Archives for 2019

Hubby's little throat tickle yesterday has blown up into an all out episode of cold and/or flu symptoms, so he wasn't up for riding today, or even going with me to run errands. Lola and I headed down to nearby Newberry to the Tractor Supply, and stopped at Winn-Dixie in High Springs for a few last minute things, and got back to camp in plenty of time. I fed us a late breakfast, then I saddled up Flash to go out on our first ride here. He was so full of energy, he pranced for an entire mile before I could get him down to a walk. After about a quarter mile of patience, I finally let him increase his speed, and his gait of choice was a canter, which we did for at least 2-3 miles before he finally "slowed" to a largo (the fast gait of a Paso) and did that for a few more miles. He would occasionally slow down for a brief 100 feet or so, then step right back up again. It was quite an invigorating ride! The trails here are all sand footing, mostly hard enough to not cause any problems, and the forest here is truly old Florida, with lots of live oak and huge old growth trees. We started on the River trail, which is probably the prettiest as it meanders through the forest and by the river, naturally, but many of the other trails here are long straightaways, giving us lots of opportunities to really move out. Our ride came to a sudden slowdown when my stirrup broke, and though I tried several different methods of fixing it, I didn't succeed, so we ended up mostly walking the 1.5 miles back to camp. I got Hubby some tools and he drilled some holes and managed to get it usable again. Meanwhile I have Flash a nice bath, cleaned out the stalls, put down some fresh bedding and put Flash away, only to have him roll in the stall, pretty much erasing his bath. Figures. Giving an animal a bath is probably the most useless expenditure of energy any human can bother to do. Oh, well! I did a bunch more chores and finally managed to settle down for the evening, tired, but glad Flash seems to be in pretty good shape despite his month of inactivity. I'm hoping Apollo will get out tomorrow, we'll have to see how it goes. Hubby feeling slightly better having slept a good part of the day, but despite having had both a flu and a pneumonia vaccine, this is hitting him pretty hard. We guess it is the result of either catching a chill in the barn at Baker, or sick people there walking by coughing and sneezing, of which there was a lot. Hard to escape getting sick when there are so many other people around! Hope he improves tomorrow!

Got up at sunrise this morning, with temps in the 30's and signs of ice on the tarp, so it evidently got even colder than forecast! It didn't take long to get everything packed up, get the horses loaded, and we were moving out of the Baker Arena by 8:30. We had no trouble at all on the road, and because we got out even earlier than expected, we had time to stop at Dennys at the Flying J at Midway, topped off with fuel, dropped off a Fedex package in their box, and had breakfast all in one go, and it all only took about half an hour. I called the park and learned that we were required to go to O'Leno State Park first to register and get the gate code, then travel the 10 miles or so to River Rise, where we found quite a few campers already here, though several left before the day's end. I spoke with the campground host, who was very pleasant (unlike the last time we were here, which was a nightmare, but I'm willing to take a second chance!), and decided the best chance of getting enough sun to make the solar panel worthwhile was right next to the barn, which is the same spot where we stayed years ago. Once we got the horses put away in the barn and the trailer unhooked, Hubby and I headed out again, as I had made arrangements to pick up 10 bales of hay at a farm only 20 minutes away, and we had made an appointment at 4:30. Arrived right on time, got the hay, stopped at Winn-Dixie to pick up some essentials for Thanksgiving on the way back, and got back to camp right after sunset. I fed the horses, then defrosted the freezer, a long overdue job, and which I hope was the cause of why my ice-maker had quite working a few weeks ago. It took quite a while to get all the ice out, it had really caked up in there, but I finally got it all cleared out. Hubby and I finished watching a movie we had started the other day on Prime, though the signal here is such that is needs to be nursed a bit, but I think I can solve that once I can put the phone outside more easily. Shared a few pieces of pizza, had a little half-melted ice cream before heading to bed, hoping to get our body clocks on Eastern time by morning. It finally feels like we're back on the road for real again!

Up bright and early, got the horses taken care of, then headed over for a long day of manning the booth. Managed to sell a few books, but there's not really a lot of traffic here. This is the first year of the event, so the organizers are having to figure out a few things, but overall it's been going fairly. Their headliner, a Downunder Horseman clinician, wasn't put on until 4:00, which sounds like a good time, but ended up being too late in the day, and his audience was tiny. They also had another clinician bail on them at the last minute, and they were scrambling for a replacement, but overall I think they did a pretty good job. It just seems like there was never a big crowd, just a small steady stream throughout the day. They had a band scheduled at 6:00 and a vendor dinner that didn't start until 8:00, and a lot of vendors voiced their opinion that it was too late, so they managed to get it moved up to 7:00, though it was a bit after that when it actually got served. It was very nice, though, smoked chicken and ribs and potato salad. We listened to the band for a few songs, then helped ourselved to dinner, but left shortly thereafter, as we were both tired from a LONG day. Not soon out of bed tonight!

Got up bright and early again this morning, finished packing up, got the horses loaded up and were off and running before 9:00! Made a quick stop for a little fuel, then a longer stop to have breakfast at Denny's and top off the tank south of Montgomery, and enjoyed a beautiful and uneventful drive to the Baker Area Recreation Association property, where we are here to give a seminar at the Northwest Horse Expo this weekend, arriving just after 1:00. Turned out there was no one on the property that had any idea where we were supposed to camp or put the horses, but I managed to get the cell phone number for the organizer, Tony, who was on his way. Ten minutes later he arrived, and before long we settled on which site and stalls were ours for the weekend. It didn't take long to get the horses settled in and the RV set up, so we decided to take a quick run into town to pick up some groceries and pick up a prescription for Hubby. We got back after dark, but there was plenty of lights around to get the horses fed easily, then we settled down for the evening, happy with our new back yard!

Got up bright and early, worried about getting out of the tricky spot we parked in when we arrived here a month ago. I finished packing, hooked up the truck, and with the help the barn man, finally managed to back out of our cozy little spot behind the barn, and continued to back up around the entire two barns and house and beyond, just so we could take a straight shot out the driveway. Got the horses and gear loaded in, and were heading out by 9:30. Thankfully we had an uneventful drive, stopping once at a Flying J for lunch and to get weighed, as we've been curious about that for a while, and still managed to arrive at Oak Mountain State Park before 2:00. Got the horses out and in two covered stalls, took Lola for a walk around the grounds, started doing the first of many loads of laundry as we have a full (and expensive) hookup, and settled in for a quiet evening.