Archives for December 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011 – First Exploratory Ride at Tidewater
Thursday, December 29, 2011 – Move to Tidewater/Shopping
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 – Group Ride to Willards Restaurant
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 – Buggy Ride
Rather than ride today, our hostess Julie invited me to take a buggy ride with her. At the time I thought it would be a nice leisurely “stroll” through the neighborhood, but it turned out to be something entirely different. I learned that there are buggy competitions, and Julie is at the top of the game. The buggy is a one-seater, and the passenger is actually ballast to help counter-balance the buggy when speeding around sharp turns, which is the object of the competition, i.e. avoiding obstacles on the course. So my job was to stand on a platform on the back of the buggy and hold on for dear life for two hours! Not quite what I had in mind, but it was certainly different! She took me through a small section of the neighborhood, filling me in on all the details of the neighbors, before heading out past the same equestrian center Hubby and I had passed earlier, then onto another one where we went through a few obstacles, then finally out into the forest to trot and lope out there for awhile. It never ceases to amaze me what people come up with to compete in! Anyway, it was new and different, and it made for an interesting day!
Monday, December 26, 2011 – Long Orange Trail
Sunday, December 25, 2011 – Christmas Dinner with New Friends
Slept late again, thankfully, and had a rather relaxing day today. Hubby and I aren’t much for holidays (we view every day as a gift!), so it was pretty low-key. The folks we met the other night, Judy and Ken, were having a dinner party and invited us along, so we headed over there about 6:00. Had a wonderful dinner and chatted with a number of interesting people, though the main thrust of this group is competition, which Hubby and I have little interest in. We’re truly out for the pleasure of it, and competing is just too much like work! A nice evening overall though, and we were thankful to our hosts for making it an extra special Christmas.
Saturday, December 24, 2011 – Short Ride with Billy
Had a better night sleep than I’ve had in a long time, but still tired deep down, hoping to make a dent in that soon. We decided to take a short ride today, but our little dog Billy slipped out the door and refused to come back in, so we decided to let him tag along (careful what you wish for Billy). We followed some unmarked trails that weren’t actually part of the forest, because we didn’t want to cross the rather busy road to get to the trailhead with Billy. We passed a gorgeous equestrian center and the backs of a few houses, but were in wooded areas most of the time. Didn’t take long for Billy to tire out, and once he did, we headed across the road to the trailhead just to see what the campground was like. The Black Prong Campground is the farthest north of the horse campgrounds in Goethe, and where we would have stayed if our friends hadn’t invited us to stay with them instead. Other than being right next to a busy road, it’s a rather nice little campground. Several small sites are there, plus a large clearing where a bigger rig could go. There are a couple of central water spigots, and very nice tiled bathrooms with running cold water, so it would have been a good place to stay. Picked up a map at the kiosk, then decided to take the short blue loop just to check out the trails. We had learned that the trails were not in perfect shape for two reasons. One, they’ve been having a terrible drought for months, so there’s no water on the trails and the sand had grown quite soft, and two, they had just had an endurance race through the forest with over 120 horses, and they had really chewed up the trail. The result was some areas of pretty deep sand on some long stretches of trail, some of which we encountered on the short blue loop. Nothing impassable, just slowed us down a bit. A nice area, though, and we’re looking forward to doing more exploring. One more thing we learned was that the trails are only marked going in one direction! You either have to follow the trail in the direction they want, or you have to constantly be turning your head around looking for markers, at least until you get to know the trails. We’ve only encountered this phenomenon once before, and it’s beyond understanding, but c’est la vie! We’ll just have to get to know the trails!
Friday, December 23, 2011 – Moved the Friends House near Goethe State Forest
Thursday, December 22, 2011 – Trail Ride at Hidden River
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 – Workday
Spent the day working on my information database, managed to finish it by 5:00, and got out a Christmas e-card to everyone just in time. Forecast is for a warmer day tomorrow, we’re hoping to get a ride in (our first here) before we head out on Friday.