Hey Sweetie!
What a lovely, long ride today! After a so-so night sleep, I got up, did my chores, had breakfast, then saddled up Flash for our group ride today. I left, with Lola in her newly-refashioned safety vest, about 10:15 for our meetup at 11:00 at Orange and J. Just as I crossed the road on to the orange trail, a rather large and noisy group turned in just behind me, so I picked up my pace to get out ahead of them, all downhill of course, so I ended up reaching J by about 10:45. They ended up being a few minutes late, but I had a nice chat with four fellas who are camping up on top of the hill in the state horse camp. Eventually my group came along and we headed out. Instead of Table Rock, though, we headed out to Indian Head, which I don’t remember ever going to before, then around and down to the Artesian well for lunch, then back out on the challenging pink trail, where one of our group decided to head back to camp before the turn (and who ended up getting lost anyway, then found again by our group when they finished the pink trail), and another girl’s horse got so tired she stumbled a few times and almost went down the hill, and could scarcely carry her even on the flat. My phone died part way through so I didn’t get a GPS of the whole ride, but when I went back and reconstructed it, it looked like about 13 miles, but it seemed a lot longer. And it may have been, with steep climbs and descents, the GPS is very often misleading. Once we completed the pink trail, I peeled off to climb back up to camp, while they headed east, then north, back to 3 Reasons farm. It was close for me, and Flash, after all that exercise, still decided to gait up that long hill most of the way! Lola was so tuckered she practically dropped onto her cushion in the screen room while I unsaddled Flash and gave him a wash and rubbed him down with some liniment. One of the older guys that I met this morning came by and chatted for a bit, then I got everyone put away, changed my clothes, then took the truck out to 3 Reasons for steak dinner with the gang. There was a thunderstorm in the vicinity and I didn’t want to leave Lola alone, you know how she panics when there’s a storm, so I helped her into the truck (she was so tired she couldn’t climb in on her own), and traveled the 10 minutes to the farm. A nice group, a great dinner, and, of course, I sang for my supper by doing Snowy River for them, with only one little bobble, but it was the largest group I’ve done so far, ten people, so I thought it went pretty well. As it started to get dark, I drove back to camp and settled down for the night. No TV, I barely have enough energy to type this blog! And tomorrow is likely going to be even longer for me, since Table Rock is on the other side of the park, plus they want to go down into the state park, with is another few miles south, so it’s going to be another long day for me, but I don’t mind, it was a beautiful and fun day! I just hope Flash is up for it, because this group is all gaited and Apollo would never keep up, plus it would be too long for him. But if Flash is gimpy, I may have no choice! I think he’ll be all right, though, he certainly seemed fine gaiting up the hill at the end of the day! Well, I’ve had my shower, and tonight, I’m going to be early, long day tomorrow! Good night, my love!
Archives for August 2020
Thursday, August 20, 2020 – Ride Day on Apollo
Hi Babe,
After a decent night sleep and breakfast, I saddled up Apollo and started on a ride with my neighbor Nick and a family of three other women who were headed out towards Airplane Rock. They were all on gaited horses, so Apollo was having a time trying to keep up. By the time we got to the bottom of the hill of the orange trail, I had decided to peel off and go over to the west side of the forest rather than out to Airplane Rock, since I’d already done that, and it was a longer ride than I was in the mood for, plus I didn’t think Apollo was up to trying to climb that many hills at that pace. He’s getting into better shape, but I still don’t want to push him too hard at his age. I turned off at the white trail, followed that to the purple trail, and came back around to Badger Cave, which was that nice trail that you rode with me on one day last year, only in reverse. There was a couple of good climbs and descents, but nothing like the trail to Airplane Rock, and we were back in just over two hours, which suited us just fine. Nick didn’t get back until two hours after that, and he said his horse was pretty tuckered out by then, too. He had planned on leaving today, but the ride was so long he decided to wait until tomorrow. Good decision! Anyway, we chatted for awhile till it was time to feed everyone, then went our separate ways for the evening. Lola’s been eating satin balls, but still just picking at her dinner, it’s like she suddenly doesn’t like the dog food anymore, though she eventually finished it off awhile later, after I put a second helping of grated cheese on it. Watched a couple of Voyagers, wrote some emails in an ongoing and stressful correspondence with Equity, and texted with Trish, who arrived from Indiana this afternoon, about their plans for tomorrow and how we could meet up. All that done, it’s time for bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 – Runaround Day in Logan
Hi Sweetie,
A good night sleep, woke up to a cloudy morning, which I wasn’t expecting because the forecast said clear all week, but there you go! Another stellar forecast! It actually sprinkled a bit around noon, though most of the rain was south. Pretty much everyone was out riding, but I had a couple of book orders which I had to pack up and take to the post office, decided to do some shopping, too, so maybe I won’t have to go out again while I’m here. It was pretty late by the time I got back. Lola went visiting and persuaded some ladies up the hill to throw fetch with her for quite awhile, and I went up later and chatted for a few minutes. Another guy came in and parked next to Nick, my nearest neighbor, and he actually remembered us from last year, remembered the big rig with the screen room. I chatted with them for a bit, too, and did my Snowy River routine for them, which they really seemed to appreciate. When I came back to the trailer, I made up some satin balls for Lola. She’s been losing weight lately, maybe because of all the exercise, but I don’t like to see her that skinny so I bought everything I needed to make satin balls today, and she gobbled several up when I finished. I put the balls in my deviled egg container, the perfect storage unit for them! I’ve got enough for a couple of batches, I’m hoping that will help. The horses aren’t eating as much hay lately, either, especially Apollo, but I think that’s because it’s not alfalfa, you know how fast they can get spoiled on that stuff! This last batch of hay isn’t bad, but it still doesn’t have that nice fermented smell I get occasionally. Hard to be picky when I’m on the road, kinda have to take what I can get. Anyway, I settled down for the evening, it’s supposed to get down in the upper 50’s tonight, so I’m looking forward to another good night sleep. Off to shower now! Good night, babe! Love you!
Sunday, August 16, 2020 – Housekeeping and Prep Day
Hey Sweetie!
Another good night sleep, followed by a day of housekeeping and preparation for our departure tomorrow. I actually woke up in the mood to do housework, so you know what that means! I went through this place like a Tasmanian devil, cleaning almost everything in sight. I even did the deep clean on the leather recliners, something that’s needed to be done for quite some time. I repaired Lola’s big bed, installing the foam I bought the other day, she seem to like it, though I caught her starting to pull the stuffing out the her little bone-shaped pillow, so I took that away from her, I’ll have to mend that before I give it back to her. It took me most of the day, plus putting away everything outside, though I haven’t hooked up to the truck because it would have been too slope-y, I think. I checked all the vitals on the truck and the air pressure in all the tires, and noticed something weird. Even though it’s the same size tire, this Hanook I bought for a spare (though it’s on there until I replace with a Crosswind), it appears to be bigger! Just eyeballing it, it seems bigger, though I didn’t actually measure it. I’ll do that when I get to my next locations. Strange, though, and it’s a much different tread. I hope it runs okay, I’ll have over three hours driving tomorrow to check it out. Finally settled down for the evening, took my shower early, now I’m heading off to bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Friday, August 14, 2020 – Runaround Day
Hi Honey,
Slept a bit late this morning, then spent the most of the day working on various things on my computer, some of the time researching whitewater raft rides in the Grand Canyon, to see if I could get one in on my schedule. They have several different types of rafts, some are motorized, some have a guide that does all the rowing, but the kind I want is where I actually get to paddle through the whitewater, and I think I may have found one, but it’s a two day trip, camping along the shoreline for a night, which sounds fabulous to me! Still have a few more logistics to work out on that, though. Meanwhile, I had made arrangements to meet a guy to get hay at 6:00 and decided to run up to nearby Richmond to do a little shopping beforehand, so I left around 3:30, went to a craft store to get some padding to stuff back into Lola’s bed, then to Tractor Supply for propane and horse feed, then Walmart for a just a few items, then arrived at the hay guy’s about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I let him know I was early, but he didn’t answer. I waited half an hour, messaging him several times, never heard a thing, so I finally left. Went back up the road to a farm with a sign that said “hay for sale” and talked to the owner, but they only do big round bales, so that didn’t help. Got back to camp just in time to take a phone call from the rafting company, we spent some time going over the options, and it looks like I might be able to fit it in! Whoo-hoo! I did a little rearranging of my reservations, with still a few other things to work out, but it looks like it might all be falling together. The hotel I’ll need to stay at for the rafting trip (outside of Grand Canyon in Peach Springs on the famous Route 66) also has caverns, and a restaurant called the Grotto which is also at the bottom of the caves, so I think I’ll have plenty of options of things to do on my extra day. Finally, after 8:30, I FINALLY heard from the hay guy, very apologetic, just completely slipped his mind, but promised to deliver the hay to me tomorrow morning, no extra charge. I rubbed it in a little, but forgave him, so hopefully that will get done in the morning. So I finally settled down for the evening, a quick bite of dinner, and Voyager or two, now off to showers and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!