Hi Babe,
Had a decent night sleep here, the only thing I heard were the morning songbirds. It's nice and quiet here, at least it was until the gravel trucks starting coming in by the dozens. I sure hope it's not gravel for putting on the trails! Speaking of, that was my big problem today. After breakfast I saddled up Apollo and took him on Trail A, which I figured would be the most used trail of all here. It's about a 6-mile loop, nice and wide for the most part, and sure enough, after we got into a little ways, there was quite a bit of gravel on the ground. Not huge chunks, and not real thick, but just enough to get Apollo mincing and trying to get off the road, which meant I had trees limbs in my face again, or I was fighting him all the time. Fortunately the back couple of miles were nicer, but that gravel really spoiled what would have been an otherwise nice ride. I could only take a short ride today because someone is picking up the MG today. I didn't get as much for it as I hoped, but at least I got more than what I was offered if it were junked. We had to make all the arrangements electronically, and since I can't get internet here in the camp, I had to drive up to a signal in order to get it all completed, which naturally took longer than I had hoped. At least the new owner of the house will have his garage, at last! He's been very generous, and I've been doing my best to winnow all that's left down, not much now. Anyway, it was a bit warmer today, and supposed to get warmer tomorrow, but then rain is coming in over the weekend, supposedly, so I'll get at least one more ride on Flash tomorrow. I hate to say it, but riding Apollo was not much fun today. He's walking so slow these days, and getting him into a trot is a trial, and a canter is impossible. I'm hoping maybe it was just the gravel, or that maybe his feet still hurt a little from that long ride on gravel a few weeks ago, though they don't look like they're stone bruised to me. He's such a slug these days, and I feel like I'm fighting him all the time just to get a little energy into him. Oh, well, maybe he's just getting old, like me. I'll give him another week of rest to see if his feet improve, maybe that's the whole problem. Anyway, another beautiful, mostly carefree day here in central Indiana! Read for a while, watched a little TV, now I'm off for my shower and bed. Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
It's days like this I miss you the most! What a fantastic day! Had a great night sleep, with temps in the mid-50's, perfect! Woke up to a beautiful morning with hardly a cloud in the sky, perfect! Saddled and booted up my go-to guy, Flash, and headed out on the trails, soon discovering that there is very little gravel on the trails so I was able to take his boots off, perfect! I soon learned the trails were quite well-marked, perfect! And the trails and the map matched pretty well, except for a couple of spurs out to parking areas, so almost perfect! Even when I made a wrong turn, I was able to figure out exactly where I was and get back on track with other trail options, perfect! Took Lola along, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself, behaved beautifully the whole way, even back in camp, perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better day! Trail #10 had some gorgeous areas where the pine needles have carpeted the ground making it as quiet as a church on Monday, Trail #12 got to be more challenging, more narrow and with more steep grades, Trail #14 had great footing, but there were a few areas so overgrown I wish I had worn a long-sleeved shirt, but not very much. The B trail back to camp was the only one with some gravel on it, and it was small and not very thickly disbursed, so it wasn't much of a bother either, and because it was wide, I managed to get Flash up into a canter and a largo (fast gait in Paso Fino language) for a bit. We went for over three hours, about 11.5 miles, more than I had planned but still well within our capabilities. When we got back to camp, I rinsed him down and put him in the paddock with Apollo, grabbed a sandwich, then headed up the hill to check my email and do a little computer stuff. As soon as I got back I put the horses back out on their anchors to let them graze for a bit. I was delighted to see the batteries were at 12.4 volts after all the sunshine today, and I had left both paddle fans running! I've barely run the generator since I've been here, and I'm endeavoring to run it even less as I learn how the solar system works. I turned it on for about 5 minutes this morning, just to cook bacon in the microwave and toast in the toaster. I'll probably put it on again later so I can run the AC long enough to cool off the inside of the trailer, if necessary. I did that yesterday and only had to run it for about 15 minutes. Once the sun gets behind the trees to my west, it starts to get a lot cooler quite fast. It's forecast to get warmer in the next few days, then rain is supposed to be here all weekend, but we'll see. I've seen that forecast go bust before! Meanwhile, I'm enjoying every minute of the day today, one of those really great days! Glad you were with me, in great health and spirit, on the trail today. The kind of days we always loved together! Anyway, after a little rest, I put some oil on Flash's saddle, it's been getting kind of creaky with all the rain and now all the sun. Put the horses away, going to watch a little PVR on TV, take my shower and head off to bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Darlin'!
Once again the campground is crowded, though thankfully my nearest neighbors are all horse people, no big families of screaming children or loud music, yay! I took Flash for a ride today, thought I'd take the Lake Loop backwards to see where I thought I might have gone wrong before. Turns out, I didn't go wrong, the map is wrong, at least it is when it's overlaid on Google with the actual trails. A nice ride, though, he seemed to have more energy today, though we lost a boot for a few minutes after taking a nice canter. I hope I can find some places where I won't have to put boots on the horses because of gravel, I guess I'm just spoiled after Florida where it's all sand, though there have been some placed that don't feel compelled to put gravel on the trails. At one point we had to cross the road just before the park entrance, and there was a line of cars waiting to come. Seems like a popular place in the summer! Anyway, it was a nice ride, I gave Flash a bath when we got back, then after a brief rest, I did some housework, doing some things I'd been meaning to do for a long time, like stick down the power strip in the bedroom and vacuuming around the bed. I also put up a hook I hope will work for closing the slide. It's the one job I haven't been able to do easily on my own, but I managed to do it with a temporary measure before, hopefully the hook will make it a permanent one, at least until I can get the slide adjusted so it closes properly. After doing all the housework I was in the mood for, I drove down to the boat landing with the kayak and spent some time in the "kayak lounge." Only problem was, I thought the beach was noisy and crowded yesterday with what looked like about a hundred people, but today there must have been three times that! One girl at the boat launch said they had to wait 20 minutes just to get through the park gate, which I can believe from the line I saw earlier. Spent about an hour out on the water, though it wasn't too relaxing with all the noise. Got back to camp, then I deflated the kayak and bagged it. I'm thinking of keeping it in the first stall rather than trying to haul it up and down to the attic. After all, in a couple of weeks I'm going to be on another lake, where hopefully I'll get to take it out again. Maybe I'll even try my hand at fishing, who knows? After resting a bit from that, I walked Lola down to the lake and we played for 45 minutes there while I had chicken in the oven, then got back, filled up the tank with water since I have some laundry to do tomorrow, took my shower, had my dinner, watched a little TV, and now I'm just about ready for bed! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe!
A good night sleep, a late breakfast, a lovely ride on Apollo! I found a really nice and easy trail today, the orange trail. Though I usually don't like linear trails, I didn't want anything too strenuous today, and this trail fit the bill perfectly! After the initial climb, which is long but not too steep and is mandatory for every trail except the Lake Loop, we turned south along a ridge line that had some really nice views. We saw several gorgeous butterflies, the kind that look like it's flying backward to throw off it's predators, beautiful! The footing was mostly dirt, and it was mostly level as well, so Apollo had a fairly easy day of it, though he's getting to be as slow as Clio used to be in her later years! I don't know if it's an age thing, or that his feet still hurt a little, but his average pace now is barely over two miles an hour. I have to keep pushing him into a jog just to get anywhere! Maybe it's the heat, it warmed up a lot today. I gave him a nice bath when we got back, then a little while later I walked Lola down to the lake and we played fetch for a while until she was pretty worn out. Then back to camp, a hot shower, a nice filet mignon dinner, and evening of quiet TV. That's it! Another day in the life, living the dream! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hey Sweetie!
I swear, life is starting to feel like my golden years of summer vacations spent at the cottage, with the added advantage of horses and air-conditioning. As promised, after breakfast I saddled up Flash and we went on a nice eight mile ride. His ankle seemed fine, though there was more gravel on the trails we took today than I liked, but we didn't have a lot of strenuous grades, either. It was a little strange, though, the "trail" turned into a paved road that ran by a couple of farmhouses! I thought maybe I missed a turn, but sure enough, there was a blue marker. Can't remember seeing THAT before! It was a good ride, though, even though most of it was a pretty slow walk (relatively speaking), but we did find a nice spot to do a great run, first at a gallop, then he eventually slowed down to a nice canter when he realized I was going to let him run. Got back to camp in mid-afternoon, quite a few more campers had come in. After resting a bit, I put on my bathing suit, loaded up the kayak and headed down to the boat launch, spending another hour or so floating and paddling. A couple of other inflatable kayaks just like mine went by me, and one of the women commented that it was a "lounging kayak," which is a great description! My kayak lounge! Great for happy hour, which is about what time it was anyway. Once I got back to camp, I rested a bit, then walked Lola down to the lake and we fetched for awhile. There was a family down there with another dog, and they were eventually persuaded to let him go so he could play with Lola, though you know her, she ignored him and kept her eye on the ball. He kept trying to mount her, and she kept telling him off and running away. Kept here busy, though, and hopefully wore her out so she'll have a good night sleep. Once we got back to camp, I had a stream of teenager girls come by wanting to pet the horses, which, of course, I let them do, plus gave them some peppermints so they could treat the horses. After they all cleared out, the girl from at the lake came by, and she helped me feed the horses, clean up, and refill all my water tanks. After she left, I puttered around doing a couple of odd jobs, then took my shower early and settled in for the evening. But just like summer vacations at the cottage, I spent most of my day in my bathing suit, doing one fun thing, then resting, then going off to do another fun thing. Lazy, hazy, days! I feel like I should feel guilty, but I don't! I'm just enjoying it as much as I can, knowing you're with me, every step of the way, like it used to be years ago. I miss you, darling! Good night, my love!