Hi Darlin’!
Another busy day today, first with shopping, then with a ride. I decided to shop at Meijers today, because I’ve already been to the Walmart here and there was a lot of stuff they didn’t have that I usually get, and thankfully, it turned out the Meijers had almost everything that I needed! Spent a bunch getting stocked up for the month, but it was worth it. Filled up with fuel, then unbelievably, ran into Chris Cooley coming out of Meijers! I feel like this is home! Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, then saddled up Flash. Pretty hot here, relatively speaking, but with humidity down in the 60’s, it doesn’t feel bad at all to me! I had planned on a longer ride, nearly 15 miles, but Flash was so sluggish today, and I’ve been working him so hard, I brought him home after just under eleven miles. I’m going to give him the rest of the week off, I think I’ve been pushing him too hard, his muscles need time to recoup. Didn’t get back to camp until 6:00, gave him extra food, and settled down for the evening to a nice lamb dinner. Chris and Melvin came by to pick up some food for Apollo, they’re determined to feed him, but I’d rather he stay on the food he’s used to than the sweet feed they wanted to give him. Chatted for a short time, then got back to my evening, which is running later than I had expected! Still need a quick Spanish lesson and a shower before going to bed, and waiting for pix to upload, of course, the usual. Won’t be long out of bed, though. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Babe!
Had another busy day today! The welder returned at 9:00 and promptly got busy finishing the wheel well job. After that I had him look at the bracket that locked the ladder on the trailer, that had ripped off some time ago, and he put some nice new screws in that. He also helped me get the new spare tire in place, it’s a very tight fit when it’s fully inflated, and finally, he helped me put some stuff up into the “attic,” including all the skirting I’ve been carrying around in the back of the truck, so now I’m all set up there. When he presented me with the bill, I couldn’t believe it! I actually rounded it up because I thought it was too low! And you know me, I’m stingy, but he did a great job and really undercharged me for it. Happy camper here!! As soon as he left, I made my way into town to get my mail, which, according to the tracking number, was right where it was supposed to be yesterday but wasn’t. Today it was. Apparently, because I put the actual post office address on there, (even though it was sent to General Delivery), it got sorted onto a mail truck that went out to deliver. Go figure. Anyway, I got my package for the upcoming trail ride, at last, along with some other stuff. One the way back, I stopped at Tractor Supply to fill up another propane tank and to pick up some feed, then straight back to camp, stuffed my face with one of Chris Cooley’s famous cinnamon rolls, then saddled up Flash to get in another conditioning ride. This time we went 11.2 miles, alternating between walking and running as much as the terrain would allow. I’ve been doing my homework on the ride, and the first day is a real bear, 26 miles, so we’re definitely going to have to pace ourselves. I’ve learned I can arrive on Saturday, which I’m inclined to do, just because I don’t like to travel on Sunday, and then Flash can rest on Sunday and be ready to go on Monday. Took care of a few other items that needed doing, then settled down for the evening. Had to put the AC on for a bit, we’ve gone from freezing at night a few days ago, today it was 90 degrees! One extreme to the other! Well, at least the humidity is really low, that helps a lot. Anyway, the day is done, I only have my Spanish lesson and a shower before I get to bed. Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
I did have a good night sleep, and had a busy day. After chores and breakfast, I saddled up Flash and we headed out for what I had intended to be about twelve miles, but I took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong trail, and decided it was getting late (and I had a lot to do yet), so I decided to just hop on Trail 10 take a nice sprint home. Flash had been kind of sluggish for a lot of the ride, but when we turned for home, he found his mojo, and we ran very quickly the last two miles back to camp, which I figured was a good finish. I wish I could describe that fantastic fragrances that we’ve been experiencing here, so many trees and flowers in bloom. Sometimes I can’t even see them, I can just smell them wafting over us, really lovely. Lola had a good time too, but crashed as soon as we got home, of course, especially considering that long final run. Got them both squared away, then headed into town, first to the tire shop to drop off the rim, since my new tire had arrived today, then to the post office, where they claimed they didn’t have my package, that it should be at the main post office, but I couldn’t read the tracking number until later when I got it from James, and according to that, it WAS at that branch, and had been since that morning! Didn’t find that out till it was too late. Went to the feed store to stock up on this alfalfa/grass mix hay, a bit expensive at $9/bale but they’re very heavy bales, so I’m thinking they’ll last for several weeks, and by then, all the new first cutting will be in and hay will be cheap and easy to find, which it’s not right now. I could have gotten new hay for $5/bale, but I would have had to drive nearly 40 miles each way to get it, so it wasn’t worth it. Went back to the shop and picked up my tire, then headed back to camp, with a quick stop at Big Lots on the off chance they might have a more comfortable recliner, no dice. Got the tire out but couldn’t get it up on the spare tire rack yet, figured there was no point in struggling if I’m going to have help coming (the welder) in the next couple of days. I also managed to load all but the last load of hay in the trailer, but I got scratched up and covered with hay in the process. Had to fill up the truck with water again, filled up the RV tank in the process, changed a fuse out for the cigarette lighter, it hasn’t been working properly for charging my phone (though the one on the driver’s side still isn’t working), finally settled down to dinner and a movie! Ready to get this day over with! Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hiya Babe!
Started off the day in my usual manner, then after breakfast, a friend of Sheila’s stopped by and we chatted about the Shore-to-Shore ride, which she’s done several times. Then Alayna’s grandma walked up and I chatted with her for quite a while, first at my site, then at hers. Finally, I came back to check on Lola and to saddle up Flash, thinking Alayna would be back at 1:00, but it was closer to 2:00 when she got there. I kept Grandma Cooley company until then, but then headed out on the trail. I had about a 15 mile ride planned, and missed a couple of trail markers, so by the time we got back to camp it was 17.24 miles! We did a lot of gaiting today, so we did it in pretty good time, almost exactly four hours, which I thought was pretty good. Not endurance ride-winning, but great for a conditioning ride. Lola came with us today, and she had to work hard to keep up with us! Out like a light as soon as we got home, not surprisingly. After a conversation with Alayna, we decided Apollo should go with her when she leaves tomorrow, so that will be one less thing I have to plan around later in the week. It’s all about getting everything fixed for the big ride now. Going to tackle as many of the problems as I can tomorrow, though my tire isn’t due in until Tuesday, but I can try to work on my jacks and brakes tomorrow. Feeling pretty tired right now, didn’t get the best night sleep last night, and it’s been a long, exhausting day, so I’m off to bed early, hopefully! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep, got my chores and breakfast done, then headed out to a house in Big Rapids that had a recliner for sale on Marketplace. I did some research, and discovered it was exactly the model of LazyBoy that was a wall-hugger and a perfect fit for the small space, plus it’s not electric, which is what I wanted. Because that battery adapter has never worked properly on the old recliner, I’d have to put on the inverter every time I wanted to recline in my chair, and of course, a bunch of other little stuff would pull juice too, so the batteries would end up draining faster than necessary, so a manual one is actually a better solution for me. It’s not nearly as comfortable as the old European one, as it’s got a bit too much padding in the lumbar region for me, and my legs hang off the front when reclined, but it’ll do, especially in reclining position where it takes up a lot less space. It’s a rocker, too, but doesn’t swivel, which is also fine, I don’t need that. It was part of an estate the family was starting to disburse. From there I want to another Facebook listing two miles away for a recliner cover, a heavy quilt-like thing that, although it was a bit too large, covers it nicely and will hopefully keep Lola from digging up the material. She managed to put quite a few scratches in the old leather one, this one is more of a microfiber material, but the cover is really heavy, so hopefully it will keep it in good condition for as long as I have Lola. Got back to camp, took out the old chair (easier than when I took the last one out, since I learned from that experience), cleaned up the whole living room slide area, and had the new one in in no time! Fits perfectly! I don’t even have to put it over the slide ledge to recline all the way, so the wall-hugger part is really impressive. It even has a lot more space behind it to store the few things I leave back there, so it’s a win/win. Once that was done, I saddled up Apollo, as I had arranged to go riding with Alayna on her old, sluggish mare, and we did a nice 4.7 mile loop. Her mare wasn’t as sluggish as Apollo, so we had to jog regularly to keep up, which was good exercise for him. Beautiful day, it warmed up nicely, hardly a cloud in the sky, getting into that perfect weather I’m always searching for! Whoo-hoo! Got back to camp, gave the boys some hay, found Lola on the new chair (surprise, surprise!) and once I heard her trying to fluff it up, and failing, thank goodness! Now she’s luxuriating in the old chair, which is out under the awning until we haul it away, another thing Alayna has offered to help with. Spent some time getting knots out of some ropes, fed the horses and settled in for the evening. Been watching the old Big Valley series on Prime these days, very much enjoying that! Alayna and husband Jeremy came by and took away the old chair (Lola will miss that when she goes looking tomorrow!), now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’!
Another great night sleep, loathe to get out of bed when it’s in the 30’s, though, so I laid in to read a bit, though not as long as yesterday. Got up and did chores and breakfast, as usual, threw together a route to take today, and headed out with plans for a fantastic fourteen mile ride. I do love this place, every trail is so spectacular! I only had to get off to saw off one limb that had fallen, and it was already dead so it didn’t take long. I have to get myself one of those little mini-chainsaws though, for sure! I let Flash do whatever speed he wanted, and he mostly walked, which was fine for the most part, though he did start getting a bit faster as the day went on. When we finally came to the turn for home, I missed a trail, but Flash decided he knew the way, and suddenly got in a hurry to get there, so he jumped into his seven mph gait and took off down another trail. I wasn’t sure which way was the best way back, but he was convinced, so I let him go, and he kept that up almost all the way back to camp, several miles, which he found unerringly. He’s got a great memory, considering it’s been two years since we’ve been here! Lola kept up the whole way, now she’s out like a light! I won’t be far behind her, I want to be in bed nice and early tonight. I did walk down and help my friend Alayna with some lifting, she got married last year and now she’s ten weeks pregnant, so I’ll help her out however I can. They’ve also offered to let me use their horse trailer to transport Apollo, and if that’s the case, I’ll just let him got over to their house rather than the place I was going to board him. I had only decided on that place because it was close enough to pony Apollo over, but if I have a trailer, I can go the extra few miles. Anyway, time for tea, shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a wonderful night sleep, to bed early and laid in late reading, so feeling much more refreshed today. For the first time, while my foot was still in pain, it wasn’t debilitating, which is a relief, and a sign that it truly is just bruising and not broken. Spent the morning working on all kinds of projects, and was finally able to get a welder out here to look at my wheel well. While he started the job, he wasn’t able to finish it because his welder is in for warranty repairs, but promises to finish it next week when he returns from his holiday weekend up in the UP (that’s the Upper Peninsula, for those of you not familiar with the Michigan vernacular). He cut out all the bad stuff and made forms to replace that, so I’m sure he’ll be back to finish. Meanwhile, I got a bunch of other stuff accomplished, all while waiting for the day to warm up enough to ride. It was VERY chilly this morning, close to the freezing point, and it’s supposed to be the same tomorrow morning, but warming steadily through the week. By 2:00 it finally reached acceptable temps for riding, so I made a quick GPS sketch for about a seven+ mile ride, saddled up Flash, and we all soon headed out. Lola was in desperate need of exercise, too, and was happy to come along. Flash was a bit hesitant when we were on the gravel road to the trailhead, but he soon opened up when we hit the perfect, hard sandy footing of the trails. We did a couple of miles at a moderate gait once he got warmed up, and he really enjoyed himself. Ran into a few other riders and a buggy, but no problem, and Lola was brilliant, as usual, taking a wide berth out into the woods whenever other riders came by. Such a good girl! Every time I come here to Hungerford, I marvel at how perfect it is for riding and camping. Every trail we went on today was wonderful, and a lot drier than I remember, I seem to remember there was a lot of mud last time, but not this year! Truly a wonderful ride! And Flash had no trouble remember his way around, he really stretched out on the last straight-away home, and made the turn into the trail leading to camp like he’d been doing it every day since the last time we were here two years ago! A fabulous ride, so glad it finally warmed up enough to do it! Temps are supposed to be getting to the freezing mark again tonight, so the horses are blanketed and fed, I showered early so my hair would dry before the temps got too low, and I’m all settled down for the evening. Still have a lot of issues to resolve, but I feel like I’m making some good headway. Headed for bed soon, despite the fact that it’s only just barely got dark here, past 9:30! I really hate daylight savings time these days! Anyway, good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep with my earplugs again, got up around 9:00 after reading for an hour plus, did my chores, had breakfast, then chatted for a bit with Mike before we finally started to get ready to ride. There’s a land trust area across the river from the state forest called Kokiwanee, and we had heard that some of the riders from camp had gone over there yesterday, so I downloaded a map and we headed out in that direction. We took the yellow trail to the end, then found a trail on the other side by a waterfall (Kissing Falls, apparently), and followed the trail up. That led to a series of steps which didn’t really look like it was fit for horses, but there didn’t seem to be an alternative, so I went ahead and headed up there. There were some nails that were sticking up, but we managed to avoid them all. We plowed on to a number of other trails that really looked like they were only hiking trails, and we didn’t see any indication that horses had been on the trails, so I could never figure out where those other horses were going. Several times we would start down a trail and turn around when it became to narrow, so my plan went out the window. Eventually, we headed back to see if we could find another way down to the river, and there was one other trail, but I was worried about it being right on the edge of a drop off, so I dismounted and walked down a ways, and sure enough, there was a corned with a little piece of fence someone had put in, and the only way around it was too sharp a turn and too close to the edge for a horse to get through safely. I wasn’t about to take that risk! So we went back up and tried to find another way, but that trail had a little bridge that didn’t seem safe even for horses, and another climb of steps even steeper than the first one! Eventually we decided to head back down the main trail (the only one really fit for horses, and way too short and boring to be worth riding more than once), to a parking lot and a road, and we ended up taking the road back around to where we crossed the river, finally getting back on track and into the state forest again. Came across some other riders who were trying to figure out how to get around a downed tree, and I lent him my camp saw so he could cut off a limb and make it more easily passable (we had found a way around it previously), and before long, we were back in camp. Not exactly how I planned it, but it was still an adventure! By now most of the camp was empty, and within an hour or so, everyone else had gone as well. I let the horses out to graze and started putting stuff away, then made us some dinner, which I preferred to do rather than go out again, then finished putting pretty much everything else away, so I’ll be ready to get an early start in the morning. Less than 300 miles, but I either have to go cross country, or go a bit out of the way to stay on highways, so it will take longer than usual. At least I know where I’m going this time, hopefully the spot I like will be open. It’s been a lot of fun here, but it was a lot busier that I expected over the weekend, particularly with the cooler weather. Anyway, time to move on! Getting a little ahead of the weather, but at least I’m not sweating like a pig! I can always add layers! We’ll worry about that tomorrow. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
Had another good night sleep, a quiet morning, then my friend Mike, who was going to meet me for a ride today, said he wouldn’t be here until after lunch, so I saddled up Flash to go on a ride on my own. I didn’t take Lola because I thought there might be too many riders that might not like meeting up with a dog on the trail, but as it was, I only met one other rider and he had his dog with him, so I supposed I could have taken her. She pouted the rest of the day after I got back. I took a shorter route, but one that captured a lot of the trails I missed the other day, then ended up getting turned around at one point and still missed some. We had another mishap, we took a trail that went along the river but quickly sent from what I thought was a horse trail down to MAYBE a hiking trail, but ultimately a very dangerous game trail, but by the time I figured that out, we were stuck with no place to turn around. Then Flash’s foot went deep into soft dirt, so deep he ended up on the ground, so I climbed off so he could get up. Unfortunately, he had no place to maneuver, and the only thing that kept him from falling thirty or forty feet down to the river was a couple of trees that were on the edge of the trail. He didn’t panic, thank goodness, and I let him rest for a few minutes and get calm, and finally he managed to get himself righted, but there was hardly any room for him to turn around. He finally managed it, but he had to take about a four foot step straight up to accomplish it. Once he got himself settled down, I climbed back on and we carefully made out way back to the main trail, though my foot started hurting a bit again, I must have banged it again. The rest of the ride was good, though, except I couldn’t find a trail that my GPS said was there, so we ended up going out of our way from the original plan, but no matter, we arrived back in camp safe and sound by 1:30 or so. I read for much of the afternoon, then my friend Mike finally showed up around 4:00. I thought he was only coming to day ride, but I was mistaken, he was coming to camp for the weekend, which was a good thing, since it was too late in the day to take another ride, and rain arrived shortly thereafter! We sat and chatted for awhile, then drove down to CoCoJo’s campground and restaurant and had dinner there, then chatted under my awning till dark, which is now nearly 10:00 (stupid Daylight Savings!) I put a blanket on Flash because it’s supposed to get cold tonight, but not so cold that Apollo needed one. Anyway, it’s late, I’m having my tea, doing my Spanish lesson, and soon will be taking my shower and going to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!