Sunday, June 10, 2012 - Anniversary and Rest Day

Today we celebrated our 23rd Wedding Anniversary, so we slept late, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, finished off the last of the laundry, and packed up everything we could in advance of our departure tomorrow. Had a nice steak for dinner for a change, the extent of our celebration, and had a quiet evening of TV watching and getting to bed fairly early, with the alarm set for an early wakeup call.

Saturday, June 9, 2012 - Another Fabulous Ride at Barkcamp

Got a slow start again this morning, but managed to get on the trail around one, with plans to follow the 8 mile blue trail, also called "the Big Loop" trail. We had trouble finding the trailhead in the campground as it is shown on the map the camp store gave us, so we ended up taking the yellow trail out until it met up with the blue trail. Again, lots of varying terrain, mostly thick woods, great dirt trails with few stones and just a few muddy areas, and a few nice places for a canter as well, as well as a lot of trotting and jogging. Got off track a bit on the back side of the lake when we took the Hi White trail, but it pretty much paralleled the blue trail anyway. Stopped for a rest at a lovely picnic area that had a section dedicated to horses, had a quick snack of trail mix before finishing off the trail, which included crossing the road a few times, and crossing a bridge on the main road as well, but traffic was pretty light, so no worries. They’ve really done a nice job of making you feel like you’re in the wilderness, and you’d never know you were just a stone’s throw away from a campground but for the laughter and screaming of kids playing. Got back tired but satisfied, washed down the horses at the nearby wash rack, fed them and the dogs, then us, then settled down to a great old movie, Memphis Belle, before heading off the bed, for a hopefully good night sleep!

Friday, June 8, 2012 - FABULOUS Ride Day at Barkcamp SP

Spent most of the day working on the computer trying to solve logistical challenges for the next month or two, then Hubby had a short spell of headache and dizziness, but after a little nap, he was ready to head out on the trail. Though it was about 3:00 by the time we left, it was a WONDERFUL ride. Despite the fact that most of the park is highly manicured, the way most State Parks prefer, as soon as you got on the trail, a sense of wilderness and pioneering enveloped us. The trail was dirt, with just a few muddy spots, with varying terrain, woods, ravines, lakeside, everything you could ask for. The trail was a bit overgrown in some places, which would be no bother except that it seemed all the overgrowth had spikes and thorns in them, so make sure you wear long sleeves and thick jeans! The horses were ready to go today, and once they saw how interesting the trails were, they became completely engaged. There were just enough obstacles to make it interesting, but nothing impassable. About halfway around the red Lakeside Trail, there was a camping area with a picnic table, a fire ring and even a short dock for sticking your toes in. A very nice ride on the yellow and red trails, which looped right back to the horse camp. Got back around 5:00, and had a parade of kids come by wanting to pet the horses, which I allowed, as I remember being a kid wanting to pet horses too! And I STILL do!

Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Rest Day

Spent the day resting, working on the computer, making calls and sending emails to solve more upcoming logistical challenges, and otherwise lazed around for the day.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - Hay and Travel Day to Barkcamp State Park, OH

 Set the alarm early and were headed out of camp by 8:00, before the ladies across the way were up (at least I only saw glimpses of them), ran around the lake to the dump at the main campground before heading north to breakfast at Youngs Jersey Dairy, then on to Rhonda’s house to pick up hay. Her husband Max knew we were coming, but I hadn’t been able to reach him by phone, so we had our fingers crossed someone would be home. Arrived just as a large delivery truck was leaving, so I backed up to the barn and Max helped us load the pickup with a nice green grass and alfalfa mix from his hay trailer. Bales were kind of light (apparently at Rhonda’s request), and had baling wire instead of strings, but as Max said, "When someone offers you a free baler, you don’t argue." Nevertheless, it was very nice hay, though we usually try to avoid alfalfa (too rich, spoils my guys too much!), but it had enough grass in it to balance it out. Once that was done, we headed straight out to Barkcamp State Park, which I only just learned about last week. It’s a bit more expensive than we ordinarily like to pay ($21/night), but it had electricity and central water, and I have lots of laundry to do, so we figured this was our best chance at avoiding a laundromat. Arrived in mid-afternoon, got checked in at the camp store, then had to re-trace our steps back to the horse camp, which is a small area dedicated to horses in a park that does a great job of catering to a lot of difference types of recreational needs. There’s a lake for fishing and non-motorized boating of all kinds (electric motors only, that is), we saw canoes and kayaks and duck boats for rent as well as bikes for cycling around. There were lots of kids around, too, and many campgrounds around as well. When we arrived at the horse camp it was empty, so we had our pick of spots. We found Site 60 to be the best for us, lots of immediate shade, but with an opening for the satellite dish, close to the water spigot (which actually had a hose on it, OMG, they trust us not to steal their hose!!), with a couple of good trees right next to us for the high-line. The tarmac pad was a bit narrow for the RV by itself, so naturally we had to park the horse trailer next to it. Shortly thereafter, a ranger came by to tell us that we had to move that rig off the grass, "unless we could get two wheels on the pad" which, of course, wasn’t possible, which meant we’d have to park the van in a nearby parking area. We asked about the horse trailer, though, since it had all of our equipment in it, and he agreed that we could drop the trailer on the grass on the other side from where it was parked (sigh), before unhitching it, so that’s what we did. Some rules are downright silly, aren’t they? We weren’t in anyone’s way where we were, but it wasn’t in accordance with the rules, so that was it. What’s better, more tarmac so you can put two vehicles next to each other, or allowing someone to occasionally park on the grass, which would have plenty of time to recover between occupants? Anyway, we did what we were told and forgot about it, everything else about the place was nice. Started a load of laundry, settled in for the evening, enjoyed watching the horses very happily eating their new hay just outside our patio door!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - Lunch with Friends in Dayton

Had a nice sleep-in, grabbed a quick fruit breakfast before heading out "The Country Club" to meet with our friends Jane and Bob. Had a fantastic lunch with them, we talked for three hours! The poor waitress had to wait almost an hour before we could stop talking long enough to look at a menu and order! It was a great time, and we made plans to see each other again at the end of July, where we have a SURPRISE outing we’ll share with you later. We’ll also see Jane in August, as she does work with us for big events, and we have a big event booked at the end of August. Anyway, after we said our good-byes, we headed out to the health food store to get more of the Biofreeze-type cooling gel I found, as well as some organic trail mix and a few other items. A quick trip to Wal-mart for some other supplies, and we were back at camp by 5:00.

Monday, June 4, 2012 - Last Ride Day at Caesar’s Creek

 

Mama Deer

 Another beautiful day, perfect weather with cool nights and temperate days, such a relief after the 99 degrees in Illinois! Headed out on the longer trail today, though the entire loop is about 19 miles, we have no intention of going that far, just out to a mid-point and back. We decided to make that mid-point a boat ramp, and again, we had some lovely trots and canters along the way. Saw a deer on the trail, and after it ran off to the left, I saw a tiny fawn that couldn’t have been more than a few days old run off the to right. Naturally, Mama didn’t go far, so I managed to get a picture of her, but baby became invisible, all those spots disappearing in the woods. Part of the trail was actually an old, overgrown paved road, but it was so narrow it was more like a trail. We don’t mind tarmac much, it’s gravel that drives us nuts! We only got lost once, when the poor markings prevented us from making the right turn onto the Cliffs Loop, which turned out to be our favorite trail, so we ended up taking it backwards from how we intended, and we had to re-do the front half of the loop, which was no problem. We liked that loop because it had a nice turn-off where someone had put up a swing-line for jumping into the lake, and it was a good 20-25 foot drop to the water, so it looked very inviting! Had I been younger or dumber, or been with folks who would’ve dared me to, I might have been tempted! But with just Hubby, well, I had to take precautions and do the safe thing... :- ). As we headed back to camp, we decided to complete the circuit by taking the final few loop trails west of the campground, and they turned out to be very nice as well, older woods than we’d seen in most places, nice and deep, with a few mild ravines, just the way we like them. Overall the trails here have been very nice, just a few areas of stone and gravel, more mud than we like but not insurmountable, and I’d rather have mud than gravel any day! Headed back, had another nice chat with the ladies across the way, and learned that one of them made hay, which I am in need of, so I was happy to make a deal to pick some up on our way out on Wednesday. They, too, are leaving on Wednesday, so it all works out just fine. Got everyone settled in and fed, and had a relaxing evening.