Archives for 2023

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!

Hiya Darlin’,
Woke up before the alarm and got busy, busy. Did chores, did a load of laundry, roasted some coffee beans so I would have a to go cup while running around today, finally headed out before 9:30, arriving at my alignment appointment just in time. Wasn’t long before they were telling me they didn’t think they could align it without $1500 worth of ball joint repairs, although in the end when I said I couldn’t afford that right now, I was only expecting to pay $100 to get my steering wheel straightened out with an alignment, per the quote I got from them online, the managed to do it anyway, so I guess the ball joints weren’t really that bad. Then they presented me with a bill for $165! I complained, and they reduced it by $15, still 50 percent higher than my expected budget. Not happy! Then I ran a couple of errands, picking up the connectors I’ll need for my new air mattress at Home Depot, stopping at Meijer’s for some nectar, milk and juice, then Tractor Supply for propane and pine shavings. Something about this soil here, the corrals the horses are in are getting too muddy and smelly, so I decided to splurge on some shavings for them. Stopped to fill up the water tank at the dump station (sorry, “sanitation” station, as they call it now!), got back to camp, started filling up the RV tank, and while I was waiting, I wrote my thoughts about the lack of honesty of the alignment folks and put them up online. Once I got done filling the tank, I finally saddled up Apollo and Lola and I went for a short ride. He’s such a slug these days, and he was tripping and stumbling all over the place, not sure what that’s about. I took the shorter of the two loops, hitting the cross trail between the two, which was the only thing I missed the other day. Again, it’s a beautiful ride, but less than five miles, although on Apollo it took over 90 minutes to do. Surprise, surprise, I got a voicemail from the alignment store with an apology and a refund for the difference over $100. Amazing how reducing someone’s star value online suddenly gets them to sit up and take notice. Too bad they didn’t do that when I was actually in the store trying to get them to straighten it out then, would have saved a lot of trouble. Anyway, I let the horses graze for a bit while I cleaned out their paddocks and laid down some shavings, it started smelling better immediately! Finally settled down for dinner and a movie, and, of course, now it’s time for shower and bed. Can’t wait to get my new mattress! I called the next park about accepting the delivery, and would you believe, they refused! First time I’ve ever had a state park refuse to allow me to receive a package! What is it with Michigan postal service? Well, I ended up calling the local post office, and they were more than happy to accept the package for me, so hopefully I’ll be sleeping on a new bed by next week. Long overdue! Anyway, enough said. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Nice and quiet last night, had a great night sleep, though I think my mattress is leaking again, darn it! After chores I saddled up Flash and we ventured out, riding through some really beautiful, dense forest, mostly mixed deciduous trees, mostly sand and dirt trails, with gentle slopes. One section is on a plateau-like ridge with some nice views, then it gently drops down to the return trail along the bottom of the plateau, then through some more nice forest. We saw an incredible huge orange fungus that looked like a cauliflower, and Lola, on her own volition, went a stood by it when I was taking a picture, which really put it’s size in perspective. It was amazing! A beautiful ride, just a lot shorter than I figured. When I arrived in camp, my GPS was saying 7. 21 miles, so I figured I must have missed something, but when I downloaded it onto Google Earth, I was spot on with the trail map! The only thing I didn’t take was the shortcut between the two loops, which is barely 2/10’s of a mile, so that doesn’t make up the difference. On the website they claim ten miles, so that’s obviously an exaggeration! Oh well, it’s pretty, and I still have other things to do here, so I’ll just enjoy that short mileage over and over again! Flash did a great job, he moved along very nicely, we were back in camp in less than 1:45. I put Apollo on an anchor and let them graze for the afternoon, there’s no one else here at the moment. I managed to find a drill screw that I was able to use to help anchor the awning, though none of the bolts I picked up the other day worked. One’s going to have to be enough, unless I do some major reconstruction. I did a little mending on my sheepskin saddle cover, then did a bunch of overdue bookkeeping until suppertime. Enjoyed a movie, now it’s off to shower and bed, as usual! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got woken up around 4:00 in the morning by Apollo nickering, which told me Flash had escaped the highline. My fault, I knew when I tied him on I forgot to put the tail through the slip knot, but when I threw on my shoes and checked, he was standing right by the door, so I quickly tied him right and went back to bed. Hadn’t quite got back to sleep when someone came onto my site leading another horse that had evidently escaped, thought my highline was missing a horse until she got close and realized that no, both horses were there. She was talking the whole time, right under my window, and would have woken me up if I hadn’t already been awake. Anyway, she finally went away, I don’t know if she ever found the owner that night, or just waited until morning (which would have been a more sensible thing to do, in my opinion, rather than walking around waking up people. Anyway, I finally got back to sleep, then overslept, not leaving a lot of time before Alayna arrived. I was still eating breakfast, but she brought hers, too, so we ate together, then got the horses ready for a short ride. We ended up going about 3.5 miles, and it seemed like Flash was going extra slow for Apollo’s benefit, which was nice! After we got back, we chatted for awhile, then after she left I contacted Cindy, who had already left on a ride with her friend that arrived this morning. I ended up catching up to them, they were on the hunt for a throat latch that had fallen off her ponied horse’s bridle yesterday. I was looking too, then when I passed a huge group, I asked them if they had seen it, and they had! One of them gave it to me, so I called Cindy to let her know the hunt was over and she could relax. Then she decided she wanted to thank them, and we figured (correctly) that they were in the Group Camp, so we made out way over there. Flash started to get unmanageable again, so I had to run him out several times just to create less fuss. Toward the end of the ride, I actually got off the horse trail and ran him for another couple of miles, just to blow off some of the steam that seemed to be building up in him. I think I’m going to have to do another all out run with him like I did at Goethe the first year I had him, just let him run as fast and as long as he wants, hopefully it will be less than eight miles like last time, but he’s so fit now, it could be longer! I’m becoming convinced I’m better off not trying to ride with other people, that’s the only time he misbehaves, the rest of the time he’s brilliant! Tired of fighting him. Anyway, we got back to camp around 4:00, got him put up, made dinner and relaxed a bit, then went up to visit for a short while with Cindy and her friend. Now I’m back home, ready for shower and bed! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a lovely and somewhat productive day today. Did a load of laundry, ran into town to do some errands, including propane and feed at Tractor Supply, fuel and a little shopping at Walmart, dropped off a book order that I got back in July, but have only now been able to send in (hope this crazy post office won’t deny it because it has Florida as the return address!), then got back just minutes before Sam’s friend Cindy arrived. We made arrangements to ride at 2:00, which gave me time to put away all the groceries, the propane and the feed, and try to to put the screws I bought on the awning, but they were still too small, so I’ll have to run into town again. I don’t dare drive it with no screws in the top of the awning frame! Then got together with Cindy, who was riding a Missouri Foxtrotter and ponying her Paso Fino, and off we went! It turned into a lovely ride, especially after the clouds finally started to dissipate. We did about 9.5 miles, and some of that was going at quite a good pace, at last! So many people I’ve been riding with lately only want to walk, so it was wonderful to be able to really move out several times. And it still wasn’t enough for Flash, he wanted to go farther and faster than ever! At one point I had to just let him run at top speed for quite a ways, then had to wait for Cindy to catch up. She didn’t mind, it’s all good, and it was a very nice ride. Once we got back to camp we went our separate ways to take care of our horses, then her husband showed up with pizza and I rejoined them for supper. She had put up a cornhole game (very popular in horse camps) and we ended up inviting Jody to join us, who was parked nearby and to whom I spoke with for awhile when she arrived. We ended up playing cornhole (she had never played before, but did pretty well!) until well after dark, which was ridiculous, of course, but we had a great time. Finally got back home well after 9:00, ready for shower and bed! Good night, my sweet! Love you!