Archives for June 2023

Hey Babe!
Another really long day for the both of us. Was out before 6:00 am, heading from Walsh Rd. to Luzerne, which is one of the trickier places for a bit rig. The organizers figure out the best place for me was by a new outhouse, and gave me instructions to make sure I didn’t go the wrong way, and that I turn around so I can get out easier. I managed to do that without hitting any trees, no small feat here! Before I left, I put some liniment on Flash, something I should have done last night, and it caused him to twitch all over! Another rider, Sam, did the same thing earlier with her horse Bandit, and it created the same affect, oddly. Anyway, she said it went away in about 15 minutes, and was fine, so I went ahead to take the trailer over, since today was a long day. Once I got back, Flash wasn’t too thrilled about the whole idea of getting saddled up (understandable!), but we got it done and headed out of camp before 9:00. Today’s ride was nearly 28 miles, and after yesterday’s 27+ miles, I don’t blame him! It was more road riding than I like, though most of the roads were sand, sometimes deep sand, there were a few really nice wooded sections to go through. Probably the best part was the 4-5 miles just before we got to camp, but by then, Flash was so exhausted, he had trouble getting up some of the hills, he’d stop to rest occasionally, there were several times today when I got off and walked a bit just to give him a break. The last few miles were alternating between “camp is near, let’s hurry” and “I’m too tired to lift another hoof”, to “Please can I just stop and roll in all this nice sand?” As pretty as the terrain was, it was hard to enjoy with all that going on. Anyway, arrived in camp just before 5:00, rode him up to the bus to get our pail of stuff (everyone else is in the main camp except me and two Canadian women, Carrie and Sarah), and have worked non-stop since then. Highline up, feed and water done, more liniment (no adverse reaction this time), stored everything for tomorrow, had dinner, drained the gray water, and on and on. At least there’s a decent cell phone signal on one side of the trailer. Glad to have the two girls attending the riders meeting and taking notes for me, I couldn’t walk all that way, at least 150 yards. I’ve heard tomorrow’s camp will be easier to get into, hopefully there will be some hints from the meeting. Still have my Spanish lesson to do and my shower, but I should be able to finish and still be in bed by 9:00, a necessity these days! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Well, this morning I waited until the first wave of early birds left camp, and tagged along at the very end so I could go my own speed, figuring there would be enough stops for me to keep them in sight, which there was. It was fairly straight-forward, but there was one very dicy spot on Pickerel Lake Rd that was so sandy, if anyone stopped, they’ve be stuck for sure! I was extra careful to keep moving, and managed to make it through, though there was a couple of times when I felt like I was surfing! Glad to hear these are the last “seasonal” sand roads we’ll be going on, we’ll be on good tarmac or gravel after this. Walsh Road camp is laid out nice, you just have to come in and turn left, it circles around, come down the middle and all the sites are nicely angled, so I had no problem getting in, nor will I have any going out. Johnson Creek, which we left this morning, was pretty tight, but I made it! Forgot to mention, we saw an elk on the road on the way back to camp yesterday, magnificent animal. Anyway, got to camp, had breakfast, which I couldn’t finish, so I guess my stomach is shrinking (yay!), then hopped the bus back, got Flash ready and headed out, second to last out of camp. Only Ron on his mule came after, and he was trying to be last, his mule is too reliant on a buddy, and he was trying to school him on that, but as it turned out, Flash was so slow today, he caught up after a couple of miles. We rode together for awhile before he took a break, by then Flash seemed to have more energy, so I let him out a bit, even running for a mile, but that was the only one. He’s obviously tired, and I want to finish the week, so I kept him at a walk most of the rest of the time. Leapfrogged two groups of women back and forth the rest of the trip, doing the last 6-7 miles with Sam (who borrowed my hose to get water out of her 55 gallon drum), still managing 3.9 mpg, but arrived last except Ron. It wasn’t a terribly exciting ride, a whole lot of it was road riding, not my favorite, but there were a few sections that were pretty nice. At least we got here! Arrived right on 4:30, so not as late as I originally thought, and for the first time in several days, we have a decent cell phone signal. I thought I was going to lose my 379 day Duolingo streak last night, but I managed to find a tiny spot in camp where the signal held long enough for me to get a lesson done. I think we’ll have good signal from now on, except at River Run, not sure how I’m going to handle that! I remember have to go to the Lumbermen’s Memorial to a signal last time I stayed up here, I suppose I’ll be doing that again. Anyway, it was a long day, and tomorrow’s also a long day, hopefully Flash (and I) will be up for it. I’ve been surprisingly fit enough to do this, only taking ibuprofen at night and that’s mostly to help me sleep better, haven’t needed it during the day. Taking the opportunity to get caught up with my diary and other internet chores now that I finally have a cell phone signal, hope it doesn’t take too long! Went to the riders meeting, now it’s time for shower and bed, before dark again! Crazy! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Another exciting day on the trail! I decided to leave with the early group, and that ended up not being the best idea. The folks in front had no concept that those of us further back were in such dust it was like driving in a sandstorm! Wheeling down gravel roads at 30 mph in 20 yards of visibility was NOT my idea of safe, so next time, I’m going at the end of the pack and waiting a few minutes for the dust to down and drive at a more sensible speed. Everything came off every table, there was stuff everywhere on the floor, and I can’t even find the time magnet that was on the fridge! Finally got back to Flash, got him saddled up, then had a hard time finding the right trailhead out of camp. Everyone kept pointing in one direction, but most of the horses seem to be going in the other direction, but I discovered they were taking “shortcuts,” which a lot of the return riders seem to do. Being a Newby, I want to take every mile of trail I can. Today started out nice in the woods on a mostly sand and dirt road, but there was a lot of road riding today, so I started off with his boots on. The weather was perfect, low 70’s and sunny, but we added a couple of miles because of detour at a culvert repair, so instead of being a nice short 16.9 miles, it ended up being over 20. I put Flash back in conditioning mode, doing a mile slow, then a mile fast, pretty much all of the way. I probably wouldn’t have done that if I had looked ahead and saw that tomorrow is 28 miles, but hey, I’m living day to day on this event! We passed through an active lumber operation, I saw some fantastic machinery that was cutting pine trees about a third of the way up, gathering them in bunches like someone picking flowers, then moving them over to another place to get picked up. Flash was brilliant, didn’t faze him in the least, not even when I had to pull off to one side to let a big track piece of equipment go by. Managed to get back to camp by 2:00 or so, with Flash once again speeding up during the last half mile, sensing that camp was close. Spent the afternoon visiting and trying to relax a bit, went to the riders meeting, then promptly showered and went to bed. It was still light outside! I feel like a kid again doing that! Anyway, a good day, I hope that Flash is up for the long day tomorrow! Not like he has much of a choice! Good night, my love!

Hi Sweetie!
Well, evidently too much relaxing yesterday led to a terrible night sleep! I doubt I had much more than an hour! Even so, I got up with the alarm at 5:15, and I had things so well organized that I was pulling out at 6:00. I had decided I needed to get to camp early, because it takes me longer to get situated because of my size, and I decided to delay breakfast and have it before the bus ride back. All that worked out just fine! Got back and saddled up Flash, and we were headed out by 9:10. There were so many wonderful sections of trails, it’s hard to come up with superlatives! A gorgeous ride along the ridge, beautiful deep dark forests, every imaginable kind of tree, simply stunning! There were a few sandy roads, and a couple with some gravel, but the rock here is mostly rounded so it doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much. I did put his boots on when we turned onto Osmun Rd., but then I made a turn off very quickly after that (a wrong turn, as it happened), and ended up on a hiking/cross country skiing trail that got REALLY dicey for awhile. Bogs, low hanging limbs, downed trees, creek crossings with a single board across them, just a lot of challenges, but Flash handled them all with trust and aplomb! I even had to get off once and walk across a board over a creek, and he leaped across as best he could. That happened a couple of times. He was very muddy by the time we were done! I was always heading in the right direction, south, just parallel to the horse trail. Eventually, I found an old overgrown forest road (my second attempt) that managed to get me out to a road. I thought it was Osmun, so I turned right, thinking it would take me south, but I quickly realized it was going west, definitely NOT the right direction. I pulled out Google maps on my phone and realized I was on Walsh road, had to go back east a bit, but finally hooked up with the horse trail, along with a couple of other ladies that weren’t sure which way to go at that point either. According the GPS trail I loaded in, we were going the right way now, and we perservered! Eventually we reached the lake that had a boat launch, everybody got a drink, Flash got and apple and we rested for a short time before hitting the trail again. I was delighted that Flash’s pace stayed consistent throughout, averaging four miles per hour, though a couple of times he sped up trying to keep up with other horses. I had to slow him down, and for the most part, we stayed on out own, and he was very relaxed. He even sensed when camp was close (how to they know?) and picked up speed toward the end. It was confusing when I got to camp, took a minute to get my bearings, but I picked up my bucket of stuff out of the bus (highline,etc.) and made my way back to the trailer. Stayed focussed on chores until Flash was settled, repair a couple of leather ties that broke with all the leaping he was doing, and finally settled down for a few minutes, before finishing off the deviled eggs I made last night for the pot luck tonight. Time flies when I’m so busy! Had the riders meeting, then the pot luck, then shower and to bed, early naturally! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
Another busy day today, first with shopping, then with a ride. I decided to shop at Meijers today, because I’ve already been to the Walmart here and there was a lot of stuff they didn’t have that I usually get, and thankfully, it turned out the Meijers had almost everything that I needed! Spent a bunch getting stocked up for the month, but it was worth it. Filled up with fuel, then unbelievably, ran into Chris Cooley coming out of Meijers! I feel like this is home! Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, then saddled up Flash. Pretty hot here, relatively speaking, but with humidity down in the 60’s, it doesn’t feel bad at all to me! I had planned on a longer ride, nearly 15 miles, but Flash was so sluggish today, and I’ve been working him so hard, I brought him home after just under eleven miles. I’m going to give him the rest of the week off, I think I’ve been pushing him too hard, his muscles need time to recoup. Didn’t get back to camp until 6:00, gave him extra food, and settled down for the evening to a nice lamb dinner. Chris and Melvin came by to pick up some food for Apollo, they’re determined to feed him, but I’d rather he stay on the food he’s used to than the sweet feed they wanted to give him. Chatted for a short time, then got back to my evening, which is running later than I had expected! Still need a quick Spanish lesson and a shower before going to bed, and waiting for pix to upload, of course, the usual. Won’t be long out of bed, though. Love you, babe! Good night!