Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 – Day Two of the OTL

Hello my love!
Well, miracle of all miracles, brother Jeff was up and almost ready to go at 7:00 this morning, as planned! He’s been working so hard on his van, he really needed a break, so I persuaded him to volunteer today as our ambulance driver, but I was a bit concerned he might not make it in time (you know, Jeff time :-), but we made it! We managed to get all the way down to Camp I just after 8:00, and again, I was on the trail by 8:30 adding markers and generally scoping out the trail in advance of the rest of the riders. There was still a lot of water on the trail, and there’s one section that really has a swamp feel to it, lots of mangrove trees very close together, it felt like being in the bayou! Flash and I had a great time, though, and we passed the halfway point on the Beeline crossing where Jeff was supposed to be before he actually got there, though I heard he got there a few minutes later. I arrived at the stable where we ended the ride in good time. There were a number of riders that rode on Friday but decided to rest on Saturday, so they moved their rigs in the morning and were waiting at the stables. I think that’s a better way of doing it, truly. Anyway, I ended up chatting with a couple of ladies at one trailer, where they lent me a halter and let me tie up to their trailer, and then sat with them for a while. Eventually a couple of riders came in, but it was a long time before the rest arrived, I guess they were really taking their time today. They took one wrong turn (because they started to follow a pink marker, which they had been warned about during the riders meeting, what can you do!), but it was only for a tiny loop near the end, so it didn’t really matter. They figured it out and ended up in camp anyway. Fortunately, they had enough volunteers so I didn’t have to take a truckful of passengers back to Corbett, and when Jeff finally arrived, before the last group came in, we ended up chatting with the ladies again, Maggie and Bev (aka Pistol). Turns out they weren’t sure if they were going to ride on Sunday, they were worried about it being too long, so I suggested they skip the Riverbend portion and start from the Cypress Creek parking lot, which is precisely what Jeff wanted to do on Apollo. I was a bit worried about Jeff being out there on his own, not knowing how stubborn Apollo might get, so it was the perfect solution! Anyway, we worked out the logistics for the morning, and went on back to the house, got my chores done, and was quite ready to hit the hay early. Another great day!