Archives for 2012

After breakfast I decided to take a drive down to the boat launch and walk the River Trail with the dogs. We were pretty convinced that was where we had lost the boot, since it was the first place we had cantered (and whenever one of us loses a boot, it seems to be either on a canter of knee-deep mud), so I took a very slow careful walk, looking through the high grass along each edge. I finally found it, a mere 60 yards from where we turned around to look for it! It was right on a corner that we had cantered around, which was obviously where the stress occurred, and in fact, it turned out to be a Boa boot failure. The wire cable that is used to tighten the boot had broken. It was good to know, as it was one of the concerns we had when we got the Boas. It seems the more moving parts, the more likely the failure. Anyway, the dogs and I had a good time on the hike, spending a little quality time together for a change. Mostly worked on the computer, and in departure preparations for the rest of the day.

Finally, a beautiful day when everyone is feeling fine and raring to go! Saddled up around midday and headed out a trail we hadn’t been on before, which turned out to be quite nice. It meandered through the woods behind the campground, crossed over the park road near the ranger station, headed up over the mountain before coming back down to the boat launch where we picked up a trail we enjoyed on another trip, the River Trail, which had a few good grassy stretches for a canter. Just when we were less than a mile from home, I suddenly noticed the Hubby’s horse had lost one of her boots. We started to backtrack looking for it, and kept going and going and going until we had gone so far we were committed to going back the entire length of the trail that we had come, over 5 miles! We never should have bothered, but we wanted to know what had happened to the boot, particularly if it was a failure rather than just that it slipped off. These were fairly new Boas with the dial front design, and we wanted to compare them to the Cavallos I just started using. Anyway, it did make it a nice, nearly 11 mile ride, a bit more than we bargained for, but nice nevertheless. Got everyone fed, watered, blanketed and settled in for the night before relaxing for the evening.

Did, in fact, have a decent night sleep, woke up to a very cool morning which looked like it had been frosty but had turned to heavy dew. Once the sun came out and started to dry out, Hubby decided it would be worthwhile to put new bolts in the rest of the slide brackets, simply because if one went, the rest might be a bit strained as well. He didn’t figure it would take too long, but I’ve learned to always double the time he thinks it will take, and be happy if it doesn’t take as long (though it usually does :-). He did manage to get the job done, but was feeling ill by the time he finished. He tends to get nauseous whenever he has to be upside down for any length of time time, and because the site wasn’t entirely level, the room underneath the trailer was very cramped, which made his job quite difficult and stressful. So rather than risk a ride, we decided it was better that he rest for the rest of the day, so we settled in early, with me doing some computer work until our usual evening routine.

Got up fairly early so that we could get back to James River and still leave me time to run into Lynchburg to do some shopping, especially for generator gas, of which we’re almost out. We got everything packed, the horses loaded, and just about ready to go, when I went to pull in the kitchen slide on the RV, only one end started to come in. Hubby immediately went to work, knowing it would require replacing a bolt in the shaft in the underbelly of the unit, though fortunately he had spares that he had bought when this had happened another time. It’s a pain, but we managed to get it done in just under an hour. Meanwhile, Dawn, the owner of Robbins Nest, arrived home (she had gone to an organized ride in Belmont for the weekend), and we had a chance to chat for a few minutes. Finally got on the road about 2:30, figuring we still had time to complete our day as scheduled. Arrived at the park around 3:00, but it took nearly 20 minutes to get signed in and paid. Whatever happened to simply paying what’s owed? Four nights @ $X, here’s my money and off we go? Now we have to practically give up every piece of private information to a government organization just to simply stay in a park! It’s ridiculous. Anyway, we finally got down to the campsite area at 3:20, only to discover that the previous campers hadn’t left yet! Check out is supposed to be about 1:00, though the hard stop is 3:00, but there they were, every site full. Fortunately, though, they were just about packed up, so they left within 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, to save time, we moved the RV over to the water spigot and spent the time filling the tank. Just about the time that was done, everyone had left, and we moved back into our previous spot and got things set up as quickly as possible so that I could get out of there to do shopping. I was on the road right at 4:00, made stops at the ABC store, Tractor Supply, Walmart, Sheetz for gas, and the Post Office to drop off a letter in the box, hoping to get back to camp before dark, and just made it! The sun had gone down, but civil twilight was still in full force, and I saw that Hubby had managed to get the highline up by himself, as well as getting hay and water out as well, meaning he had brought out the long length of hose. Obviously he was a busy beaver while I was gone! He was surprised I got back so fast, but it was a pretty straight-forward route, even if it was more than 45 minutes each way. We quickly got the horses put up for the night with their warm winter blankets on, then settled in for the short evening, hoping for a quiet night and a good sleep!

Managed to find a hay provider from craigslist (I LOVE CRAIGSLIST!!!), who was only about 20 minutes away, so I headed down with the horse trailer to pick up a load. The owner wasn’t there, but he arranged with a neighbor and a helper to meet me, and we loaded 26 bales, three more than the pickup would normally carry, but I figured we would use those before we left next week, so we’d still have a full load when we left. Nice heavy bales for $6 each, though not as green as the last bunch, for a first cutting they were in nice shape. On the way back, I stopped at the ranger station to pay for our stay, and soon learned that there was a big fall festival scheduled at the park and that every campsite had been reserved! In other words, we would have to leave tomorrow! No matter what suggestion I made, it was no, no, no. There is actually a lot of room next to the officials sites in the primitive horse camping area, but they were insistent that only the official sites could be used. They were unmoved, their hands tied by the main office in Richmond (or so they said), so we had no choice. I had to scramble all day trying to solve the problem, debating whether we should just move on to Richmond early, which meant, essentially, being in someone’s back yard for a week, a less than satisfying prospect, or to find someplace locally to move to for Friday and Saturday nights, then come back to James River for the rest of the week. Adding two days of moves to our already short week was not a happy thought, it really cut into our relaxation and preparation time before our next job in Richmond, but it seemed the better option. Eventually I found a place called Robbins’ Nest Farm, which was only 3 miles as the crow flies, but 50 minutes drive as the road goes (I later found a back route over gravel roads that cit that down to about 30), but it was pretty expensive relatively speaking, but I figured saving on fuel would help offset the cost, plus they had water and electric so at least I’d be able to get my laundry done faster. What a pain, though, having to spend the day solving problems rather than riding or relaxing. The description of the place on their website made it seem really nice, with words like “resort” and “spa” and “guest cabin.” We spent the rest of the day transferring the hay to the pickup, which we had to cover carefully as they’re calling for rain tonight, and putting away everything we could in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Had a nice chat with some folks who moved into the overflow tenting area, who came here to work the festival (musicians), and who rescued my Apollo when he managed somehow to get loose from his anchor and was heading down to the river. Nice folks, we had several chats before we left James River, and were sorry they’d be gone by the time we got back. Off to bed, to get ready for the unexpectedly busy day tomorrow was going to be!

Woke up during the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep, finally did, then slept through past 9:30. After breakfast, Hubby went out and worked on the van to find the problem, and concluded it was the alternator. I was a bit concerned that it might be too late to find a shop that could do the job so late, but we were planning on leaving tomorrow so we didn’t really have much of a choice. I jumped in the van and headed down to Shippensburg, the nearest town, about 10 miles away. Once I got there, and had a great signal, I googled auto repair and got a long list. The first review was for a Gulf station, and the reviews were excellent, so I headed there, less than a mile away. Pulled in, asked if they had a mechanic on duty, rec’d the response YES, and I headed in to talk with him. What a fantastic place! Really clean, very nice, and they had an open bay so in it went! I headed into the waiting room and started taking care of business, and before I knew it, the van was parked outside the window in front of me! It took barely an hour to get the job done, and was very reasonably priced as well. Had a nice chat with the other woman in the waiting room, then I ended up hanging around another 30-45 minutes just to get more work done. Finally headed back to the camp, arriving about 3:30, much earlier than either of us had expected, but thrilled that we could leave on schedule tomorrow. Started putting stuff away, cleaned up the yard where the horses have been grazing, and generally tidied up in preparation for our departure. Need to get out early early tomorrow, a long day with several stops along the way, including a place to get our propane tanks recertified. Though the guy at Agway had said it would take two weeks for a fee (so why don’t you buy a new tank from us…?), the woman at Augusta Petroleum in Staunton said they could do it immediately and for free! Looking forward to finding out if that’s true! Relaxed for the evening, ready to get up early.