Hi Babe,
Started out a bit chilly this morning, glad I put the blankets on the horses last night! Spent the morning doing my knee PT and my Egoscue exercises, which I haven’t done in awhile. Felt good when I was done, though I had to be dressed in a sweatshirt outside! Don’t think it ever reached 70, and almost decided not to ride today because I just couldn’t seem to warm up, but I finally decided to take Apollo on the camp loop, which the locals refer to as the “kids loop” because it’s only about 2.3 miles long. I wanted to stretch Apollo’s legs, but it was still cool in the forest, so I thought that would be just right, and it was. I took his boots but didn’t put them on because I didn’t remember seeing a lot of stones last time, so it all worked out. Lola got a little exercise along with the rest of us, too. The only downside was someone was mowing the lawn nearby, so we had to listen to that the whole way, not exactly the quiet getaway we were hoping for, but it was nice nevertheless. Did a lot of French lessons today, started a new series of books, and relaxed most of the day other than the usual chores. I actually gave up on a series of books I was reading, and wrote a rather negative review on it, truly I couldn’t go on with it, and you know me, that’s unusual that I don’t slog through a book, I just couldn’t take this guy’s writing anymore. Slower than watching grass grow, really! The new series I started moves along so fast, it’s so refreshing! Anyway, I’ve already had my shower, another few French lessons, about ready for bed. Love you, darlin’! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
A wonderful night sleep without earplugs, it was so quiet in camp, it was delightful! Had kind of a lazy morning, then finally got around to saddling up Flash. Got delayed leaving camp, though, got into a conversation with a guy who happen to stop in camp, and he was a chatty fellow so it was awhile before we finally left camp. My intention today was to knock off the last few trails that I had previously missed, plus rehome the beautiful painted rock that Alison gave me, but it wasn’t as enjoyable a ride as I had hoped. For starters, to do the west trails, the shortest distance requires you to take a good half mile along gravel roads through farmland, and cross a relatively busy asphalt road. I had to put Lola on a leash just to be safe, and then when we got to the section I was trying to map, I ended up getting lost. In fact, I got lost half a dozen times because there are so many renegade trails out here that aren’t on the map, and the main trails sometimes don’t have good markings at the intersections with the renegade trails, so the result is inevitably getting lost! At one point, I was getting way off the reservation, thank goodness I have a GPS, or who knows where I would have ended up! Not a happy camper today, I’m afraid. It was practically 4:00 by the time we got back. It had been my plan to go shopping today, but it was so late now, I decided to go tomorrow instead. Flash was pretty sluggish at first, eventually I put his boots on because he was so hesitant whenever he saw rocks, and that helped a little bit. I think he’s just bored with doing the same old trails, just like me. He finally picked up his tempo when we were headed back east again, but even so, he was pretty sluggish. The western section has a lot of logs left on the trails, evidently the local hunt club likes them to jump over, and Flash also jumped a lot, which, considering I’ve never had any jumping training, was a bit intimidating, but I’m starting to get the hang of. Flash is actually a good jumper, but I’m not going to go over anything that’s very tall, not when I’m out riding on my own! Anyway, once we got back to camp, it wasn’t long before I heard thunder, so I got the horses fed early and everything put away before the rain finally hit. It was quite a bit of rain and thunder and lightning, but nothing very destructive, fortunately. That continued through the evening, finally tapering off around ten. They needed it here, though, it’s been quite awhile since they’ve had any rain. I settled down and binge-watched a bunch of episode of Manifest, they just released their third season so I followed that story all night. Anyway, now it’s time for shower and bed, and shopping in the morning. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Had a great night sleep (with earplugs tonight!), got chores and breakfast done, and since I had already decided to try the new Ridge Trail here, and the poker run was along the Ridge trail, I decided to put up my five dollars and play a hand. Then I discovered that, unlike most poker runs where the cards are out along the trail, this was all done in the pavilion before even going out on the ride! I guess they didn’t have enough volunteers or something, but I didn’t have much of a hand anyway, so then it just became about the ride. It was only about six miles round trip, so off Apollo and I went. It was a nice ride, the new trail is still a bit rough in spots, some trees were down, and several times I stopped to pull small but annoying stuff out of the way. I ran into a lot of other groups, and joined one group for awhile, had some nice chats along the way. Got back to camp and relaxed in the afternoon (so glad I did my cooking yesterday!), then headed toward the pavilion, stopping at Paul’s trailer right behind me. He introduced me to a couple of ladies there, and when we got talking, they promptly wanted to buy a couple of books from me, which I was happy to sell them. Finally got up to the pavilion, where we had a nice dinner, though I have a LOT of leftover macaroni salad left over, darn it! No deviled eggs, though, there are never any of those leftover. So I’ll be eating macaroni salad for the rest of the week, I’m afraid. I had decided to buy some of the 50/50 raffle tickets earlier, and was astonished when I actually won! A nice tidy little sum, too! I immediately donated a twenty right back, before I even knew how much was there, but it’s more than half my camping fee, plus with the sale of the books, it just about covers my two weeks here, for which I am grateful! Every little bit helps keep me going! I brought the same two ladies back to the trailer because they wanted to see it, then we headed across the road to a campfire full of folks, so I did my Snowy River for them, and at another campfire as well, before I came back and got Lola to take her for a walk. She’s been so cooped up I’m sure she’s going stir crazy, but it can’t be helped, too may people on the trail to take her. Finally got back home, how I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Despite going to be pretty early, I slept late this morning. I thought the noise of the busy camp would wake me up, but I think most folks had a late night and slept in, too. This would be a good crowd for brother Jeff, there is a lot of drinking and smoking and tokin’ going on. Michigan legalized recreational marijuana, and I’ve caught many a whiff of it since I’ve been here, despite the fact there are a lot of kids around, too. Anyway, got my chores and breakfast done, then saddled up Flash and headed out for a nice 12+ mile ride, picking off a few more trails we hadn’t done yet. Because I knew the trails would be busy, and would likely have youngsters, both horses and humans, on them, I decided to leave Lola home, just in case. Not that she would have bothered anyone, but some people get a bit freaked out when they see ANY dog, and I didn’t want to cause a ruckus. It was a wonderful ride, Flash did fabulous, we barely got lost (only one renegade trail, but that ended up where we needed to go anyway), so it was all good! I’ll give these Michiganders their due, they know how to make you smile on the trail. Every once in awhile you’ll see something along the way, like a carving on a tree, a painted rock that says ‘Be Happy’ or a little plastic hedgehog stuck in a hollow in a dead tree looking out at you, and it just can’t help but bring a smile to your face! Tomorrow is the poker run, though I don’t know if I’ll join or not, we’ll see. After we got back and I put Flash back on his line, I had dinner (including a fabulous ear of sweet corn that my neighbor gave me!), and then I got busy doing my cooking for the dinner tomorrow. I made a nice macaroni salad and some deviled eggs. Once I got that all done, I went and sat with another group of my neighbors and chatted for a bit, with Lola at my side since I had neglected her all day. Finally headed back to the trailer, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Woke up to a beautiful morning! Cool and sunny, just gorgeous! Before even getting out of bed I called the RV guy that had promised to call by the end of the day yesterday (and didn’t), and he said he didn’t have anyone that could come out, so I made a couple more calls, and couldn’t find anyone. As the DNR guys drove through I asked them, they suggested I message the local horsemen’s club, which I did, and got a very quick answer from Chad, the president, who said he’d be by later today to help. Meanwhile, I got a call back from one RV guy, Smitty, who didn’t have time to come see me but answered some diagnostic questions I had so I could narrow down my search, and voila! That made all the difference! I should have known it would have been something simple, and once he explained the system, I found the problem, just a simple loose wire in my trunk of wires that lead from the trailer to the truck. I had rewired them before, and actually, that was the next place I was going to check, and as soon as I took off the outer tape from my repair, I found the loose wire that had come out of the shrink wrap crimp connector. It’s a job that really needs three hands, and I think that’s what went wrong before, but Butch came over and lent me a hand, so it was done properly this time. Everything started working as soon as I got it reconnected, yay! Well, I assume everything will work again, the noise from the brake is more like a chirp than a buzz now, but I’m hoping that has to do with not being attached to the truck, but we’ll see. At least I know the controller is working now, so I’m expecting the brakes to work as well. I messaged Chad to let him know I had fixed the problem, and now, with no worries, I saddled up Apollo and took a six plus mile ride. I chose a few trails I hadn’t taken yet, and they were mostly lovely. We left camp without his boots on, but after awhile it seemed like a lot of the trails were rockier, so I put his boots on (I had brought them with me), and he seemed much more comfortable after that. It was a great ride, though we started and finished later in the day than usual, but that was fine. Got back around 4:00, but by the time I got everyone settled in it was closer to 5:00, so I grilled a steak and had a nice dinner. Settled in for the evening, after a lovely ride and a productive day (SO glad my brakes are back on track!), so now I’m ready for my shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a great night sleep, without earplugs, yay! No trains or traffic nearby, just the sound of night insects, there was no one else in camp, and the temps dropped down to perfect sleeping weather, couldn’t have asked for a better first night. After chores this morning, I spent a little time trying to diagnose my brake problem, with no luck, so then I reached out to a mobile RV service that’s only 20 minutes away, and he said he would get back to me today about whether he had someone he could send. Unfortunately he didn’t, but I’ll call again in the morning to see if there’s a chance. Meanwhile, I saddled up Flash, put his boots in the saddle bags rather than on him, since a hiker that was here yesterday told me there aren’t too many stones here, but I took them anyway just in case. Just as we were setting off, a big deer came right into the campground grazing for a bit, but ran off as we started to move out. Flash was in an energetic mood today. Not sure if it was because of the cooler temps, lower humidity, not having to wear boots, or maybe the high percentage of alfalfa in this last batch of hay I bought, but he was definitely in the mood to move today! While they use the same great intersection numbering system I’ve grown to love here in Michigan, they didn’t execute it entirely, there are a number of poorly marked intersections and renegade trails around, so naturally, I got lost a couple of times. Took one trail twice when it circled around, and completely missed another trail that led us onto a gravel road that we had to follow in order to find our way back to the next trail. Other than that, though, it was a fabulous ride! A beautiful forest, a few steeper grades than we’ve been seeing lately, which was fun, and the far west trail was like a trail challenge course, with logs down every few yards! Flash was brilliant today! I gave him a loose rein practically the whole way, let him make his own decisions as to speed and alternate trails, and at one point, he had a choice between a bridge and a water crossing and on his own volition, he headed straight for the bridge! He did a great job today, it was such a pleasure to ride him today. We even saw a big snake on the trail, and we usually both miss those, but this one was slow to cross and even Flash noticed him (though I don’t think Lola did). It was a longer ride than I had planned, and he certainly was ready to get back to camp, as was Lola, who thoroughly enjoyed herself, too. The temps were perfect, the woods were thick and cool, couldn’t have asked for a better day. The rest of the week looks like it will be more of the same, so I can see us getting a lot of riding in this week! Got back to camp, put Flash up, then got out Lola’s pool and used the last of the truck tank water to fill it, then went up to the solar well pump and filled up the truck tank, so that should last for a bit. Later on, a big old truck with a guy named Butch showed up with a load of logs, evidently he’s stocking up for the weekend when a bunch of folks are coming in. Another RV had come in which I hadn’t noticed already, so it looks like I’ll be getting a lot of company in the coming days. I’ll be glad when the season is over and I’ll have places like this to myself, though having a bit of company might be good for book sales :-). Anyway, I settled down for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A pretty good night sleep, though I was woken up early by a phone call. I had changed by Do Not Disturb time to an hour earlier in case Mike, Jeff’s neighbor called, about picking up the mower deck I bought the other day. Unfortunately it wasn’t him, it was Dan, who told me last night he wanted to ride but couldn’t get here until 3:00. I told him I was riding in the morning and going to the beach in the afternoon, which is what I did. Flash and I did a pretty short ride, though, it was so hot and buggy, and Flash was reluctant, and I discovered it was because his foot bulbs were raw again, despite using the socks Cavallo sent me, sorry to say! He’ll need some time for those to heal, so I’m hoping the next place has less rocks so maybe I can get away without boots. Not a bad ride, just that I had to put on another layer of Off! Spray about every 15 minutes, the mosquitoes were SO BAD!! Got back to camp, and immediately after putting Flash up I changed into my bathing suit and Lola and I headed for the beach, where we ended up staying until about 6:30. Dan never showed up, a comedy of errors starting with the fact he showed up without letting me know when he was coming, then hung around the trailer for way too long before finally coming over to the beach without telling me that was what he was doing, then couldn’t find me (the beach is only about 150 yards long! And I was where all the dogs were, not that hard to figure out!), then my phone died, yada yada yada. He apparently gave up because he was gone by the time I got back to camp and got my phone on charge. Just as well, really, it seemed he had some grand plan he failed to let me in on, and I DON’T like surprises or playing head games, and that seems to be all I’m getting from him. Don’t need that kind of irritation and annoyance in my life! Enjoying myself by myself, thank you very much! Settled down for the evening, then after 8:00 Mike arrived, and we unloaded his truck, got the mower deck in, and reloaded everything. So now Jeff will have his mower deck in a few days, hope he’s happy about that! And remembers to pay me for it when I get down there later this year! Enjoyed the rest of a good movie, had a glass of wine, now it’s late and I’m heading to shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
A pretty good night sleep, it seemed a bit cooler, then chores, breakfast, and then Sandy and I saddled up and headed out around 10:00. It rained hard several times during the night, but was all gone by morning, though, of course, all the trees were wet so we got the occasional sprinkling as we went through the woods. Before we left camp, though, Sandy had some kind of problem mounting Apollo, not quite sure what happened but she evidently overshot him and fell off on the off side, bruising her hip a bit. She got back on, of course, and we had a very nice 9.25 mile ride, at just three hours, so it worked out. Apollo has been much more fleet of foot lately, perhaps because of the pad in his shoes and maybe he’s finally gotten over his sore feet from months ago, but whatever it is, he has been much livelier lately. So a very good ride. It was a lot cooler in the woods, so once we got back, it wasn’t long before we put on our bathing suits, grabbed Lola and headed for the beach, where we stayed for nearly four hours. We took our small flotation devices and floated around for quite awhile, which was lovely, then layed out on the grass for a while, reading and napping until after 6:00, when we headed back. I stopped at the water spigot to fill up the barrel, then got to camp where we fed the horses, heated up leftovers from our Irish pub meal yesterday, had a bit of ice cream, watched a movie, then headed to bed. We tried to get the kitchen table down to make into an extra bed, but it was so stuck in place we couldn’t budge it. She learned from last night that it’s too stuffy in her car, too buggy if she opens a window, so she actually slept on the floor of the trailer last night. Tonight she’s going to take a cushion of the dining room bench seat and put that on the floor instead, hopefully that will be more comfortable for her. Anyway, heading to the showers and bed shortly! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Not a great night sleep, I think it’s just the heat that’s getting to me, despite running my fan right up until bedtime. Getting a lot of night reading done, though! It just makes me end up getting up later, which I did again. Did my morning chores, had breakfast, then saddled up Apollo for today’s ride, a nice 6.72 mile ride around a very nice distant loop. I put on his boots with the pads in them, and he does seem to be a lot more comfortable lately, and he did fine, albeit still a bit sluggish, as seems to be the norm for him now. It was a nice ride, especially since it was about 10 degrees cooler in the woods, making it the best place to be during the heat of the day! I let him graze for awhile after we got back, but that made Flash a little anxious since he couldn’t see him on the other side of the trailer. No worries, eventually everyone got fed, I settled down for the night, and I’m doing my best to cool it down, not easy considering it’s still like 78 degrees outside! I wish Michigan had better horse camps further north, I’d be up there! Anyway, off to shower and bed shortly. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Babe!
Had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, I stiffened up a bit during the day, and when it looked hopeless, I finally broke down and had an acetaminophen PM, just one since I know two would really knock me out. Turns out just one did that as well, though maybe not quite so bad. Once I fell asleep I was out till past 9:30, and I felt logy most of the day anyway. I dragged myself through chores, had breakfast, did a few things on the computer, then finally pushed myself to saddle up Flash. Turns out he was pretty sluggish, too! He really was slow at first, a full mile an hour slower than usual, until we reached the road that would bypass the incident from Tuesday. On the road I pushed him a bit faster, and then, when we got on the continuation of the trail we went on, avoiding that hill, he suddenly came to life, as if his sluggishness was merely because he thought I was taking him that way again. We were back to normal speed the rest of the way. On the way back, I found the bypass the ranger was talking about, and when we went by the top of the hill, I saw that they had put out some caution tape to keep people from going down there, so I guess it hasn’t been fixed yet. Anyway, it was a very nice ride, though pretty hot and buggy again. Not liking this heat, I’m looking for 70’s not upper 80’s, which is all we’ve been getting lately! Next year I’m going to NY where I KNOW there are horse camps further north that I can visit, although I’ve been to most of them already. Worse, there’s no rain in the forecast to cool things down, so I’m going to be suffering for a few more days, maybe all the way into next week, unfortunately. I didn’t take Lola with me today, she was panting so bad before we left camp, and she didn’t look really enthusiastic, so I left her behind. Got back to camp around 4:30, later than usual but then I got such a late start it’s not surprising. I walked Flash down to the water and gave him a rinse, then let them both graze until dinner. Settled down for the evening, heading to bed early tonight, I promise! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!