding on going to Sedalia Horse Camp in SC on Monday, someplace new and easy to get to. Shared dinner with Steve and Cam, visiting with them until dark, then managed to watch an hour of TV. Something really weird is going on with the cell phone signal here. Typically it's pretty bad here, though I was hoping that after all the destruction from the hurricane last year, they might have upgraded the towers. Well, it's mostly still bad, except when my phone is inside the trailer (usually it works better OUTSIDE the trailer), when it suddenly pops into roaming mode and jumps to four bars! No idea why that's happening! Glad, though, because it's a lot easier to get stuff done when I have a good internet connection, which I did. Then around 8:30, it suddenly started raining, an isolated storm that was not predicted in the forecast even as it was happening! So everything's wet again. Anyway, tea's on, shower next, off to bed soon! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 – White River Trail Check at Biltmore
Hiya Darlin',
Had an excellent night sleep, woke up to fog, waited for it to burn off before heading out around 10:30. Today we checked the White River trail, though there didn't seem to be hardly any damage on this trail, and the markings were fine. Had one tree down and a couple of closed gates, which I reported to my handler Steph. I had forgotten how much gravel there was on the river part of the trail, so Flash and I weren't too happy about that, but once we swerved away from the river, I took his boots off. The rest of the trail had much better footing. He was behaving very erratically, though, like he was in pain, then suddenly he'd take off for 50 yards, then slow down to nearly a crawl. Several times I even got off and walked beside him, I just don't know what's wrong. He finally sped up a bit on the last mile home, but I'm not sure it was because he was feeling any better, just anxious to get home and pushed through the pain. Suffice to say, it was a long day, and we got back to camp around 3:30. Steve and Cam, who I met here last year, had just come in. They parked right next to me so our awnings face each other. I washed down Flash, gave him a bute and rubbed some Absorbine on his legs. He does seem to be favoring one a bit, though not the same one as before, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. One more day of riding tomorrow and he can relax the rest of the weekend. I had a quick dinner, then sat outside and chatted with my neighbors for a bit before coming back for my tea, cookies, shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 – Red Trail Check at Biltmore, Back on Flash!!
Hey Sweetie,
The rain that came in yesterday afternoon continued intermittently throughout the night, so my sleep was equally intermittent. I got up before the alarm, did my chores and breakfast, then killed some time until the radar showed the rain was just about gone. Saddled up Flash, who was extremely cooperative, so I got the impression he was happy and ready to go! We headed out around 11:30 on the shortest trail that I'll be doing, the 13.5 mile red trail, which, from what I've heard, had some of the worst damage done to it from the hurricane last year. That was, indeed, an accurate description. Some sections were fine, but some were completely torn up, hundreds of trees down and shoved off the one side, really ugly in some places, though it was well-marked as I had expected. I did some trimming as I went so now it's better, but it will take years, if ever, for some of this to recover. Still, I'm riding at the Biltmore, I'm on my boy Flash, the weather was fine once the rain moved out, so life is good! Good to be back on the road again! Love you, babe! Good night!
Monday, September 15, 2025 – Travel to Biltmore
Hiya Babe,
Up at 7:00, and on my way by 9:00, though it would have been a bit earlier if I hadn't gotten involved in a conversation with my host. Nice guy, Dave, we had a nice chat. He and his wife are immigrants from England, so it was nice to hear that lovely accent again. I've missed hearing it from you! Anyway, the trip to Biltmore was uneventful, thank goodness, and I was really surprised to see that things haven't seemed to change much in Asheville, despite all the damage from the hurricane last year. I'm told the trails are going to be a bit different, so I'm curious about that. There were two day rider trailers here when I arrived, but they left shortly after I arrived, so I had my pick of where I wanted to park. I chose about the same place as last fall, by the washrack, so I could easily reach the spigot to refill both my trailer and the horses' buckets. Arrived just after 2:30 and was fully setup by 4:00, solar panel and all, and just as some rained moved it, down to the minute! Couldn't have asked for better timing! The horses are happily munching on the fresh grass in the portable paddock, and Flash was quick to lie down as soon as he was in there. So looking forward to my first ride since I've been back tomorrow! I expect Flash is ready, too! Lola's been enjoying rolling in the long grass as well, after she walked around a bit, she came back soaking wet! No happy when a thunderstorm rolled in a few hours later, though, she really hates those! Anyway, I'm happily ensconced here for the week, looking forward to seeing some of my endurance friends! Good night, darlin'! Love you!
Sunday, September 14, 2025 – First Travel Day, Flat Tire, Long Day
Hi Darlin',
As I've said many times before, one reason I hate to travel on Sundays is because it's harder to get services, so naturally, today I needed services. I woke up before my alarm, had breakfast, got everything packed, dumped my black water, said my good-byes, and was on the road before 8:45 this morning. I neglected to double-check my route on Truckrouter.com and regretted it. The first clue came when it tried to make me turn down a road with a 10'1" overhead clearance (not a chance!) so I kept going straight, and it looked like a pretty good route that led me straight to I-78, but two miles before that interchange, I had to go down a hill so steep and curvy that my truck brakes were literally smoking by the time I reached the bottom, even with fully functional trailer brakes (and I used the emergency switch on those a couple of times.) At the bottom was a one lane bridge with a 10 ton limit, but I've been over those before. I had to sit through a couple of those, though, to let my brakes cool off, because they were just about gone by the time I got to the bottom. I managed to make it over the bridge and to the highway, where things smoothed out a bit, until I blew a tire in Maryland. Grrr. Good thing I had my trusty impact wrench and Jiffy Jack ready to go, I managed to switch out the spare in less than twenty minutes. Got back on the road, but I wasn't real comfortable with the condition of my spare, so I called around and managed to find a place near my destination that had a tire the right size, though it was a bit expensive. I didn't want to take the chance of traveling another 300 miles tomorrow without a spare. I was particularly disappointed when I saw the tire that blew was only about 14 months old! I arrived at the tire place just after 4:00, and got that job started (I did most of the work, except for mounting the new tire on the rim), but they charged with nearly $400! And he claimed to give me $50 off when I pointed out the tire was already four years old, despite the fact he was selling it as "new." He also charged me a half hour of labor $72.50, rather than a mounting fee. So suffice to way, while I was grateful I was able to get a tire on a Sunday, I paid dearly for the privilege. The same tire on Simple Tire, my usual tire source, was $184, so yeah, not that happy a camper. I finally arrived at Lazy Acres in Lexington, VA just after 5:00, met my host David, got the horses tucked away in a nice paddock, and settled in for the night. I didn't need stalls or electric, so the charge was "only" $70, which I guess is the going rate, but seems a lot when compared to most of the types of campgrounds where I usually stay. Can't be helped though, I had to split the travel into two days, especially considering the circumstances! Tired, hot and ready for my shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Saturday, September 13, 2025 – Packing Day
Hi Babe,
A pretty good night sleep, then I spent the day putting stuff away and packing and generally getting ready to head out tomorrow. Took down the portable electric fence and moved the boys over to a paddock for the night. I had to show them how to get water out of the waterer they have here, Flash was scared by it the last time we were here because it made a loud and sudden noise, but this time he figured it out. I bush hogged the area where they've been staying, tidying it up as best I could, plus a little extra along the fence-line just for good measure. Did a few loads of laundry as well, while I had the chance. The truck is all in place, I just have to drop it the rest of the way in the morning, and everything else I can do, I've done. I paced myself through the day, and was finished about 3:30, so I indulged in a little afternoon movie and popcorn just for fun. I think the horses are as ready to move on as I am, they're meeting me at the gate every time I walk over! I think Lola will miss the freedom here, though, she's been spending a lot of time wandering around the property, and seems to be good friend's with Meg's dog Sirabi. She won't get that at Biltmore, I'm sorry to say! But it's time to get back on the road, and I'm looking forward to it, as well as getting back in the saddle on my own horses! Too long in one place! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Friday, September 12, 2025 – Final Chiropractic, Newborn and Mowing Day
Hiya Sweetie,
Woke up to discover that Meg's mare has finally had her knobby foal! Cute, fuzzy little thing! Spent the day first going to chiropractic for my last session before I leave, a stop at Tractor Supply for feed and wormer, then spent most of the afternoon on the tractor mowing the paddocks. Finished up around 5:00, then settled down for the evening. Tomorrow is dedicated to getting ready to move out on Sunday. I don't like driving on Sundays because if anything goes wrong, services are hard to get, but I don't really have a choice this time. Fingers crossed it all goes well! Sorry to leave all the modern conveniences for primitive camping, but I couldn't ask for better weather right now. Anyway, shower and bed are not far off! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!