Hi Babe!
What a fantastic day! Managed to get to bed reasonably early last night, had an excellent night sleep, read for a short while in the morning, then saddled up Flash to take a longer, faster test ride today, to see how his leg really is. He was so full of energy, he was like a different horse! After the first couple of miles as he got warmed up, he suddenly decided he wanted to go, go, go! I don't know if it was the cooler weather, the long layoff, or just that he was feeling frisky, but he insisted on gaiting and cantering for nearly five miles! Considering the trails here are mostly single track, hilly, windy, curvy and right through the forest, it was all I could do to hang on! I can't remember the last time he wanted to move that fast, but it's definitely been awhile. I didn't want to discourage him, he seemed to be having so much fun, and so was I! To make it even better, when I got him back to camp, I kept a careful eye on his weight distribution, and not once did he favor any of his legs. So happy, and relieved! I've got my old horse back. Whoohoo! Rinsed him off, then left him at the trailer for a few minutes while I fixed the gate on his paddock. The top gate screw had come out this morning because the post is rotten in the center, plus it was too high for the bottom bracket to fit into the lower gate screw, so I drilled a new hole farther down so that it would set on the bottom gate screw properly. Once that was done, I put him away, still keeping an eye on him, but there seemed to be no side effects to all his speediness today, thank goodness. So enjoyed myself! After awhile, I got Apollo out and took him for a walk around the camp loop just for exercise, and did the same later with Lola, who didn't bother to come with us the first time. At least I'm getting some walking in these days! Finally settled down for the evening to a new BBC series, Monarch of the Glen, based in Scotland, which is a lot of fun. I had started another fantasy series, Wheel of Time, but it was so violent and gory, I decided to pass on it. Anyway, planning on another early evening, and hopefully another good night sleep, now that the cold front has come through. Back to the perfect weather I always seek, seventies during the day, fifties at night! Loving it! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Had a great night sleep, a slow morning, and then a short, three mile ride on Flash, just to see how his leg did. What a ride! He was fine and normal for the first couple of miles as we started down by the river just to see how it looked after last year's flood (it was fine!), then headed up the yellow trail. I just wanted to do a short ride, so we did yellow, then purple. At the last mile, though, as we were heading back to camp, he suddenly became very excited and started wanting to canter, even though it was woodsy, twisty, windy and hilly! Don't know what got into him, except that he wanted to get back to camp as quick as possible! I had to stop and circle him a few times just to get him to settle down. Guess his leg wasn't bothering him, was it? We got back, I rinsed him off and put him away, keeping an eye on his right rear hind the whole time and didn't see any indication of anything being off. Yay! Next ride, we'll go a lot farther and see how it holds up. Very glad it doesn't seem to be anything too serious, though it's probably too early to tell. Spent the rest of the day in my usual routine, though I took Lola for a couple of walks around the camp loop just for exercise, to keep from doing nothing but sit all day, and to give her a little remedial training. She's hasn't been coming when I call very well, so we did a little work on that today. Settled down for my usual evening, heading to be soon! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Another good night sleep, did my chores, then saddled up Flash for our first ride out of Sedalia. Turns out the trails look like they haven't had any TLC in a very long time. It was marked well enough, but I was covered in spider webs in no time. Once I hit the road, I started down a forest road, but that was so gravelly, we ended up going cross country into the woods for a bit before finally getting back on the trail, which was actually along the road for about a quarter mile. We headed back into the woods, and that section was also not in very good shape. We followed it as far as Johns Creek, which was only a couple of miles, before I decided the day was better spent going shopping rather than going any farther on that trail. We followed the road back, except for the last short section which Flash opted to take, and were back in camp in less than 90 minutes from when we left. I sponged him down and put him on the highline, changed clothes and headed out to Tractor Supply for propane and MSM for Apollo, and Walmart for the rest of my shopping. Got back to camp shortly after 3:00 and settled down for the rest of the day. It was over 90 degrees, so I'm thinking I came a bit farther south a bit too early, but there's a cool front coming in, so this is supposed to be the hottest day. I was glad I put out Lola's pool yesterday, she's been able to cool off occasionally. Binged on some TV, read for awhile, heading to bed shortly, though I think I'm going to skip the Sleepytime tea tonight, don't need a hot drink right now! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Another good night sleep, foggy this lazy morning, before I and my neighbors saddled up for a short ride. I took Apollo, since it's been a long time since he's been ridden, and I was still a bit worried about Flash, though he seemed to be fine this morning. Apollo was the ultimate slug today, and felt pretty stiff most of the way. We only went a couple of miles, and, of course, we ended up way behind them, so when we passed by camp, I pulled in to switch horses. The plan was to ride down to the main tent to see if they had our volunteer packets, but I was hoping to have one of the vets look at Flash anyway, so I figured there was no time like the present. I put Apollo away and quickly saddled Flash and rode him down, only to meet my neighbors already on the way back. No problem, I kept going, and it turned out there were no packets for us anyway. I had a vet look at Flash, but I couldn't get him to gait (he hates running beside me, and I just haven't taken the time to teach him to do that very much, since I hate running beside him!), so it was pretty pointless. But on the ride down, he was full of energy, and kept that going all the way back to camp, so I decided to see how far we could get, and headed out on the orange trail backward, which is the trail we were going to do yesterday. He acted perfectly fine! We went as far as the intersection just before the carriage barn, and turned around to make sure the markings were clear going in the correct direction. I did some trimming, and reported one intersection that needed a marker, but otherwise it was in good shape. Once we were clearly heading home, Flash picked up speed, and we even cantered for half of what used to be the finish field, and fast gaited (largo) most of the rest of the way, without any apparent detrimental effect. His ankle possibly felt the tiniest bit puffy, but otherwise, he seemed fine! With a few more days off, and if I'm careful not to overdue it, I think he'll stay fine. Got back to camp and rinsed him off, which turned out to be moot in time, then rode up to the tent with Cam and Steve for dinner and the riders meeting. We no sooner got there than another torrential rainstorm rolled in, drowning out the presentation that was going on before dinner. That lasted a good half hour. Yesterday the forecast showed dry for the next week, today it shows rain for all of next week. Sheesh! It stopped by the end of the riders meeting, but another black sky was to the north, so we hurried back to camp (which is now full of trailers, tents and cars), walked the dogs and settled down for the night. Rain started again about an hour later, looks like it's going to be another soggy night, and a soggy ride tomorrow, darn it! Watched an hour of TV, had my Sleepytime tea and shower, and off to bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had an excellent night sleep, woke up to fog, waited for it to burn off before heading out around 10:30. Today we checked the White River trail, though there didn't seem to be hardly any damage on this trail, and the markings were fine. Had one tree down and a couple of closed gates, which I reported to my handler Steph. I had forgotten how much gravel there was on the river part of the trail, so Flash and I weren't too happy about that, but once we swerved away from the river, I took his boots off. The rest of the trail had much better footing. He was behaving very erratically, though, like he was in pain, then suddenly he'd take off for 50 yards, then slow down to nearly a crawl. Several times I even got off and walked beside him, I just don't know what's wrong. He finally sped up a bit on the last mile home, but I'm not sure it was because he was feeling any better, just anxious to get home and pushed through the pain. Suffice to say, it was a long day, and we got back to camp around 3:30. Steve and Cam, who I met here last year, had just come in. They parked right next to me so our awnings face each other. I washed down Flash, gave him a bute and rubbed some Absorbine on his legs. He does seem to be favoring one a bit, though not the same one as before, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. One more day of riding tomorrow and he can relax the rest of the weekend. I had a quick dinner, then sat outside and chatted with my neighbors for a bit before coming back for my tea, cookies, shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
The rain that came in yesterday afternoon continued intermittently throughout the night, so my sleep was equally intermittent. I got up before the alarm, did my chores and breakfast, then killed some time until the radar showed the rain was just about gone. Saddled up Flash, who was extremely cooperative, so I got the impression he was happy and ready to go! We headed out around 11:30 on the shortest trail that I'll be doing, the 13.5 mile red trail, which, from what I've heard, had some of the worst damage done to it from the hurricane last year. That was, indeed, an accurate description. Some sections were fine, but some were completely torn up, hundreds of trees down and shoved off the one side, really ugly in some places, though it was well-marked as I had expected. I did some trimming as I went so now it's better, but it will take years, if ever, for some of this to recover. Still, I'm riding at the Biltmore, I'm on my boy Flash, the weather was fine once the rain moved out, so life is good! Good to be back on the road again! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Woke up bright and early, got everything packed up after breakfast, and we managed to leave camp by about 9:20, almost right on schedule. Today was another day of lovely trails, though the noticeable difference was the number of other hikers that were also on the trail. The terrain was again beautiful, and we had to go by several hot springs and take a bridge over a hot stream, which, in an abundance of caution, Maureen took each mule over separately. Apparently a number of disasters have occurred on that bridge, and with a steaming hot stream to fall into, several animals have been badly scalded. We got over it with no problems, just taking our time. And before we knew it, we arrived at the trailhead around 12:30, with the truck and trailer waiting for us! We unpacked, sorted, loaded and were heading out within the hour. We arrived at the airport a few hours later, where I secured my rental car, transferred everything over, said good-bye to my new trail buddies, and headed over to the hotel. A quick stop at Albertsons for a couple of frozen dinners and cereal pots for the mornings, and I was soon checked into the hotel again. I took a long hot shower (after I took a short bath, stopping the drain with a washcloth as best I could), and I'm not going to be long out of bed, I'm exhausted! Good night, my darlin'! I so wish you had been able to come with me in person, though I know you were there every step of the way in spirit! Love you forever!

Hiya Darlin'!
Hard to believe this journey is nearly over! Woke up to a mostly sunny morning, which gave me the opportunity to do a good cleaning and drying of my tent. It was a leisurely morning, and we celebrated that the sun was making appearances. We packed up and hit the trail after noon, in no hurry since we only had a bit over five miles to go. This was a beautiful trail, one of my favorite sections of the South Boundary trail. I don't know if it was because of some more stunning views, or because there was finally no dust, or that it just smelled so fresh after the rain, but I found the whole experience just lovely. We mostly followed the Snake River, though we often were quite a ways above it, and at the end of the day, arrived at our camp, again on the Snake River. All the rain has turned the river a milky color, but we expect it will be mostly clear again by morning. Keaton tried his hand at fishing, while my focus was to pull everything out of my canvas duffel and set it out to dry. That was mostly successful, with the bag and all the contents getting dry enough to put away after dinner. My sandals managed to get dry, as well as my sheepskin saddle pad. I had to wear my rain pants today, not because it was raining, but because my saddle was so wet. Had another lovely dinner and another evening of going to bed early and reading. We have an early start tomorrow, we have about nine miles to reach to trailhead and many hours to reach Cody. What an amazing journey this has been! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Today was the day our party was to split up. Tony and Ann were headed out with Chase, while I continued on with Maureen and Keaton. It started to rain about 9:30 last night, and was off and on all night and most of the day. The others got out of camp at 9:00, and it wasn't raining then, but it wasn't long before it was pouring down in camp. We waited until after 11:00 when in finally let up enough to mostly get packed and it was after 12:00 when we finally hit the trail. It was a lot of working packing the new configuration, and it continued to rain off and on during the day. Fortunately our next camp was only a mere 3.7 miles, so we arrived before 1:45. More rain made the setup complicated and we all had to set up between downpours. At last, around supper-time at 5:30, the sun finally broke through. We all hung our wetter stuff out to dry. After dinner, I did my Snowy River poem, and then headed to bed. Not even 8:00 yet! But I'll read for a few hours, as usual, before finally dozing off. Another short ride tomorrow, with overnight rain in the forecast, but now only cloudy skies tomorrow, which is an improvement! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Finally! A wildlife sighting! After days of fruitless searching, and constantly being told, well, it's midday so they're all sleeping excuses, we finally saw a mama grizzly and her three cubs! They were skirting around the camp a few hundred yards away, and I got some good pix and video. Yay! Afterward, we got on the trail around 10:30, doing another 13 miles to the next camp. Some of it was the prettier terrain that I've seen, with rolling hills and rivers running through it. Sadly, Tony was hurting pretty badly from his incident with the bees the other day, so we actually stopped for a lunch break, which we hardly ever to. I was glad, though, because I have a hard time eating when I'm constantly surround by dust. It was cloudy today, but no rain to settle the dust, so I've been wearing a bandana around my mouth every day. Maureen decided to carry on with the pack mules, and in some ways, it was a relief because there was a lot less dust stirred up that way. Then I got a little frustrated because I though the priority after lunch should have been to get ailing Tony back to camp ASAP, but instead, Chase made a choice to school his young mule along the way, so we were constantly stopping and starting, which I felt could only be more detrimental to Tony. Unfortunately, when I tried to discretely mention it to Chase, he blew up a me as if I had insulted him, which, of course, was not my intention. Anyway, I wasn't very happy about being chastised just because I was trying to help someone in pain, but ultimately, I had to let it go for the sake of harmony in camp. Another bear was spotted around supper-time, so hopefully we'll have another wildlife sighting tomorrow. There's also suppose to be a hot spring around here somewhere, and they're hopefully going to find it not too far from camp. The thought of soaking in a hot spring is utterly delicious. I hope it happens. Meanwhile, I'm in bed by 8:00, still daylight, but what else is there to do but read? I'll do so for a couple of hours, at least, just to try to maintain some semblance of normal. Good night, babe! Love you!