Hey Darlin’!
Busy day today, and got a lot done, too! After breakfast, I started out working on the gooseneck hitch. I had picked up my mail at the post office yesterday, one of which was a package with the new rubber ring that goes around the gooseneck for the extra cushion-y ride. After reading the instructions on replacing it, it was clear that I had over-tightened the old one which contributed to its failure, but the rubber was pretty old anyway, so it won’t hurt to replace it. It took some finagling to get it done, and it was too heavy to do on my own, so eventually I asked Ted for help, then Steve came by, so with so many hands the job got done in short order. I had originally tried to separate the pieces manually, but it was too stuck, so I moved all the hay bales out of the way and hitched the truck up, and when I raised the trailer, it soon came apart like it was supposed to. The rest was pretty easy after that. Then I got a call from Jeff saying he was on the way, so I walked down to the gate to open it for him, and passed Mike from Indiana, whom I had met on the Cracker Trail, and was parked next to the Barn 2, though I didn’t have time to talk with him just then. I let Jeff in and we got busy pretty quick, and even Laura came by to give us a hand to get the bulging panel pretty much back into place. Not perfect, but a whole lot better than it was! That took awhile, but we got it done! Then he helped me put a rubber piece on where my extension ladder goes, one of the bottom ones got ripped off when I scraped along a gate during the Cracker Ride. And somewhere else during the day I took my sledge and knocked my pull-out stairs back into place, apparently they got scraped on something somewhere and when you opened it, the place where the step rest got out of place so it was floppy, so I beat that back and now it works fine. So we all got a lot done! We sat around and had a beer, and Mike walked down, too, so it was quite the gathering. Glad we got so much done, very grateful for brother Jeff’s help, feeling like I can relax a bit now! There’s always something, but the biggest jobs aren’t hanging over me any more, so I’m glad about that. Finally it was feeding time, and everyone went their separate ways, and I settled down for the evening. Off to shower and bed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe!
No Jeff again today, but he promised tomorrow, after I decided to change my appointment to get my truck aligned from tomorrow to today. Ever since I had it aligned the last time, years ago, it’s been pulling to one side, and the result is that I’ve had uneven wear on my front tires, with one balding spot on the edge of one tire. After a quiet morning of trail planning on my computer, I headed out, first to the post office to pick up a couple of packages, and passed the Marathon gas station where diesel had reached the unheard of level of $5.04 a gallon (thanks Uncle Joe, for shutting down the XL pipeline on your first day in office!), then to Ranch feed to pick up some horse feed, finally to St. Lucie Battery and Tire in Palm City, where I arrived early, but Lola and I made ourselves comfortable on their leather couch where I read for the duration. They did a fantastic job! I’ve been fighting the pull on my steering wheel for years, and it seemed perfect when I got it back, despite the wear on the front tires, which they rotated. Got back to camp and spent a little time with Jiggs and Ted, showing her how to download her GPS tracks to my computer so she can do the same with hers. Fed the horses and settled down for the evening. We are having some heat wave here, it’s almost 10:30 and it’s still 78 degrees outside! Thinking I’m going to be leaving Florida a bit late again this year! I might have to make a beeline for New York once I leave, but it may still be too cold for that, we’ll see. Anyway, settled down for the evening, now I’m heading to shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Slept late, then joined five other folks here to have brunch at the famous Seminole Inn in Indiantown, which was very nice. Ate way too much, of course, that was about all the food I had all day except a little ice cream in the evening. Was hoping Jeff was coming out today to work on this exterior panel, but never heard from him, hoping he can get here before it rains, which it’s supposed to do by Tuesday. It was windy again, and after that huge meal I felt sleepy, so I ended up reading and napping the rest of the day, a pretty lazy day! Had a relaxing evening as well, so hopefully I’ll still be able to sleep tonight, and be refreshed tomorrow for whatever comes my way! Heading for shower and bed now, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
It was pretty windy today, so I decided not to go for a ride, so I spent the day mostly puttering around. I bought a new bit for Flash’s bridle, so I switched that over, found a couple of things I needed and ordered them through Amazon, did some research as to where I can go for an alignment and possibly a new tire, since one of the front tires on the truck is really wearing out unevenly. I visited with Margarita and George for a bit, then Ted and Jiggs and Laura for another bit, but mostly it was a fairly quiet day. Won’t be long out of bed, either! So good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Woke up rested and mostly back to normal energy levels, with a hankering to get some housework done, so once I fed everyone and had breakfast, I got busy. First, I had epoxied the front panel back on the stove yesterday, so today I took all the tape and props out, looks good as new, especially considering the original plastic seal on it had never been taken off, but it had started peeling a while back, so I finished taking it off now, looks great. Then I got busy doing some dusting and burning a bunch of junk mail that had piled up, then did the floors, twice, just to make sure. After that I washed the truck, it was covered in dust and dried mud, then finally relaxed to read a bit in the afternoon. Took my shower and got dressed and headed for Jupiter to what was supposed to be a debrief of the OTL, but everyone else forgot or had something else to do, so it ended up with just Anita and I, as always! Did hash a few things out, but nothing we couldn’t really have just done on the phone. At least I picked up my pressure washer from Jeff, though he was saying he thought it wasn’t working right anymore, but I’ll have to check it. Evidently he turned the water off but not the machine, although it has an automatic shutoff, so it should be okay. I’ll check it tomorrow. Picked up a couple of things at Publix as well. Didn’t get back to camp until nearly after 9:30, and my trailer batteries are so dead the water pump is running on, so I had to put the generator on for a bit. Can’t remember if quiet time is 10:00 or 11:00, but it can’t be helped. I’ll turn it off as soon as I can. Anyway, bedtime for me soon! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Slept late this morning, back to my usual schedule at last, and still laid in bed for a bit reading. Today was all about doing laundry, I must have done five or six loads today. It was a perfect day for it, not too hot, sunny, nice breeze, just perfect! George helped me figure out how much lumber we’ll need to build the three manure bins, just as James came by and gave me some Volunteer shirts. Shared cocktail hour with George and Margarita. and spent an hour around the campfire with Ted and Jiggs and Laura before finally coming back home and falling asleep in front of the TV, so I guess I’m ready for bed now! Short and sweet, best I can do today! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Had an excellent night sleep, woke up feeling almost back to normal after my day of rest yesterday. After chores and breakfast and a load of laundry to wash two sets of sheets, I headed into Okeechobee to do some shopping. I had three propane tanks to fill, and Tractor Supply ran out of propane in the middle of filling them, so I ended up having to go the Gerards Bait store up the road to finish getting them filled. A stop at Walmart, then back to camp. After I unloaded everything, I walked over to Steve’s trailer because James was there, and we chatted for awhile about what the priorities are here for this place. Then I had an early dinner, then headed over the Margarita and George’s new trailer. These were the folks I met at Lake Panasofkee and then had dinner with at their house near Goethe State Forest, and we had a great chat, like always. Back to camp, watched a little TV, had a phone conversation with Anita, now I’m headed to shower and bed, hoping for another great night’s sleep! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
I allowed myself the luxury of staying in bed late, reading for a bit after I woke up just to keep the resting phase going, and it felt positively decadent. I was feeling tired even after a good night sleep, not surprising all things considered. I pretty much did nothing today, just like I planned, binge-watching a bunch of Gilmore Girls episodes. With full sun on the solar panel, it even kept the batteries well-charged throughout the day, and I only had to put the generator on for less than an hour at dinnertime. I ate too much, had a couple of glasses of wine, and now I’m ready for a quick shower and bed. A perfectly boring, quiet day, and exactly what I needed! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, the field got progressively more and more filled with trailers today, as expected. There was supposed to be an organized ride into the woods across the street but it was canceled at the last minute, so three of us, Lynda, Wendy and I, took a short ride around the field a few times just to stretch our horses’ legs, plus I wanted to try out the Flexbooks I got delivered yesterday. I don’t know if I was doing something wrong when I put them on, but they kept falling off, despite readjusting them multiple times, at every gait, so I won’t be wearing those during the ride! Flash was full of pep, guess maybe I shouldn’t have been giving him the high energy hay until we started the ride. I have a feeling I’m going to be fighting him a lot, at least on the first day, as he tries to get to the front. I foresee lots of little circles in my future! I just hope he doesn’t get so crazy that he gets impossible! Anyway, I got all the information they gave out when I checked in this morning, still left a lot of gaps of knowledge, had to ask some questions, didn’t always get full answers, so a lot of guesswork going on at the moment. All I know at the moment is that we are moving trailers just after 7:00 tomorrow, and have to be parked and ready to get on their shuttle by 8:00, but the drive is only about 20 minutes, and I have to tie Flash to a livestock trailer while I’m gone. I guess the rest we’ll just play by ear. Chatted with my neighbors a bit, skipped the dinner and ate back in my trailer, settled down early to have a relaxing evening, now I’m ready for a super quick shower and bed, so I’ll be up and at ’em first thing. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a great night sleep, and actually woke up ahead of the alarm feeling just about normal, at last! I got busy doing the final packing, though Flash was still whinnying for Apollo, though nowhere near as much as yesterday. I topped the water off in the RV from the truck tank, then topped off the truck tank, hoping I have enough now to last the whole week. Got the trailer hooked up, stopped at the dump, then a quick stop at the Post Office in Indiantown for a package. I’m going to do a demo of a new kind of horse boot called Flexboots, I’m a little concerned about the road riding and all the trash that is typically roadside, and I haven’t been happy with the last set of Cavallos because they keep rubbing Flash’s bulbs raw, and the package had the boots in them. Everything timed out perfectly, and I arrived at about 12:15, just after they opened the field, evidently. The email said there would be a sign, but I missed it, so I had to turn around and come back. The road leading into the field had a narrow opening, so I had to be careful to not go into the ditch or hit the gate post, but I just managed it. Then there were ditches on either side of the raised roadbed going in, so I had to find the lowest point I could and sidle in a little sideways to avoid scraping bottom. It’s essentially just a great big cow pasture. I hope none of the other overnight stops are any worse than this, it’s going to be dicey! Once I parked, I discovered I had parked almost right next to Lynda, who had been on the OTL ride last weekend, and her friend Wendy, whom I had met a long time ago at Colt Creek. We chatted for a bit, but I quickly put up a small paddock for Flash and settled down for the afternoon. I actually climbed into bed and read and napped a bit, and it got pretty hot today, hoping it’s not this hot all week! Nice breeze, though, that helped a lot! Had dinner, watched a little TV, now I’m off to bed nice and early, just to keep my sleep rhythm in sync with what I will likely have to be doing this week. So off I go, quick shower and bed! Gotta scrimp on water, hoping to make the whole week without having to fill up the truck tank, don’t want to have to unhook if I can help it. Good night, babe! Love you!