Hey Sweetie!
I was so tired last night, I ended up crawling into bed before 8:45, fell asleep almost immediately, woke up around 2:00, read for a bit before falling asleep again, then woke up again around 7:30. Stayed in bed reading until 8:30! So I was in bed for almost a full 12 hours! I have to say, though, I feel SO MUCH BETTER! Particularly my left thigh where I banged it so bad a couple of weeks ago. It’s been so swollen and stiff it was painful every time I tried to bend my knee, but today, it feels a lot better, not quite back to normal, but the pain level went from about a 7 to about a 3, so feeling good! I decided that I had to get my insurance straightened out before I did anything, so I unhooked the truck and headed south so I could get a signal. Little did I know that I would have to go 23 miles, all the way to Newberry before I could get a good enough signal to make a phone call! Crazy! And yet, I passed a couple of radio towers, but I guess they’re not cell towers. So I sat in the truck in town and made my call, took a long time but finished with being fully set up for my Medicare Advantage program, thank goodness! Finally headed back to camp, and decided we had time to do the short loop, so I saddled up Flash, and with Lola coming along for the first time in over a month, headed out on the trail. No boots necessary, though I brought them along just in case, but all the footing was sand and dirt, and the rain yesterday had tamped them down nicely with no dust. The trails aren’t very well marked, and if I hadn’t GPSed it, I would most certainly have gotten very turned around and frustrated. There are all kinds of trails out here, for OHVs, snowmobiles, hiking and horses. The horse markers were exactly the same as the Shore to Shore ride, but they were few and far between, and often didn’t point in the direction of the turn, they were simply up and down and when you came to an intersection you had to look at all the other options to try to find the next marker. I went wrong a couple of times, where there weren’t any markers that I could see, either. No worries, with my GPS I got back on track eventually. Flash was full of energy today, and he finally got the perfect fast walk that I’ve been trying to get him to do for the longest time! He also insisted on gaiting a lot, but I reined him in quite a bit, because tomorrow is going to be the big ride out to the lake and he needs to conserve his energy. By the time we got back to camp, a couple of sites were occupied, I had been hoping to take Lola down to the little lake here, but that didn’t happen. She was so happy to come with us! And, of course, she was dropping her frisbee at my feet while I was still unsaddling Flash. So much energy! But I don’t think I’ll take her tomorrow, it will be too much for her. Anyway, settled down to dinner and a movie, and have every intention of getting an early shower and bedtime. Put the blanket on Flash though, I saw a forecast that said it was supposed to get down into the high 40’s tonight! One extreme to the other the last few days! Good sleeping weather, for sure! So good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up ten minutes before the 7:00 alarm went off, didn’t rush but even with having to hook up the truck, I was on the road be 8:10. Ninety minutes later I was at Lake Otsego State Park to dump and top off with water in the RV, got slightly delayed going over the Mackinaw Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of Michigan due to maintenance, stopped for fuel in Newberry, and still made it to HQ by 2:00. Just barely missed hitting a bunch of rain, the stop at the dump was perfect timing! Some of the roads still had puddles, but I missed all the rain, thank goodness! By 3:15, I was all set up, with my carpet down, Flash all set up, the awning out, the trailer level, grill out… only problem is, I have ZERO cell phone signal here. Not even enough to make a phone call, darn it! I was hoping to get my health insurance squared away today, but that’s obviously not going to happen! I was also hoping I would have to disconnect, but it looks like I’ll have to go hunting for a signal tomorrow or Friday. I did create a GPS track to the lake, it’s going to be over 23 miles round trip. There was a time when I thought that would be a really long day, but after all the miles we did last month, 23 miles is going to be a piece of cake! Especially since I’m figuring on having lunch on the beach, maybe even take off Flash’s saddle for a swim! We’ll see, depends on the waves. Anyway, I’m settled in for the evening, covered with Off! (the mosquitoes are hungry here). I did have a few problems maneuvering around the campground, there are some tight turns and I had to back up and take a couple of runs at it to get in place, but ended up in a big pull-through on a corner with a pretty good exit route. I was hoping to get into one of the sites that backed up to a little lake, but just didn’t have the room. I was almost tempted to stay up in the day parking area, it’s wide open, but it’s not very pretty and right on the road, so I think I’ve done all right. I’ve hooked up my Dish PVR, looks like old movies and Kindle books for the duration! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Had a busy morning doing odds and ends preparing for our departure tomorrow. Had to fix the folding table, it came off during the night. Not sure why, can only guess that Lola tried to stand on it or something. She also pulled out all the stuffing on her dog bed, the smaller one I brought in from the truck a few weeks ago, not thrilled to find that strewn all over my clean house! Did a load of laundry, filled up the tanks with water while the generator was on, roasted some beans as well so I can have a cup of coffee on my drive tomorrow. Once the laundry was hung up I drove over to a hay farmer to get some hay, a convenient 15 minutes away. First cutting of this year, and finally at a reasonably price of $6 a bale. They’re a bit smaller, which frankly I’m happy about, these larger bales are hard to manage. Got that stored in the trailer, then got the truck lined up to be hooked up tomorrow. Cleaned up the generator box and all of the electrical cords that are stored in there, they all got really dusty going down all the sandy roads last month. Checked the lugs on the trailer, just one needed a little snugging. Got the back of the trailer organized so Flash has a stall ready, seems like a long time since I’ve had a horse back there! Got the laundry in and put away, then decided to relax for the rest of the afternoon, though I also figured out where I’m going to stop to dump the black water tomorrow, just a tiny bit out of the way, but needs to be done! Watched a Danish movie (well, English audio) and a couple of Big Valleys, had dinner, one more movie, and now I’m ready for shower and bed. Good night, Sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Spent pretty much the entire day doing housework today. I’ve got dirt from so many weeks ago, I just couldn’t stand it any more. Did a thorough cleaning from top to bottom inside, and it literally took me all day, with a few necessary breaks in between. Glad to get it done, but now I’m exhausted again! Ready for a quick shower and bed! Tomorrow I need to find hay, and get packed up for my departure. Not much else to say! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
Well, I made my dream come true today, sort of. I woke up early, read for awhile, fell back to sleep, then got up and did my chores around 9:00, then crawled back into bed and slept until 12:40, just like in my dream the other day! I sure needed it. By the end of the day yesterday, my whole body just about shut down, and today wasn’t much different. Spent the afternoon reading and watching TV and generally vegging out, which is precisely what I needed to do to insure a quick recovery from this past, busy month. I feel a lot better, but am still ready for bed tonight, but I suspect by tomorrow I’ll be ready to get busy again, with housework on the agenda. Not much else to tell! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

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!

Hi Darlin’!
Had a good night sleep, slept late and laid in even long, finally crawled out of bed around nine, got my chores done. Did a bunch of stuff with getting the contacts I collected yesterday organized, sold a couple more books, then around 3:00, I took Flash down to the river for a swim, though it wasn’t really deep enough to actually swim. It was deep enough to come up to his shoulders, though, so he got a good soaking. He enjoyed, especially once he realized we were just there for fun, not to cross or do anything else. Gail H. took some great pix, I’ll post some of them. Then I took Lola down and she fetched and swam for awhile as well. Then Suzy came down with her two horses and was enjoying a nice cool river bath when some folks in a bright red canoe came along and the horses kind of freaked out. She managed to calm them down, and the canoe actually beached right in front of us before they realized they were in the wrong place. Gave the horses a chance to settle down, then ANOTHER canoe came along and things got really crazy. Since the horses were spinning, I ended up having to grab one of the leads to prevent them from getting really tangled, and after a bit they settled down again. After she left, Lola and I played a bit more, then came back to camp and started packing up. Back on the road again tomorrow, next stop, Dubonnet! Went to the riders meeting, finished packing and hooking up, now back to my shower and bed routine! Good night, sweetie! Love you!