Hiya Babe!
Well, what an exciting and nail-biting adventure it’s been since yesterday morning! It all started out quite ordinary, with chores and breakfast, and several conversations with incoming campers before I was finally able to saddle up Flash and get him loaded in the trailer for our trip down to the Cypress Boardwalk. Today’s ride was going to be just about the final thread in the tapestry of our map, where I would GPS the eastern part of the orange OTL Hiking trail. Not surprisingly, it was considerably off from where the map said it was supposed to be, but it was close enough and well-marked enough where we didn’t have a problem following it. I’ve only seen it from the other end where it comes out at the border between Dupuis and Corbett, so it was nice to see it coming from the other way. Many parts of it were quite lovely and thick, with some open fields as well, and it was very enjoyable. Flash was brilliant, and after not being ridden for a few days, he was ready for a nice ride. The temps had cooled down the night before, so even though the humidity was high, there was a nice breeze and it was quite nice. We came back along mostly on firebreak type connectors just to verify their existence, and we covered a lot of ground, sixteen miles in all. We drove back to camp, arriving just after 3:30, got him rinsed off and put away, then puttered around for a bit. I had asked Steve over to share dinner, so I started to get that ready. Then one of the group campers came over and reported that one of their group had gone out for a short ride at about 1:00 and was overdue to come back to join them for a second rider at 4:00. We discussed it for a bit, but decided we needed to wait a bit longer before calling in the authorities. Their group saddled up and went out looking for her, but came back empty-handed. Finally, after we had dinner, at about 6:15 or so, Steve called Dillan, our local law enforcement guy, and he started us on the path to getting help. Within minutes we had half a dozen Martin County Sheriff’s cars in front of us. Just before they arrived, one of the women of the group discovered the lost rider had called her and left a message at 3:40 p.m., that she was lost, her phone was dying, so at least we knew she was okay up to that point. Before long, they had called in air support, i.e. a helicopter, to see if they could locate the woman, Brigette. It got dark. Not long after that FWC arrived with UTV’s and ATV’s, and they began scouring the area as well. This went on for hours. The Palm Beach Sheriff’s office sent THEIR helicopter too, both using thermal imaging, but with no luck at all. This went on into the night until after 3:00 in the morning, with the helo’s each refueling several times. Finally, after 3:30, everyone left to get ready for an all-out search in the morning. I had arranged with the other equestrian campers to have an organized posse go out to look for her starting at 7:30. I finally crawled into bed on top of my bedding, fully clothed, set my alarm for 6:00, and thankfully, managed to fall asleep. Those two hours were a great power nap, though, and when the alarm went off, I got up, fed the horses, had breakfast, got Flash saddled up and was ready by 7:15. Most of the group was close to being ready, so we gathered together and I assigned everyone a different trail to check. Just as we were breaking up, for them to finish saddling and for me to leave, we got word that they had likely found her, yet to be confirmed (but how many lost horses and riders were out there?), so we waited. As it turned out, it was her, she had traveled from the west side of the property to the east side, and evidently ran circles in between, ending up along the Powerline Grade where we finally arranged for me to put Flash away and go out with my little horse trailer and pick her up. She seemed to be no worse for the wear, had even managed to get a few hours sleep out there with her horse standing motionless beside her. Even though she reckoned the helos were looking for her, and she tried a couple of times to flag them down, they never spotted her! One of the ladies had packed her a sandwich and drinks, and one of the men came with me because he had an Apple phone, as did the detective that had her coordinates, and leave it to Apple, he couldn’t pass it onto my Android! But it was good, in case I needed have help getting the horse in the trailer, though a couple of ladies in the group said this horse (who we finally learned his name was Moonshine) didn’t have a problem loading in. We drove over and finally found the wayward woman, who seemed perfectly fine, though thoroughly embarrassed for causing such a ruckus. The cops took her to Gate 1 where the paramedics were waiting to check her out (though she insisted she didn’t need or want it), and we carried on to get her horse back to the barn, which a couple of folks from the group had readied the night before. The horse loaded fine, and unloaded fine, and dug into his hay bag the minute he went through the stall to the paddock. So a very happy ending to this saga, thank goodness! All the authorities cleared out, and things quickly quieted down in camp. Brigitte no doubt rested, the rest of the group (who had gotten more sleep) went out for a ride, and I stripped down and crawled into bed for another two hour power nap. After getting up, I tackled the job of trying to find the slow leak in my trailer tire, and after filling up the tire using one of the group’s compressors (both of mine are dead now), I finally discovered it was the valve stem, at the bottom where the rubber goes into the rim. Being Saturday, the tire shops in Indiantown were closed, so it will have to wait. The group had invited me to dinner, so after another walk around to see if anyone else came in (they hadn’t), and a conversation with Steve about the upcoming hand-over (which I asked to be delayed until tomorrow after a good night sleep would return some semblance of wits to me), I fed the horses and joined the group for dinner. We all learned some valuable lessons with this adventure. Though I carry saddlebags with me on just about every ride, with a first aid kit, thermal blanket, rain gear, etc., I realized that I don’t have a flashlight, or anything that could act as a strobe, which would be extremely valuable for catching the attention of a helicopter pilot. I might consider a small solar charger for my phone as well, since Brigitte’s phone died right after she made the call to her friend, so we couldn’t use it to triangulate her position. Otherwise, I think I’m pretty well set, though I’m sure the rest of the group is going to be adding to their saddle bags! They were all very complimentary about how we all handled the situation, but it was the least we could do. Part of the job, I guess, though Steve said he’s never had a rider get that lost before. I have to say, though, it will play out well with my ongoing proposal for better trail markings! James just had a meeting with them earlier this week and they were reluctant to put up intersection signs because of the maintenance issues, but this episode might just trump their concerns. We’ll at least try to use it for a bit of leverage, fingers crossed! After dinner, just for fun, I did my Snowy River to earn my meal, chatted for a bit, then finally came back to the trailer. I diverted long enough to blanket the horses, because the weather has changed dramatically, with temps going down to near 45 tonight, would you believe! By now, the horses have lost their winter coat, and Apollo’s summer coat is not even completely grown, so they’re going to need those blankets tonight! Finally took a long overdue hot shower, now I’m just about ready to head to bed, exhausted, but satisfied with the Happy Ending we all love so much! Time for bed! Love you, sweetie! Good night!
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