Monday, Sept. 30, 2013 - UPS and Travel Day to Brushy Creek

We had ordered replacement parts for the damage done to the awnings back in the Black Hills, and they were sent out last week from our dealer in Florida, but the arrival wasn't scheduled until today. Since our drive today is fairly short, we decided to wait for UPS, since we were told the truck usually arrives around noon or 12:30. After breakfast and packing up, we drove out to the entrance to the park and waited, and waited, and waited, until finally, at 1:20, UPS arrived. Now we were a bit behind schedule, but the trip was uneventful (fortunately), though the route my GPS took me put us right through the middle of Fort Dodge, so it was slower than we had hoped. A stop a Walmart and the Subway inside was all we really needed, then we headed out to the campground less than 30 minutes away. There are two horse campgrounds at Brushy Creek, North and South. I had determined from Google Earth and other maps that the South Campground would have the most benefits, both in proximity to the most amount of trails and openness for a satellite signal. Fortunately, there is a good cell phone signal here as well. The first loop was mostly shaded, lots of trees and very pretty, but the farthest loop was mostly open, with one long half of a loop up against a row of trees. They have the dreaded hitching posts here, but many are hidden in the woods, providing opportunities for a highline, and after some reconnoitering, we decided Site #55 would work the best. Many of the sites here are full hookups, including sewer, but we settled for an electric site with a water spigot just one site away. Off-season rates just $14/night! Very reasonable. Great cell phone signal, too, internet is nice and fast. Got everyone settled in, water in the RV and one of the rain barrels, highline up, animals fed, and in our recliners at just about dark, which is getting earlier now that Fall has arrived!

Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013 - Last Ride Day at Southwood, Busy Trails

Did our best to try to ride every bit of trail here today to finish it off, including one linear trail that took us to a picnic area, only got off track once at an unmarked intersection and ended up cutting a corner a bit, but other than that, it was a fabulous ride! You couldn't have asked for better weather, and the trails were in perfect condition. Most of the trails here are more "bridle path" style, wide enough for two, with good footing all around. There were a few places that had rough gravel, which the horses avoided as much as possible, though there was little room along the side of the trail so we were having to push branches out of the way a bit, but overall, it was very enjoyable! So even though there aren't a LOT of trails here by most standards, the ones they do have are very nice, and have enough variety to keep it interesting. There were actually a lot of other riders out today, this morning several other horse trailers came in to the camping area to day ride (tsk, tsk), plus there was one or two at the day parking area, so we had company on the trails, though we only passed one other couple, than ran into another group just as we were heading down the road back to camp. Back in camp two girls discovered they had a low tire on their pickup, so Hubby helped them out with his air compressor and had a nice chat with them for a while. Finished off the rest of the laundry, at last, did a few preparation chores for our move tomorrow, and finally settled down for the evening.

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013 - Cold, Rainy Rest Day

Cooler, rainy weather came in overnight, so the day was spent with the fireplace on, watching movies in between loads of laundry. Almost done!

Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 - More Equipment Wash Day

Spent most of the day washing the RV and the pickup today, a major job, long overdue, and continuing with the laundry as well. Had hoped to finish early enough to get in a ride, but naturally it took too long, and we were bushed by the end of the day. Didn't take long to settle in for the night!

Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013 - Rest and Computer Day

Having had my mail forwarded to me here, a couple of the helpers here brought my mail down to me, so I spent most of the day going through my mail and handling the various business issues I had to take care of, plus as many loads of laundry as I could do. Otherwise a nice quiet day.

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 - First Ride at Southwood Conservation Area in Iowa (our 46th state!)

After a delightfully quiet night of good sleep and a late breakfast, we saddled up and headed out in the early afternoon for a fairly short ride. There are only about 5 miles of trails (though the ranger we met said they've added another one, so it's a bit more now), they were more like bridle paths than trails to us. Other than a few stretches of sharp gravel, the trails were quite nice, wide, grassy or dirt most of the time. They weaved from open fields to dense forest, with a few steep climbs and descents, but really nice considering how "civilized" the place is. While most of the park is highly landscaped like a state park, the woods do provide a nice escape from that, and the fields gave us a great opportunity to get some good trotting and cantering in. A very nice ride, albeit relatively short, maybe 90 minutes or so. It's a small park, but with a nice variety of terrain. After we got back, we decided we needed to do some chores, including washing the horse trailer and van, a long overdue job that we did over the waning hours of the afternoon. Eventually settled down to a quiet evening, having had quite the full day today!

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013 - Great Hay at Last!

After some research, I found some hay advertised near Sioux City, which is less than 30 miles away, so we disconnected the truck and I headed up in the afternoon, after having started my long week of doing laundry with a couple of loads in the morning. It seems a young couple had bought the hay for their goats, then got rid of the goats because they were too much trouble, and had the hay left over. Their loss was my gain, though, because it was beautiful hay! From two different fields, but it all looked really nice, plus Heidi threw in 3 bales of pure alfalfa at the same price as the hay! Maybe now we can put a little extra weight on Clio! We chatted for quite a while, and by the time I got back to camp is was dusk, and I had seen an absolutely gorgeous, HUGE sunset over the plains before I reached camp. We quickly took care of the horses, finally finishing off the weed-free certified hay that we bought way back in Minnesota, as we won't be going to any new states that require it any time soon. Great to have a full load of good quality hay again!

Monday, Sept. 23, 2013 - Travel Day to Southwood Conservation Area

Got out good and early, by 8:00, knowing we had quite a long day's drive ahead of us. After once again negotiating the 6 miles of broken pavement back to the main road, the rest of the drive was on mostly two-lane country highways, but with very little other traffic on these back roads. Picked up gas in a small town, of which there are few and far between, and didn't find a "breakfast" place until nearly lunchtime. We were starving by then! Had a couple of burgers, not much else of a choice, but they were the best home-made burgers we'd had in a long time, in a little place called Coffee House Cafe in Elgin, NE. Another stop to shop, and we finally made our way to Southwood Conservation Area, a compact place with water and electric at a reasonable price, and one that will hopefully afford us the opportunity to wash the vehicles and get caught up on laundry. It's been such a long time since we've had easy access to water, the dirty clothes have really piled up! Only a couple of miles on a good dirt road and we were there. The horse camp only had 5 sites to choose from, but they were all empty so we had our pick. Chose a long pull thru that gave us everything we look for in an ideal spot. The only problem here is that they have hitching rails mostly tucked away in the woods, but there are also some trees around for a highline, so we put one up right next to the RV on a rather manicured lawn, so chances are we'll have to move them later in the week so as not to completely trample the grass. Before long we were set up, satellite and all, and settled in for evening.

Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013 - Another Relaxing Day

Another relaxing day, watching football and golf and doing some prep work for our departure tomorrow. It's been a nice stay, though honestly, I would get bored stiff here if this was the only place to ride! Too much of the same kind of terrain, these plains, even with the occasional break in the woods. Interesting story about this man-made forest, but still, not terribly interesting riding.

Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013 - Rest Day

Relaxed most of the day, doing some computer work, but mostly just hanging out. What few remaining sites were available after last night were filled up during the day, lots of riders out here!

Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 - Second Ride Day at Natick

Since our first ride here was mostly around grassy fields, I decided to plan a trip that got us into as much "forest" as possible. Interestingly, this area has a man-made forest, an experiment starting more than 100 years ago to try to make this area more arable, so the trees are in pockets through the park. I drew a Google Earth map that appeared to fit the bill, and we headed out after breakfast. For the first time in memory, we actually managed to stay pretty much on track, despite the fact that the trail did go through some woods (the forest is mostly evergreens of every shape and variety), but some of the trees were so overgrown and the branches were so thick and low that at many points we had to skirt around them, and at one point, we even had to dismount and walk through a particularly thick bit. If it hadn't been for my GPS though, it would have been hopeless! Once we got out of the forest part, the last stretch was entirely on a nice dirt road, and we had several nice canters and gallops on the way back to camp. A very nice ride, the weather was much nicer, having cooled down after yesterday's rain, and a good time was had by all! Meanwhile, nearly every site in the campground has now been taken, quite a busy place here!

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013 - Rest and Computer Day

Woke up to a cool morning and overcast skies. It had been windy during the night, but with very little rain, but as the morning progressed, the clouds built up and the rain came in. I had put every bucket and rain barrel I could around the RV to collect as much water as possible, and after a couple of hours of rain, we had collected enough to last us the weekend without having to go fetch more, thank goodness. Spent the day working on the computer, with Hubby mostly reading, a nice relaxing day, a perfect activity for a cool, rainy day.

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013 - First Ride Day at Natick

Slept late through a fabulously quiet morning, had a late breakfast, got some work done before finally saddling up and heading out at about 1:30. It was a hot day, with temps in the low 90's, which was a nice change after some of the cool weather we've been having. Headed out on a Google-made map I drew, past a windmill with a stock tank where I spent a few minutes schooling Apollo, as the tank was odd-looking by his standards, then continued onward, until were stopped by a gate and a trail that seemed to peter out, so we rode the fenceline for a while, before coming to a trail that took us to another windmill, which was actually back on the original trail I had drawn, but way at the end of it, so we changed tactics, heading for the forest road south of here, which was the original track, then headed east to 212, the road that the campground is on. We ended up back at camp pretty quickly, after only a short hour ride or so, watering the horses at the big stock tank there before putting them away. Hubby commented that he preferred rides that went through woods, even though we got in several very nice canters over the prairie, so I promised the next ride would go east toward the man-made forest that makes up the Bessey Ranger District. Did some more work for the rest of the afternoon before settling down for the evening.

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013 - Post Office and Hay Runaround

Enjoyed a very quiet night, no neighbors and no sound whatsoever! Still woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, probably from eating so late last night. After breakfast and helping Hubby get the satellite dish up, I headed out to pick up a package at the post office, and to find a few bales of hay, as I only bought a few the last time because the quality was pretty bad. I started at the Ranger's office, believing that since Weed-free certified hay was required, they would know where to get some. Of course, that didn't turn out to be the case, they had no clue! Well, except for one source, maybe, in Grand Island, 135 miles away!! I called the local 4-H club organizer, she only had one source and he only did large round bales. I went to the post office and asked the woman there, and she gave me a name, but wasn't sure. I looked up his number and left a message. Then I headed for the next nearest town of Thedford, stopped at a farm equipment store, they gave me another name, whom I called and left a message. I continued on to the post office in Thedford, and there was a woman there who gave me a number of a woman who had some square bales for her own horses, but that she might sell me a few. That turned out to be my source, I managed to reach her right away, she met me in a matter of minutes, took me over to her barn and sold me 5 light bales at $8 each. I was grateful to get them, but they were pretty darn expensive, and the quality is only what I'd call fair, apparently she had a friend with a meadow who square bales for her, but she's the only one around, everyone else does large round bales, which doesn't help me. Hopefully I can find a source for square bales before our next stop, I really need to get some GOOD hay, and get a full load! Finally made it back to camp, settled down to do some computer work (fortunately, there is just enough of a signal here to get on the internet with my antenna booster, though I can't make a phone call), and had a lovely quiet evening.

Monday, Sept. 16, 2013 - Travel Day to Halsey-Natick Horse Camp

Woke up good and early, knowing we had several stops today and wanting to still get to Halsey reasonably early, so we were on the road by 8:00. Stopped at Ft. Robinson to dump, then on to Chadron where we went to the Country Kitchen for breakfast while I did some quick work on my computer, and Hubby Skyped his sister in England to wish her birthday greetings, all of which took more than an hour. We then ran down to a farm supply store and Walmart before heading out of town. We stopped again in the town of Alliance to pick up fuel and propane, then finally arrived at the Bessey Ranger Station much later than we anticipated, right at 5:00. Fortunately, I had called ahead to confirm where spigot water was available, and when we arrived we headed straight there (next to the Rec building before entering the main campground). We filled the RV and both portable water barrels, as we have another 8 miles to Natick and we didn't know what kind of water situation was there, other than a hand pump. Those 8 miles turned out to be painstakingly slow in an effort to not spill any more water than possible, and the roads, though mostly paved, would have been better off being gravel, they were so rough. Fifty minutes later, we arrived at the camp. On the left were a row of wooden, seemingly dilapidated corrals and a windmill with a large stock tank of water. On the right was a camping area. At first, we thought that was the entire campground, which didn't make sense, but as I walked up the road I found the main entrance to the campground loop, which had a much nicer selection of sites. We drove in, and Hubby reconnoitered the area, deciding that site 15 was the best one for our purposes. It was a large site, and about 20 yards behind it was another row of pipe corrals, mostly shaded, but with a line of site that was clear for a satellite signal. We got moved in as quickly as we could (though we didn't bother with the satellite dish, as we were now in Central Time and it was getting dark by the time we finished setting up) and finally got settled in. We had a late dinner, watched a movie and headed to bed, exhausted.

Sunday, Sept. 15, 2013 - Rest Day

After yesterday's long ride, we were ready for a rest day, so we spent the day reading, watching the "Manning Bowl" on TV, and generally relaxing as much as possible, as tomorrow is a travel!

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 - Ride on (Unintended) Boots and Saddles Trail

Once again, planned a route on Google Earth and downloaded it to my GPS, and once again, it was so far off from what was on the ground we ended up going WAY in the wrong direction. For starters, the map has the trails on it, but evidently doesn't bother to include the forest service roads, so when we headed out through the gate on the north end of the campground area, we headed along what we thought was Trooper Trail, but we found out later was an unmapped service road (even though it was obviously the main dirt road through the park). My GPS indicated we should be traveling the same path, only about a quarter mile south. We made several attempts to go south to try to pick it up, only to be stopped by the creek (which we crossed more times than I bothered to count) and a row of bluffs that were impossible to climb. We learned later that in order to find the trailhead of Trooper Trail, we needed to turn south IMMEDIATELY after going through the gate, but there were no visible signs there, of either a trail or of signs pointing to a trail, so we totally missed it. After several false starts, we finally just kept going on the dirt road (after all, the point was to ride, not which trail we rode on, right?) but eventually we passed the west intersection of Boots and Saddles, one of the two main trails here. We turned south on that, thinking it might take us to Trooper Trail, but the trail seemed to peter out, and when we came to a gate, we abandoned it and went back to the main road. We continued west, hoping to run into the original trail I had planned on, but then we came to another gate, and didn't feel very confident about carrying on any further. Naturally, the road was boring, so we decided to return to the intersection of Boots and Saddles and take the north loop of that back to camp, as that had been an alternative to begin with. We started climbing, and the trail did get a lot more interesting, and was well marked with posts all along the way, weaving around the edges of some serious bluffs, lots of down and dead trees leftover from the fire in '89, a bit treacherous in a few spots, and longer than we had hoped, but we took a break in a place with spectacular views, of which there were many others, and treated the horses with a couple of apples, taking a nice rest there. Eventually we made it back down to camp, though Hubby's back was starting to give him trouble on the way down. It seems it's steep declines that give him the most trouble. We got settled in as quickly as we could, had dinner, invited the ladies next door in for another Bond movie, and had another quiet evening.

Friday, Sept. 13, 2013 - Rainy Day

Had to get up during the night a pull the main awning in a bit because of the wind, even though we had a few bouts of light rain which we were afraid were going to ruin the bale of hay we had put under the awning before I took the truck out yesterday. It didn't, fortunately, because it didn't rain that hard, but it looked like it was going to be a rainy, cool, blustery day. We actually slept later than we have in a long, thankfully, then got up and took care of the horses. There's been some very serious flooding in next door Colorado, and that storm is heading in our direction, so it looks like today is another day we won't ride. Good time to get caught up on my blog and bookkeeping! Spent some time chatting with our neighbors, two sisters named Fran and Patty who were from Colorado, and so were interested in hearing about the flooding back home. We invited them in to have hot cocoa with us, and later to watch an old James Bond movie, since their horse trailer wasn't quite as comfy-cozy as our big RV, and they certainly didn't have any TV. They cuddled up on big dog bed with Billy, and spent the evening with us. A very pleasant end to the day!

Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013 - Hay Day

Made arrangements yesterday to pick up some hay nearby today, and arrived there at 10:00. Was somewhat disappointed to see that the hay was sitting outside, so naturally the whole top layer was gray and useless. A gentleman named Russ, and local farmer, met me there, apparently he's trying to help the owner of this farm (who was not a farmer, which was evident), and we had a long talk about all kinds of things, an interesting guy. Anyway, there were a few good bales underneath that had a little alfalfa in it, and though I usually don't go for alfalfa, the rest of the grass was pretty poor, so I figured we needed it for the nutritional value. I only took 8 bales, though, because I thought it might be a bit stalky for Clio, she's been pretty fussy lately. I gave Russ a check of $4.50/bale, though he said if it was his hay, he wouldn't charge more than $4, but the owner had said $4.50 to 6.00, so I figured that was fair. Anyway, I soon headed back to town, dropped some mail off at the Post Office, answered some email and stopped at the local grocery story before heading over to Fort Robinson, where I filled up a rain barrel with water. After arriving on Monday, we quickly were down to 2/3 of a tank because we didn't fully fill it, so I had drained the first barrel into the RV to top it off, leaving us low on horse water, but it didn't take long at all to fill it up at the campground in Fort Robinson. Then back to camp, though by now it was too late to take a ride (which had been our plan), and we read and did more work during the afternoon, till it was once again time to settle in. At dusk, yet another couple of livestock trailers and a group of younger riders arrived, starting to look like Grand Central out here!

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013 - Work Day

Disconnected the truck and ran out the road about 1 1/2 miles until I got a great 3-bar signal, and spent most of the afternoon doing logistics for work. Our next job in DC has been confirmed for October, so flights, hotels, boarding, etc., plus making arrangements to pick up hay tomorrow, were all on my busy agenda. Hubby stayed home and did some chores and read till I returned, then we settled down again for the evening. There were some day riders that came in for a few hours, again surprising us that this is turning out to be quite a busier place than we thought it would be!

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013 - Ride Day at Soldiers Creek, NE (Our 45th State!)

If you ever want to come someplace where you truly feel like you're all alone in the wilderness, this is the place! From this campground, you can't see a single structure other than the two vault toilets and the corrals, for as far as the eye can see! I even got out the binoculars and could just barely make out some kind of farm many miles away, not viewable with the naked eye. It was so quiet last night, it was hard to get used to after being in so many places where you could hear traffic noise, or tourists driving by. No one would ever come out here by accident, not subjecting themselves to 6 miles of bad road to get here, that's for sure! After a leisurely breakfast, we saddled up the horses and headed out on what I had planned to be a short, five mile or so loop around the western part of Ft. Robinson State Park. We crossed the water crossing and started heading up through the grasslands, until we reached a gate. According to my GPS (which was a map based on the printed map from the BLM), if we went through the gate, we'd be going in the wrong direction, even though that's the way the white trail markers went. Instead, we followed a fenceline that seemed to take us in the right direction, but soon my GPS was showing we were going way off track. Instead of turning around, we decided to continue along the fenceline until it met up with the back half of the loop, then follow it backwards. At least then we wouldn't have to follow the road at the end of the trip, which was our original plan. When we reached the intersection, we saw the trail clearly straight in front of us (though, it turned out that we should have headed left at a lesser marked intersection) and climbed up a long grade to the top of the bluff, where we were met with some simply spectacular views! All 360 degrees around us were incredible, the kind of view that just can't be done justice by a few pictures or a verbal description. Absolutely stunning! We continue to follow along the well-marked trail for a while, passing several markers laying on the ground, but it seemed to be heading along just fine. Then we came to a place where there was a picnic table and what looked like a collapsed shelter, and just beyond that, we came across a small herd of more than a dozen horses! I doubt they were wild, someone likely just had them grazing out there, but they were definitely related to each other, and they were beautiful! Several red roans with gorgeous faces, a couple of rare blue roans, some grays and whites, and two sorrels, one that looked a lot like my Apollo, though with a larger blaze than his perfect diamond. Well naturally, my guy got a bit excited by that, and we had a few scary moments while we tried to pass them, though they were planted right at a marker, but we saw the next marker and made a beeline there. Curious, the horses kind of followed us, which made my guy more antsy, but eventually we got around them to where the next marker was. That led to a gate, which was next to a pasture with some cows in it. After just one short startled moment when he spotted the cows, Apollo was very good about ignoring them, for which I was grateful. Quite a change from just a few months ago! Well, after all, we've conquered buffalo in the wild, right? What's a couple of cows anymore? We went through the gate, and after a short bit, I checked my GPS, which confirmed what I had already suspected, we were going WAY off track, in exactly the opposite direction we needed to go to get back to camp. The problem here is that there are no markers except white diamonds, and white diamonds are used on EVERY trail! So, unfortunately, we had to turn around, deal with the gate, the cows and the horses once again, past the picnic table, until just beyond that we came to a marker that was on the ground. We had seen it before, but what we hadn't seen was that in addition to the marker that was directly in front of us (and the one we followed), there was an additional marker to our sharp left (which was now almost directly in front of us on the return.) So we got back on track there, and followed that trail, which fortunately at least was in the same general vicinity as the GPS said it would be. This trail basically followed the ridgeline, so the views were universally spectacular, with every curve providing another view of distant horizons. We could even see what looked like the Black Hills from here! Fantastic! Another mile or so on and we ran into yet ANOTHER small herd of horses, mostly white and gray, a couple of which were huge draft horses, and a burro with paint coloring, which I'd never seen before. Of course, they were right in the middle of the trail, and we did our best to skirt them, and managed to get by with only one scary moment when Apollo had the urge to back himself toward the group, which I saw as an invitation to a kicking match, but I managed to get him out of there before any excitement began. The rest of the trip was uneventful, though there were a few rather steep rocky sections coming down that way. For the most part, we probably didn't need boots, but for those areas where we did, we were very glad to have them. Got back to camp and got everyone settled, then anxiously downloaded my GPS info onto my computer, since this seemed to be a classic case of what the maps says and what's on the ground as completely different from each other. It turned out that our 5 mile trip ended up being 8.25 miles, and less than half of it was on trails that I had designated as our path. I learned that we missed one intersection completely, and that the GPS trail made from the hard copy map didn't seem to have much in common. I can't say I was too surprised, because when I tried to line up the overlay on Google Earth, it didn't seem to match up very well, even on the highly visible landmarks like roads! Well, still, it was a great ride, we saw fabulous views, everyone got home safe and sound, and ultimately, that's the important thing. Not long after getting back, another horse trailer pulled in next to us, surprising us a bit, as we were beginning to think we were alone in the universe out here! Two sisters, maybe my age or a little older, set up camp, corralled their horses, and settled in along side us. I visited with Pat and Fran and their mother's dog Hoot for a while, though for some reason, Hoot kept growling at my guys, who were behaving beautifully. Usually it's Billy that starts growling, but this time he let the other dog do it, and he just kept making the rounds, getting lots of attention from the ladies. Eventually we settled down for the night, having now ridden in our 45th State!

Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 - Travel Day to Soldiers Creek, NE

Set the alarm early, as we wanted to get out as fast as possible in order to do our utmost to avoid the heat. Since I haven't had a cell phone signal and consequently, no internet connection, we hadn't seen a recent forecast for the area. Last we heard there was about a 30% chance of rain (and we did have a good gullywasher yesterday evening!), and we did, indeed, have cloudy skies this morning. Got packed up and out of there in just over an hour, headed back out to Route 79, then south, looking for someplace for breakfast. We didn't find one until we got all the way to Chadron, NE, where we were heading for the Walmart anyway! Went to the Country Kitchen for a very nice breakfast before doing our shopping (never a good idea to go shopping on an empty stomach!) then headed for Crawford where we stopped for gas and water, then on to Fort Robinson. Missed the turn for some reason, then while heading down a lovely tree-lined street, I moved a bit right to make way for an oncoming horse trailer, and didn't realize the trees overhung the street so much, and a limb clipped the digital TV antenna. Hubby radioed to me to stop so he could pick it up, and we then continued on to Soldiers Creek Road, which, for the first few miles, was the roughest bit of washboard road we've experienced in a LONG time, maybe EVER! It actually improved slightly once we got past the road to a lake, but it was still six miles of pretty bad road. As we reached the edge of the wilderness, we had to make a fully concreted water crossing, then up a hill to the "campground," which is little more than a couple of vault toilets and a turnaround, and a whole bunch of cattle pens which were obviously part of the previous owner's business. Not really suitable for horses, though evidently one oblong corral has been getting some use, so I guess we'll put the horses in there for the night. I walked them down to the creek for water after struggling with the hand pump for a few minutes, then put them out on their anchors. A rainstorm came in while we were setting up the satellite dish, so we took a break till after it stopped again. Meanwhile, I put out all the containers to catch all the rain coming out of the gutter, since water is going to be a challenge here. Finally got everyone and everything settled in for the night.

Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013 - Another Rest Day

Other than handwashing some laundry and putting them on a line, and doing a bit of prep work for our departure tomorrow, today was a repeat of yesterday, with less traffic (almost no traffic today). I finished a book and recorded some movies of the DVR, watched a little football, and otherwise spent the day quietly in this nearly heavenly place!

Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 - Fabulously Quiet

Spent another day simply relaxing and enjoying the quiet here. A few cars drove around the loop, but no one stopped except George, the camp host who collected the required fees from us. Otherwise, the horses grazed (though they had a few wild turkeys visit them), the dogs explored and slept, and we read and watched TV, all of which improved Hubby's back tremendously.

Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 - Travel Day Back to Iron Creek

So, for the THIRD time this journey, we went back to someplace we had recently left, this time finding a route that was EASY compared to every other one we've taken (79 to 36 to 87), with brief stops at Tractor Supply and Flying J for breakfast and diesel, then a straight shot to the campground. This time, we had the place entirely to ourselves! After looking at all the possible parking options, we ended up in the same slot as before, as we could get a satellite signal from here, unlike most of the other sites. We put the horses on their anchors and let them have the run of the place, and let the dogs run around as well. We were set up in no time, which always seems to be the way it is when we go back to a place we've been before, no logistical problems to solve. When we were in Rapid City, the temps were in the high 80's, by the time we got into the Black Hills at noon, it had dropped to about 80. Then, about an hour after we finished setting up, a terrific rainstorm came in, dropping the temps another 8-10 degrees! I managed to get some buckets and one of the rain barrels out in time to catch a lot of rain, so now we don't need to worry about taking the horses down to the trough, we have enough between the rain and the horse trailer tank, which we filled before we left Fort Meade. Spent the afternoon easy and relaxing, one of the few travel days lately that went according to plan!

Thursday, Sept. 5 - Decision Day

Woke up early again, the sounds from the freeway in the pre-dawn hours is the only drawback to this place, just can't sleep through it once the traffic picks up. After breakfast, Hubby ran down to pick up gas while I continued to do some office work. I also called the BLM, and was told that, Yes, the Air Force had reserved the entire campground, as well as the regular campground next door, and yes, we would have to leave on Friday. At first we thought we would head straight to Nebraska, but the weather forecast had been getting hotter and hotter all week, with temps predicted in the high 90's all weekend, with the worst being on our travel day. After a little research, I made another proposal, to return to Iron Creek for the weekend. The temps were a good 10 degrees cooler on Friday, with mid-80's on Saturday, and a high of just 78 on Sunday. By Monday, the highs in Nebraska were predicted to be just 85, so that would make it a decent travel day, and the rest of the week would be the same. Hubby agreed that staying cool was a priority, so that was the plan we made. I double-checked with the Forest Service that Iron Creek was still going to be open (the concessionaire stays until Monday, then apparently the state takes over), and finished everything on the computer I could, since the signal down at Iron Creek wouldn't be as good. Of course, with it being the weekend, it wouldn't matter much. That decision made, we spent the day as usual, grateful to be in the shade as the temps soared.

Wednesday, Sept. 4 - Computer Day for Me, Rest Day for Hubby's Back

Woke up around 5:00 to the sound of someone starting a diesel truck, looked out and saw a fifth wheel horse trailer pulling out of the campground, don't know what time they pulled in, but they were definitely out for an early start. Couldn't get to sleep much after that, though, as I had a mental list of so many "things to do" that I finally capitulated and got up quietly so as to not disturb Hubby, and got busy on my computer, which, by the way, was another reason we came to Ft. Meade rather than the private campground, as the owner had indicated there was not a good cell phone signal at her place, so that definitely influenced our decision. I got a good couple of hours of work in before he finally got up and the horses started nickering to me for breakfast. Had to take a quick run out to pick up hay at the local garden center and oats at the local granary, luckily I found some good hay/alfalfa bales for $10, more than we usually pay but they are very heavy bales, and it keeps me from running around all over the place, and back to work as quickly as possible. Got quite a bit done, but forgot to take the gas can with me to pick up generator gas, so that's another trip later. Spent the rest of the day working while Hubby mostly read, and then settled down as usual for our quiet evening.

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013 - Travel Day with Unexpected Destination

With plans to move to a local private horse camp, first thing in the morning Hubby and I got into a discussion about whether or not that was the best move, and after awhile, we decided to change our plans and head back to Fort Meade for a few days. The weather forecast was calling for much hotter temps in Nebraska this week, with a cool-down this weekend, so rather than rush down to where it's so hot, or pay a really exorbitant amount of money (relatively speaking : -) just to take a trail we hadn't seen yet, we decided to do something for only the second time this season... go backward. At only $4/night at Fort Meade, and with running water where we can do some cleaning and laundry, track down some hay of which we're getting perilously low, figure out how to get parts to repair the damage to the awnings from our tunnel incident, and having access to the internet, this seemed like the most practical thing to do for a few days, maybe through Monday. We headed out of camp, made a few stops in Big Rapids for supplies, stopped at the rest area to dump, and arrived at the Alkali Creek camp again by mid-afternoon. The spot we left was still open, our neighbor Tom was still there, and the rest of the place was empty, it hardly seemed like we had left. We learned that Tom was planning on leaving tomorrow because his 14 day limit was up, he was heading up to Bear Butte State Park a few miles up the road. We also learned that the campground was "reserved" for the weekend by the Air Force, though we didn't know if it was the entire campground or just a few spots. In any event, word it these flyboys like to party hearty, so it isn't likely to be a very quiet weekend even if we could stay. So I guess it looks like we'll be heading out Friday, even though the temps will still be a bit higher than we had hoped, though by Monday they'll be down again. Filled the RV with water and did a couple loads of laundry, then settled in for a double feature once we got the satellite dish set up. A relaxing evening, which was nice. The dogs really like it here, they get to run around since Tom doesn't mind and no one else is here. Glad we made that decision, it's pretty warm here, but at least it's cooling down at night!

Monday, Sept. 2, 2013 - Mt. Rushmore and Keystone Visit

Another cool night for sleeping, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before leaving for our planned day of visiting Mt. Rushmore today. Beforehand, I was taking the dogs for a walk and met another couple that was horse camping a few sites down (the only other ones here, they had come in late Saturday from Sundance, WY), and they told me the best trail in the area (in SD, actually) was the George S. Mickelson Trail. A rails-to-trails project that extends 100 miles, there's a trail fee of $2 / day, which we'd normally avoid, but the surface is crushed rock and the grade doesn't exceed 3%, so at this point, it seems quite appealing. Not sure what our options are for staying here, but that information certainly provided us with some incentive, something else I need to research after our visit to Mt. Rushmore. I wanted to see the rest of the exhibits I missed from the other day, and also so Hubby could see them too. Unfortunately, his back was hurting a bit after yesterday's rough ride, so he didn't enjoy walking around the exhibits as much as we would have liked, but we did sit for awhile during a video presentation which was interesting. After we had seen enough, we headed down to Keystone for some ice cream and coffee and to get enough of a cell phone signal to check the internet for possible solutions to our accommodations problem. After looking at the weather again, and seeing it's going to be well into the mid-90's at our next stop in Nebraska, we decided to try to find a local private horse camp, and quickly did locate one south of Custer City that was reasonably priced. Not cheap, but less per night than here, and at least they had water and corrals! Not sure how many days we'll stay there, depends on weather and whether we like the trail or not. Love the flexibility of this lifestyle! Cruising with the weather! Got back to camp, and once again enjoyed a quick drop in temperature once the sun set.

Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013 - Ride Day at Willow Creek

After a pretty good night's sleep, as the temps dropped nicely into the 50's and it was pretty quiet here (we're the only ones here!), we got a late start out on the trail, after 1:00, but we weren't planning on going that far, and ended up going even less far than we had planned due to trail obstacles. We started out on the south part of the Willow Creek loop, then along the trail leading to Harney's Peak (the high point in the Black Hills), which quickly got rocky and steep, which we weren't exactly in the mood for, and not what the trail brochure described. After a long climb, the turnoff to Willow Creek-Rushmore came upon us, and that promptly started downhill again, also very rocky. After just a short way, maybe a quarter mile, we came across some serious deadfall, with several tall pines across the trail. We managed to get around them by cutting through the woods (following a makeshift trail that other horses had evidently cut through), but it was quite a long way off the main trail before we made it back to the trail, and through some very bad ground, with many smaller obstacles along the way. We got back to the main trail, and we were probably no more than another 150 feet or so before we ran into ANOTHER section of bad deadfall. Hubby and I just sighed, turned around and headed back. If we were desperadoes running from the law, I might have risked it, but we were just out pleasure riding, for goodness sake, we don't want to risk injuring our animals on such a dubious trail! We climbed up again, then down again, until we finally got back on the nice, north side of the Willow loop back to camp. It was a reasonable two hour ride, but not as enjoyable as we would have like, because the footing was so bad for much of the trip. When I compared where we went on my GPS with the map, it turned out the trail had actually changed, and the part where I guess it was supposed to have a gentler slope was no longer marked on the trail. Bummer! This could really be a great place to ride if they made some smaller loops and went around a few mountains instead of over the top of them (if that's possible). One good thing here, though, is it's about 10 degrees cooler here than down on the plains, so now we're considering whether we want to leave for Nebraska so soon, or maybe stick around for a little longer until the weather breaks a bit. I'll have to do some research, though, because I sure don't want to stay here at this over-priced, under-facilitated campground. We spend some time transferring water from the spigot on the horse trough to the RV so that I could do some laundry, and needed the drill pump and numerous hoses to accomplish it, but at least it didn't take too long, and I did get a load of laundry done before settling down for the evening.