Archives for 2023

Hi Babe!
As any trail rider will tell you, a trail generally looks completely different when it’s done in reverse, and that has certainly been true for this Shore to Shore ride. Today, however, we finally passed Santa, which is the northern route that I cam down on, and turned west onto never before seen (by me and Flash, that is!) trails that will take us all the way to Lake Michigan.What an adventure this has been, and continues to be! Most of the trails were really nice today, fully wooded until the last six miles or so, when there was a couple of miles of recovering forest, then four miles of essentially sand and gravel road all the way to camp. It’s been getting hotter, and some folks have made arrangements to leave earlier and catch rides back, so almost the whole camp emptied out at 5:30, with a second wave a short while after that. I didn’t leave until about 6:00, but Jeff B.had already asked everyone to not park in the grassy area out front of 4-mile so I would have room to move in there, and thank goodness, it was empty when I arrived. Got busy setting up, had my breakfast, and was just filling up Flash’s water tub when the bus rolled by fifteen minutes early, so I just shut off the water, grabbed my last couple of things and jumped on. Again, I think they’re trying to beat the heat, and there were only a handful of people on the bus, so evidently, folks are getting creative! Didn’t matter, I still got into camp right around 2:00, which was just fine with me. Flash didn’t like the last couple of miles of gravel road, so we were a bit slower getting into camp, but no matter, still had plenty of time to relax and play with Lol after Flash was taken care of. Also, I have FINALLY got my stirrups exactly right! The new one on the right felt SO MUCH BETTER, but was just a tad short, so I dropped it one tiny notch and now it’s perfect. Only had the tiniest little twinge in my right foot (which is still a bit swollen from the crackup I had in Tennessee), so I’ve evidently found the sweet spot, at last! Very grateful for working all that out! Have the best cell phone service yet, with four bars! Been told it will be good the rest of the way. It did get into the mid-80’s today, but with 37% humidity and some high clouds, it was perfect for me, even if it was a bit warm for the northerners! Anyway, had my leftovers from Ma Deeters for dinner, went to the riders meeting, and it’s shower and betime! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hiya Sweetie!
Up bright and early again, seems I’m right on schedule, even got out before Sam and Susie this morning! They caught up with me and I let them pass once I hit the blacktop, they always like to drive a lot faster than me. A pretty short drive to Luzerne, but when I arrived, there were a couple of tenters setting up, and one of them was putting her tent right in the middle of the area that I needed for my rig. Why do tiny tenters so often want to take the biggest site available? Well, I explained to them the situation, and one seemed okay with it, the other one got downright nasty with me, even when I tried to apologize! Of course, that same woman dismantled the firepit that someone had created in order to use the stones to prop up her tiny tent stakes, and obviously wasn’t going to put back. The fact that this trail and these camps wouldn’t even be here without the MTRA was of no interest, she just made a fuss over being kicked out, saying I did it “rudely” when I was actually pretty nice about it, just in a hurry because I had a lot to do before the bus came! Anyway, they moved like snails but finally got moved, though I had to really rush around to get things done in time. Anyway, I just managed to finish in time to get on the bus, and was back at McKinley saddling up Flash in no time. I think we were the last ones out of camp, which is pretty normal, but Flash was pretty energetic again this morning, so it wasn’t long before we were catching up with folks. Uncharacteristically, Sam and Susie were at the back, but that’s because Susie was on a new horse and she was taking her time with her. I passed up a bunch of other groups, too, and I was working on my conditioning pace of one mile slow, one mile fast. Colleen on her paint kept up with me for quite a while, but eventually dropped off. The trail was really nice at the beginning (well, once you get past the half mile out of camp of clear-cutting) until the boardwalk bypass, which was mostly roads, first asphalt then dirt the rest of the way back to camp. Sam and Susie took a lot of shortcuts and popped out in front of me on the asphalt road, but I ended up passing them again and getting back to camp, miraculously, before 2:00! Once again, Flash did a magnificent job! I rode past the bus to get my highline stuff, but it was locked, so I had to just let Flash graze awhile and eat on his hay bag. I broke a stirrup strap today, so the last couple of miles was pretty uncomfortable. I managed to piece it back together but the stirrup was too short, so once I got back and got Flash settled, I started working on it. Happy to say the tenters moved way over to the other side of the campground, happy I don’t have to deal with them! Took me over half an hour to fix the stirrup, but it’s something I should have done a long time ago, hopefully it will permanently solve my problem. Disconnected and drove over for my bucket on the bus afterwards, got the highline done, had some dinner, settled down for a quiet evening. Looking forward to a day off tomorrow, though I will be going into town to see about propane, and to have a meal at the famous Ma Deeters everyone talks about. Flash will be happy about that, too, I’m sure! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe!
My body clock is definitely on ride time again! In bed by 9:00, though it took me a bit to get to sleep, woke up at 5:15 (it’s already daylight, which is why it’s not bothering me too much!) and was on the road to McKinley before 6:00, and that wasn’t even trying very hard to be quick! Arrived at McKinley with just a few rigs ahead of me, lots of room to park so I ended up about where I was last time, right across from the outhouse. Got the water bucket and hay bag filled, had breakfast for me and Lola, caught the bus at 8:00 and was back before 8:40, and on the trail by about 9:10. Though this leg is billed as 28, I looked it up and saw that last time we came through here, my app registered less than 25 miles, though when extracted to Google Earth it was just a bit over 25, which agreed with two other ladies who mapped it. This truly is a beautiful trail! All along the AuSable River, no road riding, all woods except for the very end where the area around the camp had been clear cut awhile back. Lots of bridges and water stops along the river. Flash was full of energy this morning, so I just let him do his thing. He was passing groups of horses all along the way. He finally started to slow down a bit at mile 14, and really got sluggy around mile 18, but then at about mile 21, Linda and her little Paso came up and passed us, and Flash decided to follow them the rest of the way. I turned out to be the perfect thing, because he was so tired he hung back off her tail and I was able to give him a loose rein, which is exactly what I’ve been trying to get him to do forever! I don’t know if he’ll remember it after he’s rested, but I’ll take it in the meantime! Got back to camp just after 3:00, got him squared away, played ball fetch with Lola for awhile to wear her out, made dinner, along with a Big Valley (there’s just enough signal here, whoo-hoo!), now I’m ready for shower and bed. One more ride tomorrow, less than 24 miles, then a day off in Luzerne. Looking forward to that! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Up early this morning, to start the first day of the second ride. I was ready by 6:30, but Jimmy decided to wait to follow the bus, then we never saw it leave and ended up being way behind. He got on the bus as soon as we got there, and I unloaded Flash with no problem. I had loaded him all saddled up, so it only took a few minutes to get his boots on and be ready to ride. The lake was quite a bit calmer today, with the wind from the west laying it pretty flat, so I had very little problems getting Flash into the water. Once we accomplished that, we headed west on the trail. There was one other group that started the same way ahead of me, and it wasn’t long before we caught up and passed them. We were just past the halfway mark when we started running into the riders coming from the opposite direction. Other than the few roads in town, the rest of the ride went smoothly, Flash seemed good and strong, and since tomorrow is another rest day, I pushed him a bit to keep up a good pace most of the time. We arrived in camp before 11:00, having left the beach about quarter to eight, so we must have averaged over 4 mph, which was just fine with me. Spent the afternoon doing laundry, finish my deviled eggs for the pot luck supper and did some packing, took a quick ride out to the Dam Store to pick up some ice for my neighbor and check my email and do my Spanish lesson at the same time. Riders meeting was at 6:00 pretty quick considering there’s no ride tomorrow, but Jeff was nice enough to mention me and my book, and to ask if I’ll do my poem again on another night, to which, of course, I agreed. Then came the supper, and then I decided to get back on “ride” schedule, was showered and in bed just after 9:00. A lovely, easy ride to start, but things will get a little tougher after this, but I’m ready! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
We did it! Flash and I completed the first of our two Michigan Shore to Shore rides! Since I had arranged for a return trailer trip to River Run Camp, I didn’t have to get up so early to move my trailer to the shoreline, and managed to sleep in a little later (though my body clock woke me at 5:00, I managed to go back to sleep until 6:30), had breakfast and thought I had a little time to get on the trail early, but the bus was back by 7:15, so I ended out being the last out of camp, again! No matter, I knew I would pass people, and we did. Most of the way was more beautiful forest, fairly level with good footing, a beautiful ride. We had a little bit of road riding in the town of Oscoda, and then I missed a marker and went over a bridge to a flashing light (which I remember was part of the instructions), went straight and ended up on a beach of Lake Huron that had obviously not been touched by any other horses ahead of me. Not to be deterred, I spent about 10 minutes getting Flash into the water, so we could accomplish yet another major project (those of you who have been following me for awhile know the objective started with feet wet in the Atlantic on Assateague Island, then the Pacific in Oregon, then the Gulf of Mexico on San Padre Island, then Lake Ontario to complete all four cardinal points), so now I’ve done the second of the five Great Lakes, and will have the third, Lake Michigan, by the end of the month if all goes according to plan, leaving me Superior and Erie to complete that goal. After he finally got fairly comfortable in the lapping waves, we headed back to find where we missed a marker, and found the right way, with a different flashing light, and Flash was much calmer getting into the water there, for which I was grateful. Sarah was there on Apache, and she went out further, so Flash was braver and followed out a bit, too. Too cold for swimming, though! Flash was full of energy today, and kept a good four plus mph averaged. Amazing after all the miles he’s gone! He’s going to love having a few days off! Got him loaded up into Julie’s trailer with no problem, and was back in camp in no time, back by noon! Sad that I won’t see many of these people again, it’s been a great group, everyone got along so well! But I’m sure I’ll be seeing some of them again at some point. Got Flash squared away, filled my water tanks, had lunch, then the crash came. Started reading, went up into the bedroom to be more comfortable and promptly fell asleep for an hour, woke up for a minute, fell asleep for another hour. It’s like the crashes we experienced after working a convention, nonstop for a week, full of energy, then when it’s over, a total crash! Finally got up and did a little cleanup and reorganizing, and got out my solar panel, all that I had the energy for. There are a few campers left, so I had a conversation with Barb from Missouri, then took a walk around camp and had another conversation with her and another man, then got involved with a political discussion with the two Sams I met on the first day I arrived at Stoney Creek. Funny, they’re good friends, and one’s a Republican and one’s a Democrat, so we had a lively discussion, but everyone still gets along, just the way a democracy should be! Finally got back to the trailer just before nine, having a drink, waiting for the water to heat up, then it’s shower and bed! Amazing experience! Love you, babe! Good night!