Hey Sweetie,
Slept well again, read for a while in the morning before getting up, then moved Flash over to the barn. I get the impression he expected Apollo to be there, but I haven’t gone to get him yet, maybe tomorrow. Had to just about force myself to do nothing again today, though heaven knows there’s plenty to be done. I was determined to get two full days of rest, though, before getting back to my usual busy schedule. Finished reading the rest of the book A Land Remembered, ended up being a lot more sad than I had hoped, but it’s about the end of an era, so I guess that was inevitable. Only thing I ended up having to do was fool around with my batteries again. I had just filled them up not long ago, and checked them a few days ago, but I put them on charge most of the day, hoping to finally get it to stick, but when I turned the charger off, the power just plummeted to nothing. I went out to check them and discovered they were completely dry again. Filled them with more distilled water, cleaned the terminals just in case that’s a contributing factor, then put the small battery charger on, hoping that a slower charge might be better, but I’m expecting that I’ll have to get a couple of new batteries, an expense I don’t really need, but I don’t see any way around it, I have to have batteries to run the DC side of my RV. Finally got my shower done, heading to bed now. Expecting to have a busy day tomorrow! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had great and much needed night of sleep, woke up after seven but stayed in bed until nine, reading and dozing. Finally got up to feed Flash, had breakfast, hooked up to the new installed water hookups for the Equestrian Camp Host site and proceed to do a bunch of laundry. Finally started reading the book A Land Remembered, all about the history of the cattle industry in Florida, written as a generational novel. It’s the Bible around here for the cow hunters, and I’ve been meaning to read it for years. My friend Luan brought it to me on the first day of the cattle drive, but this is the first chance I’ve had to read it. Read about half of it today. Feeling better, but still deeply tired, so another day off tomorrow, except to go get Apollo and maybe check up on brother Glenn’s pool. A fairly relaxing day, again, much needed! Won’t be long out of bed again tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hiya Darlin’,
Got to bed nice and early last night, then got up at dawn, to a frigid 35 degrees! Put on my long underwear and proceed to quickly pack up. Made some coffee but just grabbed juice and a protein bar for breakfast. Was on the road before 8:30. I had decided to take the turnpike, even though I hate paying the tolls, but I would have spent the same amount of fuel and taken an hour longer to go around it. Unfortunately, there was an accident nearly Orlando which caused a 90 minute slow down, so I got off early anyway, which probably ended up being a mistake because SR27 had too many lights on it, so I headed back to the turnpike on the other side of the crash, and ended up in a construction zone. Whatever, I ended up arriving at Dupuis just before 2:00, did only the barest of set ups, put Flash in the nearest paddock with hay and water, and promptly climbed up into bed. I could feel myself winding down during the drive, and knew that after three weeks of non-stop activity, a crash was soon to be upon me. I read and napped for several hours, finally got up and made some dinner, watched a little TV, but will soon be heading for bed again. So glad to have electric again, my storage batteries are completely not holding a charge anymore. I have so much stuff to do once I recover, but I am taking a couple of days off!! Exhausted! Won’t be long out of bed tonight! Good night, sugar! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Had a great night sleep, went out on the side-by-side with DeDe and retrieved a lot of the markers, with my helpers Kelsey and Alexis doing more than half, we picked up buckets, met Jo and Helen for lunch at Willard’s, got back to camp and finished packing and handing over all of the ribbons, markers and other ride paraphernalia back to Jo, then did most of the packing on the trailer, including hooking up the truck so that I can get out of here early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for temps in the 30’s in the morning, brrrrr! So glad I got out my Alaska parka and washed it, I’ve been using it every day! Settled down at dusk, but my batteries are holding such a low charge, I doubt the furnace will make it through the night, so it’s going to be a tough morning! Switched Flashes light blanket out for his heavy one, too. Watched a little TV, but going to bed early tonight to read, just to stay warm. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Yesterday was so busy I didn’t even take the time to write my blog, but suffice to say it was a very busy day! Did all that was needed to be done for the trails, had lunch and dinner over at the ride camp at Helen’s, and went to bed nice and early yesterday. Woke up early to the alarm today, and was busy all day with the ride. Started out early and ended up late as the timer of the last of the 50 milers that didn’t get in until nearly 6:30, well after dark and after I had to put my Alaska parka on, which I wore this morning as well. Waiting for the last few stragglers, I had Lola at my feet, me sitting in a chair bundled up, with a Goethe Benefit blanket spread over both me and Lola, it was quite the picture, I’m sure. A long and tiring day, heading to the shower and bed. Once last busy day taking down markers and picking up troughs tomorrow, and then I’m done! With the weather forecast as it is (COLD AND RAINY!) I’m planning on heading south on Monday, earlier than I expected, but appropriate if the forecast remains the same. A busy and productive day, but exhausted! Still not fully recovered. SO need a couple of days off! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Woke up before my early alarm (I really don’t like getting up when it’s still dark!)1`, and was ready to go when Jo picked me up at 8:00. We ran some errands, picked up water troughs and distributed them, then went to lunch at Willards. Great patty melt, but the service is unbelievably slow there. Then met DeDe with her side-by-side and went out and re-marked the corrections on the Red Dot trail, only took about 90 minutes. Glad to be back in camp nice and early, get a few hours to relax anyway. Nothing going on tomorrow until dinner tomorrow night, though I’ve been invited to come over for lunch as well, so I’ll have a much needed relaxed day tomorrow, too. Evidently we have a real system down now, everything has gone smoothly, even the changes in the trail were a minimal issue. Practice makes perfect, I guess! Settled down for the evening, put a blanket on Flash tonight since it’s supposed to go down into the 40’s (brrrr!) watched a little television, ready to take my shower and hit the hay! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Heya Sweetie,
Woke up a time or two during the night, but finally got out of bed after 8:00, though I read a little before getting up. Did my chores and a little extra work around the trailer. Weather forecast is for a very cold weekend, so I went up into the attic and pulled out my Alaska parka and washed it, along with some other laundry, managed to put some wire loom around the drains on the refrigerator, don’t know how well the duct tape will hold, but it’s a temporary solution anyway. Washed out the horse trough here at the trailhead, revisited the Red Dot Trail with Kelsey and decided to make some changes, so that’s something else that needs to be done tomorrow. Supposed to rain, so I’ve called DeDe to bring over her side-by-side, since I’m not going to ride Flash in a cold rain. Finally went into town to fill up three propane tanks, do some shopping, and fill up the truck with fuel so I can get home without stopping, maybe. Finally ended the day meeting Margarita and George for dinner at Willard’s, had a lovely steak, so that’s two days I’ve pigged out at a restaurant. Not stepping on the scale tomorrow! Got back around 7:00, planning on an early shower and bed. Sorry to say, Lola got into the bedroom while I was gone, so there’s probably some sand in the bed now, grrrr! Didn’t block it off well enough before I left, so it’s my fault, I know. Still tired, and keeping this busy isn’t helping much. I expect when I get back to Dupuis, I’ll crash for a couple of days! At least, I hope I get the chance to do that! Anyway, that was my day. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up a couple of times during the night, and was thinking about getting up around 7:00, then decided to lay in for a bit, dozed off, and the next time I looked at the clock, it said 11:45! Holy mackerel! Well, it turned out my clock had jumped forward an hour, don’t know why, but still, 10:45 was ridiculous, but I obviously needed it. More than 12 hours of sleep, that’s crazy! I heard other campers leave, and someone come in for day riding, and when they left for the trail, Flash started whinnying away. I thought it was just because they were leaving him behind, but I think by then he was just hungry! Finally got up and fed him, then put up the highline and eventually moved him over, took down his paddock, did a load of laundry, got out the awning and porch rug, disconnected, then found a problem with my refrigerator, it didn’t seem to want to switch over to propane, so I had to fool with that awhile. In between, I played fetch with Lola, she was desperate for some exercise. Spoke to the day riders for a bit when they came back as well. Jo came by to hand off the trail markers so that I could start putting them out tomorrow. Had her help me put some stuff in the attic, then finally was able to relax a bit after she left. Dinner, shower will soon be next, and an early bedtime tonight, I’m still crashing! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had some trouble sleeping, most likely because my hair was wet, but still felt pretty good in the morning. Flash was perfect through the night, never heard a thing, though I did have my earplugs in so I didn’t hear the restless horses further away, even the mules this morning were great, surprisingly. Got up around 7:30, did chores and breakfast and promptly started setting up camp and finish packing. I headed out to the end point, the Silver Spurs Practice Arena in Kenansville just after 11:00, since I had heard the shuttles were starting at noon. I was about the first one out, and would have been on the first shuttle back, except stupid Google maps took me to the Silver Spurs arena in Kissimmee, not Kenansville, in the opposite direction! So 20+ miles going the wrong way, the 40+ miles back, and by the time I got there, two shuttles had already left, and the wait for the next one was 45 minutes. Finally got back to camp right at 3:00, when there was an historical program starting, but they were running late, so I went and saddled Flash. I wanted to walk him around a bit to see if anything spooked him, and he was quiet as a mouse. Got to the dining tent and they still hadn’t started. Finally they did about 3:30, and I listened to some great stories. Ninety-three year old Iris Wall from Indiantown talked about putting posts in at Dupuis back in the day, so afterward, I spoke to her and told her how many of her posts were now being re-purposed for trail markers and showed her a picture, and she seemed pleased. Got back to camp, got food for Flash from the feed trailer, then settled down. Did my Spanish lesson before going to dinner. Pretty organized at dinner, better than last time, can’t wait to see what breakfast is like! Had our riders meeting afterward, tomorrow is the longest day, just like last time. They want us packed up and ready to go by 7:45. I’ve set the alarm for 5:20, and turning out the lights now! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Got up right before my alarm went off, and promptly got to work after breakfast to get all the final things packed up. Stopped at the dump, then went over and got Flash and his water bucket, and then headed over to the shop. I needed to put air in my tires all around, and in particular on the trailer. When I arrived, I discovered that the combo lock that had been on there a few days ago was gone! Grrr! I made a few phone calls and discovered it was young James who had taken it off, he thought it was just for the water contractor, not realizing I was using it, just forgot I guess. Anyway, I had to wait for him to come and open up for me, and to put a combo lock back on for future use, so in the end, it only delayed me about half an hour. It was a very straightforward drive, and I ended up arriving around 12:30, and I was SO GLAD I came early, because by the time I finished registering, there was a line behind me. There wasn’t enough room between the fence and the road for me to back into, so I ended up just parking by the side, where I was able to put in a decent paddock for Flash. I had put him in the middle stall, and he didn’t have room to turn around, so he ended up backing out, first time EVER in this trailer. Unfortunately, he slipped and landed on his knee, but no damage, fortunately. He settled down nicely in the paddock, even laid down awhile to sleep. Hope he stays quiet tonight! When arrived, a woman at registration recognized me, gave me a hug, and got me hooked up into the Royal Blue Circle this time around. After I parked and got set up, I spent a couple of hours carefully packing, using both their suggested list and my own list, so I think I’ve got everything. I was going to the back of the trailer to get something when I looked around and found that my friend Linda and her horse Tonto, who we met a long time ago at Colt Creek and keep running into each other, the last time on the Cracker Ride, was backing up into a spot directly across from me, so I helped her for a few minutes. Eventually, after dinner, I took a walk around and found Luan, who I met at Dupuis before Thanksgiving, she’s also in the Royal Blue Circle, as is Linda! Guess I’ll be surround by folks I know. Linda lit a Duraflame log by the edge of her road (a really cool idea, actually!) and we sat around and chatted for awhile. Eventually we were joined by a group of three girls and a boy (the son of one of the girls) from Pennsylvania, who proceeded to cook Mountain Pies and s’mores over the flame. We had a nice chat, so it was a very nice evening. Turns out, THEY’RE in the Royal Blue Circle as well, which dashed my assumption that the circles were being determined by geography. Looks it will be a fun week! By 8:30, I came back to the trailer, now I’m ready to take my last shower for the week. Heading to bed shortly! I’ll be writing everything in longhand, with no way to post anything here until it’s over, but I’ll be putting things on my Facebook page via phone, as long as I have a signal. Oh, dear, I just heard a mule braying! Guess I won’t need my alarm clock in the morning! Good night, sweetie! Love you!