Hi Babe,
After a casual morning, I started saddling up Flash and one of the group, Chris, came up and got Apollo to ride today, using her saddle. It wasn’t long before we were off. It had been suggested that we ask about the local trail guide Tim, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found today, so we decided to go with the trail I had already planned on, about ten miles mostly around the outer perimeter, or so I thought. Just out of camp we were on the Three Sisters trail, where there are some stunning carvings right in the rock wall, quite remarkable. We hadn’t gone too much farther when, according to my map, we were near a waterfall, and when we saw a sign for the waterfall trail we followed it. Oddly, that trail didn’t take us to the waterfall we were near, it cut us way off our route to ANOTHER waterfall that we would had reached had we stayed on our original course in about a mile! Weird! The trails are reasonably well marked, better than some I’ve seen, but there were still numerous intersections with little or no signage, and some were on the ground in pieces, so not very helpful. Glad I had my GPS map tracking us! Well, it was a nice waterfall, though they had dressed it up with a washing line full of laundry, which I guess some would consider cute, but I just thought it was a bit tacky, and took away from the natural beauty of the spot, but that’s just me. Anyway, I managed to get back on track right after that, and we made our way up to the old saloon, which was a nice picnic area. I wish it had been marked on the map that it was a picnic area, as we had stopped shortly before that on the top of a hill in the woods and had our lunch, which was nice, but not very convenient for those who had trouble climbing up on their horses without a table or mounting block to help them. Still, we made it okay. It was decided that we would skip the final far loop in favor of getting back to camp so we didn’t wear ourselves or our horses out too quickly, so we headed back down the gas pipeline in a beeline for camp. Unfortunately, that route, though open and straight, was quite steep, with several ups and downs that were quite challenging. With the gravel, we put the boots on Flash and Apollo, which helped a lot, but one of Flash’s boots was a lot worse for wear by the time we got back. It was a mostly pretty ride today, but slow going, because of the hills, one place in particular had a very steep slippery rock the horses had to literally slide down. And with so many of us, eight of us, we had to keep stopping or slowing down to wait for things, well, suffice to say that 8.5 miles over better than 3.5 hours was the slowest ride I’ve been on in a LONG time. Everybody did well though, and there were some pretty sections, but we’ll definitely avoid the pipeline in future! Too many nicer side trails. We didn’t run into too much mud, fortunately, but I’m worried that boots will be needed to be used on the gravel, and that when we do run into mud we’ll have to be very careful about not losing them. Anyway, we got back, then the rest of them rode down to the Rattlesnake Saloon, which is in a nearby cave, and evidently they were shooting a music video down there, even though the place was technically closed. I didn’t go because I had already taken off Flash’s bridle by the time someone mentioned it, no worries, I’ll check it out tomorrow. Got everything put away, had dinner with the group again, fed the horses, then finally got back to settle down for the evening. I ordered a new pair of boots for Flash, but can’t get them until next week, so I’m having them sent to Loretta’s, and I got the final contracts from the union, so I’m officially working again! Yeah! Now I can get my health insurance back, and make contributions to my pension plan, which I haven’t been able to do for a year and a half, thanks to this crazy covid thing. Anyway, a busy day, so I’m heading to bed shortly, as soon as all the pix load up, which is taking a long time because there is almost no cellphone signal here, and I’m barely in range of the local wifi, so that’s another challenge here. So I’m off to shower and bed once again! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Well, another good night sleep, got the chores done, then saddled up Flash and went off on what turned out to be a decent ride for the most part. I also put boots on him since the dirt and stones, no matter how few they seem to me, have been bothering him, which really shouldn’t surprise me considering they’ve been on nothing but sand for the last six months! I reviewed my notes from last time we were here and recalled that the black trail across the road was the nicer one, so today I headed off in that direction. Of course, the first mile was on the same old trails out of camp, but we finally crossed the road and got onto the nice part of the black trail. It seemed it didn’t follow my GPS exactly (which means their map is wrong!), but I quickly backtracked and managed to follow my entire planned route, which was really nice. The trails are wider, which means no knee-knockers (thank goodness!), it still went along the edge of the lake in a few places, and had a few challenging grades which made it interesting. The footing was better in most places as well, so at least we had one nice ride here for a change. I won’t regret not coming back here, though, I’ve been here enough. We were back by 1:30, and I spent the rest of the day reading and just hanging out, nodding off once or twice in my chair, despite the fact that the campground was rather noisy today. Finally settled in for the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
NOTE TO SELF: Don’t ever come back to Wind Creek again! After another great night sleep and breakfast I saddled up Apollo for a short ride today. Since so many of the trails I’ve tried to take here have been impassable, I decided to not plan anything, just to go wherever I felt like. I know the place well enough now that I figured I couldn’t get lost. Unfortunately, even on the trails that you would think would be the most traveled, there were still dozens of trees down that had to be circumvented, some on hills that made getting around them very problematic. Many trails here are so narrow that you’re constantly having to push yourself away from trees (if you’re quick enough) to keep from knocking your knees. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough and banged up my newly repaired knee pretty good, both yesterday and today. You would think that a state park would have the resources to keep their trails clear, but these are as bad as the most neglected national forest I’ve ever been in. The only alternative are washed out gravel roads, which they also neglect, they could use some grading. Apollo was sluggish and not happy about the stones on the trails or the roads, I probably should have put boots on him, but they didn’t seem that bad to me, but he was really fighting the trail most of the way, making the whole experience unpleasant. We only went about 5.5 miles, but that was more than enough for us! Even Lola seemed bored, kept trying to wander off. Anyway, tomorrow I’ll take one more ride on Flash to the trails across the road, my notes from last time I was here indicate those are a little wider and hopefully a lot more pleasant. We’ll see. Grilled myself a nice piece of chicken, had rice and fruit salad, then settled down for the evening. Good news! I finally managed to persuade Equity into giving me a contract, so I should be back up and running on my health insurance and pension forthwith! Yay! Time for shower and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a very good night sleep, without earplugs! I haven’t had to use them since I got here, it’s nice and quiet, and now that I’m in Central Time, it seems it’s more in sync with mother nature and my circadian rhythm. Except a strange thing did happen. After I fed everyone including myself, I decided to wait a bit before heading out on my ride so that it would warm up. It was a very chilly morning, was glad I put my turtle neck on, but when I came back inside and sat in my chair and started reading, I nodded off and woke up almost two hours later! Yet I had had a good night sleep! I guess I must just still be releasing the pent up tension or something. Anyway, it was nearly noon by the time I went out and started saddling Flash, but soon we were off with Lola coming along as well. We started on a section of the yellow trail, which was very nice, as a lot of it follows the shoreline of the lake. Then I had planned on doing the blue trail, which looked like it also followed the shoreline, and there was a long section I hadn’t done before. Well, I didn’t get very far, there were so many trees down it became impassable. I had to double back and find another trail, and I finally found one that looked like it would also meet up with the blue trail later on, which it did, but it was also impassable! Honestly, if they’re not going to maintain their trails they should just close them so you don’t get a mile into them before being forced to turn back! I wandered around cross-country for awhile until I finally found another trail that was better, but it was not a pleasant experience for any of us for awhile! Saw some deer and birds, of course, and the weather warmed up beautifully, but it was spoiled a bit by the frustration of blocked trailes. We finally made it back to camp, and there were quite a number of new trailers that had and were still arriving, so I guess it’s going to be a busy weekend. I decided to fix the electric fence to a bunch of trees in the hope that Apollo couldn’t escape, and let them wander around in it a bit until it was dinnertime, then I put them on the highline, and put their blankets back on, since it’s going to be another chilly night. Thank goodness I have the electric fireplace for nights like this! Grilled myself an Angus burger for dinner, gave Lola some extra food since she went on the ride today, and settled down for the evening. Just saw a beautiful space station flyover, nice and bright and long, and now it’s about time to take my shower and get ready for bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Another cool, lovely morning today, and I did have to close the windows in the bedroom last night, it did get quite chilly in the wee hours! Had a relaxing morning, then finally got around to saddling up Flash for our last ride here today. I’ve slowly been getting all of their feet trimmed, and today was the last two, the rear ones on Flash. I’ve had that horse for what, three years now? And this is probably the first serious trim I’ve done on him, his back feet just don’t seem to grow hardly at all! But they had finally got some length to them, so I trimmed them today before heading out. Of course, I had the best of intentions to try to find some of the trails I missed last time we were out, and maybe I found a few, maybe not. It’s hard to tell sometimes because the maps is just so darn bad, at least as far as being GPS accurate. The trails aren’t that well marked either, so it was a challenge, but we managed nonetheless. Flash was in a gogo mood again after he warmed up, and we got some fabulous cordos and largos in, and a couple of long stretches of canter as well. There are quite a few areas here that have been logged so they are wide open, and they did a lot more trail tilling on this side this week. I don’t remember having that problem on Tuesday, but there sure were a lot of trails torn up today! I guess they’re refurbishing their fire breaks of something. Saw a black cat on the trail, that’s the second cat I’ve seen out here. Seems strange, as they were a long way from any houses, so maybe they’re just feral. Anyway, it was a lovely ride, with a great finish along the river, and a quick stop at the obstacle course, where I was finally able to get Flash up this one obstacle he’s been reluctant about, but managed to do today, yay! Then we had a nice long canter on the final field for home, and ended on a very positive note. Rinsed Flash off and put him back in the stall, which my neighbors Jerry and Bonnie had kindly fixed yesterday. The pipe panel on one side was a rusted piece of junk, an accident waiting to happen, and he put a new panel that he found laying around in yesterday, so it was much better now! Very grateful for that! Chatted with them for a bit (I actually ran into them three times on the trail as well!) before grilling a steak and settling down for the evening. Now I’m off to shower and bed, with another beautiful cool night coming up. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Woke up to a cooler morning than I’ve experienced in quite a while, a gorgeous start to the day! Got the animals and me fed, then headed out to Live Oak to pick up a couple of bales of coastal and the local feed store, MUCH BETTER than that dusty crap I bought in Fellsmere! Just three bales though, since I still have four of the other stuff left, though I’m thinking about using it more for bedding than eating, it’s that bad. Then went to Walmart, took Lola with me, she made lots of people smile, as always. The governor of Florida lifted the facemask restrictions yesterday, and I forgot my mask in the truck and didn’t want to go back for it, and I saw a lot of other people without masks today, so I decided to go in without one. After all, I’ve been vaccinated, right? It’s time for things to start getting back to normal! It was the first time in nearly a year that I’ve been shopping without a mask, and there was a definite feeling of freedom and progress in that. Did all my shopping, topped off the fuel tank in the truck since our next trip on Monday will be almost a tankful, then got back to camp around noon. I eventually saddled up Apollo and planned a route to another section of the Twin Rivers Forest across the road from McCulley Farms, and it wasn’t long before I got lost, because the map is hand drawn (and therefore not even close to my GPS track) and the trails weren’t particularly well marked (well, there were plenty of marks on the trees, they just didn’t seem to correspond very well with what was on my map), and in the end, I just let Apollo figure it out and take us back to camp. It was a pretty boring ride, and the one section that I thought looked like it might be really nice had evidently recently been burned (assuming it was a prescribed burn), so one side of the trail was really ugly after all. A lot of the trail had been recently tilled up as well, so we were walking in deep sand and furrows, so not much fun. In fact, the nicest trail was the one Apollo turned onto, which wasn’t marked but headed in the right direction. I had planned on about a seven mile ride, it ended up being ten, so my legs were tired trying to hang onto that big fat boy! I didn’t take Lola because there’s too much of a crowd in camp now, and it required crossing the road a couple of times, didn’t want the hassle. Got back and put Apollo in the little pasture with Flash for a few hours, grilled a sausage for dinner, then got the boys back into their stall before calling it a night. A beautiful evening, and it’s supposed to get down into the upper 40’s tonight, great sleeping weather! I may even have to close the windows so it won’t get too cold! Nice change! Anyway, ready to shower and bed. Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a good night sleep, though it took awhile for the room to cool down, quite a hot one today with not a lot of breeze in the evening. I was still reading when I suddenly felt a cold, clammy presence on my leg, which I instinctively flicked away, then I turned the light on to see what it was. Didn’t see anything for a minute, then suddenly it landed on me again, and then jumped off and went to the wall, where I saw it was a tree frog! Eeewww! I put a sock on my hand and managed to catch it, got up and threw it outside. Obviously I’m going to have to be more careful about Lola leaving the door open! After I got up and did chores and had breakfast, I decided I had time to run to the feed store for some hay (which was kind of dusty, but I didn’t have much choice), another stop at Tractor Supply for propane and Nutrena, and a quick stop at the gas station to fuel up the truck, and I still made it back before 10:30. Maggie and I had agreed to meet between 10 and 10:30, and she had arrived only a few minutes before me, so it all worked out. I put the hay and propane away, then we got busy saddling the horses. I had trimmed Apollo’s front feet yesterday, and decided to trim Flash’s today, so that took a little bit of time (though not much, he was quite still for me, thank goodness!), and we left shortly after that. There’s a small civil airport nearby, and we had a lot of planes going over us in the Preserve, and then we saw a whole bunch of skydivers appear out of seemingly nowhere! Very colorful chutes! Later we saw the biggest flock of buzzards I’ve ever seen, and though I could smell some carrion, never did see what it was, but it was in a cow pasture, so that’s what we figured it was. We took the long loop in the opposite direction, with a couple of variations, and Maggie did a brilliant job of getting Apollo to resume his nice little jog that I love so much, which is just the right pace to keep up with Flash. He’s been ridden by so many newbies lately that he hasn’t done it in awhile, but she got him right up to snuff. Flash also managed to do a nice little fino, just a half gear up from his walk, which is very smooth, so we made decent time, but it still took more that 2.5 hours to make the trip, and it was quite hot (over 90 again today), so we were both worn out by the time we got back to camp. Maggie went straight over to the trough hose and ran cold water over herself, but she soon recovered. I untacked the horses and ran the hose over them before putting them on their anchors, where the spent the rest of the afternoon. Maggie and I crashed into the loungers and stayed THERE the rest of the afternoon as well! We had more lively discussions today, until she had to leave to have dinner with her roommate Nancy, who has been gone for a couple of weeks and just got back last night. I had dinner on my own (sausage on the grill!), and settled down for the evening. SLIGHTLY cooler tonight, and I’ve been running the fan in my bedroom for a few hours, so hopefully it will be easier to get to sleep tonight. Going to bed early, though, definitely need to make up for my tiredness! Still kind of coming down from all the stress of the past few months, but starting to get back in the swing of things! Shower soon, then bed, so good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Starting to feel like things are getting back to my normal! Slept well with earplugs in, then just after breakfast I took Apollo out for a short loop, just over 5 miles. He was a bit skittish today, lots of smells and a whole new landscape, so I kept my hands near the horn just in case he did something silly. After all, I’m under doctor’s orders not to fall off my horse onto my new knee (if that’s even possible!), so I was being extra careful. We mostly walked, but I did manage to jog for a bit, which I suspect is all good for my knee-strengthening. We got back to camp a bit after noon, another hot one today, so I rinsed him down and put them out on their anchors. Not long afterwards, my friend Maggie arrived, and we chatted away until the vet arrived at around 2:45. When the other vet in Jupiter did all the vaccinations, he wasn’t able to float their teeth because he had recently had back surgery, so I found another vet locally (recommended by Maggie) who was able to come out today to do that for me. She did a great job, using electric tools, and was done in good time for a reasonable price. Afterward, I cooked some burgers on the grill and Maggie and I had a great dinner, chatted some more, made plans for tomorrow, then she and her crazy dog Sedona headed out. By the way, I put a mousetrap out in the back of the trailer last night, and sure enough, there was a mouse trapped in it this morning! Wonderful! Lola’s been hearing them in the middle of the night, sometimes trying to scare them off with a fury of barking (which is hard to sleep through!), so I’m hoping I can stop an infestation and get rid of some more, if there are any. Settled down for the evening, washed my hair using the hose by the water trough in order to save water in the trailer (I do not want to go through the hassle of trying to fill up the tank again, so I’m being VERY stingy), but will take a quick shower before heading to bed, just to get off the sweat of the day. I might have done that at the horse trough hose, too, but two women, three horses and a mini showed up to do a photo shoot around sunset, so I decided not to. Anyway, time to go now, another hot one tonight, stayed in Florida a week or two too long! Oh, by the way, got my lab results back and my cholesterol took a significant plunge since my last test. Don’t know if it’s my change in eating habits or the chaney root tea, but the doctor seems happy with my progress, so hopefully I won’t have to start taking any pills. I’ll just keep doing both and see how it goes! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Had a pretty good night sleep, though I was awakened by the sound of a vehicle after the gates opened, then the sound of one of the horses trumpeting at something, but still, it was a good time to get up. There was a beautiful full moon just about setting when I looked out the bedroom window, so lovely! For some reason the clock on my phone jumped ahead an hour for awhile, don’t know what that was about! I was going to go riding first thing, but I’ve been trying to find a new wastebasket (my duct tape fix didn’t last, and I really like this small size), and I had ordered one from a Walmart in Vero, but then got an email that it was canceled because they didn’t have it after all, so I went searching again (obviously it’s an item that’s about to be discontinued), but I finally found one in West Melbourne about 25 miles away, so I figured I better go get it before it was gone, and they were nice enough to put it aside for me. I ran up there, got that and a few other groceries, then when I got back I saddled up Flash to go for a ride. It was FANTASTIC! Well, the trails are mostly just typical Florida savanna, with one nice section on the west side that’s wooded and shady, but it didn’t matter. Flash was in the mood to go, go, go and we averaged between six and seven miles an hour for the most part. He was a little flighty just because he hasn’t been on a new trail in awhile, but he soon settled down. Lola had a job keeping up with us! In any event, it was a great ride. We saw lots of deer including two baby spotted fawns and a big box turtle crossing the trail in front of us. There were some patches of water along the way, too, apparently they had a lot of rain last week. It was perfect, a nice breeze kept it from getting too hot, and a great time was had by all! After we got back, I rinsed Flash down, then got Apollo out on his anchor and let them graze around the field for a few hours. Meanwhile, the left rear window of my truck has suddenly dropped down overnight and won’t come back up, so I did some research and discovered the repair I need to make, a new power window regulator assembly, which I was able to get at an Advance Auto less than a mile away on the main road, with a good discount for ordering online. I also picked up some Chinese food for dinner, in the mood for something a little different, bourbon chicken, which wasn’t bad. I love sitting outside having dinner! I put up the front panel of my screen room just to block out some of the sun since I’m facing mostly west and it really made a big difference. Still got a nice breeze, but cut down on the direct sunlight big-time. A nurse and her kid stopped by to ask if they could say hello to the horses, and they played with Lola for a bit, too. It was sunset when they left, time for me to come inside and settle down, watched a movie, now it’s time for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
FINALLY took a ride today! Jeff had asked me last night if we could go today, and considering we haven’t ridden together once since I’ve been here, and it’s (hopefully) my last day here before I take off tomorrow, I said yes, as long as it could be fairly early, since the forecast was for temps to be 90 degrees today. I started to get ready around 10:00, Jeff came out around 10:30, and we were almost ready to go when he got a call from his friend Jeff, and asked him if he’s like to come along, so I had another horse to get ready, so it was nearly noon by the time we actually got underway. Fortunately, though, there was enough of a breeze that once we got into the shade, it really wasn’t too bad, surprisingly. Most of the water stretches were dry except on, and we didn’t seen any gators at all, though we did see a lot of birds and a couple of deer, which is more rare. Of course, we stopped at the pagoda for a break, which both Jeffs needed, and frankly, my bum was a bit more sore because normally I put more weight in the stirrups, but didn’t want to stress out my knee so I had more weight in the saddle than usual. But it wasn’t bad, my knee felt okay by the time we got home. A nice ride, thankfully it was uneventful, no drama, just the way I like it. Hosed my two horses down and let them run free again, then I got in my bathing suit and took a swim to cool off myself, hung around the pool for a bit, then deflated my river raft to take with me, since I’ll need that this summer. Took a ride into Walmart to pick up a few things, plus I wanted to take another test drive. I seem to be having a problem with the brake pedal kicking back once it’s warmed up, and after doing some research, I believe it’s just that I didn’t completely bleed the power steering system after I changed the brake booster, so tomorrow morning I’m going to lift it and do the whole process, which could take some time to do it right, but I only have about 80 miles to go, so I’ll have time. I hope that’s all it is, but brakes is one thing I don’t want to take any chances with! We’ll see. I did several loads of laundry so I’ll have a fresh start next week, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast of where I’m going is right, and we’ll have 60’s at night and only low 80’s during the day, since I won’t have electric to run my AC. I can use the generator, of course, but I’m hoping I’ll only need it sparingly, and will be able to mostly charge my batteries with my solar panel. Looking forward to getting back on the road, but it will certainly take some time getting back into the swing of things again! Finally settled down for the evening, getting down to the last season of this great BBC series I’ve been watching, New Tricks. You would have loved this show, and I would certainly have been pestering you for the definitions of the slang the writers are very fond of, since it’s based in London. Anyway, the time has come for shower and bed, so off I go! Good night, babe! Love you!