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!

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!

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!

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!

Hiya Darlin’,
Had a decent night sleep, though I’m now positive I have another leak in my air mattress again, so that’s on my list of things to do now. Started a load of laundry nice and early, got my chores and breakfast done, got my laundry on the line, then saddled up Flash just in time to meet my friend from the Shore to Shore, Sam. I call her Eagle Eyes because every time I rode with her, she was able to point out critters I would never have otherwise seen, including the tiniest little fawn you can imagine! She lives up in Cadillac, and drove down to ride with me, and we took a fabulous 19-mile ride, mostly around the perimeter of the Hungerford forest. What a beautiful day, and beautiful trails! I truly love this place, one of my absolute favorites anywhere in the country! Her horse Amy was a stock horse, so we had to do some adjusting, but we had it pretty well worked out by the end. We both had to do a little schooling, and we helped each other out on that. Such a fun day! Got back, chatted for a bit, then after she left I made dinner, did my evening chores, settled down, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
This was one of those days when I woke up feeling tired for some reason. I guess it was the accumulation of all the stuff I did this week, but I just felt too exhausted to do any of my usual Sunday chores, like laundry and housekeeping. I had promised Alayna I’d pick up the Poker Run chip bags that were out on the trail, but I didn’t get the energy until nearly 1:00. I wanted to go later, after most people had gone, because I was hoping to take Lola with me, but she was limping too much, so I left her at home. When we arrived at the place where the first bag was supposed to be, it wasn’t there! I texted Alayna, and kept moving to the second spot, and the bag wasn’t there either! Turns out, another girl had picked up two bags, and a third girl had picked up the first bag, so it was an entirely wasted trip for me. The bags did finally make it all back to me, though, so at least I’ll have them to give back to Alayna. People just trying to be helpful, I suppose, but had I known, it would have saved me the trip! It was very hot today, nearly 90, a far cry from the 47 degree morning we had the other day. I ended up doing nothing else today but put all my tools away, since I won’t need most of them, and only a couple once I get the new motor on Wednesday. Relaxed watching TV the rest of the day, that’s all I had the energy for. Hoping to get a good night sleep, as I’ve arranged to take a ride with Sam tomorrow, she’s coming back with a friend for a ride and I said I’d join them. Need to get a load of laundry done first, so I’ll be up early in the morning! With that said, off to shower and bed, though it’s still very warm, so I’m not sure how quick I’ll be falling asleep. Good night, sweetheart! Love you!