Pix to come!

Hey Darlin',
No alarm this morning, since my trip today was less than 100 miles, so I let myself sort of sleep in before getting up and finishing the packing. Was leaving camp by 10:30 and arriving by 12:30 after an uneventful trip. When I reached the campsite, it was a bit challenging because there were quite a few obstacles on both sides of the road, but I managed to swing in on my first try, a really fabulous attempt, especially since there was a car with a family in it right behind me. No pressure! Surprised myself with how straight I got in, but when I started looking for the electrical box, I was dismayed to see it was a very long way away, so far away that even with my extension cord I wouldn't be able to reach it. So I had to redo it, pull out and back in again, which, fortunately, I was able to do fairly quickly. Turns out the family had a couple of kids that really wanted to see the horses, so I accommodated, bringing them out so they could pet them and give them treats. Once they were satisfied, I finished my setup, which was a fence around their silly hitching rail, filled my tanks, and was all in by about 2:00 or so. Settled down, watched some TV, took Lola for a couple of walks, had dinner and settled down for the evening. Just another day on the road! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Didn't sleep very well last night, not sure why, but I'm suspecting maybe too much aspartame, too many diet drinks, or maybe just too much food. Regardless, I was up with the early alarm, got chores done, skipped breakfast since I ate so much yesterday and still didn't feel hungry, walked Lola, then finally reported to work around 8:15. Today's job was pulse timer, and I found out later, out timer as well. No big deal, the number of riders was much smaller, so it was easy to stay on top of, and I had already created a cheat sheet for the hold times, so it was simple enough. It was al over, including the breakdown, before 2:00. I had the farrier trim Apollo's feet, which were overdue, and drove down to pay for another night of camping since my borrowed reservation only went through today, then finally settled down for the rest of the afternoon and evening, doing my usual day before packing, walking Lola and bingeing on my latest series. Also managed to get in three loads of laundry, so I won't even have to worry about that tomorrow. Once again, I'm driving less than 100 miles, so it won't take me long, no hurry about getting up in the morning. I'm not going to go to the dump here because my notes (and memory) from last time is the dump is very difficult to get to with a camper my size, and I don't really need it yet anyway, not to mention that my next stop, Potato Creek, had an excellent and easily accessible dump, so I have no reason not to wait for that. Most folks left today, but there is still a good number of campers in the horse camp, which I'm glad to see! Anyway, day is done, shower and bed next! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
After getting another good rainstorm overnight, I got up with the alarm, did chores and breakfast, and spent the day at the vet check area helping to scribe and to train some new scribers. I have to give this ride it's due, it is investing a lot of time and energy into bringing in new recruits to the sport, something it desperately needs. They held an all-day clinic yesterday for new people, some young, some not so young, and it was great to see! Although I spent the day at the vetting area, it wasn't a terribly taxing day. Barely a moment of sprinkles, but the day was cloudy so although it was humid, it didn't get too terribly hot, which was a relief, considering I had to spend the day outdoors. Ate too much at the potluck dinner, of course, but am finally relaxing back in my air-conditioned camper, trying to watch an episode of House (the signal here is quite intermittent, no doubt slowing down because of the number of folks in camp), and will soon be showered and off to bed. Sunny day called for tomorrow, so likely to be hotter. Just have to deal with it! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Another good night sleep, no alarm this morning since I didn't have anything particular to do today. After chores, breakfast and walking Lola, I decided to fix my closed up pierced ear, and went at that with a straight pin until I could put a real earring in, something I've been trying to do for months now but haven't managed it. Finally had success! Then I spent some time doing bookkeeping, my new effort to try to do it monthly rather than occasionally so that it piles up too much. Filled up the tanks, including the truck tank, so that I wouldn't have to keep running the hose just to fill up the horses' buckets. Met up with ride manager Noelle a little after 2:00, but she didn't have anything for me to do yet, so I headed back to the trailer to do some computer work. Went back over at 7:00 when they were having a meet and greet for some newbies that are here for a beginners clinic that they've put together, a great idea for growing the sport, I thought. Came back to feed the horses and walk Lola, then was asked by a trio of young newbies to help them put up a highline. I had mentioned during the M&G that I thought hitching rails were a death trap and spoke of the virtues of the highline, so it's not surprising they came to me for help. My pleasure! We ran it from one of the rail posts to the hay loft bracket, and it worked just fine. They had three horses, and they were all a bit crowded on the hitch rail. Finished our walk and settled down for the evening. Work starts at 9:00 tomorrow, so I'll be in bed shortly! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
Didn't sleep quite so late today, but there wasn't a big hurry since I was only moving about 100 minutes away. Got packed up, headed to the RV dump, and was on my way out of the park just after 10:00, arriving at Salamonie Horsemen's Camp just before noon. By 2:00, I had the horses in a fence paddock, had everything set up, all the water tanks filled, and had even started a load of laundry! Then I got a little ambitious and did some housekeeping before settling down for the afternoon, planning my first ride and other activities for the week. Binged on a few more House episodes, won't be long out of bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Stayed up way too late watching the DC fireworks show, along with a speech by the President, all of which was delayed because a thunderstorm hit the area just before the original start time. As a result, it was nearly 1:00 by the time I got into bed, and even later by the time I got to sleep. No matter, the rest of the day was just doing some packing in anticipation of our departure tomorrow. We had more rain here earlier as well, so it was quite a bit cooler than it has been, though I still ran the AC for a couple of hours just to cool it down, mostly for Lola's sake. For the fifth time since I've been here, I've had to listen to the sound of a lawnmower all day long. Not sure why they chose the weekend to do it (unless it's because I'm the only one here,) but it would have been nice to get a bit more peace and quiet while I was out here. I think they need a bigger lawnmower if it takes three days to finish the mowing! Anyway, a pretty dull day, though I broke the rules again and let my horses graze all day. No one else has said anything to me, so I just kept my fingers crossed that the one ranger who objected wasn't working today, and that seemed to be the case. Did some more research on the Peru trip, discovered the actual dates of the Spring Paso Festival in Trujillo, and discovered they are in direct conflict with my ride, so that's no longer a possibility. Still want to work in a flyover and possible exploration of the Nazca Lines, and time to do a bit more exploring than just the ride, but that will take more research. Read and watched more House episodes in between packing up, so a pretty mundane day. Looking forward to a new location, though I've been to Salamonie before, and the trails aren't all the great, but at least I'll have something to do once the ride folks start to come in. Not much else going on! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Slept WAY too late this morning, so it was too hot to go riding by the time I got up, so I ended up going to Tractor Supply to fill up my propane tanks, and that was about it. I did make one discovery, though. I was able to reconfigure my understanding of how long one tank of propane lasts, about 6.5 hours. I started with a fresh tank this afternoon, and that's how long it lasted. Was happy to finally figure that out! I spent the afternoon working on my travel plans for the next couple of months, booking my flight to Rochester for the reunion and researching more hotels in Peru. Several of the recommended hotels are already sold out, so I'm having to scramble a bit, but I also want to research the Spring Festival in Trujillo, it seems it has a lot of Paso centric activities, so I'm a bit interested in that, but that may keep me away too long. More research tomorrow! Not much else to say! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a very good night sleep last night, thank goodness for the excellent insulation in this camper! Only woke up once during the night, and only because Lola got too close to the carbon monoxide detector and set it off, but otherwise, she hardly did any panting, and all the fans worked just fine through most of the night. Another hot day today, too hot to do much of anything, so I spent the day reading and bingeing on TV. Was pleasantly surprised that my generator has been running all day with no overheating (I'm thinking now that when it stalls out it has more to do with the pressure of the propane tanks), and have been running since 1:00 this afternoon on less than 1 1/2 tanks! Guess I'm getting better "mileage" than I thought! I had it figured out once that one 20 lb. tank lasts about four hours, but evidently, I need to refigure that. Anyway, very happy at that result, though I am going to have to run to Tractor Supply and stock up again tomorrow just to get me through the rest of the weekend. Did some research for horse camps to keep me in the area, but I'm stuck with either staying at the same few horse camps that have electric, or going significantly farther north to escape the heat. Guess it will depend on the weather what I will do! Absolutely nothing else going on today, so I'll be heading to bed soon. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Pix to come!

Hiya Babe,
I ran the generator much later than I normally would, just to run the AC until I went to bed. Even then the outside temp was still 80+. Not comfortable! It was okay after my shower for awhile, until the cooler air eventually dissipated, leaving a pretty hot and steamy rest of the night. To try to make it a bit easier today, I booked a float down the Tippecanoe River, and for three glorious hours, I paddled quietly in some lovely cool water in a tube. Of course, once I got back to camp, I had to deal with the heat again, but there was a decent breeze, so at least it was tolerable, though it got bad in the peak of the heat in late afternoon. Once again, I'm running the AC until I go to bed, and I'm on my last tank of propane, so a trip to Tractor Supply tomorrow is a must! The forecast for the rest of the week isn't any better, with mid-90's and a heat index as high as 109! Really should be farther north, won't make the same mistake again! Already took a shower this afternoon, and will be taking another one before I'm going to bed. Starting to wonder if I can find someplace with AC that will take dogs where I can hang out, but don't really want to leave the horses all day either. May just have to bite the bullet and run the generator most of the day, but it's been overheating and turning itself off when it gets too warm, so that may not be a viable solution. I considered moving, but with July 4th weekend coming up, everything with electric is booked, so I'm just going to have to grin and bear it! Yet another challenge of living on the road! The good still far outweighs the bad, so no complaints! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!