Pix to come!
Hiya Sweetie!
Well, it finally happened! Coming out of camp this morning, I got stuck in the sand. Apparently yesterday, the DNR guy used his tractor to “grade” the road, but ultimately it just churned it up and made it softer. I almost made it through, fishtailing like crazy, but on the final 500 feet before the turnoff onto a better road, the slight upward grade was just enough to bog me down. I went at it at 20 mph, which had been working up until then, but that final little hill did me in. Fortunately, the DNR guy Mike came along on his tractor (he said he’d be there at 6:00 but arrived about 6:20 to where I was, but he strapped me up and pulled me out in the matter of a couple of minutes, thank goodness! I still managed to get to the next camp by just after 7:00, so I wasn’t delayed hardly at all. Good thing I left camp early! There was a crowd at the new camp cheering me in, happy that I made it. I’ve made a lot of friends here, I must say. Fortunately, the spot next to the well on the other side of the camp host was still open, so I pulled into that, since the plan is to stay here until after the holiday before moving on. I plan on doing nothing for two days, then nothing but cleaning for two days! I actually had a dream where I slept until 12:30 pm, which tells you something! Anyway, got back to Dubonnet on the bus, got Flash ready to go, and was once again out around 8:35. Flash was in a good mood today, quite happy to move along at a good pace even without company. Passed a couple of groups, as always, but was a bit disappointed that the information I got at the riders meeting last night wasn’t exactly accurate. We were told that nearly the whole ride was single-track through the woods, with only about a mile of gravel/dirt road, but, using my definition of a road (anything that a motor vehicle habitually uses), it was more like ten miles of that. As such, I kept thinking the single-track would appear any minute, and finally gave up and put his boots on after about three miles of road. I hit 12.6 miles before we finally did get back into the woods, and even then it was still a forest road, which eventually narrowed down to a single-track for the last three miles or so. I would have managed the ride differently had I known. In any event, once we did hit the last few miles of single-track, Flash was still raring to go, gaiting at every opportunity (without my asking), but then slowing down to a mince step every time we had to go downhill. Not sure what that was all about, but it did get us into camp by 12:20, so we made good time. My GPS said a bit under 17 miles, but that’s consistent with just about every ride. I don’t know if their maps have it wrong or my GPS is just running short, but even when I download it onto Google Earth it says 17 miles. We made good time, that’s all I know! I got Flash settled in, and after some food and drink he laid down for awhile. He sure knows how to relax! I unhooked the truck, got out my solar panel and my comfy gravity chairs, and read and dozed for awhile in the afternoon. The riders meeting was early, at 6:00, so we could do another awards ceremony, lots of fun stories and thank you’s. At the very end, one of the ladies thanked me for my performance the other night, which was very kind and thoughtful, and a lot of other people chimed in and agreed at that point. Very nice. I was particularly moved when Jeff mentioned the list of those that have spent the entire month together on both crossings, all old hands, and then he included me in that elite group, very special. After all that, I got Flash squared away for the night, filled up all my water tanks while the group generator was there, put all my tack away, now I’m more than ready for shower and bed. The bus is leaving at 6:00 tomorrow, but I won’t be moving my rig. I’m getting a ride back with Sammy and Suzie, so I’m going to have to leave here by 6:30 in order to not keep them waiting at the water, so I’m still having to get up early, so early to bed again tonight! Love you, babe! Good night!
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