Hey Babe!
Another good night sleep, then got busy today, had a lot to do. Did two loads of laundry and my housekeeping, then started putting some stuff away, and did some computer work. The parking lot was busy all day today, must have been a dozen trailers or more coming and going all day. Popular place! Chatted with some folks, sold a book to a woman who I met at Hungerford who said she wanted one, did some more packing. I took Lola for a walk on the final trail I hadn’t GPSed here, which was about half a mile loop north of the camp. Wasn’t worth the effort to saddle a horse, so we just took a nice easy walk, took less than 15 minutes, so at least that’s done. Settled down for dinner and another Jack Ryan episode, still taking forever to load up. I sure hope the next place has a better signal, though I had a good signal at the last place and it didn’t help. I’m thinking that whenever Verizon updates they download a bunch of crap I don’t need or use, and it’s taking up so much space that it won’t run efficiently. We’ll see! Anyway, getting to bed early, since I’ll be getting up early. We have a long drive tomorrow, I’m going to Youngs Creek in Southern, IN, about 350 miles, but it’s almost all freeway so it shouldn’t be to bad. Off to my shower! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Archives for September 2023
Saturday, September 9, 2023 – Fabulous Thirteen-Plus Mile Ride on Flash
Hiya Darlin’!
Had a good night sleep, think I’ve finally got the air pressure just right in the bed, slept very well. Woke up to a misty morning again, though you could tell it was going to be a nice day once the sun dried the mist off. Called the post office first thing, since they’re only open for two hours today and I wanted to make sure I got my package from Florida, but it hadn’t arrived yet. Apparently it goes to Battle Creek first and then a carrier brings it out, so the postmaster offered to call me when it came in. I love small town post offices! By 10:30, I decided to head into town, and I hadn’t quite left the park when he called to say it had arrived, in the nick of time! Picked it up, then headed back to camp, stopping to fill up the truck tank along the way, since I’ll be doing a couple of loads of laundry tomorrow. Wasn’t long before I was saddling up Flash to take the long western loop here. What a lovely ride! Such a nice variety! Some deep, dark, creepy woods (my favorite!), a nice pine stand, some wide open fields where we got in some good canters around the edges, then one place where it was five foot high grass mowed where the trail was, almost felt like going through a tunnel! It weaved all around the western side of the park, and it was very nice. Thoroughly enjoyed it! I didn’t take Lola along because there were quite a few other riders out there, and I don’t like to do that on the weekends when it’s busy, so she was pouting a bit when I got back. Ended up chatting with some ladies that I had met on the trail in the pavilion for awhile, the finally settled down for the evening. Still have a very slow internet connection, so watching TV is painful! Won’t be long out of bed tonight, I have a busy day tomorrow. Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Friday, September 8, 2023 – Ride Day on Apollo
Hey Sweetie,
Woke up to a wet, misty day, very glad I put the extra canvas tarp over the three bales in the back of the truck last night! Decided to do some other stuff waiting for it to dry out. My plan was to take Flash and do the long ride, but the mist held on for so long, and you know me, I’m a fair weather rider, so didn’t much feel like going out in a misty cold rain. Did some planning for the next few weeks and a few other computer chores, until it finally dried up and lightened up a bit in the afternoon. Decided it was too late to take the long ride, so I saddled up Apollo, who needs some exercise, he’s getting fatter and fatter sitting around here, and took the Blue Trail, making a figure eight so we could do the whole thing. Another lovely trail! This one is multi-use, so I ran into hikers and bikers along the way, but everyone was cordial and cooperative, just like it’s supposed to be! It was still less than five miles, but it was a beautiful ride, weaving around a couple of lakes and wetlands, through some pretty dense and scenic forest with lovely footing despite the dampness, so a very nice ride. Apollo kept trying to brush himself (or me!) into the bushes along the side of the trail, not sure what that’s about. There were a few short sections with some small rocks, and even though they were smooth, he behaved like he was ouchy on those, again, not sure what his problem is. Got back to camp around three, and spoke to some new neighbors a couple of sites down from me, a woman named Amber. Got Apollo put away and settled down for the afternoon and evening. Made some dirty rice (over tortilla chips), that should last me the next few days. Watched a few more Jack Ryan’s, though I’m still plagued by buffering and interuptions, and heading for bed soon! Just heard Taps from the government facility nearby, so I guess it’s time! Good night, babe! Love you!
Thursday, September 7, 2023 – Hay, Shopping And Ride!
Hi Babe,
Had a busy day today, and got lots of stuff done! I arranged to pick up hay this morning at a place about 20 minutes away, turned out to be a huge commercial outfit, with hay barns and a feed lot and lots of mechanics shops. Bought some grass hay for $7 a bale, a bit high, but not surprising with the cost of diesel over $4 a gallon again. Looks like nice hay, we’ll see how the bobos like it. Then I ran into Battle Creek to do my shopping at the Walmart, they had a rechargeable fan there I wanted to get for future hot nights, thought it would be good in the bedroom so I wouldn’t have to keep the inverter on. I’m sure I’ll be having more hot nights when I’ll need it as I head south! Got back to camp around 2:30, put all the groceries away, and immediately went out and saddled Flash. We took a short ride around the “Historic Trail”, which was just over four miles, but it was a nice trail. Firm footing, and with the rain last night, so dust, and also no mud, surprisingly. A few places with some gravel, mostly on hills, but all round stones, so not bad. The crossing at one creek was actually filled with nice Chattahoochee stones, so a very easy crossing. Lola came along, and she enjoyed it, and wasn’t even limping when we got back. I’ve been trying not to play fetch with her the last few days to let her leg heal, still not sure what’s causing it, but I figured rest would help, and it seems to have done so. Stored the hay in the trailer, except for three bales, two of the new and one of the old, which I’ll use to transition them over. No more alfalfa after this! Have to get back to just grass hay. Had dinner, watched some TV, ready for shower and bed here shortly. A busy day, which made up for the lazy day yesterday! Love you, darlin’! Good night!
Wednesday, September 6, 2023 – Rainy Lazy Day
Hey Darlin’,
Well it was pretty hot last night, and I slept better, but still not as well as I would like. I may have put a little too much air in the bed, but I let it go another night and see how it goes. It was cloudy when I got up, and rain came in around 9:30, which put me in a lazy mood. I started writing an article for the MTRA, read some, then binge-watched some Jack Ryan episodes in the afternoon. Had a couple of different blasts of rain, heavy downpours, and one storm had rumbling thunder for more than 20 minutes before it hit me. It was so strange to listen to, it wasn’t just an occasional round of thunder, it was a constant, never quiting, just rolling along. Lola is either losing her hearing or she’s finally getting used to thunderstorms, because the last few that we’ve been through, she’s hardly reacted to, not trying to crawl under the back of my chair like she used to. She still seems to hear me okay, so I’m hoping it’s the latter. Anyway, a very uneventful day, and I was glad the horses were under cover during the storms. Found some hay about 20 minutes away, so I’m going to pick up ten bales tomorrow, then ride in the afternoon. It seems there are more trails open to horses than I thought out here, so I’m going to have to get busy riding the next few days in order to cover them all! Temps are a bit cooler tonight, so I’m hoping for a good night sleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!
Tuesday, September 5, 2023 – Travel Day to Fort Custer, New Bed!
Hi Sweetie,
Didn’t bother to set the alarm, but was still awake by 7:00, up and move about 45 minutes later. Didn’t feel hungry so I skipped breakfast and started packing up. Even though I hadn’t packed much ahead of time, I was still out of the horse camp before 9:00. The drive to Fort Custer was along a lot of country roads and lake sides, but it was only about 30 miles by road, and I took my time. Arrived before 10:00, then spent about an hour at the dump rinsing out my black water tank and filling up all my fresh water tanks. Once again, this is a camp with 1st century AD technology, just a hand pump, unfortunately, but it’s not too far to the people camp where I can fill up again later in the week when I need. to. Arrived at the horse camp before noon, and discovered they had some pens with ShelterLogic roofs on them, so at least there was a little shade. The rest of the campground is wide open, so naturally I got out my solar panel as soon as I could. Got set up pretty quickly, then stopped to cool off for awhile. Really hot today, in the 90’s, and worst because there’s no shade for me and Lola, so I just sat and read for awhile, too hot to do anything else. Then I checked on my packages and found that my bed had arrived at the post office, which was only about a mile from the entrance to the camp, so I ran in and picked it up. Got back to camp and started putting the adapters in that I needed. The mattress is the perfect fit! Then I discovered that the adapter for hooking it to the pump wasn’t going to work, that I would need some kind of tube to connect the two things together, so I ran back into town to the only store there, which wasn’t the general store that was advertised on the outside, but rather a discount palette store. Just as I arrived, though, an Amazon truck showed up at the post office with my second package, which was a remote for the TV. Two nights ago it wouldn’t work, so I ordered a new one (it had inadvertenly gone through the wash, but seemed okay afterward, at first), then last night it worked just fine! Go figure! I think the stupid smart TV was updating and that’s why it wasn’t responding, so now I have a spare remote. The palette store didn’t have what I needed, but I did buy a pair of sunglasses for five bucks, my other ones have been getting pretty scratched. So I drove east to a hardware store a few miles away, but they didn’t have what I needed either, and they sent me a few more miles down the road to a full fledged Do-It-Best store that had exactly the tubing I needed. Stopped for fuel (diesel has gone up a bunch in the last few weeks for some reason), got back to camp a started putting the rest of the adapters together. Had a little problem and had to call Airbeds Unlimited, (Michael has been fantastic with support!), and we got it worked out, and before long, I had a full air mattress! Yay! This one has a 25 year warranty, so hopefully this will be the last bed I’ll ever need. Can’t wait to try it out! Of course, by the time I got finished putting it all back together, I was sweating like a pig, and the night isn’t going to cool down much, so I may not sleep as well as I would like. Anyway, time for a cold shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!
Monday, September 4, 2023 – Quiet Day in Camp
Hey Babe,
Slept late this morning and missed saying goodbye to the Gypsy Girls, they got out really early. By mid-day most of the campers were gone anyway, so I ended up putting Apollo on his long line and let Flash wander, they enjoyed grazing. I did a load of laundry and did my housekeeping, then spent the afternoon either reading or on the computer, mostly downloading pix that Leah had taken (the signal is still so slow here, I was hoping when folks left the bandwidth would open up, and finally did around 7:00, so I got to watch a little TV at last) and finishing my bookkeeping exercise from the other day. Put a few things away, but not much, as this next trip has to truly be the shortest one ever, just 25 miles, about 45 minutes supposedly. The next spot has no shade and apparently no grass, so tomorrow is going to be a hot one for everybody! Back in the low 90’s here! But there’s a cold front coming in Wednesday night, so the rest of the week looks nice. Like I said, a quiet day! Not much else tell! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Sunday, September 3, 2023 – Nice Ride at Barry Springs
Hiya Darlin’,
A little better night sleep last night, but I can’t wait to get my new air mattress, my old one has big lumps where the baffles have let go, and it’s not very comfortable anymore! Had a leisurely morning, then finally saddled up Flash in the early afternoon and headed out on the Billy The Kid Trail that led over to the main road, then across the road to the Barry Springs tract, which isn’t technically part of Yankee Springs, but they do have a nice loop over there, it was about 8.5 miles from camp and around. Like so many trails I’ve been on, it was nice, but needed some TLC. Quite a few downed trees that have been that way for so long there’s a well entrenched bypass around them, some areas with prickly plants that stretch across the trail and snag you. I got a couple of scratches along the way. Other than a few technical challenges, it was a very nice ride. Flash was quiet and fairly slow most of the way, until we started heading back toward camp, then he picked up the pace a bit. Once we got back to camp, I took him through the obstacle course again, this time spending time on getting him to climb up on the big tires. He’s always been reluctant to do that, but the setup here was so perfect, I couldn’t pass it up. There are a couple of individual tires, and we practiced on one of those until I could get him to cross over it okay, then I took him to the other obstacle, which was 5 tires of different sizes set up to be like a progression of steps up and down. It took awhile, but he finally managed to do it in a controlled manner. Several times he’s be doing just fine going up and down, but on the second to last tire he’s just decide to jump off. Gypsy girl Leah came by and took some fantastic photos, Flash really is photogenic! Afterward the girls came and visited for awhile, then I got the rest of my chores done, had dinner, and got frustrated again not being able to watch my usual hour of TVwith dinner. I just can’t understand why, with 3-4 bars of cell service, I have terrible internet service here! It should be fantastic, it’s so much better than most of the other places I’ve been this summer, and yet it’s just about the worse service I’ve had! Doesn’t make any sense, and couldn’t figure it out. Anyway, it’s getting past my bedtime, I still have my Spanish lesson to do, and my shower, which tonight I need to cool off, quite a hot, humid day today! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Saturday, September 2, 2023 – Quiet Day For Me, Busy in Camp
Hey Sweetie,
Woke up before 4:00 this morning for some reason, only got a little bit of sleep after that, so I was feeling a bit tired today. That was fine, since I wasn’t going to ride today, and didn’t have much else planned, except to fill up the truck water tank, which I did in the afternoon. Then I nodded off my chair before dinner! The Gypsy Girls asked me over for dinner, and I made some Spanish rice to go along with their stackable dinner, which was layers of Fritos, beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. and had a very enjoyable meal with them and their friend Alaina, who’s in the process of gentling a BLM mustang she adopted less than two years ago. Had a nice chat, then headed back to the trailer to settle in for the evening. A nice quiet day, though camp was very full, and busy, but no drama in the least! Looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow. Good night, babe! Love you!
Friday, September 1, 2023 – Bookkeeping and Ride Day
Hi Babe,
I’m happy to say that my air mattress doesn’t seem to be going down the way that it was, but the baffling is definitely getting worse, so I’m glad I ordered a new one, should be at the next place next week. I spent a good part of the day straightening out one of my accounts, seems I haven’t reconciled it in a long time, so I had to go digging around to get it solved. Finally managed to finish it off after 2:30, so I had time to saddle up Flash and go for a ride. This time, I headed out on a trailhead a few campsites over from me, with a sign for Billy the Kid Trail, which isn’t on the map, so I was curious where it went. We took it for about a quarter mile when it came up to the church and cemetery at the end of the road where you turn into to get to camp. It seems it crosses the main road and keeps going into a tract called Barry Springs. Since I had no idea how long it was, I opted to turn back and do some research about it. I got back to camp and went out toward the west, to do the two big loops in reverse. We took another side trail just to explore it, and it led us to a parking area trailhead. We headed back and got onto our original plan, and finished the two long loops in just over two hours. Turned out to be about 8.5 miles in all. That’s every trail in here, except the connector between the two loops. So I’m thinking next time I ride, it will be over to Barry Springs. I did some research and found a map of the horse trail, it’s just one big loop about nine miles long, so it should be a good ride. Settled down for the evening, watch the final Big Valley over dinner, then went looking for another series. I discovered that the Jack Ryan series has come to an end after four seasons. Remember, we watched the first season together, and by the time the second season came out, I’d forgotten most of what happened, so I abandoned it, vowing to only watch series that are complete rather than wait season to season. So that’s my next project. This place has been filling up all day, not surprisingly, and the Gypsy girls from the Shore to Shore ride arrived just before 8:00. I knew they were coming, so I said hello, then left them alone to get set up. We can talk in the morning. That’s all the news! Good night, darlin’! Love you!