Pix tocome!

Hey Sweetie!
Had another good night sleep, did chores and breakfast, and had Flash all saddled and ready to go at ten. Heide was a bit late, but just as I was heading to the day parking area to see if she arrived, she was riding down the road towards me, so it was all good! We headed out on the trail, this time covering even more of her freshly-made blue tagged trails, some of which seemed almost like we were just going across country through the woods! Challenging, but a lot of fun! We did over eighteen miles today, but she says she’s covered pretty much all of the trails she’s been marking, so I should have the makings of a decent map by now. We got back to camp by 3:30, said our good-byes at day parking, then I rushed back, put Flash away, and headed out to check my emails and do other quick computer work. That took me past 4:45, so I got back to camp, then rushed up the hill to where the other folks were camping, and we ended up having a lovely evening. Her Garmin cord didn’t work on my computer, so we just arranged for her to email her GPX files of this place, and combined with what I have, we should have most everything we need. They were nice enough to invite me to supper, and we chatted to nearly 7:30. I actually had a bit of cell signal on that side of camp, I’m going to try to put my booster in the truck and see if it’s enough to do what I need to do tomorrow, and save me a six mile trip up the road. Ready to settle down for the evening, shower and bed soon. Good night, babe! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hi Babe!
Had a great night sleep (probably because I drank a little too much bourbon last night 🙂 ), but woke up refreshed and ready to go this morning. Once I got my chores and breakfast done, I went out in search of a cell phone signal sufficient to do a long list of things that have been waiting too long to be done, and ended up have to go six miles, four of those on washboard dirt road, till I could find two bars and a place to pull over, which was really just off the road, since there didn’t seem to be anything but private driveways along the way. Spent about two hours trying to get as caught up on as many things as I could, particularly the time sensitive ones. My text messaging program seems to be on the fritz, I had a hard time sending anything, and was receiving the same text message from Heide about 20 times. Anyway, I ran out of time and headed back to camp, and was saddling up Flash when Heide got there a few minutes early. No worries, we were out on the trail in no time. One of the things about Big Oaks, if you only read the website and look at the map provided by DNR, it only shows about 15 miles of trails, and all of those are clearly dirt/sand/gravel roads. In reality, there are dozens more miles of trails when you include old forest roads and some of the new trails that have been ingeniously created here, many of which Heide guided me on today. Flash and her Rocky mare turned out to be very compatible, and we average well over four mph most of the day. We ended up doing nearly 18 miles, and went through some really beautiful sections. They’ve only been allowed to flag mark them, since they’ve not been officially designated, but apparently it’s open riding here, so horses can go on any of the other trails and roads. The biggest challenge for someone visiting here is the lack of a comprehensive map, but I’ve promised Heide I would help her with that. We got an extra boost in that direction when we stopped off at a campsite with some folks from the Michigan Back Country group, who have some gps files that will certainly help with that! Heide has a lot of that on Ramblr, but isn’t technologically astute enough to figure out how to share it (something we’ll work on this week), so hopefully by the time I leave here, I’ll have all the data I need to help create a map, and the ability to spread it where it needs to go to encourage campers to come here. The campground is pretty nice, right on the edge of the lake (though there’s a dropoff, so not easy to get to, except from site 16), the pump is now solar powered, and most sites are shaded and lovely. The trails today were a mixture of single and double trails through the woods, with the occasional short section on the “official” trails/dirt roads. At one point, the trail was so new it almost felt like going cross country, which didn’t bother us a bit, and there was a long stretch along a very hilly power line that was a fun challenge as well. A very good ride! Having left at 1:00, we got back in camp around 5:30, stopped and chatted with the BCH folks, then got back to my site, where we agreed to start tomorrow at 10:00. Got Flash settled in, had dinner, settled in for the evening, ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Well, we accomplished what we came here to do, put hooves in the 4th of the five Great Lakes. Well, not the same horse, but done nevertheless! I’ll probably make it all five with Flash before all is said and done, but for now, I”ll take the victory! It ended up being 26 miles, partly because the trails are so poorly marked here, and even with my GPS I made some wrong moves. Never did find one turn, but headed north thinking it would take me to the lake, and according to my GPS, I was in the water over my head! NOT!! Couldn’t even hear the waves at that point. Regardless, eventually made our way to the shoreline, where, surprisingly, there was a small number of beachgoers, despite there not being any kind of facilities. Just as I arrived, a couple pulled over right next to me, so I asked them to take some pictures of our accomplishment. I thought I was going to have to figure out how to do a meaningful selfie, but Deb and Doug were more than willling to help, she being a horse person and former horse owner. She took some pix and videos with my camera, and Doug took some with his phone which he promised to send as soon as they had a cell signal. I won’t get them until Monday, but that’s fine, I’ll post them next week (just like I’ll be posting this next week!) Flash was BRILLIANT again today, despite the 12 mile ride yesterday, which seems like a warm-up now. He did his fantastic 4.2 mph fast walk for a long time, then got tired of it and started gaiting for a long time. Once we spent a little time at the shore and headed for home, Flash really wanted to go, go, go! Since he’s figured out that we’re not doing linear now, but loops, he’s taking great pains to know exactly where camp is, and he took off in that direction at about 9 mph for 3 or 4 miles, then finally slowed to his fast walk, but kept jumping into a gait regularly. We made very good time, and even with a little detour and a conversation with a DNR guy I passed along the way, we were back in camp at exactly 4:00, which was about an hour earlier than I figured when we left this morning. What a gorgeous day! Not a cloud in the sky, temps in the mid-to-upper 70’s, low humidity, exactly the kind of weather I am constantly seeking! Came home to find Lola had knocked over the garbage and gotten into my bedroom, scratching my sheets clear off the bed and mussed up my pillows. Good thing I have a heavy-duty quilted mattress cover, or her nails would have punctured my air mattress. Anyway, after chastising her, and having put Flash away, I grabbed a beer and walked Lola over to the little lake here and we fetched and she swam for a bit. Now I’m ready for dinner and to settle down for a movie, a shower, and another great night of sleep. Good night, sweetie! Really miss you when I’m passing milestones like I have this past month! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hey Darlin’!
WE MADE IT!! We finished this incredible ride! The bus left even earlier than usual, but I had arranged to hitch a ride back with Suzy and Sammy, so I didn’t need to move my rig. Instead I was on the trail by 6:20, and even then, those two caught up with me about halfway! We reached Lake Michigan by 8:30, it was so beautiful and calm, I had no trouble getting Flash in up to his knees. A nice ride, through lots of woods until we finally hit roads, but the total ride was less than nine miles, so it seemed like no time at all! After spending a little time at the shore, we made it to where the trailers were parked, then drove back to camp. It seemed so empty after yesterday, but there were still a couple of campers here. I got Flash settled in, can’t believe it’s all over, what a great month! Over 400 miles in four weeks! Incredible! After everyone left, I decided to do a shopping trip so that tomorrow I could do nothing by veg out, so I drove into Traverse City to the Tractor Supply for propane and feed, though they couldn’t fill one tank (I’ve had problems with it before, and it’s just about to expire anyway), then Meijers for groceries and fuel, then a quick stop at Walgreens to switch out that last propane tank for a more recent one, finally back to camp where I almost immediately started napping in my chair. CRASH TIME! I finally managed to gather enough energy to get the grill out (I had a steak thawed out), but I had to spend a few minutes getting the fridge to work, it quit after the propane ran out on it, so I had to put a little fire on the starter and then it worked fine after that. Finally settled in for the evening with a couple of bourbons (I’ve been dry for most of the month), watched a couple of Big Valleys, now I’m ready for shower and bed. It’s been getting pretty hot during the days, though cooling off at night, fortunately, and I’m READY for a long night sleep, though I suspect my body clock will wake my at the crack of dawn like it’s been doing. May be awhile to get my usual body clock back to normal! What an incredible journey, though. I feel like I’ve made lifelong friends, and can’t say enough about how amazing this organization and these people are. This definitely should go on the bucket list of every trail rider, it’s an unforgettable experience! Anyway, for now, it’s still early, but I’m crashing, so it will be early to bed tonight, we’ll adjust later! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Up once again at the crack of dawn, packed up and out of the camp just before 6:00. Elected to take Brown Bridge Rd. because it was flat and I was concerned about the sharp turns and aggressive hills on the other route. Glad I did, it’s wasn’t half bad, not nearly as wash-boardy as I thought it would be. The road into Dubonnet had some sand, though, so it was a bit tricky, and I was worried that this little four-wheeler with canoes on top in front of me, who evidently wasn’t sure where he was going, kept slowing down, but fortunately he stayed far enough out front so I got in okay. Found a spot without any trouble, got set up and was on the bus in plenty of time. Back to Schecks, saddled up Flash and headed out before 8:30. The first part of the trail wasn’t bad, single tracks and sand roads, but eventually we reached the roads section of this journey, seven miles of paved roads with traffic. Another woman on a young horse was there, Teresa, and she asked to tag along with me since Flash is “steady as a rock” these days. We got about 75 yards when I looked up and saw the back end of a big bear walking into the woods. He must have reached the road and turned around, but I didn’t see his head. Anyway, I asked Teresa if she saw it, she said no, so I just advised her to be careful, if they caught the scent they may sidestep into the road, and it was very busy. Flash hardly noticed, on sniff in that direction, but her horse did get a little jumpy, but she managed to stay on the trail. It was a bad place to cross, too, because there is a curve in the road, and despite there being construction there, cars were barreling down way too fast. Fortunately, another group caught up with us just then, and we all crossed together. I was glad when all the road riding was done! I had to put on and take off Flash’s boots several times, and mounting was pretty tough with my left thigh hurting as much as it is, but I managed it. The last couple of miles were really nice, and about a mile from camp, we passed a house that had put out a big watering trough and stapled a bunch of granola bars onto a board, with a big sign welcoming us to help ourselves! How nice! Finally reached camp at 24 miles and about 5.5 hours, at about 2:00. Settled down after I got Flash taken care of, nodded off a couple of times in my chair, had dinner, went to the riders meeting, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Sorry to say, I did not get as good night sleep as I thought I would consider the nine hour ride yesterday. I took three ibuprofen when I went to bed at 8:30 (yes, children, 8:30!) and was asleep pretty quick, but then I woke up at about 1:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep for nearly two hours. I took some aspirin, since that usually helps, but it didn’t seem to do anything. Finally woke up to the alarm and got the day going. I hadn’t packed up my tack in the plastic bag yet, I left it in the back of the trailer to dry a bit, so I had a little more work to do than usual. Nevertheless, I was moving out at 6:00, right on schedule, arrived at Schecks about fifty minutes later, did my setup, fed Lola and had breakfast, even had time to get my solar panel out, since we have a layover here tomorrow. Caught the bus back to Schecks, where I found Flash laying down. Jeff B. said he was laying down when he left, so he was obviously resting up from yesterday’s long ride. I gave him a bute tablet with his breakfast this morning, first time I’ve ever done that. I don’t like to use painkillers because they mask what might be a more serious problem, but considering I had mine last night, and he seemed none the worse for wear this morning, I gave him one, maybe that’s why he was getting so much sleep! Once we got on the trail by 9:00, he seemed in remarkable good spirits. I was sure he’s be a bit sluggish today (again, maybe the bute?), but we left just after Sammy and Susie, who are always moving out, and Flash was insistent of keeping up with them, going 5.5 mph for the entire first 10 miles of the trail! At one point, we opened up onto a sand road, and Flash took off at a full canter, passing everyone else! Crazy guy! Then they stopped for lunch at the lake where the watering hole was, and after letting Flash make bubbles and smack his lips a few times, we headed out again. Of course he slowed down a bit, but not that much, he was still full of energy, surprisingly! We had already passed all the rest of the ones who left before us from the bus, then I started passing folks with rig jumpers who got out even earlier, like the Gypsy Girls and Lucy and her mule. Arrived at came not much after 1:00, just about 19 miles. Sure seemed like a short ride! And it was beautiful, almost entirely single track, just how I like it, some nice hills, forest, just gorgeous. Got back to camp and got Flash settled in, debated whether or not to do laundry today or tomorrow (I decided tomorrow, it will be drier and sunnier earlier in the day), and then spent the afternoon mostly reading and trying to relax a bit. Eventually after dinner I started going around collecting contact information. I learned from prior experience that the next few days get a bit too hectic to do that, and we actually had a central campfire tonight, so I was able to get most people’s contact information, which is nice to have. Stayed at the campfire until past 9:30 (it was still light out!), decided to skip my shower, had a nice cup of Sleepytime tea, now I’m off to bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
With the cooler weather we’re back on the 7:00 bus schedule, so I was able to sleep in an extra 40 minutes or so from the last ride. Still up by 5:20 though! Was packed up and on the road by about 6:00, arrived at Rapid River about 30 minutes later, with only one trailer ahead of me, Girl Gail. Evidently, a lot of people are opting out of today’s ride, but I didn’t know how many (or should I say, how few!) until Jeff came by to pick me up on the bus, and I was the only rider on it! Other than Carla and Rachel, the two girls from TN that have a rig jumper and have been out of camp on horseback by around 5:30 every morning (so, not on the bus), and me, that was it! I was the only rider on this entire section of trail! Got back and saddled up Flash and headed out, and he seemed very rested and in good spirits. Leaving camp, you have to go down some steps and make a river crossing, and more steps up the other side, and with all the rain overnight, the water was quite a bit deeper, but he didn’t mind that. He hesitated on the steps for a minute, though, but I managed to persuade him to go down. I had to lift my electronics and my legs up to stay dry, though, it was pretty deep! Got over with no problem. The first ten miles was just gorgeous, mostly single track through beautiful hardwoods and other deciduous trees. Then came the detour, which was all sandy road, very little gravel, thankfully. Saw some bear tracks, big and small, along the road. I actually decided not to put his boots on until we needed them, so that was about mile 15 when we crossed a road and had to ride along a paved road for 1.5 miles, then back to sandy and some gravel roads. Finally took his boots off again about 7 or 8 miles from camp, as again, the surface was mostly sandy, then turned back into forests and single tracts to finish off. Because it was such a long ride, I mostly had him walk for the first 20+ miles, so that he wouldn’t slow down too much, but during the last 8 miles or so, I had him do some short gaits, and alternate that with walking to pick up some time. Finally arrived in camp right around 5:30, just about nine hours in the saddle! Amazingly, the only things that hurt were the things that hurt this morning (a big bruise on my thigh, and my usual toe cramping on my right foot), but it’s definitely going to be a three ibuprofen night! It didn’t start raining until about 3:00, and I stayed mostly dry until my rain pants started channeling water into my boots, so they got soaking wet. The rest of me wasn’t too bad, just socks and boots and hair. Jeff B. came out when he saw me, said he’d just texted and called me to see how I was doing. My phone was still in airplane mode, and I was only about 20 minutes out, so not bad. Actually arrived just about when I figured I would! Anyway, managed to get Flash taken care of, then heated up a bowl of soup, went to the riders meeting, now all I have to do is take a much needed hot shower and go to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Today was a very tiring day. We moved early again, which meant I was up before dawn, on the road as the sky was lightening up, and back on the bus in no time. Parked all by myself again, in a little open area just as you come into camp, while everyone else is further back. Good for playing with Lola, but it does leave me off by myself (nothing new there!). Was on the trail by 7:45, a good hour before we normally are, but there was a lot more of what I call “road riding” than I anticipated, so I ended up actually arriving later than I expected. At the riders meeting, someone asked if there was a lot of road riding, and we were told “no,” but obviously, that was a different definition than what I consider road riding, because by my measure, about 80% of today’s ride was on “roads.” I consider a road to be anything a motorized vehicle can use, including forest roads, sand and gravel roads, utility and pipeline service roads, OHV multi-use roads, etc. For me a trail is single or sometimes double track, through woods, with a dirt surface usually covered with leaves or pine needles, though sometimes sand, as is often the case here. The discrepancy in the information led me to manage my ride incorrectly, and poor Flash, when he was walking, was doing almost half the speed he normally does, because of the terrain and surface of the roads. He also lost a boot a couple of times, not sure why because I kept tightening them up, so that slowed us a down a bit too. Seemed like a very long day, slogging through a lot of deep sand, as well as riding alongside busy roads with traffic. Not my favorite. Thankfully, though, we have a layover here at Goose Creek, and despite rain and cooler temps in the forecast, it will be a good rest day. As soon as I got back and got settled, I had dinner (though I nodded off a couple of times in my recliner first), then I drove into Kalkaska, about 20 miles away, to pick up feed. Apparently there’s a shortage of Nutrena Senior, it’s been difficult to get, and I was hoping to pick up some at the Tractor Supply at nearby Grayling, but they didn’t have any, so I had to drive further to the Family Farm and Home store to pick some up. Got back to camp before 7:00, took Lola down to the river to let her swim and fetch for awhile, then back to the trailer to crash. Feeling really tired, but I can sleep late tomorrow, yay!! Still enjoying myself, but have a few more questions about Monday’s ride, both the length, the terrain, and possibly the weather. There’s and 80% chance of rain right now, so that may end of being the deciding factor if I decide to opt out. Don’t want to, really want to do the whole thing, but we’ll see. Anyway, time for one more Big Valley, then shower, then bed! Got the AC going (it was over 90 degrees today so the inside of the trailer was very warm), but it drops fast here at night, hoping for an excellent night sleep and a very late start in the morning! Good night, babe! Love you!

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!