Archives for 2013

After looking at the weather, and realizing it was going to get pretty cold here and our intended next stop (also in Kansas), we decided it was time to head due south as far as we could get in a day. At first we were planning on Cedar Lake in Ouachita National Forest, but it seems there were only a few sites long enough, and most of them were reserved already, leaving us with just 3 potential sites, all of which seemed to be dubious for a satellite signal. After further investigation, we decided on Robbers Cave State Park, which is a little bit less far (thus a little bit more north, but just a touch), but their sites were first come, first served, and open to the south and southwest, so definitely better odds for a good satellite signal. Not thrilled that it’s a state park, but there was no entrance fee and they were only $5 a night more than the National Forest (unless they give us a senior discount-sometimes they don’t when it’s a busy horse camp like this one), and both have water and electric, something I’ve started to get spoiled to have, especially when the nights are chilly and we want to run the fireplace (yes, we have an electric fireplace, it does a great job keeping the whole place warm). Depending on the weather, we may still go to the National Forest after Robbers Cave, or run further south if the temps start dropping again. Meanwhile, we spent the day watching football and relaxing today. Oh, and I lost 0.6 pounds this morning. So for the 5-day Nutrisystem plan I bought at Walmart, I lost 2.6 pounds. Ate the same way today, though with my own food, so maybe I’ll go down again tomorrow. Lots of energy, though, so I’m persuading Hubby to go on it with me, he’s been spending too much time sleeping lately. Who says sleeping is harder when you get older? He’s 79 and he can still sleeps 10-11 hours a night! Meanwhile, a sunny day got cloudy, and VERY windy today, something we’ll apparently have to deal with tomorrow, as it’s from the south, and is gusting up to 30 mph! Not my favorite driving weather, but there’s rain coming in tomorrow night, and all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday (just like last week), so we want to be well settled in by the evening. With the change of clocks last night, that means a REALLY early start!

Got up a bit earlier this morning, in anticipation of taking a somewhat longer ride today, under a beautiful sunny sky, though with a cool breeze. Gained. 0.2 pounds again, still thinking it might be the weather : -). Got saddled up and headed out of the camp, which is the same trail for the first mile or so, so naturally the horses were sluggish. They just hate to take the same trail twice! We finally turned off to a new trail, taking the inside orange loop to the south, which ended up as about a 6.6 mile ride. Lots of open spaces, and thankfully, most of the trails were a lot drier today, though there was still the occasional slippery spot. Took some nice canter in the fields along the way, though for some reason, Apollo kicked up on me at least half the time, so I was getting a lot of rodeo practice today! Shortened the ride, though, it took about the same time as yesterday, even though we did more than a mile more. Let the graze again, as we have been all the time we’ve been here, grateful no one has made any remarks about it. Actually, other than my encounter at the office the first day here, it’s been a pretty quiet stay, I’ve been able to catch up on laundry and work. No one’s even commented on the dogs being loose (though, as usual, they never wander off very far). We put the horses’ winter blankets on again, so far managing to prevent their winter coats from filling in, except on their necks, in an effort to prevent hair loss later when we move to warmer climes in the coming weeks. Also, we moved them to the corral next door, as theirs was so muddy and chewed up it just wasn’t drying out (and impossible to clean), whereas the other corral was flat a dry, and thus would be easier to clean in the morning. Anyway, after a very nice (though jumpy) ride, we settled in for the evening.

Woke up to bright sunny skies this morning, though a few clouds came in briefly during breakfast. Gained 0.2 pounds, but I suspect that has more to do with the change of weather than anything else. We’ll know more tomorrow… Got a late start, but Hubby was feeling up for a short ride, so we saddled up and headed out around 1:30, after spending some time getting all the mud off the horses. Even though they had rain sheets on, and last night their winter blankets, they still managed to get their faces, bellies, and of course, legs caked in mud. I had originally planned on an 8-mile trip, but it soon became obvious that the trails were still too slippery, and rather than risk it, we shortened it to a loop that took us just under 5 miles. Fortunately, the trails were very well marked and only got turned around once briefly. A lot of wide open spaces that would normally be great for trotting and cantering, but were just too slippery today, plus a few areas of woods and several creek crossings. Hopefully with the sunshine and cool breeze, the trails will be drier tomorrow, as we’d like to take a longer ride then. The horses were brilliant today, just a few extra kicks when Apollo changed up from a trot to a canter on one section of drier field, then kicked up to a gallop just for the fun of it (his idea : -). Had a relaxing evening, though a very brief spot of rain and blustery wind came it, though it didn’t last long, thankfully. Hopefully it didn’t re-saturate the trails too much, and tomorrow we’ll find them in better shape.

Slept late again, with Hubby staying in bed a few extra hours, still trying to fight off the cold, slowly. Lost 1-1/2 pounds, would you believe!! Continued to work on a project on the computer, rained off and on again today, finally clearing up in the afternoon to bright sunshine and some wind, hoping it will dry the trails enough for a ride tomorrow. Ate my way through the day again, Hubby starting to feel a bit better, pretty sure he’ll be up for a ride tomorrow!

Woke up a half pound lighter, though I figured that would happen even without the diet, having gotten back to my usual food after a week of eating in restaurants, or out of a hotel microwave. Spent the day working on the computer again, with Hubby in bed again for part of the day, feeling only marginally better than yesterday, still needing more sleep. Rained off and on all day, sometimes torrentially, with mud everywhere. I put the horses on anchors just to get them out of the corral, with is quickly become ankle-deep in mud. Other than that, an uneventful day, though I still felt like I spent the day eating! Strange diet, can’t wait to see if it really works!

Got up around 9:00 to tend the horses, then spent most of the rest of the day on the computer or reading. Hubby slept a few hours longer, then got up feeling lousy, so after breakfast he went back to bed. Got up in the late afternoon feeling better, and worried that if he slept too much today, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. I started a Nutri-systems program today, trying to get off the extra 10-15 pounds I’ve gained in the last year, it seems like I ate more food today than I ever have before! Very curious to see how THAT works out! Spent the evening relaxing before turning in, both of us still feeling quite exhausted, that deep, down, muscle-ache kind of tired that only rest can cure, so we intend to do that during this cloudy, rainy spell.

What a crazy night! We were in bed before 10, but we both woke up abruptly when we heard some clunking and felt the RV shaking. When I looked out my window to the barnyard, where it was lit up like daylight anyway, we were surrounded by cattle munching the grass around us. Most had horns, and some even were longhorns, so between the horns and their swishing tails, we were getting good and thumped! Nothing we could do about it, and eventually they wandered off, so we got back to sleep after a while. They came thumping around again at 8:00, which forced us to get up despite plans to sleep a bit later, which was probably just as well anyway. We got up and quickly went to work packing up and moving out. We were on the road by 9:30, with stops at Costco so Hubby could pick up an earbud for his hearing aid, which he had lost a few days ago, grabbed a meal at BK (just missing breakfast), stopped at Tractor Supply for oats and senior feed, and finally at Walmart. From there we drove to the Eisenhower State Park near Malvern Lake. We stopped at the office, but were told to go select a site, then come back to register, which we did. Registration, like in so many state parks, was a complete pain in the butt. They asked for more information that anyone purchasing a week of camping should ever be forced to answer, including our Social Security number! I refused to give them that one, wondering what on earth they needed that for, and would you believe it had to do with finding deadbeat dads who didn’t pay their child support? Apparently they collect them, then submit them to another government agency who lets them know if there are any outstanding child support issues, in which case the state park is supposed to refuse to sell them anything! The clerk told me that in her 14 years, they had actually caught 3 people. Can you imagine, collecting all those social security numbers of completely innocent people, putting their identities at risk of being stolen, just because the court system is so pathetic it can’t catch up with three guys who owe money? Ridiculous! She also wanted Hubby’s birthday, and refused to let me purchase the camping without it! How I LONG for the days when all they did was say “how much” and all I had to do was pay them. This only seems to happen at state parks, but I honestly thought a state like Kansas would be a little less bureaucratic and a little more appreciative of freedom. Plus they made us pay for an annual vehicle pass, another way to pump up the coffers for no real reason. I really dislike state parks. I walked into that office in a good mood, and by the time I left (and it took over 20 minutes!) I was miserably, feeling like a criminal. No question, government is sticking its nose WAY too much into our lives. Anyway, enough of my rant. I got back to camp (Hubby was starting to get worried something had happened to me), and we finished setting up. None of the sites are very level, so we had to put boards down under the back wheels of the RV, and the corral that the horses are in is a bit on a slope as well. A little while later, another ranger came by and told me he had accidentally credited our account while he was giving a refund to someone else, so not to be surprised when it showed up, but that makes me REALLY wonder about how long they hang onto credit card numbers. I thought they were supposed to disappear right after a purchase was made, at least that’s what I have to do when I collect money through my merchant account. Anyway, at least he didn’t say anything when the dogs came out and said hello. We finally settled in for the evening, utterly exhausted, coming down from all our activities from the past week. The forecast is calling for rain for the next 2 or 3 days, so lots of rest and laundry are in order.

After a week of working, shuttling between hotels, taking on extra clients and generally doing the usual, mundane, non-horsey things for the past week, we were happy to get back on a plane at Reagan National and head back to Kansas City. We had a later flight, thank goodness, had plenty of time to sleep until 9:30, have the complimentary breakfast at the Embassy Suites Old Town Alexandria, grab a cab make our way through the airport, all in record time. Flight was on time and non-stop, so we arrived on time, happy to get back to all our four-legged kids! Finally met our hostess Beka, checked up on everyone, of course the dogs wriggled themselves nearly inside out when they saw us! My good old Apollo whinnied when I called him, because they had moved them again and we couldn’t find them, but as soon as I heard him, we were able to locate them in a paddock a little further along. Soon got settled in, partly unpacked, completely exhausted, and were ready to head to bed early, though being still on Eastern time, it seemed later.

Slept until 9:00, Hubby up first for a change, down to breakfast for their buffet (management had given us coupons because of our long wait yesterday), then spent the afternoon preparing for tomorrow.

With the alarm ringing at 3:30 am, our day began early! Quickly got dressed, finalized our packing and headed out the door by juast after 4:00, not leaving too much time for a margin of error. Unfortunately, that was tested as we discoverd the freeway exit we needed was closed, and we had to take a detour that took us several miles out of way, but with no traffic, that didn’t take long. We arrived at the Clarion, which offers off-site parking for almost half the price of the airport, had a nice chat with the night clerk until the shuttle driver returned. It didn’t take long to check-in, a bit longer to get through security, though for some reason they gave us a pink card that meant I didn’t have to take off my jacket or shoes, though Hubby did because he had to have a patdown, just because of his defibrillator, but it didn’t take any longer than usual. No breakfast places were open, not that our stomachs were ready yet anyway, nor did we really have time. Loading began about 15 minutes after we arrived, and we were in the air before we knew it. Had coffee and snacks (all they had), an uneventful flight, arrived by 9:30 local time, and arrived at the hotel by 10. Unfortunately, no rooms were ready, so we would have to wait. By now, we were starving, so we put our baggage in storage and headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Room still a long way from ready, so we took the shuttle over to Pentagon row, and did some grocery shopping. Got back by 12:30, room still not ready. Sat around the lobby for another hour+ before they finally got us into our room. By now we were exhausted, and rested most of the day, with Indian from Marsala Express delivered, watched a couple of movies on Showtime, including War Horse, which we had seen the stage play on Broadway back in Oct. 2011. Nicely done by Spielberg, though there were several production elements which we didn’t agree with, it was still very worthwhile. Finally got to bed after 10:00, ready for some serious sleep!