Hiya Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, did some more chores and computer work this morning, then Flash and I headed out for a nice ride. Because the orange trail is closed for some kind of creek restoration, I decided to take a different route, which didn't exactly turn out as planned. I thought I saw a turnoff for the small family cemetery that's not far from the camp, but after going up the road for more than a mile, I realized that what I saw was a road called Buck's Grave, which was NOT the way to the cemetery. Then I remembered that the last time I went there, I had to go cross country for a bit to get to the road, as there really wasn't a trail, at least not one you could find anymore. We turned on Buck's Grave anyway, because at least it seemed like it would bring up back to the green trail eventually, after making another left turn off that road. Turns out that's where they are doing major construction, right where the green trail comes out! There were numerous large pieces of equipment, a portapotty, and a large semi box trailer. I passed a truck leaving on the way out, but there wasn't anyone at the site when I came through. Following the Avenza map, I managed to fine a way around the fencing and picked up the green trail, though it was cordoned off coming from the other direction. Oh, well! We continued on the green trail to the yellow, then took the yellow all the way back to camp. Then I put Apollo on a lead and we ponied him down to the boat ramp and around the picnic area, then the campground loop, just to get him some exercise. He jogged most of the way, just to keep up with Flash, and they had a short munch on the nice grass down by the river. Once again, the weather was gorgeous, even felt a little hot as it got to 80 degrees today! Guessing all these cooler temps have made me used to riding in the 60's! Didn't mind it though, I only needed one layer today. Gave Flash a rinse, then put them both away. Settled down for the evening, more Aussie Heart Guys, will be off to bed soon! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Once again got to bed ridiculously late, and slept in since the sun doesn't hit me until about 9:00! Started the day with chores and a load of laundry, did a few things on my computer before saddling up Flash and hitting the trail. I only wanted to take him for a fairly short ride today, didn't want him to think every day would be a long ride like last week! He was a bit sluggish getting started, but was fabulous after he warmed up, and of course, as we turned and headed back toward camp. We took the yellow trail to the blue trail and then came down along the side of the river, which is one of my favorite trails out here. It needs some TLC, but it was passable, though a bit tricky in a couple of spots. The fall colors are nowhere near as vibrant as usual, likely because of the serious lack of rain this area has been having for the last few months. It seems the leaves are just drying up and falling off, with barely a hint of color. But it was still a gorgeous day, perfect temps in the mid-70's, partly cloudy, just fabulous! We only went about 5.8 miles, so short and sweet, but just about right for what we wanted to do. Got him settled, took my laundry down, and settled down for the evening. A wonderful day, hard to ask for much more! So grateful for this life! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Sleeping well out here, despite the colder weather, my new wool cap from Peru is doing a terrific job of keeping me warm! Got up slightly earlier so I could help Steve and Cam get packed up, they've decided to go home after Steve's fall yesterday. The trail gals all came by to help as well. After chores, breakfast, and helping them, I finally saddled up Flash (since I obviously can't ride Cam's horse as planned!), though it took me awhile to get a bute tab in him. He's learned all my tricks for hiding that obviously nasty-tasting pill, so I had to break it up and hide it even more before I managed to get it in him. We finally got on trail around 11:30. The whole orange trail is over 16 miles long, but several miles of it had already been checked, so I managed to cut it down to about 14 miles, which was plenty! Flash did pretty well, all things considered, even though I could tell he was tired. After all, he's done more miles this week than he has in the past two months! He's a trooper, though, and kept his spirit up enough so the last mile was at a nice fast pace, despite his weariness. We managed to get into camp about 3:20, and by 3:30, I was in the truck driving back up to Whole Foods to get my final package, a new tailgate handle for the truck, since it was nearly impossible to get the tailgate up and down with the broken one, and I'm going to need that to hook up! Wrangled with traffic, got back by about 4:30, and immediately started to do that repair. While I was gone today, the camping area really got filled up, so lots more people. I lent my truck inverter and a corkscrew to a neighbor who needed to blow up their air mattresses, finished repairing the tailgate handle, so now it works like new! Shortly after that I put a chair in the back of my truck and headed down to the volunteer supper and ride meeting, where, in addition to the usual information, they showed a nice promo video about the history of horses at the Biltmore and the families responsible for the legacy. Nicely done! Just about dark by then (and getting quite cold!), got back, blanketed the horses and gave them more hay before heading inside to warm up! Steve let me take his couple of bales of hay, much nicer than anything I've seen in awhile, so I can't wait to finish off this crappy stuff I got in TN and let them start on this. Won't be long out of bed, since Art and I need to be at the bridge by 8:00, and it will be a long day tomorrow, just like it was a long (and productive) day today! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Another good night sleep, another gorgeous day, cool in the morning but warming up perfectly in the afternoon. Just the sort of day that makes life perfect! Got my chores done, watched as my neighbors Steve and Cam headed out, had a chat with a new Ride & Tie neighbor, Sara, then saddled up Flash and headed out on the Black Trail. I seem to remember much of this was previously the white trail, or more commonly known as the River Trail, as it follows the French Broad River for quite awhile. In the beginning, there's a lot of bikers and hikers, so they all had to stop and admire Flash, who was a perfect gentleman while everyone loved on him. Once we got through the lagoon area, it's a gravel surface, so it's not my favorite, but eventually it goes through one of the prettiest sections on the north side of the estate where the footing is much nicer. I gave Flash another bute pill this morning, and it seemed to work wonders, he was much better, so whatever is ailing him, muscles or sore feet, was helped by the bute. The Black trail turned out to be over 13 miles, and we had some challenges, going under a couple of overpasses, meeting up with a bunch of cows feeding, and finally, just as we were only a little over a mile out of camp, I met up with Rachel who happened to be going by just as I was crossing by the lagoon, and she told me Steve had taken a fall and was on his way to the ER. It didn't take much urging to get Flash to canter most of the rest of the way back to camp (it was back to camp, after all!), and we did nearly 10 mph and was there in no time. I arrived just as they were pulling away from their camper, and we stopped for a minute and chatted, and I made sure they knew I would do whatever needed doing to look after their critters, and off they went. In the morning, Cam had offered me her horse to ride tomorrow, since he (Teddy) is younger and more rested than Flash, who has done more miles this week than he has all month, and I'm hoping we can still do that, since I've been assigned the 15+ mile orange trail, and I'm not sure Flash would be totally okay with that. Probably, but this is a better alternative. Anyway, since it was going to be a long ride tomorrow, I decided to run into Asheville and pick up my mail and packages, and was hoping the last package would be there, and I got everything except the last thing I ordered, which didn't show up until after 7:00! I had no idea it would be so late, so I'll just have to go back in sometime over the weekend. At least the Whole Foods, where the Amazon pickup is, is open over the weekend. I really needed my mail, and that would be closed over the weekend, so I went into town and picked that up, along with the other packages that were already there. Got back to camp in plenty of time, gave all the critters some food and water, then was happy to see my friend Art, the Canadian vet, arrive. We chatted for a minute, but it was just getting dark, so he left to go set up his trailer, I finished up my chores, and settled down for the evening. Around 9:30, Steve and Cam finally showed up, I helped get them settled, and they've decided to leave in the morning, so I guess it's just Flash and me on the orange trail tomorrow! Heading to shower and bed, it's been a long day! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, woke up to another chilly morning, did my usual morning chores, had a nice chat with Steph and Annie, the two trail gals here, then saddled up Flash and was heading out, this time on the lime green trail, just before noon. Flash was a bit sluggish today, no doubt because we haven't been riding much lately and he's a bit out of shape, plus the gravel here is bad, and he probably feels it right through his boots and boot insert. I'm going to see if I can find something a bit thicker and tougher, hopefully that will make a difference. While yesterday, the yellow trail was impeccable, today's trail had a few brambles and branches I had to remove, plus I found three different instances of stakes with signs down on the ground, and one intersection where I suggested one more confidence marker. What a beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky except for the occasional jet contrail, cooler in the morning but warmed up nicely during the day, reaching the low 70's. The forecast is the same for the rest of the week! First time I've been here when I didn't have to deal with rain at some point! Riders are going to love it this weekend! Ran into a lot of day riders, and my friends Steve and Cam showed up a little after 6:00, so they were setting up in the evening. We'll get caught up tomorrow and over the weekend. Meanwhile, had a thoroughly enjoyable ride, albeit a little slower than normal, so I gave Flash a bute when we got back for his presumably sore muscles. Since I couldn't help much with their setup, I relaxed during the evening, until it's time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Got to bed at a reasonable hour, slept pretty well, woke up once around 5:30, finished a book and fell back to sleep, not waking up until 9:30! Guess I needed the sleep! It was another chilly morning, temps about 37 degrees, so staying in my nice warm flannel sheets did feel good! Finally got up, and by now the sun had started to warm things up nicely. It’s a lot faster in an open field than in the deep, dark woods, that’s for sure! Did my chores, then saddled up Flash for our first ride, on the yellow trail. I don’t think I’ve ridden the yellow trail before, or at least not this rendition, as there were sections I don’t remember ever being on before, but I could be wrong. I was very glad I booted up Flash, because we had quite a bit of gravel to contend with, but it was a beautiful ride, and of course, he was brilliant, as always! We managed to do the full 12 miles in about 2.5 hours, averaging well over 4 miles and hour. Good boy! Gave him a nice rinse off, then settled down to do some work on my computer, making plans for upcoming stays, booked my two weeks at Woods Ferry, except this time I’m splurging and reserving the double site, which had a lot more room, obviously, enough for me to put up a paddock instead of using their small paddocks, and also a better chance at getting my Starlink signal. I didn’t get my senior discount, but still, $200 for a two week stay is pretty good, even if the single sites with the discount would only be about $50. Cheap rent any way you look at it! It might be farther to a water spigot, but that’s a problem easy to solve, as always, by filling my truck’s water tank. I ordered a new 100′ hose after losing my other one, so I think I’ll be able to reach one anyway, but no matter. Anyway, settled down for a quiet evening, off to bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Well, I finally had a good, mostly uninterrupted night of sleep, so I guess the Sleepytime tea and three acetaminophens did the trick! So glad about that! Felt a lot better today, though I took more painkillers in the morning before I got up, just to keep the healing going. At least, I hope it's healing, and not just more age-related deterioration! I decided to take Flash for a ride going around the 14+ mile loop in the opposite direction from last time, so I got him saddled and booted and on the trail by just after noon. We climbed up this painfully rocky trail to the start of the loop (it's a lollipop with a two mile stick), then turned left and climbed some more. The plan was to get all the mountain climbing out of the way so the return trip would just be a long, downhill slog, but as it turned out, at three miles, just at the stretch of serious switchbacks, a bunch of trees were right across the trail, completely blocking. If I were younger, more stupid, and maybe had a mule, I might have tried going around it, which required about 15 yards of straight up the side of the mountain, but none of those things are true, so we turned around and headed back. At the loop, we turned out the other side of the sucker for awhile, until I decided we weren't having that much fun going straight up and straight down on seriously rocky trails, so we headed back to camp. I rode over to the park office to report the trail blockage, but the state guys don't handle that, so they gave me a number for the National Forest guys to call. Got back to camp, grabbed Apollo and ponied him around for a bit of exercise. I found Gee Creek, so I let them into that so they could drink and soak their feet, and while I was there, there was a family taking seasonal photos in the creek, and they asked if they could pose with Apollo. Of course I agreed, he can be such a ham when he sees a camera! After our little photo shoot, I got back to camp, trimmed Flash's back feet, put them both away, and mostly just settled down for the evening. Spent some time on the phone with La-Z-Boy customer service, again, who claim to have been "expediting" the shipment of my part since last Friday, and I still don't have a FedEx tracking number for them yet! I'm thinking I may not get this part before I leave TN, which is ticking me off, because this chair is not as comfortable when I can't lean it back, and I'm having enough pain without that adding to it! Grrr! Made the wire transfer to my next vacation (in Sweden!) and otherwise had a quiet evening. Hoping for another good night sleep tonight! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep after all that flurry of activity the last two days, managed a leisurely breakfast and met with the crew at 9:00 this morning. We headed out toward where the horses stayed overnight, though at one point we had a little mishap. A dog literally came out of nowhere right in front of the truck and there was nothing Francesca could do, and we heard a couple of thumps, but then we saw the dog running away, not even limping! We all hoped it would be okay, but there are so many stray dogs around, I imagine this happens all the time. She stopped and retrieved the front license plate which had popped off, but otherwise there was no damage to the truck. Anyway, we carried on, and were soon mounting up on horses. Today's journey took us to the highest altitude I have ever ridden. Our previous record was about 10,500 feet in southern Colorado, but today, we reached the remarkable height of 13,931 feet! It's a wonder we didn't all need oxygen! Thank goodness I've been taking these altitude pills, I'm sure they made a difference today. We stopped for lunch next to a lovely manmade lake, and enjoyed a full chicken dinner before looping back around. Today the trail was mostly gravel road, which is the predominant trail here, lots of open space, and above the tree line, so pretty sparse on vegetation except for some pines obviously planted for erosion prevention, until we descended far enough to resume the usual vegetation. Pretty reminiscent of riding in the western USA. Jane was fascinated with the geology, there was sections of obviously ancient upheavals that had some pretty interesting fault lines. It was about ten miles total, so very enjoyable, not too hard, another good day! One discovery I made was the my horse isn't a gelding, she's a mare! I never looked! They cut roach manes on the geldings and let the mares grow long (sounds rather sexist, doesn't it?), and mine has a long mane, but at the beginning, Jane stated that she had the only mare, and I took her word for it. Trust but verify! I didn't do it! Regardless, she was perfect today, very steadfast, no problems with any trail surprises, though a couple of the other horses shied from some concrete pipe by the road. It was a nice ride. We got back to the hotel by about 4:00, and I got busy trying to finish my video from yesterday. I've gotten a bit behind, but I managed to finish it off last night, primarily because I opted out of dinner. I just was still so full from lunch, and was so far behind on stuff, and I just needed a little alone time to finish these jobs. Had a long talk with Jo back in Florida, she's going through a lot of stuff right now, then finished my video, had a long hot shower and am off to sleep! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Took a few hours to get too sleep last night, too much food, maybe too much caffeine in the chocolate dessert, or too much sleep the night before, but it didn't matter, the hours I slept led me to a full recovery! Had a leisurely breakfast since we weren't getting picked up until 9:30, then we were taken over to where the horses were, on a slip of a dirt road where they had been trucked. It didn't take long before we were off on the trail! Today we did a lot of "town" riding, saw a lot of interesting backyards and ways of life, but within a couple of miles, we had climbed up to the famous salt mines of Maras, an ancient collection of pools that collect salt water through a crazy irrigation system, where it's hauled out to dry, then packed in feed bag size bags and taken away, all done by hand. Apparently the salt mines in Himalaya use dynamite, so this is considered much safer and more natural. We stopped and walked around a bit, and I bought a bag of black, smoked salt and some of those roasted corn kernels that I liked in Lima. Wasn't long before we were off again, still climbing, through a couple more towns, until we stopped for lunch on the top of a plateau with a fantastic view. We were served a nice, filling lunch, then headed off again, through another town, through some fields with free range animals, took a quick stop at Cheqoq where the Incas stored their crops, then eventually ended up at the place where the horses will be staying overnight. We had a beer, then headed back to the hotel via vehicle, where we rested for a couple of hours before going to a local restaurant for another amazing dinner. We could only get reservations for the patio, but it was covered over and felt more like a cave than a patio, so it actually stayed quite warm with all of us in it. It was a long dinner, with lots of laughter and fellowship as we recalled the day and learned more about each other, and Peru. We learned that our hosts were finally able to get our tickets for Machu Picchu, but it required a major change in the schedule. Rather than next Sunday, we will be doing it on Wednesday at 7:30 in the morning (to catch the bus), but that requires us to take the night train tomorrow night at 9:00, stay in a different hotel (though they've arranged for us to keep our rooms here as well, so we only have to pack for the night, and only what we'll want to carry around with us all day, as we won't have a car to store it in), then see the site in the morning for three hours. We weren't able to get the best tickets, but it was all that could be done. They have a strange system here, where there are three different circuits around the site, and you can't choose which one you want, you have to take what you can get, unless, I suppose, you book it months in advance. Anyway, that's tomorrow's problem! We finally returned to the hotel around 8:30, picked up our tickets where Francesca had printed them off, and went to our respective rooms. Took my shower, and amy ready for bed! Good night, baby! Love you!