Hi Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep but still felt a bit tired through the day, so much to do! After chores I began the day with a load of laundry, for which I had just enough water to get done, then getting out my new pressure washer and started cleaning out the water tank in the truck, it was a real mess! Of course, I couldn’t reach it all, so I had to resort to using elbow grease and a toilet brush to reach most of the nooks and crannies. Managed to get it reasonably clean before filling it up again, then back to my site and filling the fresh water tank again so that I could do a second load of laundry. Hung the first up to dry outside, and got online to order the tire I needed for the trailer. Drove into town to the Tractor Supply for a new handle for my manure rake, which broke this morning, and to refill two propane tanks, then a quick trip to Walmart where miraculously I got out of there for under $100! So many things on my to do list, I can’t believe it! I tried to lower the trailer jacks to get more water in, and they didn’t work. They’ve been giving me problems intermittently but I thought it had to do with low voltage, but that was definitely not the case today considering I had been running the generator to do laundry. Something else I need to look at! Seems like every time I turn around I’ve got another problem to be solved! Long list of things to do these days, but I can’t ignore my riding, either, have to get Flash in shape for the Big Ride in two weeks. Slightly regretting coming so far north this early, as there is a frost warning the next couple of nights! No doubt being above the 42nd parallel is good for July and August, it may not be so good for May. Put the light blankets on the horses for the night already, hoping I don’t regret not putting on their heavy blankets and set the thermostat for 58, hoping it doesn’t come on during the night, but suspect it will. No worries, plenty of propane. Looking forward to crawling into bed and staying there tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Tuesday, May 23, 2023 – Busy Day of Problem Solving
Hiya Darlin’,
Spent the vast majority of my day on the computer and phone trying to solve a myriad of issues that have piled up. Looking for someone to weld a new bottom on my storage compartment and fix the brake wire (Alayna’ gramps stopped by this evening to look at it, and will follow-up with some ideas), spent time chasing down some refunds that were due me from last month, researched a replacement tire, since none of the three previous brands I’ve used are available any more, learned more about some tools I need to get, including a pressure washer, took apart my solar fence charger and talked to tech support about it, might have to be replaced, and on and on and on. I let the horses out to graze for a bit, they started to get a little far away so I had to move them back here once. Hooked them on the highline before going off on some errands, first to the local tire store to check out a tire they had that I thought might work (it doesn’t, so I’ll have to take my chances with SimpleTire again), went to the feed store to pick up some hay (they don’t start haying here for another two weeks, so I was low), which turned out to be really high on alfalfa content, so I’m going to have to watch their intake. Alayna’s gramps says he can bring me some, he’s got a few hundred bales leftover because they had one less horse this winter. Went to Lowes and got a new pressure washer, I really need to clear out the water barrel in the truck before I put any more water in my trailer tank, and I’m going to have to bleach that down as well, hopefully tomorrow. Finally got back to camp and sort of settled down for the evening. I didn’t sleep all that well last night, so I’m feeling a bit sluggish, getting to bed earlier tonight, for sure! Busy day, and more to come! Good night, babe! Love you!
Monday, May 22, 2023 – Troublesome Travel Day to Hungerford Horse Camp, MI
Hey Babe!
Up with the alarm, packed up and ready to leave by just after 8:00, with a little help from Mike who generously offered to do my site cleanup, which saved me a good ten minutes. Took a wrong turn out of camp, though, and ended up in a parking lot where I had to turn around. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but I think I over-torqued one of the tires in the process, because just north of Ft. Wayne, I had a major blowout. I heard it go just as I was approaching an exit, so I pulled off and stopped asap, because I knew the weight was too much for a single tire, and I didn’t want to blow a second one! I tried to loosen the lug nuts, but it was too tight and the tire was so shredded that it would spin around when I put force on it, so I called Progressive and they got me road service within half an hour. Meanwhile, I took out the spare and lined up the Jiffy Jack, so we were able to make short work of it once he got there. Of course, the spare only had about 70 psi in it because it’s such a tight fit on the rack, but he pulled out a little Milwaukee inflator that actually got it almost all the way up to 125 before the battery ran out. I had one other tire that was a little low, I was hoping to get that filled, but there was a Pilot at that exit, so after we finished the job (no charge to me, yay Progressive!), I pulled into Pilot looking for air, couldn’t find it, but managed to sweet talk a passing Goodyear tire repair truck into topping it off for me. I got the impression he just hangs around at the truck stop to pick up work there, it was VERY busy there! Anyway, I was on the road again with only about an hour delay, and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Unfortunately, when the tire blew, it took out a big chunk of the wheel well, which also serves as the bottom of my storage compartments, so I’m going to have to find a welder or repairman to fix it. It also blew out the wiring that works the trailer brakes, so they didn’t work either! I’m hoping I can fix that myself. After paying $1100 to get them fixed a few weeks ago, I’m ticked that I had to drive all day with no brakes! Fortunately, it was pretty flat driving all the way, and I only had one “bucking” problem when there was a sudden traffic jam at some construction near Grand Rapids. Arrived safely at Hungerford, was a bit surprised at how many sites were taken on a Monday! And unfortunately the site I was planning on taking, which is the easiest for me to get into, was closed for “safety” reasons, so I had to find another one. Tried one, couldn’t make it, but did finally find one I could get into easy enough. The challenge is all the trees that are close to the road, my rig just doesn’t have enough room to avoid them, so I need to find one with lots of open space on both sides of the road. Anyway, I got the highlines up, though I let the horses graze for awhile, there was some nice fresh grass scattered around. Got set up, went down and got some water in the truck tank and got the horses water filled up. Heated up leftovers for dinner, put the horses to bed (naturally, they wanted to keep grazing. They really don’t like the hay I got for them in TN), and settled down for the evening, with a long list of things to do tomorrow, none of which include riding, but they probably need to rest anyway, after so many hours of bumpy roads. Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Sunday, May 21, 2023 – A Final Ride with Mike at Salamonie River SF
Hi Sweetie!
Had a good night sleep with my earplugs again, got up around 9:00 after reading for an hour plus, did my chores, had breakfast, then chatted for a bit with Mike before we finally started to get ready to ride. There’s a land trust area across the river from the state forest called Kokiwanee, and we had heard that some of the riders from camp had gone over there yesterday, so I downloaded a map and we headed out in that direction. We took the yellow trail to the end, then found a trail on the other side by a waterfall (Kissing Falls, apparently), and followed the trail up. That led to a series of steps which didn’t really look like it was fit for horses, but there didn’t seem to be an alternative, so I went ahead and headed up there. There were some nails that were sticking up, but we managed to avoid them all. We plowed on to a number of other trails that really looked like they were only hiking trails, and we didn’t see any indication that horses had been on the trails, so I could never figure out where those other horses were going. Several times we would start down a trail and turn around when it became to narrow, so my plan went out the window. Eventually, we headed back to see if we could find another way down to the river, and there was one other trail, but I was worried about it being right on the edge of a drop off, so I dismounted and walked down a ways, and sure enough, there was a corned with a little piece of fence someone had put in, and the only way around it was too sharp a turn and too close to the edge for a horse to get through safely. I wasn’t about to take that risk! So we went back up and tried to find another way, but that trail had a little bridge that didn’t seem safe even for horses, and another climb of steps even steeper than the first one! Eventually we decided to head back down the main trail (the only one really fit for horses, and way too short and boring to be worth riding more than once), to a parking lot and a road, and we ended up taking the road back around to where we crossed the river, finally getting back on track and into the state forest again. Came across some other riders who were trying to figure out how to get around a downed tree, and I lent him my camp saw so he could cut off a limb and make it more easily passable (we had found a way around it previously), and before long, we were back in camp. Not exactly how I planned it, but it was still an adventure! By now most of the camp was empty, and within an hour or so, everyone else had gone as well. I let the horses out to graze and started putting stuff away, then made us some dinner, which I preferred to do rather than go out again, then finished putting pretty much everything else away, so I’ll be ready to get an early start in the morning. Less than 300 miles, but I either have to go cross country, or go a bit out of the way to stay on highways, so it will take longer than usual. At least I know where I’m going this time, hopefully the spot I like will be open. It’s been a lot of fun here, but it was a lot busier that I expected over the weekend, particularly with the cooler weather. Anyway, time to move on! Getting a little ahead of the weather, but at least I’m not sweating like a pig! I can always add layers! We’ll worry about that tomorrow. Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Friday, May 19, 2023 – A Third Scary Ride at Salamonie River SF
Hiya Sweetie!
Had another good night sleep, a quiet morning, then my friend Mike, who was going to meet me for a ride today, said he wouldn’t be here until after lunch, so I saddled up Flash to go on a ride on my own. I didn’t take Lola because I thought there might be too many riders that might not like meeting up with a dog on the trail, but as it was, I only met one other rider and he had his dog with him, so I supposed I could have taken her. She pouted the rest of the day after I got back. I took a shorter route, but one that captured a lot of the trails I missed the other day, then ended up getting turned around at one point and still missed some. We had another mishap, we took a trail that went along the river but quickly sent from what I thought was a horse trail down to MAYBE a hiking trail, but ultimately a very dangerous game trail, but by the time I figured that out, we were stuck with no place to turn around. Then Flash’s foot went deep into soft dirt, so deep he ended up on the ground, so I climbed off so he could get up. Unfortunately, he had no place to maneuver, and the only thing that kept him from falling thirty or forty feet down to the river was a couple of trees that were on the edge of the trail. He didn’t panic, thank goodness, and I let him rest for a few minutes and get calm, and finally he managed to get himself righted, but there was hardly any room for him to turn around. He finally managed it, but he had to take about a four foot step straight up to accomplish it. Once he got himself settled down, I climbed back on and we carefully made out way back to the main trail, though my foot started hurting a bit again, I must have banged it again. The rest of the ride was good, though, except I couldn’t find a trail that my GPS said was there, so we ended up going out of our way from the original plan, but no matter, we arrived back in camp safe and sound by 1:30 or so. I read for much of the afternoon, then my friend Mike finally showed up around 4:00. I thought he was only coming to day ride, but I was mistaken, he was coming to camp for the weekend, which was a good thing, since it was too late in the day to take another ride, and rain arrived shortly thereafter! We sat and chatted for awhile, then drove down to CoCoJo’s campground and restaurant and had dinner there, then chatted under my awning till dark, which is now nearly 10:00 (stupid Daylight Savings!) I put a blanket on Flash because it’s supposed to get cold tonight, but not so cold that Apollo needed one. Anyway, it’s late, I’m having my tea, doing my Spanish lesson, and soon will be taking my shower and going to bed! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!
Thursday, May 18, 2023 – A Second Good Ride at Salamonie River SF
Hey Darlin’!
Had a great night sleep, though I was feeling a little guilty. The weather forecast yesterday morning said the low would be about 49 degrees, but I checked it again just before going to bed and it dropped to 41! I probably should have put the blankets on the horses, but it was so later, I decided to forgo it. They seemed fine in the morning, though, so I guess they have their summer coats mostly in now. After chores and breakfast I saddled up Apollo, since he needed some exercise, and we headed out on the trails, a bit late, but so what? We were out about 20 minutes when I heard whinnying, and I thought maybe Flash had escaped the pen (I still don’t have a working fence charger), so I headed back, only to find he was quite happily in the pen. Such respect for the flimsy fence! I put some boots on Apollo, as the gravel was bothering him, and we headed out again, completing my original trail, but with the added trip, of course! We ended up doing 6.3 miles, more than I planned but he did fine. A lot of it was on flat ground, but we did run into a few hills, which was good for him, he hasn’t done anything particularly challenging lately, and he seemed to enjoy it. Got back to camp, there were several day riders and another camper that came in while we were gone. I put the horses out to graze for a bit, moved their pen over to the next hitching rail so they wouldn’t overgraze, then settled down for the evening. Watched a fun movie with Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear, and a couple of Big Valleys, but now it’s time for shower and bed! There’s rain in the forecast for the afternoon, and my friend Mike Shaw is supposed to be coming up in the morning to ride with me, so it will be nice to have company. Despite the chilly morning, it turned into an absolutely gorgeous day, another day of fine living! Good night, babe! Love you!
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 – Great First Ride at Salamonie River SF
Hiya Babe!
Stayed in bed a bit late today, reading and keeping warm. It was a bit chilly overnight, and I was finishing off a book, and my only activity today was to get a ride in, so I indulged myself a bit! Finally did get up, fed the horses and Lola and me, finished my final two chapters, then saddled up Flash. I debated whether or not to put boots on, I didn’t really want to aggravate the abrasion he got from his boots the other day, so I decided to just carry them instead. As it turned out, I didn’t really need them anyway, thank goodness! While there were a few spot with quite a bit of gravel (mostly in places where it was obviously supposed to be a trail “repair”), and a couple of stretches where it was nothing but stone, most of the trail was dirt and some mud, so once we got started, Flash relaxed a bit. What lovely trails they are otherwise! True forest, lots of hills and dales, and a lot of the trail I was on today, the blue perimeter trail, followed along the edge of the river, so it was truly beautiful. There seemed to be a lot of new trails being cut, so I digressed off the main trail a few times to see where they went, but it was mostly just different ways to get back to the river or the main trail. There were a lot of picnic tables strategically placed in scenic spots, and I only ran into two hikers and then two horsepeople just as I was getting back to camp. Did nearly nine miles in about 2.5 hours. Wonderful! Put them out to graze for awhile, finally sent in my pension application since I got it notarized in town yesterday (thanks, Terry at First Merchant Bank!), then discovered I had lost a lot of my Google Earth work from the last two weeks, so I spent some time recreating that. Settled down for the evening to a nice salmon dinner, watched a little TV (my batteries went from 12.0 to nearly 13 just on the solar panel today!), ready for shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 – Shopping and Miscellaneous Day
Hey Darlin’!
Very quiet here but still didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked! After chores and breakfast, I hooked the horses onto the hitching rail (much as I hated to do that!) and was just about to head out to town (Wabash) to do some shopping when the ranger (Amanda) came by. Not surprising, I was told, in a nice way, that my portable fence was too expansive and I would have to reduce it. Not unexpected, but disappointing. She was very nice about it though. Also asked about the big divots my trailer made in the soft ground, told here I would be fixing it. After she left, I headed out to town, first to find a notary (a nice guy named Terry at the local Merchants Bank), then Tractor Supply for horse feed and propane, then Walmart for basics, though I’m sorry to say they sold liquor inside the store and I splurged on a bottle bourbon, then back to the park with a stop at the office to buy an Indiana Horse Pass, a necessity here, though only $20 for an annual pass. Got back to camp, put all the groceries away, moved the fence around (though I let the horses loose with Apollo on an anchor, so they got to graze all afternoon), chatted with a local rider who stopped by for awhile, then finally settled in for the evening, with plans to ride tomorrow. It started out raining this morning but cleared up this afternoon, supposed to be cooler tomorrow, but lots of sun! Another beautiful day of living! Love you and miss you, my darlin’! Good night!
Monday, May 15, 2023 – Travel Day to Salamonie River State Forest, IN
Hi Babe,
Up good and early, as planned, though I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so not as many hours as I like to get, but c’est la vie! Managed to get to get everything packed, finished the dump and get the horses loaded, pulling out just before 8:00 Central. Just barely got around the barn (by inches!), but was on my way right on schedule. One stop south of Indianapolis to get fuel (the price jumped to nearly $4/gallon for some inexplicable reason), but the rest was all uneventful. Arrived right on schedule at 3:00 Eastern, had a little trouble finding a spot long enough (what else is new!), but finally got in one, though I created some fairly deep tire tracks on the corner that I’ll have to try to repair (once my foot gets better.) I forgot that the “horse containment” here is metal hitching posts (my LEAST favorite system), but I ready all the rules and they didn’t say no portable fences, so I put up mine. Unfortunately my solar charger doesn’t seem to have any juice in it, so hopefully they don’t escape tonight, though there isn’t really any reason for them to go very far, there’s a lot of lovely grass and clover around the campground. Fingers crossed it gets enough sun to get charged up a bit tomorrow, though the forecast is cloudy skies. Finally finished up getting set up around 5:30, did a little Facebooking, had some soup for dinner, watched a rom/com movie, heading for my shower and bed and an early night, much cooler, but should be great sleeping weather! Looking forward to a fairly peaceful week there, though I have several friends who might join me for riding one day. Should be fun! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!