Hey Darlin'!
An incredible day here in Utah. I had a much lighter breakfast (I still felt bloated from yesterday!), and we were on the bus and heading out by 8:00. It only took about 20+ minutes to get to our starting point in Bryce Canyon. Robert was still having trouble moving people to accommodate a group of four that wanted to be together but had been split between the A's and the B's, so I volunteered to switch, along with Jill, who had volunteered yesterday, but I demurred because I wanted to be in the first group out. Well, selfishly, I agreed to change because today, the B group was heading out first, so everyone got what they wanted and it was all good! It didn't take too long to get back on our horses and heading out, and I have to say, Bryce Canyon is truly stunning. The red rock and the hoodoos and the tunnels and everything were just jaw-dropping. I took so many pictures it will probably take all night to load them in! That ride was about six miles or so. At the edge of the park at a back entrance, they had our lunch set up, lasagna with garlic bread, salad, etc. I restrained myself and only had a little of each, along with a cookie, as I really don't want to feel this bloated again. Then we had a choice of either going on a short 90 minute ride back through another side of the loop through Bryce Canyon (which would only elucidate another two new miles), or take the long ride, another three+ hours, which they called the Snowy River ride, because it had a couple of steep hills to traverse. Well, as my goal is always to ride as many trail miles as I can, I, along with just seven others (and two wranglers), decided to do the long ride. While it may not have been as spectacular as the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, it certainly had its own charm and gorgeous landscape, along with some history in the area, which made it all the more interesting. Some of it was road riding, which was actually nice because the wranglers were riding long-legged draft horse mules, so we had to trot often to keep up, and the famed Snowy River drop-off was fairly steep, it was mostly the steep dropoff on the side of the trail that made it a bit harrowing, therefore exciting and memorable! We made good time, and the 3.5 hour ride was more like 3 hours, and we were back to camp in no time. We were greeted by a smorgasbord of snacks, which I would have skipped if it wasn't for the jumbo shrimp and cocktail sauce, and I ate more that I should have, but it was oh, so good! I also had a couple of beers, though they didn't have any dark beer so I ended up with Corona. As I was walking back to my cabin, I got a message from Nathalie that Lola's foot seemed to be acting up, and the picture she sent me showed that it seemed like the whole nail fell off and only the shriveled quick remained, but it was hard to tell from the picture. She also informed me Lola had managed to knock off all my puppy-proofing and was found in my bed, dug deeply into my sheets, with the garbage can on the floor. What Lola want, Lola finds a way to get! I instructed her how to begin the antibiotic regime again, just in case, because she seemed to be a bit uncomfortable walking again, so we'll see how that goes. Meanwhile, back at camp, I started loading up my pictures in the hopes they'll be done before bedtime, and played a couple of video games for awhile until dinner. Chicken tonight, I only ate about half of everything, but to my surprise, one of the ladies had managed to obtain a bottle of Jack, so we had a couple of drinks during dinner, though again, not overdoing it, just in moderation. They had a singer tonight, quite a nice voice, but once the ride meeting was over, I scooted out and had my shower, so now I'm ready for bed, and it's only about 8:30. Pix are still loading, who knows how long that will take. Going to bed now, looking forward to a shorter ride tomorrow, and evidently a shopping day at Ruby's, so a relatively short day. Looking forward to it! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Had a fitful night sleep, a typical morning, then saddled up Apollo for a nice ride, almost five miles, just to give him some exercise. When we first start out, he seems pretty stiff, which isn't too surprising considering he's been standing in a small corral all week. I really prefer highlines to corrals, it just provides so much more freedom and opportunity to move around more. He eventually loosened up a bit, but I think I may have to look into some joint supplements for him, just to keep him flexible. Anyway, it was a lovely ride. I had wanted to do the blue river again, it's quite lovely, and interestingly, Apollo did the same thing as Flash, keep trying to walk the tiny edge between the trail and the dropoff, rather than along the high side where there was more room. Weird! Anyway, it was a good ride. The rest of the day was fairly quiet, I moved the remaining four bales of hay from the truck to the trailer, and was glad I didn't buy any more, they really aren't liking it very much, it's pretty stalky. I'll have to pick up some new hay once I get moved to Nathalie's tomorrow, and if I can find some good stuff, restock it before heading further north, where they're likely to just be beginning to hay. Drained Lola's pool, put some tack and a few other things away, not really in a big hurry since I'm not planning on leaving here before noon, so I'll have plenty of time in the morning. Getting a bit tired of the heat, actually nodded off for a bit this afternoon, before I finally cranked up the generator and the AC for awhile. Looking forward to getting farther north! But, West comes first! I feel like I'm in a holding pattern for that trip right now, just killling time until I get busy getting ready, which all starts tomorrow. So on that note, heading to shower and bed shortly! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Started off a little cooler this morning, but ended up getting hotter, so a nice long ride in the woods was the best place to be today! I had plotted a route to finish off all the little connector trails that I've missed, and it turned into a lovely 13 mile ride around the area. The trails here are really nice, just the kind I like: single track, no gravel, only a little mud, lots of creek crossings, which Lola took full advantage of, and beautiful, dense forest. My only con is that I had to watch out for knee-knockers, there are quite a few out here! I managed to get Flash moving a bit faster today, so we made better time, but it was still 4:00 when we got back to camp, which to my mind, is perfect. Only ran into one other couple the whole day! Rinsed off Flash, splashed a little pool water on me to cool me off a bit, ran the generator just long enough to cool it down a bit inside and recharge the batteries, and was happy when clouds starting forming and I heard thunder, but as of yet, it hasn't rain, just a few drops I've heard is all. We could really use a nice refreshing downpour about now! There's still a little rain out there, so I've got my fingers crossed we get some more. Settled down for my usual evening, looking forward to a cool shower and a good night sleep! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Slept well until I woke last night to the sound of thunder, how far off I sat and wondered. Started humming a tune from 1962, okay, enough of that! The unexpected shower did help cool it down today, it wasn't as hot as I figured it would be, so it was a nice day to take a ride. It's been awhile since I took out Apollo, so I saddled him up and planned a fairly short, 3.5 mile loop that would take us out to the Woods cemetery, which I'm sorry to say, is sorely in need of some TLC! He was a bit stiff at first, understandably, since he's been hanging around in a small corral for the week, but limbered up a bit as we got along. Kind of like me these days! Lola came along as well, and it was a nice ride. The last stretch was long the road, not really an established trail from there, so we had to pick out way down the hill to the road. Once we got back and he got rinsed off and put away, I decided to do some odd chores that have been piling up. First, I put the little plug in the brake adjustment hole in the trailer, which only took a minute. Then I decided to change out the control panel on the inverter. It's been getting more and more flaky, and since I had a new one (that the manufacturer actually sent me for free, would you believe!), I went through the process of writing down all the settings, which took about ten minutes, then changing out the panel, which took about a minute, then checking the settings to make sure they were correct (they were, apparently all the default settings), which took just a couple of minutes. Viola! All done, brand new panel, works beautifully! I did change one of the settings, there was one that would put the inverter in sleep mode until there was a draw on it, which I tried, but as the evening wore on and the batteries drew down, it started hunting, so I ended up changing it back to disabled, so it will not hunt. Then, since I've been having a few problems with the flames on my gas stove getting so hot they're leaving terrible black gunk on my pans, and my research suggested that the gas holes might just need cleaning, so I took a paperclip as instructed and cleaned them out. Not sure how much it helped, it didn't seem like much, so I may have to keep looking for the answer, but it might have helped a little. Anyway, I finally settled down to dinner and a movie, ready to take my cool shower and head to bed. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hey Babe,
Had another slow start to the day, I've being pretty lazy here, but it feels good! Did a few things on my computer after chores, but finally saddled up Flash and headed out to pick up some more trails. I looked back on the earlier times when we were here, and recalled a day when we galloped up a hill with some berms every 10 or 20 yards, and instead of stopping at the berms like we though they would, Apollo and his mama Clio used them like a launching pad and raced again each other up the hill. It was fantastic! I found that trail today, part of the yellow trail, and relived that memory, though Flash and I didn't gallop up it like we did back in 2010, but it was nice to remember those early days, when you were healthy and able to do a lot of miles. Got back to camp around 4:00, it's actually cooler on the trail in the afternoons than back at camp, so I haven't minded getting a late start to the day around here. Rinsed off Flash, refilled everyone's water buckets, Lola's pool, and the trailer, so we're good to go. Settled down for another quiet evening, heading over to take a cold shower and get some sleep! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Pix to come

Hey Sweetie,
What a fantastic ride today! Weird that I don't have a great memory about this place from our last time we rode here, though that was back in 2010, our first year on the road, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I had forgotten how lovely the trails are here! I planned a full perimeter ride, which turned out to be about 14 miles, and it was truly stunning! I guess having mostly done Tennessee trails at the time, it wasn't that much of a change, but after having ridden in all 50 states, I can tell you how fabulous it was! The footing was wonderful, mostly dirt, almost no gravel, and only a few spots where it got muddy, but not very much. The first half of the trail followed the Broad River, and was cut about halfway down the slope rather than along the top, so there were no serious grades, but a few switchbacks and lots of going up and around ravines along the way, all below the ridge line, the way the Indians/pioneers liked it to avoid being seen. The trails were well-marked for the most part, although there were a few intersections that weren't, and one trail that someone had actually put the wrong markings on, but thankfully, I had downloaded a map with Geomapping information, so I had it on Avenza, which was a tremendous help. My phone almost gave out before I got back to camp, but made it back just in time. The trails were in good shape, very few downed trees and nothing you couldn't get around, with lots of creek crossings back and forth. I ran into two guys, twice, and there were some folks parked at a northern trailhead that were getting ready to go out, but otherwise, it was extremely quiet. Lola thoroughly enjoyed herself and will no doubt sleep well tonight. The only thing that was of any concern was that Flash keep wanting to walk on the side of the trail rather than in the middle, and it was always the side where there was a serious drop-off! I was nervous he might slip and careen down the hill, but fortunately that didn't happen. I didn't like having to keep steering him away from the edge, but obviously we survived it just fine. I couldn't find the entrance to the trail on the east side, it wasn't marked and wasn't clear on the map, so we finally entered down by the boat ramp on the east side and did the trail in reverse from what I'd planned, but at least then I discovered where the east entrance is now. Got back to camp just after 4:00, did my post-ride chores and settled down for the evening, as usual. Fantastic ride, and it was a lot cooler in the woods, as the temps were in the mid-80's today, but felt fine. Can't wait to go out again! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
Well, the best laid plans don't always work out, do they? Since the regular trails here have been very difficult, I decided to try another tact. In addition to the regular single track horse trails, there is also a series of roads that show up on the map, open to horses. I figured if we were on a road, if it wasn't too rocky, we'd be able to make some better time, so I planned about a 13+ mile journey on the "red" trails, as they appear on the map. Well, it didn't take long for me to figure out what a mistake THAT was! Shortly after turning on to our first road off the trail, we started climbing, on a surface that was red clay. After all the rain in the last too days, it was almost as slick as an ice skating rink. We went very slowly and carefully up that, then when we turned a corner and got on a second road, that was completely and utterly rocky. I mean, almost no road service at all, just rocks. That climbed and climbed and climbed until we finally reached the top, and for some unknown reason, there were guardrails along some edges that made it impossible for us to get off the road onto higher ground with a better surface, so we were forced to stay on either rocks or slippery clay. It has to be about the slowest ride we've ever done, it took us nearly four hours to go nine miles! Well, after the first couple of miles, and at the first opportunity I had, I got off the road and back onto a horse trail, which was better for about ten minutes, then got super rocky and climbing again. It was not much fun today! The last couple of miles back to camp were the best, still a lot of grade but at least the footing was somewhat better. Funny thing is, the best trails I've found so far are the renegade trails, that aren't marked and not on the map. Figures. We started out with both boots (I even tried duct-taping the loose one), but that didn't work, we lost that one in the first half mile, so I left it off. The other one stayed on ( I left it on to protect the split in his hoof so as not to make it worse) until the exact same place on the trail where we lost the first one, but I managed to recover that from the sucking mud and left that off, since we were almost back to camp. What an exhausting ride! That's it, I'm done with riding out here. There are a few nice trails, but they are so few and far between, and you have to go through hell and back to get to them, so no thanks. I'm not wild about the trail "repairs" they've made here, either, with frames of rocks at creek crossings, and it seems whenever they wanted to shore something up, they found the biggest, chunkiest, sharpest rocks they could find to fill it in. I can say the trails are well-marked, though I have to take issue with them not putting the markers all on the same side of the trail, I was constantly having to look back and forth, and got confused on a number of intersections because the marker wasn't clear. Anyway, no more, Flash and I have had enough, and I don't even think I'll take Apollo out again, it's just too rough. Maybe I'm getting soft (or sensible!), but I'm not that desperate to ride that I'm going to force these kinds of trails on my guys. Definitely a workout and a half! Settled down for the evening to dinner and a good movie, and fully intend to get to bed early tonight, I'm not really liking this going to bed late and getting up late, but I'm in such shade here, it doesn't seem to get light here until after 9:00! That's my plan, I hope I can stick to it! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Got to sleep late, then slept a little late as well, but it was a beautiful day, so a ride was definitely on the schedule! Especially since the forecast for the next couple of days is rain! After my usual morning chores, plus putting an extra layer of silver tape on the front end of the trailer to keep the rain out, I finally saddled up Flash and we headed out to do about 12 miles of the River Trail and a couple of other loops in the northern section of the forest. It was a slow ride! Between the rough terrain and difficult footing, we hardly ever got above three miles an hour. There was only one spot about a quarter mile across a field that we were able to gait through. It took us over 4.5 hours to do just under 13 miles, which was ridiculously slow. It didn't help that one of his boots kept coming off again, so I finally had to leave it off. I kept one on his right front hoof, the one that has a little split in it, to try to keep it from any further damage. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to camp. One thing I like about the trails is that they're all single track, which is my favorite, but at times the trail was so narrow that the growth on the sides made it feel like a jungle. The inconsistent footing, which went from mud to rock and everything in between, was frustrating. Some sections were very nice, with a good dirt bottom, but you had to go through hell and back to get to them. Along the river was particularly inconsistent, with a few lovely sections, but an awful lot of rough going as well. The climb away from the river seemed like a mile on terrible rock, reminded me of the last time I was at Big South Fork in TN, which I didn't enjoy very much. Some of their trail "remedies" weren't very good, Flash did not like where there were concrete bricks surrounded by lumber squares and deep mud, so we had to find alternate routes a couple of times. It was a tough day, though it is a beautiful forest. it's just too slow, we could never get above a slow walk. Lola did well, but she was exhausted by the time we got back to camp, too. Had a nice dinner, did my usual evening routine. Then I got a call from Jo that the AERC, the governing body of the Goethe Benefit Ride that we've been a part of for so long, won't be happening this year, because of a lot of political nonsense. Very disappointing! Hope that won't have any affect on my volunteering for the forest! Anyway, a long and tiring day, I'm headed to shower and bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
A good night sleep, probably because I put my earplugs in to fend off all the partying going on out there. It was absolutely packed here last night! They did quiet down by 10:30, so it wasn't that bad, but I figured some folks would be up and moving early this morning, and I didn't want that to wake me. Slept in a bit, worked on my shoulder a little, then got up to chores, breakfast and the first of three loads of laundry that I did today. I also did some housekeeping, and then finally, saddled up Apollo for a short ride. I had to trip him front feet first, though, since they hadn't been done in awhile, and I needed to fit his boots. We only went about 3.7 miles, which took an hour and a half, but it was rough terrain compared to what he's been used. He's been a flatlander on sand for so long, these hills and this rocky footing was a challenge! He was up to it, though, I was very proud of it. He seemed to limber up as time went on, so I was glad he was moving better the further we got. Lola came along as well, wasn't sure she would want to after our long ride on Friday, but she's seems to be back in perfect condition. Gave him a nice rinse when we got back, then I filled the truck tank up again, had to replenish their water and mine so I could keep doing laundry. A very nice day, gorgeous weather, got lots done, and had a ride. Who could ask for anything more? Life is good! Settled down for my usual evening, though I may take a walk again tonight to see if the Northern Lights are out there. At least tonight it looks like we have clear skies. Either way, I'll be in bed soon! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Had a better night sleep, got my chores done, saddled up Flash, including boots and his breast collar, and left camp about noon. Absolutely gorgeous weather today! The trails were a bit rockier than I like, so I was happy I had put his boots on, and especially happy that I put his breast collar on when we immediately started climbing hills and dales. I had a nice ride along the lake planned, only to discover that the main trail I had selected was not open to horses, so I had to make up an alternate route on the fly. We did end up reaching the lake, using the same trail I think we used last time we were here nearly 12 years ago, but then I added another loop further south, and finally, not wanting to repeat too much of my trip, took an even farther south loop to get back to camp. It was a lovely, albeit rocky, ride. I took a short spur to something marked on the map as a Nifty Rock, whereas the trail signs just called it a Big Rock. It was only about 150 feet off the main trail, and yes, it was a group of bigger rocks, so I guess it was a Kodak spot. Flash lost his boot a couple of times, and finally it was too muddy to stay on, so I tucked it in my saddle bag and he had to finish the ride without it. Thankfully, the last couple of miles were a lot less rocky, so we made it home okay. Got him rinsed off and put away, then got busy with some stuff on my computer. Unfortunately, while I was sitting outside with my computer in my lap, my unstable little table rocked a bit and knocked over my beer, and a little spilled onto my keyboard. I immediately pulled out the battery and turned it upside down, hoping to get most of the liquid out of it, and will leave it that way overnight. I ended up watching a very good movie called Atonement (I could see why it was nominated for seven Oscars, it had the British A-list of stars), and settled down for an early night, considering I didn't have my laptop to keep me from going to bed! Fingers crossed it will work okay in the morning. Good night, sweetie! Love you!