Tuesday, August 7, 2012 - Ride Day at Lake Luzerne

Had an excellent night’s sleep, with perfect temps in the 50’s and very dark quiet for a nice change. Did some laundry this morning, nothing like the smell of clothes fresh from the line, especially when the line is in the middle of a forest! Glad we didn’t come here for the peach and quiet, though, as there is some kind of rock-crushing facility very nearby, and they were quite busy making loud noises, so much so we could hardly hear our generator over it! Eventually got around to saddling up the horses and heading out on the trail. This is a pretty small area, with only a few short horse trails, but we weren’t really up for anything long and tiring today, we have too much recovery to do from the hectic pace of the last few weeks! Followed the yellow trail markers, which eventually crossed the main road and worked us up a steep hill to a vista that was very pretty. A lot of the trail was quite rocky, though one section was sandy and the rest just dirt. Definitely needed boots on today! Got back around 4:00, got everyone settled in, took down the laundry, had dinner and a nice relaxing evening. Glad we skipped lunch, though, we both gained a few pounds that we have to lose, and missing a meal always helps!

Monday, August 6, 2012 - Travel Day to Lake Luzerne Horse Camp, NY

Packed up and were out by 8:30, a quick stop at the Canandaigua Water Treatment Plant to dump, then McDonalds to pick up a bagel breakfast, then onwards toward Lake Luzerne in the Adirondacks in eastern New York State. We avoided the thruway because it would have cost us $60 to go 166 miles, and we weren’t in THAT much of a hurry, so we took a more scenic route. Stopped once more at the Walmart in Amsterdam for supplies before heading out to the campground, arriving aroun 4:30. Didn’t take long to check in, and reached our campsite shortly thereafter. The campground is mostly wooded, though at the end of the cul-de-sac there is a dirt road that goes around to an open field where there are a few covered stalls and a LOT of paddocks. If we had wanted a satellite signal and to be closer to the water spigot, we should have picked site 18 or 19, but we opted for 22, which is a large area on the edge of the woods. Since that took us about as far away from the paddocks as possible, and because there was no shade there, we opted to highline the horses in the forest, which was very convenient. Our only neighbors are a couple with an antique, round-edged trailer next door, and a couple of horse trailers around the back near the paddocks. We filled the tanks and I started a load of laundry so that I could get at least one load hung before dark. Enjoyed a quiet night, as there are tight restrictions on generator use, so we had ours off by 8:00, watching a great old movie "The Man Who Knew Too Much" off the batteries until early bedtime.

Sunday, August 5, 2012 - Day at Friend’s Cottage on Honeoye Lake

Did some preliminary packing before setting out to visit with friends at a cottage owned by one of them down on Honeoye Lake, a short 20 minute drive from the farm. Got back before 7:00, did some more packing, then headed to bed for an early start in the morning.

Saturday, August 4, 2012 - Return to Pittsford Day

Well, the day for which we came here has arrived! Did some running around earlier in the day to find a tool Hubby needed and to pick up some groceries for the picnic before heading out to Powder Mills Park, with a stop at Abbott’s Frozen Custard in Bushnell’s Basin for a quick ice cream lunch (better to stave off the temptation of what will certainly be mostly junk food at the picnic), enjoying a leisurely few minutes sitting on a park bench by the Erie Canal. Arrived just as the festivities were getting underway. Had a great time, saw many of the friends I got reacquainted with last year, plus quite a few more that I hadn’t seen since high school, mostly from other classes, which is why I thought this was such a great idea, a cross-class reunion. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, and Hubby was very patient and understanding as he sat to one side with the dogs most of the day. Eventually things wrapped up, and those of us that were left headed downtown to the Pittsford Pub for a nightcap. A great time was had by all!

Friday, August 3, 2012 - Short Ride and Visit with Friends at Cayuga Lake Cottage

After breakfast, Hubby and I saddled up the horses for a quick ride around Beth’s property. They have about five acres of scrub trees, shrubs and bushes that they’ve very cleverly bush-hogged a bunch of trails through, to provide a meandering feel of a much larger space. It was a bit hot in the sun, but it was a good shake-down ride in any event, enough to get the horses stretched out. We trotted and even cantered in a few places, and just as we were heading back to the barn, I discovered I had lost my phone! After a brief look around, we realized that we’d never find it in the long grass without hearing it ring, so we went back to the RV, put the horses away, then got on Skype on the computer so we could ring the phone. I took the walkie talkie and the dogs and started walking around the field. After several trials and errors, and at one point taking the dogs back to the RV because they were panting so hard in the heat I couldn’t hear anyting (though Billy slipped out and found me again anyway), I finally managed to locate the phone, right where I had been looking but would never had seen it, it was so deep in the grass. Shucks, I was kind of hoping I’d be able to persuade Verizon into letting me upgrade three weeks early, darn it! Anyway, job done, we showered and got dressed and headed down to Cayuga Lake to visit a friend and her husband at their cottage. Had a lovely afternoon with them, before heading back in the evening.

Thursday, August 2, 2012 - Dinner with PMHS Friends

Slept late, spent most of the day getting caught up on lots of work that had been let go because of all the activity lately. Arranged to have dinner at Flaherty’s in Macedon, quite a nice Irish pub and restaurant, with a bunch of friends I had gotten reacquainted with at last year’s reunion. Started out in the pub at 6:00, then worked our way into the dining room around 7:00, enjoying a rare draft beer (well, black and tan actually), some very nice lobster bisque and a nice piece of steak that Hubby and I shared. Lots of fun and laughter, and even got to meet a friend’s sister, who just coincidentally happened to be having dinner at the same time! The universal spirit at work again! A fabulous evening, very enjoyable for all!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - Travel Day to Brookfield, NY

Got up at a reasonable hour, had some breakfast, then finished up packing up. Then it was time to bring the RV slides in, and the bedroom came in fine, as usual, but the living room refused to go. No motor engagement, no whirring, no nothing, dead. We tested the power sources all around, including the switch, and after an hour, came to the conclusion it had to be the motor. Fortunately, our hosts knew of a motor shop, someone that specialized in electric motors, and Sharon ran me over there in her truck with the motor in hand. After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the shop, where a genius of a guy managed to find a loose wire inside, tightened it, said one of the brushes was a bit worn but otherwise it worked fine, and got it working again! Yeah! We were afraid we were going to have to find a replacement, and how knows how complicated that might have become! A quick ride back, Hubby reinstalled the motor, it worked like a dream, and off we went, doling out praise to our rescuers and hosts before heading down the road to our next stop, another farm in Brookfield, NY called Thistledale, and run by Beth Harrison. Though we were running late, Beth was running later, so we arrived around 3:30, she arrived around 4:00. It didn’t take us long to get settled in, way back by her barn with a paddock right next door for the horses, electric provided and water run from a source clear on the other side of the barn, but a hose already in place, thank goodness. A quick setup, a quick shower, a quick change of clothes, a quick feeding of all the animals, and off we went to meet my old childhood friend Mary and her husband Garry at an Italian restaurant at Eastview Mall, about 30 minutes away. Great to see them again, had a lovely dinner, a lovely evening, wish we could have spent more time with them, but we have just too much stuff to do, things are so hectic!! We said our good-byes just as the sun was setting and a gorgeous full moon was rising, truly a spectacular sight! A short drive "home," and we were settled down for the night.