Archives for July 2023

Hey Darlin’,
Woke up before the alarm, and without rushing, was on the road just after 8:00. It started out as a pretty short drive, but I decided to stop at Meijers and so some shopping, as to get fuel, so instead of arriving by noon, I arrived just after 2:00. It then took me a full two hours to fill up my tanks with water, maneuver around this close campground, and finally get settled into a spot. Unfortunately, I have no cell phone signal here again, a situation that is really driving me crazy. I was too tired by then to go looking for one, can’t believe Verizon claims to have service throughout Michigan, but at least a dozen spots I’ve stayed in have had NO signal. Pathetic. Was just sitting down to dinner when Heide arrived, she was checking in since she hadn’t heard from me (again, no cell service to text her!) and we made arrangements to ride tomorrow afternoon. Settled down for the evening after she left, shower and bed soon! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Slept late, read, didn’t get out of bed until nearly 10:00, did my basic chores and a few odd jobs, watched movies, read, did some packing, and otherwise had a relatively uneventful day. All lined up and ready to drop the trailer, not much else to say! A mundane day. Shower and bed soon. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
It turned out doing my lake ride yesterday was the right choice, because this morning it was cloudy and cooler, and we had some rain midday, which was the perfect excuse to not do too much today. I did some mending, the snap back on to Lola’s safety vest and the grommet on the saddlebags, which turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated, but it got done. I took the screw out of the awning, I plan to run it in and out a few times, leave the screw out for awhile, and hopefully resolve the binding issue I’ve been having lately. Didn’t really have anything else pressing, so I made some popcorn and watched a couple of movies in the afternoon. When I tried to do my Spanish lesson, though, I wasn’t able to get online. It’s been weird, because even though I have zero cellphone signal here, I’ve been able to do my Duolingo, which I didn’t think was possible, so I wasn’t overly surprised when it quit working, and still have no explanation as to why it did the last few days. Anyway, I was also about to finish my last book on Kindle, so I decided to take a quick run out to find a wifi, and managed to do that a few miles down the road at the Pine Stump. They were closed, but there were a couple of girls inside that told me there was an open signal, I just had to check the box to sign in, and thankfully, they were right. Of course, the signal was slow as molasses in January, not sure if it was my phone or their signal, but eventually I was able to finish my lesson and download some books. Then I discovered that Messages had been downloading some pictures, which was probably what the problem was, and I’m guessing they’re from the couple that took pix of me at the lake yesterday, but I didn’t hang around to download them, as by then it was after 9:30… and still daylight! Even later up here! I got back, took my shower, and went to bed around 10:15, and I could STILL see dusk in the west! Crazy! At least to me, though I’m sure the locals are fine with it. Wonder how short the days are in the winter. Anyway, it was a good day, my neighbors left and I have this place to myself again. Lovely and quiet here, except I’m very close to the road, that seems to have as much OHV traffic and regular traffic. I imagine they have a big snowmobile population up here, too. Well, good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
I was so tired last night, I ended up crawling into bed before 8:45, fell asleep almost immediately, woke up around 2:00, read for a bit before falling asleep again, then woke up again around 7:30. Stayed in bed reading until 8:30! So I was in bed for almost a full 12 hours! I have to say, though, I feel SO MUCH BETTER! Particularly my left thigh where I banged it so bad a couple of weeks ago. It’s been so swollen and stiff it was painful every time I tried to bend my knee, but today, it feels a lot better, not quite back to normal, but the pain level went from about a 7 to about a 3, so feeling good! I decided that I had to get my insurance straightened out before I did anything, so I unhooked the truck and headed south so I could get a signal. Little did I know that I would have to go 23 miles, all the way to Newberry before I could get a good enough signal to make a phone call! Crazy! And yet, I passed a couple of radio towers, but I guess they’re not cell towers. So I sat in the truck in town and made my call, took a long time but finished with being fully set up for my Medicare Advantage program, thank goodness! Finally headed back to camp, and decided we had time to do the short loop, so I saddled up Flash, and with Lola coming along for the first time in over a month, headed out on the trail. No boots necessary, though I brought them along just in case, but all the footing was sand and dirt, and the rain yesterday had tamped them down nicely with no dust. The trails aren’t very well marked, and if I hadn’t GPSed it, I would most certainly have gotten very turned around and frustrated. There are all kinds of trails out here, for OHVs, snowmobiles, hiking and horses. The horse markers were exactly the same as the Shore to Shore ride, but they were few and far between, and often didn’t point in the direction of the turn, they were simply up and down and when you came to an intersection you had to look at all the other options to try to find the next marker. I went wrong a couple of times, where there weren’t any markers that I could see, either. No worries, with my GPS I got back on track eventually. Flash was full of energy today, and he finally got the perfect fast walk that I’ve been trying to get him to do for the longest time! He also insisted on gaiting a lot, but I reined him in quite a bit, because tomorrow is going to be the big ride out to the lake and he needs to conserve his energy. By the time we got back to camp, a couple of sites were occupied, I had been hoping to take Lola down to the little lake here, but that didn’t happen. She was so happy to come with us! And, of course, she was dropping her frisbee at my feet while I was still unsaddling Flash. So much energy! But I don’t think I’ll take her tomorrow, it will be too much for her. Anyway, settled down to dinner and a movie, and have every intention of getting an early shower and bedtime. Put the blanket on Flash though, I saw a forecast that said it was supposed to get down into the high 40’s tonight! One extreme to the other the last few days! Good sleeping weather, for sure! So good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up ten minutes before the 7:00 alarm went off, didn’t rush but even with having to hook up the truck, I was on the road be 8:10. Ninety minutes later I was at Lake Otsego State Park to dump and top off with water in the RV, got slightly delayed going over the Mackinaw Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan due to maintenance, stopped for fuel in Newberry, and still made it to HQ by 2:00. Just barely missed hitting a bunch of rain, the stop at the dump was perfect timing! Some of the roads still had puddles, but I missed all the rain, thank goodness! By 3:15, I was all set up, with my carpet down, Flash all set up, the awning out, the trailer level, grill out… only problem is, I have ZERO cell phone signal here. Not even enough to make a phone call, darn it! I was hoping to get my health insurance squared away today, but that’s obviously not going to happen! I was also hoping I would have to disconnect, but it looks like I’ll have to go hunting for a signal tomorrow or Friday. I did create a GPS track to the lake, it’s going to be over 23 miles round trip. There was a time when I thought that would be a really long day, but after all the miles we did last month, 23 miles is going to be a piece of cake! Especially since I’m figuring on having lunch on the beach, maybe even take off Flash’s saddle for a swim! We’ll see, depends on the waves. Anyway, I’m settled in for the evening, covered with Off! (the mosquitoes are hungry here). I did have a few problems maneuvering around the campground, there are some tight turns and I had to back up and take a couple of runs at it to get in place, but ended up in a big pull-through on a corner with a pretty good exit route. I was hoping to get into one of the sites that backed up to a little lake, but just didn’t have the room. I was almost tempted to stay up in the day parking area, it’s wide open, but it’s not very pretty and right on the road, so I think I’ve done all right. I’ve hooked up my Dish PVR, looks like old movies and Kindle books for the duration! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a busy morning doing odds and ends preparing for our departure tomorrow. Had to fix the folding table, it came off during the night. Not sure why, can only guess that Lola tried to stand on it or something. She also pulled out all the stuffing on her dog bed, the smaller one I brought in from the truck a few weeks ago, not thrilled to find that strewn all over my clean house! Did a load of laundry, filled up the tanks with water while the generator was on, roasted some beans as well so I can have a cup of coffee on my drive tomorrow. Once the laundry was hung up I drove over to a hay farmer to get some hay, a convenient 15 minutes away. First cutting of this year, and finally at a reasonably price of $6 a bale. They’re a bit smaller, which frankly I’m happy about, these larger bales are hard to manage. Got that stored in the trailer, then got the truck lined up to be hooked up tomorrow. Cleaned up the generator box and all of the electrical cords that are stored in there, they all got really dusty going down all the sandy roads last month. Checked the lugs on the trailer, just one needed a little snugging. Got the back of the trailer organized so Flash has a stall ready, seems like a long time since I’ve had a horse back there! Got the laundry in and put away, then decided to relax for the rest of the afternoon, though I also figured out where I’m going to stop to dump the black water tomorrow, just a tiny bit out of the way, but needs to be done! Watched a Danish movie (well, English audio) and a couple of Big Valleys, had dinner, one more movie, and now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Spent pretty much the entire day doing housework today. I’ve got dirt from so many weeks ago, I just couldn’t stand it any more. Did a thorough cleaning from top to bottom inside, and it literally took me all day, with a few necessary breaks in between. Glad to get it done, but now I’m exhausted again! Ready for a quick shower and bed! Tomorrow I need to find hay, and get packed up for my departure. Not much else to say! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Well, I made my dream come true today, sort of. I woke up early, read for awhile, fell back to sleep, then got up and did my chores around 9:00, then crawled back into bed and slept until 12:40, just like in my dream the other day! I sure needed it. By the end of the day yesterday, my whole body just about shut down, and today wasn’t much different. Spent the afternoon reading and watching TV and generally vegging out, which is precisely what I needed to do to insure a quick recovery from this past, busy month. I feel a lot better, but am still ready for bed tonight, but I suspect by tomorrow I’ll be ready to get busy again, with housework on the agenda. Not much else to tell! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!