Hey Babe,
Another early morning, this time a bit rushed because evidently they sent out a text (I’ve yet to receive a single text despite the fact I’ve tried to sign up several times) saying we were leaving early, never got it. I was ready early anyway, but still felt rushed. The latest camp is another cow pasture, but at least this one had some trees, so I found a little shade, and got pointed in the right direction to catch the best breezes today. Got back to the first camp and headed out on the “trail” which was entirely road roading, though it diverted for a short time through a neighborhood. We stopped at another elementary school and took on water and entertained the kids, though Flash wasn’t that into it so I pulled him aside. They had to shut down U.S. 27 to let us pass, and there were a lot of bystanders cheering us on, it was a regular parade. Apparently that’s the official halfway point of the ride. Flash was acting up a little this morning, but I managed to settle him down by running in a few circles and then backing him up occasionally when he tried to go too fast, and it was working, until I was told that I couldn’t do that anymore. So I waited until we got to the lunch spot, made sure I was very clear of the wagons, and then galloped him across the field to run his energy out before stopping at the water trough. Then I was told I couldn’t do THAT. So I can’t be up front out of the way, I can’t be behind the group out of the way, I can’t run alongside the group, I can’t spin circles, I can’t back him up and I can’t run him in an open field. This despite the fact that numerous times this morning they were MAKING us gallop to bunch up together, and throughout the day, but as far as I know, I’m the only one being chastised for it. I also can’t throw a frisbee for Lola once we get back to camp, unless she’s kept on her cable. If you’re getting the idea that I’m getting a bit frustrated, you’d be right. I finally spent the afternoon sandwiched between two other Pasos, one ridden by Augie who did the OTL, and another guy names Wayne, and as long as I was boxed in and kept Flash on a very tight rein, he managed to settle a bit for the rest of the ride. It looks like that may be the only way manage him without pissing off the organizers, though a lot of the other participants have shown empathy, I’ve heard a lot of stories about other riders having similar problems with their own horses in the past. I came into this with an open mind, despite the knowledge of the road riding, but the organizers have not been very welcoming, or communicative. I’ve asked for help three times to get on their texting list, and I kept getting passed around, and the one who was supposed to help never did. I did finally get a text tonight, so maybe they fixed it, but it’s not a very good system. I mean, they sent out a text at around 4:30 that dinner wouldn’t be served until 6:30, so it’s hard to make any plans. VERY glad I didn’t sign up for the meal plan. I have no interest in the socializing aspect of this ride, I’m here for the riding, so I suppose I’m missing out on the spirit of the thing, but again, the organizers have just made me feel unwelcome, so my approach has been to just stay out of everybody’s way. Check it off the bucket list, that’s about all I’ll be able to say when it’s done. I’m heading to shower and bed very soon, as it’s only getting a full eight hours of sleep that’s keeping me going right now, or else I’d be REALLY crabby! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Another early morning, another drive to the new camp, where I got stuck at a light and missed lost track of the folks in front of me for a bit, then finally arrived at Hickory Hammock State Park, or at least at a huge field across the road from it. Bussed back to camp and got started just before 9:00, for the longest ride of the week, nearly 23 miles. I forgot to turn on my phone GPS until we were almost five miles in, so I’m going to have to get that from Wendy, who apparently saved it. She also took a screen shot of the ride yesterday, to hopefully I can fill in the blanks with that. So we headed out, doing a lot of road riding today, and at first, Flash behaved himself pretty well, and I was able to handle him okay, but after lunch, he got crazy again, fighting me, wanting to run, though we didn’t have much room for a long time, so he kept getting more frustrated and my arms really got a workout trying to keep him in check. I can’t understand why he’s not exhausted, he works himself into a lather, sweating from heade to toe and occasionally frothing at the mouth when I have to be particularly insistent. Kind of wish I had brought Apollo with me, at least for a couple of the shorter days, just to take a break! But the pace is pretty fast, so I’d be fighting with him to get him moving all the time, too, I think. Anyway, it wasn’t too bad a day, lunch was at another ranch where I was able to get off on my own, and lay down to relax for a bit. Didn’t get back to camp until just after 5:00, so I rinsed Flash down and fed him and me. I was tossing a frisbee for poor Lola, who had dug a hole a couple of feet deep in her boredom today, but then got chastised for not having her on the leash, so she didn’t get much exercise today! It was pretty hot today, fortunately there was a little breeze so it wasn’t too bad until late in the day, but today was Western wear day because we had the big crossing at U.S. 27 and the ride by a couple of the schools in town, where all the kids were lined up to watch us parade by. Anyway, dinner’s done, I’ve watched a little TV, and now I’m past ready for a shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Was in bed by 8:30, set the alarm for a little earlier than yesterday and even managed to have breakfast before heading out to the next camp. Unfortunately, I clipped that dang ladder on the gatepost going out, and it ripped of the side lamp again, so now I have another couple of repairs to do after the ride. Today it wasn’t all road riding, there were a few woods and a lot of cow pastures, as well as a few back roads. There was a drone taking pictures (I assume video) as we set off in the morning, not sure who’s documenting it. My phone GPS program did something weird so I didn’t get it all, but I put my Garmin on about a mile out of camp, so I’m only missing a little of the middle, which I’m going to have to ask about. Flash started out calm, then quickly escalated to crazed again, but every time we came to a cow pasture, I just ran the heck out of him, back and forth, which temporarily settled him down. He walks just fine when we’re on a break, from trough to trough and around with no problem, but as as soon as the horses start moving, he insists on going into a gait which I’m constantly pulling back on. For the last five or six miles, though, I benefited from being being a young lady named Lexie who let Flash essentially put his head in her horse’s tail, and he managed to keep from trying to pass around him all the time. Still had to fight him a bit, but the rein was looser more often that way. I can’t understand why he won’t just walk! Anyway, it was a pretty good day, with a couple of water stops and lunch (though I didn’t sign up for the catering, too much food, too expensive, better off with my own food!), and just before we arrived at the lunch spot, we came across a herd of cattle that decided to head back out way, so we had a little mini-stampede, just for excitement! We got back to camp just after 4:00. I stripped Flash down, put on my bathing suit and rode him bareback with a towel down to the Peach River, hoping for a swim. It was too shallow, unfortunately, but it was cool and felt great, and I was able to wash a lot of the dirt off him. Settled down for the evening, took my shower early, had my own dinner, watched a couple of episodes of my latest binge-watch, The Gilmore Girls, now I’m yawning and ready for bed, once again, barely 8:30. It’s the only way I can get enough sleep to function and fight with Flash! Hoping tomorrow he’ll be too tired to fight as much, but he’s in such good condition after all the OTL stuff I did, he just keeps getting stronger. Anyway, time for bed. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Woke up easily to alarm after having gone to bed early, although it took a while to get to sleep, managed to get everything packed, Flash saddled and tied to the stock trailer and ready to roll by 7:04, which should have been early because a woman at registration told me they left at 7:15, but in fact, the first wave rolled out at 7:00 on the dot, which once again left me wondering just how poorly they communicate here. Nowhere in the ride booklet do they give a departure time, so I guess it’s anybody’s guess! Fortunately, the second wave left about the time I was ready, and we managed to catch up to the first wave a couple of miles before they reached the next camp, so I was able to find a spot next to Lynda and Wendy again. Got the portable fence up and the slide open, so no worries. We were on the bus shortly afterward, and it took off at about five minutes to 8:00, ahead of schedule. Got back, finished tacking up and was in the saddle by about 8:35 thinking out departure was imminent, particularly since it was going to be pretty hot by this afternoon, but ended up standing around until 9:00 before we finally left. A lot of hurry up and wait on this ride so far. Not surprisingly it was all road riding today, which I’ve known since the start would be the case. Flash started out very calm despite his bit of craziness yesterday, but it didn’t last long. Once he got warmed up he wanted to go, go, go, and I ended up fighting with him most of the way. Did an extra mile just running him to the front, then waiting for the line to pass by, and running him to the front again. I really hope he’s not like this the entire way, I can’t say it was entirely fun today. He got kicked at a number of times for being too close to the tail of one horse or another, and he kicked out at a couple of horses as well, so I’ll have to put a ribbon in his tail tomorrow since he’s decided to act like a knothead. We stopped about 11:30, which we thought was just a water stop, but turned out to be the lunch stop, it just hadn’t arrived yet. Then Wendy didn’t even get her sandwich, they ran out before she got there! All she was told was that “sorry, sometimes people take them when they’re not supposed to,” which kind of defeats the whole bracelet wearing thing. I guess they finally got her one at the end of the ride, better late than never. I trust they’ll upgrade their system or supply tomorrow. Unfortunately when we were driving in the morning, I noticed that my truck had less fuel in it than I thought, and since this was the shortest day (14.9 miles, plus my extra going back and forth), I found a gas station five miles away and quick disconnected. I acquired a passenger, a guy named Mike who needed to get propane, so he came along. At least I won’t have to unhook again this trip, fingers crossed! I was so hungry, I only had a protein bar all day, completely forgot I had packed a pack of Tuna Creations, again because for most of the time I thought it was just a water stop and the lunch stop would be later. By the time I figured out it was lunch, it was too late. Anyway, we all arrived safe and sound (albeit fighting with Flash the whole afternoon), I took by quick ride, made some dinner, then settled down a bit, actually napping a little in my recliner. I sure hope Flash is better tomorrow. I thought I could solve the problem at one point by running him down a side road and running him back again before the group passed, which helped a lot the first two times I did it, then was told by the outriders that I couldn’t do it anymore, I had to stay with the group, which is why he got so much worse later in the day. Not sure what I can do about it, I just hope he tires out in a day or two. Well, it’s not even 6:30 and I’m thinking of taking my shower and getting in bed to read for awhile, since I have to get up even earlier tomorrow (still late by OTL standards!), and to recover from the unusually high level of energy expenditure I had to make today. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a good day today! Well, any day on my horse is a good day, but some rides are just better than others. I started out doing chores, skipping breakfast because I had to have labs done today for my annual wellness checkup yesterday. I had already hooked up the trailer and put all my tack into it, so once I finished getting ready, we loaded up and headed out. I had one stop at the Indiantown Post Office to pick up a General Delivery package that had two new slobber straps I had ordered, then we headed into town to go to the lab in Jupiter, then headed over to Riverbend, where I saddled up and we started marking the trails. We went from the equestrian area to the critter crossing in Cypress Creek, then marked all the way to Loxahatchee slough, though another team had marked that somewhat, then after getting back to the equestrian area, I then marked the shortcut route to the intersection at Jupiter Farms Rd. and Indiantown Rd., which completed my assignment for the day! Saw lots of birds, a young deer that didn’t run from us and we were able to get within 10 feet of it, and a big turtle in the equestrian area. It was about 4:00 when I got back, and I settled down to do a little OTL work in the screen room for awhile. A whole flock of birds gathered right in front of me, had a brief flashback to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Birds,” such a great, scary movie! Before I knew it, it was feeding time for the horses, and finally got to settle down at dusk, which thankfully is getting to be later and later as the days lengthen. Had a couple more sign-ups today, numbers are looking pretty good! I also had a Facebook memory pop up that got me thinking a little, it was five years ago today when we left on our journey to southeast Asia! Can’t believe it’s been that long, but it was a great time, so I was enjoying the memories. Anyway, I’ve watched my couple of hours of TV, did more computer work, and now am ready for my French lesson, shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Another exhausting day! After breakfast and chores, I saddled up Apollo, since he’s in desperate need of exercise and today’s ride is only about ten miles. I took my pink paint along, and it was going fine until the first stop, then I managed to get pink paint all over my saddle bags. Oh, well, it gives it some character! We followed the pink trail from camp down to the Cypress Boardwalk, adding some ribbons where the paint wasn’t real clear, then on the way back, finally stopping to add a little paint in a couple of places as well. Before we can be satisfied that it’s permanently marked, we’re going to have to add a few more, there wasn’t quite enough to satisfy me that it was sufficient to follow. Some areas seemed to be mowed, others not so much, so I arranged with James to have the contractor come out and mow some areas that evidently didn’t get mowed last week. I managed to get Apollo to jog a lot of the way (automatic paint mixer!), rather just his slug walk, so we managed to be slightly quicker, but it still took us nearly four hours for just over ten miles! Well, of course, I stopped to paint a few times, but it didn’t take THAT long! Anyway, it was still a nice ride, though he was a big jumpy from the wind and the smell of pigs, as there was a lot of pig sign out there. Got back and had to deal with a bunch of OTL issues, finally had a minute to try to get the paint off my saddle bags but it was too dry. Mineral spirits didn’t even help! Finally able to settle down for the evening, but didn’t even get a chance to relax, as more OTL issues arose. Anyway, I’m done for the night, heading to shower and bed here shortly. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Didn’t get to bed until after midnight last night, then woke up around 4:30, read for awhile, then fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until nearly 9:00! What’s up with that? Did my chores, then got involved with a bunch more OTL paperwork before I was finally able to saddle up Flash, load him in the small trailer and drive down to the southern end of Dupuis near the boardwalk, where we departed down the trail past the sheep shearer’s cabins. We went all the way to Corbett, following the fabulously and permanently marked pink trail, Anita and Scott and their crew did a GREAT job. I only had to add one paint splotch, and that was only because it looked like the mower cleared a bit off to one side and could have been mistaken for a turn, and there was only one short pink spot there, so I put another one about 20 yards further on as a confidence marker. I also opened the cable gate to make sure that the combination worked, which it did, then painted from that water stop up to the beginning of the FTA orange trail. I only put a few ribbons out at the water stop, just because I’m sure some riders will still turn right, despite the multiple times I’ve mentioned the route has changed and they have to turn left, but hopefully they won’t be able to miss the ribbons and get it right. If the north end of Dupuis is marked as well as the south end, I may not even ride it on Friday, I may just trailer down with Jeff to the water stop/take out point and ride into Corbett from there. I still need to mark a short stretch from the Gopher Canal to the Tomato Grade, and there are a couple of changes I want to make along the east side, and I may just do that on the day. But I still have to do Saturday morning’s ride, not sure how we did that last time. Most of it is marked permanently already, but I remember putting some markers out there, just can’t remember if I did it during the ride or some other time. Weird. Anyway, we didn’t get on the trail until nearly 1:00, and made it back to the small trailer by 4:30, so we were back in camp right at 5:00. Spoke to Anita for a bit, then fed the horses and settled down for the night, finally feeling a bit more relaxed. Nothing like a long ride in the wilderness to calm one’s soul! Like they say, there’s nothing like the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man (or woman, of course!), and it did the trick for me, as usual. After a relaxing evening (and a comatose dog, Lola had to run most of the way to keep up, as Flash was full of it today!), I’m more than ready for my shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Stayed in bed late just to stay warm, it got down to 37 degrees this morning! Finally crawled out of bed and got the day started, getting to be the same routine, feed the animals, have breakfast, did some OTL work, then finally hooked up the small horse trailer to the truck, saddled up Flash and got him loaded in, and headed down two gates and along the powerline grade until I finally reached the crossover under the powerlines that makes the border between Dupuis and Corbett. My plan was to follow Road 3 to see if it improved any over the way it looked on the other end, and I’m sorry to say, it didn’t. In fact, it got worse. We’d get about 10 or 20 yards of sandy road, then have to wade through 50-100 yards of water, sometimes pretty deep water, and often with no way around it. It wasn’t long before I was soaked from the knees down. Never quite had to actually swim, but there was some lunging going on a number of times. At one point I tried to get around it, and ended up just going in one big loop and ended up right where I started, so we had to traverse another long stretch of water to stay on the road. FINALLY made it to the Gopher canal, which is where we usually come up off the canal, and that section eastward isn’t bad, until we turn north again. Scott and Anita said they think they found a good dry grade further east, but it was getting so late, I didn’t want to go that far, and I still wanted to see how Road 4 was, so I cut up Road 5, which goes along the Gopher canal northward, and it’s really nice. I wish there was an east/west road as nice as that one! It ran into Road 4 and I turned west again, and while it was slightly better than 3, with a few easier ways around the water, there were still sections where it was deep in the cypress swamp, so I’m thinking some folks are really not going to like it. I finally joined up with the trail I came in on, and headed out that way for a bit, until I reached the FTA trail. I had intended to check that out, too, so I headed out to see what that little section was like, and it was the best riding of the day. Ankle deep water most of the way, and some knee knocker trees you had to watch out for, but really, the best riding of the day. So that’s no doubt going to start a debate. My next jaunt will have to be the whole length of the trail, to see if it holds up, at least until Gopher canal again, at which point there are a few options, including the new one Anita and Scott found. Considering that when we leave Camp I we pretty much stay on the FTA trail anyway, I don’t understand what the big deal is about us using the west side of it as well, if it’s in good shape, which, as I said, will be my next recon trip. Anyway, we got back to the trailer and got loaded up by 4:45, and back to camp by about 5:30, so I fed the horses, filled the trailer’s water tank, got my dinner and settled down for the evening. Didn’t make as much headway as I thought today, but it certainly was enlightening, so I guess I accomplished something. Getting late now, so I’m off to shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Woke up to another beautiful morning, got my chores done, did some OTL work, finally saddled up Flash for our first ride here at Dupuis. My goal was to ride the newly marked pink trail (Anita and the gang came out and did some tree painting last weekend), to see where the problem were. While most of the southern part of the park seemed okay, there were a few sections close to camp that really were difficult to navigate, seems like it hasn’t been mowed in a really long time, so it was a bit tough to find the trail, even with the new markings. Once I reached the bottom gate, I had planned a nice loop on a couple of different trails back to camp, and that was even more of a challenge! Whole sections where the horse trail was indistinguishable from the numerous game trails, and the markings so far apart you couldn’t see them. I can’t tell you how many times I had to turn around and start going in a different direction, and that was only because I had the trail mapped in my GPS, otherwise I would have gotten utterly lost! Not a good feeling! Of course, we found our way back to the main trail eventually, but the number of squiggles on my GPS trail when I finished was alarming! It was a nice ride, though, but when we got back, it was starting to cloud up, and even though there hadn’t been any rain in the forecast when I checked this morning, when I checked again after having sprinkles landing on my head, suddenly there was a 20% chance of rain, surprise, surprise! I also met another James, the older guy who does all the mowing, and we had a chat about getting the pink trail mowed on Monday. In fact, he says he can get the entire park done in one and a half days! That’s like 50 miles of trails, I’d like to see that happen! But the pink OTL trail is the priority, that was made clear. I had another phone conversation with James I, making plans to meet next week to show him some of where the rest of the trail goes, he seems honestly curious about learning as much as he can about the equestrian’s needs, so naturally, I’m happy to play tour guide! He also said that in order to complete my volunteer application, I would have to submit to a background check and go to their offices in West Palm Beach to get fingerprinted. That’s fine, especially if I decide to do some campground hosting here, it’ll save me the trouble of doing it again later. It will also give me a chance to pick up the small horse trailer at Jeff’s, since I need it out here for my next ride. Rain in the forecast tomorrow, too, so it will be a good day to get these errands done. Spoke to Anita a couple of times, finally settled down for the evening, won’t be long before I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!