Hey Sweetie!
Busy, busy today! When I went to bed last night and set my alarm, it said 9:14 until my alarm would go off. Ridiculous, right? I tried to read for a bit but fell completely asleep in moments, then woke up once or twice when Lola was really restless (which surprised me, I thought she would be tired from the ride yesterday!), had some weird dreams, but didn’t wake up until the alarm went off! Obviously, I needed it! Had a bit of a scare first thing, though, when I went out to feed the horses, the gate on the electric fence was on the ground and the horses were gone! I called but got no answer, so I jumped into my truck and started heading to the back of the campground, and there they were, just meandering up from the trailhead! I thought they’d be on the grass eating, but they evidently decided to explore the woods, too! I led them home and gave them breakfast, and tightened the handle on the gate. It was really windy last night, so I though maybe the handle had swung loose, so I tightened that up. After breakfast, I saddled up Flash, and I was going to meet my new friends from Alabama and ride with them, but I missed them, so I ended up with the group ride, catching them just as they were heading out, I only just had enough time to get Lola in her orange vest and catch up with them. It was another lovely ride, a lot of variety of trail surfaces, but this was a group that really wanted to move out, so Flash got a good workout whenever we were on roads where they could stretch out. There was another dog with us, Waylon, and they got along fine, but at one point, one horse kicked at Lola because she got too close (she’s gotten over her fear of being in a pack of horses, too much so), so it was a good lesson. She didn’t get hurt, but she spent the rest of the ride paralleling us in the woods rather than being on the trail with us, so lesson learned! When we got back to camp, I called out Apollo’s name, and when he whinnied back, it came from the barn rather than the pen! Lo and behold, the gate handle was on the ground again, and upon further examination I found the ground clamp had come undone, so there was no current going through the fence, so that explained part of it. I fetched Apollo out of the barn (my neighbor put him away for me, thank you very much!), and I rinsed down Flash and put him away, then saddled up Apollo for the second ride of the day. After all, I came to ride, so I’m going to ride! I had mentioned to one of the guides that I kept seeing this sign for the waterfall and cave but hadn’t been there yet, so it was decided the afternoon ride would take us there. Another lovely ride, and the cave and the waterfall were beautiful, and Apollo had to work hard at keeping up with all the gaited horses, which was a good workout for him. Got back with him, rinsed him down and put him away, gave them some hay, put my tack away, emptied the back of the truck with the feed I bought yesterday, got that put away, cleaned up the manure in the paddock area for the first time in a couple of days, I’ve been so busy! Headed off to the dining hall for dinner, met up with my Alabama friends and got their contact info, something I should have done this morning, though from what I heard they had quite a rough ride, so I’m guessing I was better off on the group ride anyway. Tried my hand at a game of poker (the poker run kept getting postponed so we had it tonight), lost with a pair of twos, then headed back to camp to feed everyone and put the horses’ blankets on. Rain is coming in, and colder weather, highs only in the mid-50’s tomorrow, quite a plunge from the upper 70’s we’ve been having, going to have to wear my long underwear tomorrow! Anyway, even though it’s not even 8:00 yet, I’m going to take my shower, maybe watch an hour of TV while I have some Sleepytime tea, then head to bed again nice and early. I took Lola on the morning ride, not the afternoon ride, but I’m hoping it’s enough to keep her sleeping through the night. Heading off now, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a great night sleep, but still doesn’t seem like I’m entirely catching up. Maybe at my next stop I can actually take a whole day off! Had a nice breakfast, then saddled up Flash because I wanted to go on the longer morning ride today, and arrived at the meet point on time at 9:00. No one else showed up until almost 9:45, apparently everyone was talking at breakfast and got delayed. Most folks here all know each other, I’m the odd woman out, but that’s okay, I’m making friends. Once woman on the ride today has a winter home near Vero, and we had met her on the cattle drive. I remember getting her information, but never got around to calling her to ride. Maybe this year since I’m not so busy. Anyway, it was a fabulous ride, about eight and a half miles. Some of it was on gravel, but most was better footing, though there were a few stretches with a lot of rock. The round natural rocks don’t seem to bother Flash too much, it’s the rough-edged cut gravel that he hates, so he was mostly in good shape today. He got so beat up by the herd at the boarding place, he’s got cuts and scabs all over him, but they seem to be healing. Though it was only 8+ miles, we were out nearly four hours, these groups tend to do a lot of stopping and chatting, plus a stop for a munchie. I hadn’t brought anything, but one of the wranglers had plenty, so I got fed. We went through some very nice areas, typical Tennessee with lots of cliffs and crags and Indian caves and the occasional waterfall, and lots of fall wildflowers. Some of the trees are changing, but not too much yet. As soon as we got back I started calling around all the Tractor Supplies for horse feed, and practically no one carries the Perform or the Balancer anymore, but I did manage to find some in Tullahoma. I headed up there and bought enough to stock up, but hadn’t gotten my coupon for a discount until I got home. I knew I should have checked my email on my phone, I would have had it then! Anyway, now I’m set for awhile. Went to the Walmart in Winchester, filled up with fuel and shopped for some essentials. I didn’t bring Lola with me because the people that board her forgot to give me her leash, harness and vest back, they’re supposed to be sending it to me today but it hadn’t gotten there before I left. The package was sitting on my chair when I got back, and when I opened it, I discovered they had only sent the vest and the harness, not the leash! I have no idea why they would do that. Anyway, before dinner I did a few quick chores, then headed over to the dining hall for another nice meal. There was enough of a crowd over there (though still pretty small) that I decided to do my Snowy River for them, and most of them were very attentive, especially two little kids that sat right down front. After that they were doing karioke, so I headed back to camp to feed the horses. I’m feeling tired and am hoping to get to bed earlier tonight, so I’m getting this done early, and hope to get everything else done early, too. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a good night sleep, but still feeling a bit tired, got up with the alarm for breakfast, then did some housework, put everything away from the suitcases and other bags that had stuff in them and were just lying around. Tidying, basically, with some cleaning mixed in. Did a bit more computer work, then saddled up Apollo for what was supposed to be a Poker Run, but since there was only two of us, we decided to skip it and just take a little ride, save the PR for tomorrow when more people would be here. Had quite a nice ride, though it is quite rocky here, and I don’t really have a pair of boots for Apollo, though I did find an old Cavallo Simple boot, I decided to just carry them and see if I needed them. There were a few gravel roads, but not too bad, so we managed okay. A few beautiful spots around in the woods here, and it was me and a woman named Donna and the trail boss Shane and his daughter Bella, so it was a nice ride. Got back in plenty of time for dinner, and Donna and her group came over to check out the trailer. They’re staying in cabins with their eye on getting a trailer big enough to spend some serious time in, which is why they were interested in seeing mine. Anyway, after that we went to dinner, busiest night yet with more people coming in. It was Bingo night, but I elected to come back and try to get some more rest, so one movie, then shower, and soon to bed! Going to do the morning ride tomorrow, though it’s supposed to be pretty cold, so much so that I put the blankets on the horses tonight. Don’t want them growing too much of a winter coat before we get to Florida! So good night, my love! Love, you!

Hi darlin’,
Woke up with the alarm this morning, since I had arranged to go riding the Bob and Ginny and I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be late. We left right on schedule at 9:30, but I couldn’t put Apollo’s boots on because one of them had a blowout, so we just had to deal with whatever rough ground we came across. Fortunately, most of the trails were actual trails, dirt and mostly single track, just like I like them! We went over 12 miles, and it was a terrific ride. We covered a lot of ground, and ended up at a picnic table sitting on the edge of a bluff for lunch. A long ride for Apollo, but he did brilliantly! They both ride quarter horses, so they were all perfectly matched speed-wise, though Apollo was slow starting out, but warmed up quickly. This was truly the nicest ride I’ve experienced since I’ve been here, and I’m glad of it, though I never would have found some of these trails on my own, since a few aren’t on the map. We went cross country a couple of times, and crossed the Blue River coming and going, as we made out way to a section of the forest known as Little Italy, then Loudon’s Ridge. We were out nearly six hours, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Got back, gave Apollo a bath, then spent a few minutes clearing out the horse wash area. I had a nice concrete pad, but it was so covered in mud you would hardly know it, so I cleared away the mud and used the hose to clear out a drain area, which improved it a lot. Then I headed up to my hotspot to check my email and solve a few more problems, and had to wait a long time for my two rides, yesterday and today, to upload from my phone to the cloud, then pull it back onto Google Earth. I wanted to see the GPS tracks from those two days of riding, but it took a lot of time. I finally finished and headed back to camp, but when I got here and opened up my computer, the darn thing had decided to shut itself down and reboot (probably because of an upgrade), so all the work I did on Google Earth disappeared, and so did a weeks worth of my diary! I have no idea why it did that, it usually asks me to close those programs before it restarts, but it did it all on it’s own today, and it ticked me off, since it’s made a lot more work for me, grrrrr! Anyway, got back to camp, made some dinner, went and chatted with Bob and Ginny for a bit, then came back to settle in for the night. Evidently there’s a big event here this weekend, so the place has been filling up all day, and it’s likely to be even busier tomorrow. No more riding for me, though, I have to start packing, plus sorting out all the stuff I need for my trip to Arizona next week. It’s going to be a busy weekend, what with driving to Tennessee on Saturday, then figuring out what to do with the trailer (still working on the logistics of that!), packing, shopping, getting a hair cut etc., and being ready to fly out on Monday. Whew! I’m going to be exhausted in a few days! Anyway, enough, time for shower and bed. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Sweetie!
After my usual chores and hotspot drive, I saddled up Flash and headed out to knock out some more of the trails here. Well, a lot of it wasn’t exactly trails, it was more like gravel road, probably 80 percent of them. I wish they wouldn’t call a gravel road a trail, but what are you going to do? I had his boots on, but he still wasn’t happy about it, but he did great anyway. There was maybe a mile of the kind of single track dirt trail that I liked during the whole 10+ miles, but at least I was on the back of my horse! Got back to camp, gave him a bath, then settled down for the evening. Such beautiful weather, though it’s been cool the last few evenings and I’ve been putting their light blankets on to prevent them from growing a winter coat, though it’s warming up this week so I shouldn’t have to keep doing that. Anyway, it was a lovely day despite the gravel, and I made some progress on a few things logistically for my upcoming trip. Time for shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a wonderful night sleep last night, I’m so glad I brought the quilt down, it kept me nice and warm and cozy all night! The problem with the throw is that it’s too small and when I moved I get uncovered, then wake up cold. Didn’t have that problem last night! Woke up refreshed and raring to go! After chores and breakfast I ran up to a spot near the regular campground where I discovered I can get 3 bars of 4G, and made relatively short work of a whole list of things I needed to do, phone calls I needed to make, questions I needed to have answered, pictures and diary entries I needed to upload, all of which happened pretty quick. I was back down to camp by about 1:00, so I saddled up Apollo as planned and headed out on a route I had figured was a little over six miles. Not a terribly enjoyable ride today. The footing here is just so inconsistent! One minute you’re on big creek-like rock, the next you’re sinking in mud, the next you’re on a gravel road (really big sharp chunks), then you’re on gravel covered with green growth, and occasionally you end up on a stretch of nice dirt single track, but nowhere near often enough. Apollo had a tough time. I started out without boots, but when we hit our first gravel road I stopped and put them on, then we started hitting bogs, and when we were climbing a hill he lost one, so I decided to take them off again, because once they get that muddy they don’t stay on very well, and we didn’t hit any water where I could wash them off, then shortly after that we hit another gravel road, and he wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to put them back on again, so he minced his way up the road in obvious discomfort, then on the last mile home we finally had a nice stretch of dirt for a bit, before going back to rocky creek bed. So, it was as enjoyable as it could be (always being on my horse is enjoyable!), but the trail detracted from that enjoyment. We got back to camp about 4:30, I put him on the highline and gave him a flake of hay, then I took some pictures of the damage on the trailer so I could email them to the repair place I found, changed my clothes and headed up the my hot spot again, sent the pix off, then headed down to pick up some hay. I had found a woman selling hay that’s only about 13 minutes from here! I think that’s the shortest trip for hay I’ve ever taken! She was advertising 1st cut, but they were bringing in 3rd cut, so she let me have that for the same price. There’s no alfalfa in this, just orchard, clover and fescue, but it’s so fresh I think the horses won’t have a problem with it. I’ve got to get them off the alfalfa, though the last batch, with 70% alfalfa didn’t seem to bother them as much as the 100% did, but I’d rather get them back to regular hay as we move out of alfalfa country. Got back in no time, fed the horses, had dinner, and settled down for the evening, feeling like I had a really productive day! Time for shower and bed now, so good night, my love!

Hey Babe,
Got quite a bit colder last night than I thought it would, SO glad I decided to put the blankets on the horses last night! Just 47 degrees when I got up this morning, good thing I remembered to bring my heavy robe up to bed, happy I did that, too! First thing I did this morning was start a load of laundry, something I wouldn’t normally do on a Saturday because it’s usually the busiest day for the horse camp, but there’s still almost no one in the primitive camp, and I really needed to do some wash. By the time I fed the horses and did my few chores and got a line up, it was done, so I put it out to dry, even though the sun had barely topped the trees by 9:00. Got Flash saddled up and was just about ready to go when Trish and Janet arrived, so we took off shortly thereafter, heading out on the Idlewild Trail, out Fox Hollow, then out to Coles loop and back, A very nice ride, though sections of it were rocky. I started out with boots on Flash, but took them off since the rocks were mostly big enough not to cause him a problem, and there were quite a few bogs, and I didn’t want to worry about losing boots. We were out for over 3 hours, I did eleven miles, and got back to camp just after 1:30. Grabbed a quick sandwich, then drove into town again to try to solve my manure rake problem. Went to Tractor Supply again, looking for a different handle, even took the old handle and tines in to make sure, and also bought an assortment of jigsaw blades since I wore the other one out. Topped off with diesel and got back to camp around 4:30, and promptly discovered that the new handle didn’t fit either! It looked like it would in the store, but it had a lip on it that prevented it from going in, darn it! So Plan B was to get out my jigsaw again, and with the new metal blade I was able to quickly remove the metal shroud that was on the handle I bought yesterday, and it was still too big! A quick change of blade and I whittled down that handle until it FINALLY fit, drilled a hole through it and bolted it up, and AT LAST I have a working manure rake! At least I was finally able to get it right, and I can take back the latest handle. By now it was almost 5:00, so I headed up to the ladies’ camp for dinner again, and learned that they had decided to leave tonight. Trish’s horse Breezy was getting some bad chafing from her girth and she didn’t want to ride again tomorrow, and Janet agreed, so they headed out right after dinner. I got back to camp, finished putting away all my tools and stuff, then settled down for the evening. Just downloaded a new book, a courtroom drama, that I’m looking forward to getting into, after watching an old Mae West-WC Fields movie that we had on DVR for a long time. Probably going to take the day off tomorrow, could use a break. Anyway, it was a lovely day, perfect weather once it warmed up a bit, but it’s supposed to be even colder tonight, so blankets are back on the horses! Headed off for shower and bed now, so good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Pix to follow.

Hi Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, woke up to the alarm, since we had agreed I would meet them up at their campsite at around 10:00 and didn’t want to be late, so I fed everyone, including me, got ready, and was leaving camp on Flash by about 9:35. I found the trail Ginny told me about and it was almost exactly one mile up to them, so I made it just about on time. Of course, they weren’t ready, but it didn’t take them too long, and we were leaving camp by 10:35. We got on Trail 10 right next to the bathhouse, which interestingly, isn’t on any of the maps, new or old, so we were off-track right off the bat. We got completely turned around when we reached a trail that was closed, but in the long run, we didn’t get lost, and got right back to camp in just about three hours. What a beautiful ride! It took us right along the Ohio River, then the Blue River, which is a tributary, along gorgeous trails, some with tons of flowers, lots of great old trees, some gravel but mostly dirt trails with the occasional mud bog, but not enough to lost boots or get covered with mud. Really enjoyable! Unfortunately the gravel is big chunky gravel, but there wasn’t too terribly much of it, so we managed okay. A very pleasant ride! After I left the ladies at their campsite, I headed back to mine, made a quick sandwich, then headed up to pick them up, as we had agreed we would all go to town, me for propane and a couple of other things, Ginny for a new microwave, as the one in her trailer died, and Trish for a couple of things for her horse. It was too late to ride again by the time we got back, so I left them, primarily because I had broken the handle on my manure rake and had bought a replacement and wanted to get that fixed. Well, the best laid plans… Turns out the handle I bought wasn’t the right size, but it had a casing around it, which I though was rubbed, and I thought if I could get that off it might fit. Turns out it wasn’t rubber, it was metal, and I tried everything to get it off, but didn’t succeed. So now I either need to get new blades for my jigsaw or find another handle that might fit, though I hadn’t seen any yesterday, they were all for other implements. I was mad because this handle specifically said it should fit a manure rake, and I didn’t see anything else that might work, but I guess I can make a shovel handle work or something. Anyway, that’s a problem for tomorrow. I fed the horses and drove back up the their camp for dinner, and didn’t get back until nearly 8:00. Watched a Wagon Train, got caught up on the email I had downloaded while I was up there, made a new map for tomorrow, and now I’m headed to shower and bed! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Pix to come.

Hey darlin’,
Last full day here. I had some computer work to do for a bit this morning after my usual chores, then eventually saddled up Apollo for a short ride. Yesterday on Flash the saddlebags got loose and I had something fall out, and I found it right away, but I thought maybe something came out earlier and I wanted to check on it. Problem is, I reorganized my saddlebags not long ago and I can’t remember everything I’m carrying these days, so I was pretty sure I hadn’t lost anything, and I never did find anything else on the trail today, so that was good. It was only a short ride, just over 5 miles, but I managed to get him to jog a bit more than usual, just trying to get him in shape. When I got back, I put him on an anchor and started packing up a few things in preparation for our departure tomorrow. I dawdled over that most of the rest of the day, reading a little, watching a little TV, you know, the usual. By 7:00 I had fed the horses and put everything else away that I could, so it shouldn’t be to bad getting out of here in the morning. I’ve planned a route that will take me through the nearest town where I can stop at Tractor Supply for propane, Walmart for just a few odds and ends, and a post office to ship out a book order I got last night, where I hope there will be enough street parking for me! It’s only about 65 miles, and that’s going a bit out of my way in order to get to a US highway, since the rest all look like pretty tiny roads and I don’t want to take any chances. One thing I forgot to do was send an email to your sister to wish her a Happy Birthday, but I’m sending one now so she’ll have a belated one in the morning. I’m hoping to Skype with her over the weekend, if I have a decent cell phone signal. I’ve run out of trails here and I’m ready to move on, though I did enjoy the place a lot. Anyway, time for my shower and bed! Good night, hon! Love you!

Pix to follow.

Hey Baby,
Another late start this morning, mostly because I wanted to finish the last few chapters of the series I’ve been reading, but then I got up for chores and breakfast. I spent over an hour on the phone with one company, then another 45 minutes on the phone with another company, then back on the phone with the first company for another half an hour, all trying to follow up on stuff I’ve been trying to accomplish for a long time and getting nowhere. Not sure I got anywhere today, either, but we’ll see. Very frustrating. I seem to remember that in the “old” days, keeping someone on hold for more than 5 minutes was considered terrible customer service, but it seems these days, it seems half an hour is the minimum! Twice I got hung up on, twice more my phone dropped the call, and one time I went through four different people, then waited for 20 minutes, only to learn I was still talking to the wrong department! Grrrrrr! Anyway, I finally got as far as I could go with it all, and needed some quiet time, so I saddled up Flash to do the rest of the trails I hadn’t done here yet. Again, it was a lovely ride, really easy and beautiful trails here, very enjoyable. Did just under eight miles, got back a bit after 4:00, put Flash away, got a beer and went to talk to the neighbors for a bit. Not a very stimulating conversation, so I didn’t stay long, and they were so worried I’d get a ticket from a forest service ranger (whom I haven’t seen any of since I’ve been here) about my fence, I decided to take it down and put the horses up on a high line that I strung between two hitching rails. I was hoping to have the place to myself at some point this week, but they’re still here, and so are the other group of non-horse campers, who dress like old-style gypsies. The next few weeks are going to be busy as I get ready for my trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon, lots of prep work to do. Eventually settled down for the evening to an old Wagon Train from the PVR, but I’m planning on getting to bed early. So, signing off! Good night, sweetie! Love you!