Friday, April 30, 2010 - Travel Day to Devil’s Den State Park, AR

Set the alarm for 7:00, packed up, cleaned up and dumped by just after 9:00. Headed out looking for someplace for breakfast, and ended up not finding one until it was past breakfast time. Had to go to a McDonalds (our least favorite fast food), where we ended up having burgers at just after 11:00. It seems Subway has a lock on all the gas stations chains throughout this section of I-40, and I REFUSE to eat what they call breakfast at Subway! Stopped once at Camping World to try to pick up a new electrical cord (our old one has a weak spot in the middle), but they didn’t have it (what else is new, they never seem to have what we need at CW). Found a Wal-mart with gas, so we killed two birds with one stone, got our shopping done, and headed toward ever-darkening skies. We had put the tarp on last night, but it was flapping away, and the net we had put on top of that gave up the ghost and flew off irretrievably far back on the freeway. We did our best to secure it, but we ended up deciding to just take it off and hope for the best. We did run into some rain, but these bales are packed pretty tightly, and it was supposed to be sunny the next day, so we figured it would be safer without the tarp. SO glad I confirmed with the park which way to enter. The first exit was obviously closer, but was SO full of switchbacks, sharp turns and a dramatic drop off on the edge of a crumbling road, we never would have made it with our rig. And actually, the horse camp is on the north side of the park anyway, so it was a bit closer taking the second exit. It was still a steep hill down, but the road wasn't anywhere near as narrow or curvy. I did smell my brakes burning by the time I got to the bottom, though! The horse camp is down a gravel road just a short ways, there's a single loop with sites inside and out, all with water and electric, mostly level. We decided later, though, we prefer being on top of a mountain rather than in a hollow below it. It was fairly muddy with the rain, but we managed to fine one spot where we could highline the horses where it wasn't too bad. Settled in later than we had hoped, by around 6 pm.

Thursday, April 29, 2010 - A Lovely Ride at Village Creek State Park

What a lovely ride we had today! The footing on the trails was a soft soil they call "loess" in the brochure, though it was gravely on the connector trail from the campground to the trailhead, but there was enough of a shoulder on the road to avoid most of it. The trails were well marked other than at the very first intersection, and it was pretty obvious which way to go from the trail map. Every other intersection was well marked, with a You Are Here plaque and a number on the post. We took a loop that came out to be about about 7 moderate miles in all. Some of it was on trails so ancient the tree roots were above our head! (see pic-this is from horseback!) The horses were excellent, happy to go for a ride, but not at all overly exuberant, just right. There were a few places where we trotted, and one long stretch where we had a lovely cantor/gallop. At the end of that, however, just before we were to make our turn to come home, Hubby noticed my saddlebag was unzipped, and an inspection revealed I had lost a plastic bag of tissues. I felt guilty for littering, but we didn’t really think is was necessary to go back. Once I realized we were ahead of schedule, I changed my mind and decided to go back, as it couldn’t be very far back. A few minutes later, Hubby realized that he, too, had lost something, his water bottle that hangs from his horn, so we were both glad we had that decision. We found my plastic bag almost at once, then had to go a bit further to find the bottle. Once we did, we headed home. There was only one obstacle that we problematic, a creek crossing that was badly bogged, so much so that my horse, while he went over it the first three times, refused on the fourth, and I had to get down and persuade him across. I don’t blame him, he sank way up his fetlocks, and he was fine after that. When we got back, we gave the horses a bath at the wash rack next to the stables, and sprayed them with fly spray, as it was the first time they had been bothered by flies on the trail. Settled down for the evening, well-satisfied at our day’s adventure!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - Easy Travel Day to Village Creek State Park

Got up when the alarm went off at 7:00, got everything packed up and ready to go, and even finished dumping by just after 9:00. Had a nice chat with the campground host Dave and his wife, then pulled out in plenty of time. Stopped at the Flying J in W. Memphis, even took the time to have a sit-down lunch there. Arrived at Village Creek around 2:00, and once registered, found our way back to the horse camp. This is a truly nice park, with lots of facilities like tennis courts and ball fields, and it’s right on a lake with plenty of access to the water. The horse camp is well-manicured, with lovely stables in the middle of the loop, and all of the campsites around the outside of the loop. Got the horses settled in, then the RV, did a few chores on the computer, then relaxed to a movie. About the only downside was that the campsite we were in was in the wrong place for a satellite signal, though most of the other campsites would have worked. There’s a big bluegrass festival here this weekend, so we were lucky they had any space for us all, if only for two nights. They were completely booked for the weekend, so we couldn’t stay longer even if we wanted. Looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - Ride and Work Day

Slept well, except for the traffic noise in the distance. The good thing about Natchez Trace is the same as the bad thing about Natchez Trace. It’s very convenient to the freeway. Just 2.2 miles off I-40, it’s very close when you’re passing through, but there is that constant thrum of traffic all night and day. In any event, I spent some time in the morning solving more potential problems, then finished off well enough to get a ride in. Left about 11:45, on a trail that was just across came from where we camped, and were grateful the trails were fairly well marked. We only came close to getting lost twice. :-) The trails were well worn, many were washed out with bypasses around them, but for the most part the footing was very good, mostly sand and clay. Only had one road that had some gravel on it, but nothing significant. We took our boots along in the saddlebags, but never felt it was necessary to bring them out. Rode about 7 miles, was back in camp before 2:15, which was just right. We just wanted a ride long enough to work out their energy, not enough to wear them out, and that’s exactly what happened. The horses had more energy than we expected after their long trip on Sunday, but they are getting so fit now that they really need to be ridden every few days. But then again, it was cool and there was intermittent rain, so that may have affected them as well. Spent some time finding more horse camps on our route, then had a relaxing evening, getting ready for another travel day tomorrow.

Monday, April 26, 2010 - Vet Stop and Travel Day

Though we had alarm set for 7:00 we got up at 6:00, because we both woke up worried about all the problems we had to solve today. Was loaded up and ready to go by the time Lena arrived at a bit before 8, then we headed out as soon as we could. The horses were a bit reluctant to get in the trailer, understandable after they spent so many hours in the trailer yesterday. Once in, we headed straight to the Kinslow Animal Clinic just up the road, where I had arranged to get Coggins Tests done on the horses, as their 6 month passports are due to expire in May. That was done relatively quickly, then we moved on to the tire store that I had found, that actually did have the tires we needed in stock. We bought two, one to replace the blowout, and one to replace our sturdy spare, because it was still a D load eight ply tire. We had the oldest and only remaining tire that we bought just a year ago put under the RV as a spare, so now we have all new tires, albeit not all the same brand. We then went to Wal-mart to shop, and the liquor store, then the gas station, so all we had left to do was to get to Natchez Trace State Park in Wilderness, TN, about 30 miles east of Jackson. We planned a short trip, because we knew we would be delayed with all the running around we had to do. We left Lebanon feeling much more confident that we had done all that could be done to prepare for our cross country trip. We arrived at Natchez good and early, by three-ish, and walked around to find a good spot, finding a place where we could get a satellite signal and have enough length to fit in both vehicles. Got the horses on a nice long high line, then settled in for the evening.

Sunday, April 25, 2010 - Murphy’s Law Travel Day

Once again, thinking we had a short trip, we let ourselves sleep until 8:00, as we estimated the trip to be just 5 ½ hours or so. Our first stop was just 40 minutes from our departure at 10:00, at the Flying J in Wytheville, VA, in order to dump the tanks and get fuel. As I maneuvered into the dump aisle, Hubby pulled in behind me and turned the pickup off. We then noticed that the dump on that aisle had a very high curb, making it impossible for us to use it (gravity works, water won’t flow uphill), so I moved over to the pumps for gas. Hubby then tried to start the pickup, and it wouldn’t turn over, it just clicked. He popped the hood and started playing with wires, then decided the starter motor must have frozen, so he got a wrench, and later a hammer, to try to knock it loose. He also noticed that there was another RV dump on another aisle that had a low curb, so I after I gassed up, I moved over there and started on that job. Meanwhile, I went back and forth to help him try to get the pickup started. Hammering wasn’t getting the job done, but I noticed that after I would try to turn over the motor, the interior lights would cut out, then after a few seconds, would click back on again. I told Hubby I thought it was behaving more like a near dead battery than a starter, even though the lights were coming on with no problem. Well, after another ten minutes of banging and cooling down the starter motor, he decided to check the battery cables more thoroughly and discovered they were, in fact, badly corroded inside. So he cleaned those up and lo and behold, it started right up. This little episode wasted almost an hour, putting us under a little more pressure, as we had to be at Cedars of Lebanon just east of Nashville by 6:00 to check into the stables. So we hit the road again, going a bit faster than usual to try to make up some time. Just before we came to the I-40/I-81 fork...BOOM! Another flat tire! We pulled off to the side and did our thing, changing the tire in ten minutes, but now we had a problem. Do we try to find a replacement tire on a Sunday, or do we risk trying to make the remaining 150 miles without a spare? I started calling every tire place Gracie (my Verizon GPS), but couldn’t find any open, at least not before Knoxville. The ones I did find didn’t carry the tires we need. It wasn’t until we stopped at the Flying J on the far side of Knoxville when I spoke to a guy at Pep Boys who said they had the tires. I grilled him three times about the size and load range (E-ten plies), but he assured me they had 5 in stock, so we turned around and went back ten miles to their store. After ten minutes of searching, it was discovered that the tires they had were only 8-ply D Range tires. We were PISSED! We lost nearly another 45 minutes coming and going, and didn’t even get what we needed. That’s the last time we’ll be patronizing Pep Boys, now that we know that they use the "bait and switch" method of sales. Well, we had no choice now, we had to make it straight through, and risk running without a spare. We hit the road again, keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping that lightning would strike twice. I mean, how many times can you have two flats in one day? It’s already happened once on this trip, is it possible it could happen twice? Astronomical odds. Well, we managed to arrive right at 6:00 (after having gained an hour moving from Eastern to Central time), and were welcomed by Lena at the stables. We filled the water tank, got the horses settled in stalls, had a drink, took a show, and soon hit the sack, as we have a busy day tomorrow!

Saturday, April 24, 2010 - Little Horse Gap Loop DONE AT LAST!

After a hearty breakfast, we headed out, determined to FINALLY discover exactly where this mysterious trail was. We started out in the usual direction up Hoof and Hill trail out of the campground, then stayed with it all the way to Pearis Thompson trail, one we hadn’t done before but was just a slightly larger loop that ended back at Berry Road, which would take us to Little Horse Gap Loop. We almost made a wrong turn there (these maps really are terrible!), because the map showed that the trail ended in a T and to turn right. In reality, it was not a T at all, there were two rights at a three-way intersection, one that went up and one that went down. Since we already knew we had to go up, we took that branch. Fortunately, we were right, and it brought us back to Berry Road, which led us up to the Little Horse Gap Trail. I must admit, my horse didn’t seem too enthusiastic, he obviously thought we were going on another endless journey, but he brightened up a bit when we turned the corner we had missed on Thursday. Almost missed another little sign that pointed uphill, rather than the obvious road right in front of us, which would have undoubtedly taken us off the reservation again. After the halfway point, we ran into a bunch of crews that were doing forestry maintenance, though they were breaking for lunch when we passed. They were all very accommodating, moving off the trail to give us room, with all the pleasantries afforded. After we passed them all, we stopped for lunch beside a creek, where the horses were delighted to get a feedbag of grain. After the break, we finished up the trip, recognizing the last intersection from our previous adventure, so now we know how to take the trail backwards in the future. There was no sign or blaze at all on that corner, so it’s not surprising it is easily missed. One note I should make is that boots or shoes are a real necessity for these trails. There a few spots with dirt and sand, but most are rocky and many roads are gravel or gravel and grass. Anyway, it was a wonderful day that we thoroughly enjoyed, expeciallyt without the added stress of being lost! Got back in good time, and started to get ready for tomorrow’s departure.

Friday, April 23, 2010 - Work Day

Spent the day resting the horses and doing some work on the computer in preparation for our new agenda, heading out to Colorado. Arranged to spend Sunday night at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park stables (privately owned) just east of Nashville, and confirmed that our next stop, Natchez Trace State Park near Jackson, TN, doesn’t take reservations, they’re first come, first serve. So we’re all set for the next leg of our new adventure!

Thursday, April 22, 2010 - Ride Day at Last!

Finally we had a nice warm day, only a very slight cool breeze which we only noticed right at the top of the mountain. Last time we were here at White Cedar, last fall, we got lost. Though the map shows a number of easy loops, we missed a turn on Little Horse Trail going counterclockwise (the trails are very poorly marked once you get in the back country), and took a trail that went WAY off the reservation. We finally had to turn around, just to get back before dark. This time, we decided to take the same loop in the opposite direction, to see where it came out. Lo and behold, we got lost AGAIN! We rode for three and a half hours, never finding the other end of the loop. Instead, we finally reached a dead end at private property, which was just as well, because we were just about at the point of no return. So once again, we backtracked, making some judgments of where we must have gone wrong. One was a turn that looked more like a stream bed climbing up a ravine rather than a trail, but that had to be the turn we missed. Not realizing that was a turn, we thought the next turn to the right must be it, but that if we kept going we’d be taking the outer loop which curved back into the same trail. Whatever, we made it home around six, after having left at 11:30. About a mile before we got back to the campground, we saw a lost EZ boot on the trail, which we left because we figured someone might be coming back to look for it. When we got back to the campground, we discovered another trailer had come in while we were gone, so I rode over to see if they had lost an EZ boot, and yes, they had. I showed them on the map where it was. Oddly enough they had also found a tupperware container that I had been unable to find at lunch time, and thought I had forgotten to pack, but apparently it had slipped out of my saddle bags at some point. So lost and found was in full swing this evening! Despite the hour of anxiety about being lost, it was a very enjoyable ride. Something must’ve told me something would happen, because for the first time ever, I packed up some grain to give the horses if they got too hungry, and they sure did! They had a great time until about the last mile or two, when fatigue started to set in. Nevertheless, they did great, lots of trotting and cantering, not overly excitable despite the two week layoff, but just the right amount of controllable energy. They’ll have tomorrow to rest. Weather allowing, we’ll go out again on Saturday. We’re determined to find the entire Little Horse Loop! It was a beautiful ride, though, lots of hardwoods, babbling brooks and even a long stetch of magnolia tree tunnels! Kind of spooky, but not enough to upset OUR horses. They’ve seen it all by this point!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 - New Plans

Well, naturally, no sooner did we load up on hay than we got a request from a client for help. This entails hop-scotching to Colorado over the next two weeks. Had we found out two days ago, I would have just headed home, filled up with our own hay, and headed out next week. But then again, every time we go home we find jobs to do, so it’s probably just as well! Spent the bulk of the day online trying to figure out what horse camps we can stop at every 300 miles or so between here and there. I had all this information at one time, but lost it all when my computer crashed last October, and again last month (I thought my Carbonite backup would keep it, but apparently Google Earth can’t make heads or tails out of the My Places information...sigh), so I’m back to square one. Good thing I have a pretty good memory, by the end of the day we had pretty much figured out a route that will serve the purpose, and give us time to drive a day, then rest or ride a day. Not quite the hell-bent speed we had to go last time, so it should be more pleasant on this trip. Once we get out there, we can stay for several weeks, which will give us a good chance to get caught up on everything again, from rest to mail. Once again, we didn’t ride today, although that cold north wind just keeps persisting!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - Hay Day

Spent the entire day (not intended, but that’s how it turned out) running around. Loaded up on hay, having found some very nice orchard grass with some timothy mixed in for $3.25/bale. A lovely little farm with a barn that had that wonderful fresh hay smell when you walk in, even though it’s from last year's second cut. We also found a feed store on the corner that had crimped oats and Purina. We decided to try their regular horse pellets, rather than the Omolene, which was sticky and gave the horses too much sugar rush. From there we went to Wal-mart in Pearisburg to do our shopping, having decided we were going to stay here until we were needed, and finally stopped in Wendy’s for Hubby’s favorite, fish sandwich, before heading back to camp.

Monday, April 19, 2010 - Work/News Day

Well, we didn’t get around to having a ride today. The good news was I discovered that if I leaned my cell phone on my window ledge just so... I could actually get a signal just barely good enough to get a broadband internet link for my computer. It runs incredibly slow, but at least I can check my email and get on the internet over time, though anything with heavy graphics takes FOREVER! Got caught up on a lot of work, and there was a really cold breeze from the north that would have made riding rather uncomfortable, so it was just as well. Because we were starting to get low on hay, I got on craigslist and found some for sale in Newport, so I’ve made arrangements to pick some up tomorrow. Horses are now well rested, and I do believe they’re wondering when they get to go for a ride! We ran out of propane in one of the tanks, so Hubby took a ride to the bottom of the hill, where the grocery story/gas station/campground sold it. Other than that, just a "work in the office" kind of a day.

Sunday, April 18, 2010 - Rinse, lather, repeat

Another day with mostly rest, though today we both feel as though the batteries are coming back. I trimmed my gelding’s back hoooves, and spent a little time filing all the various trail maps I’ve been collecting over the last year. I also packed up all of my tax stuff in a box and had Hubby store it in the van, so I don’t have to look at it for another year. Reading, TV and getting caught up on the blog were the only other efforts for the day. By tomorrow, I should be ready to get back to a regular work/ride schedule (we hope!).

Saturday, April 17, 2010 - Crash Day II

Same again, except today I got enough energy mustered to work on my gelding’s feet. It’s been a while since I’ve given them a trim, and his feet grow amazingly fast, so I worked on this two front feet before my energy gave up the ghost. The rest of the day was a repeat of yesterday. I feel like up recharged up to about 60 %, with a long way to go!

Friday, April 16, 2010 - Crash Day

Right on schedule our systems let down. We slept late, read for hours, watched TV, munched, and did precisely what we set out to do. A glorious day, though we still felt dog-tired at the end of the day. We intended to repeat until we’re rejuvenated!

Thursday, April 15, 2010 - Travel Day to White Cedar

A thankfully uneventful trip, with stops only to get gas and a nearby Wal-mart which was right at the exit we needed to get off anyway. Got enough groceries to stocke up for at least a week. Arrived around 5:00, got the horses settled, the dogs fed, and cocktails poured before dinner. Starting to feel the crash already. The only drawback (?) of this place is that the cell phone signal is too weak for an internet connection, a problem I have no intention of trying to solve until Monday. Hubby was even miraculously able to get a satellite signal! All we want to do now is sleep, read, eat, watch TV and sleep some more!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - Prepare for Departure

Much as we’d like to spend the day recovering from our exertions, we have to get ready to leave tomorrow, which entails more laundry, cleanup and packing. Hubby had to run some errands, including dropping off our taxes at the post office, while I tried to get all the business stuff out of the way so we could take the weekend off. We’re so exhausted, we feel like we need a week off! So far, the extent of using our brainpower has been to decide where we wanted to go, and that is to White Cedar Horse Camp near Bland, VA. We went there last fall for a few days and really enjoyed it. It has corrals so the horses will have some room to move around instead of being on a highline, and there were numerous trails we didn’t get around to trying out last time. There were several water spigots throught the campground, and now that we upgraded our hose system so that we carry one of those 150 hose reel boxes on the back of the RV, we can easily reach one. Glad that decision is made, now we can let down!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - Day Two and Dinner with a friend

Left early again today, ran into a lot less traffic, but still got bogged down a bit near the freeway. Day two went find, then we ran home to feed the animals. We had made arrangements to meet a friend down in Woodbridge for dinner, someone we hadn’t seen in years, and who now lived in Washington state. He was here visiting family and friends, and we managed to work it out to have a very pleasant dinner together. Of course, we were having such fun, the evening went longer than our energy could maintain, and we were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home, but were too wired to go to bed right away, and it was after midnight by the time we finally crashed.

Monday, April 12, 2010 - Day One of the Training Camp

Though we got up early, we still got out about 10 minutes later than I wanted, and then ran into horrific traffic that slowed us down even more. We did manage to arrive just after 8:00, but would like to have gotten there earlier. Didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, however, and the first day of the camp went well, which is all that matters!

Sunday, April 11, 2010 - Not the Rest We Needed

Had planned to try to get some rest today, but laundry needed doing, housekeeping was calling, I felt it necessary to do some preparation for the workshop tomorrow, since it’s been a long time since I had done one, so we didn’t really get the kind of rest day we were looking forward to. After all the running around yesterday, we could have used one. Normally we’ll drive to the venue and check it out the night before, but we were just too tired, so we pledged to get up early so we could arrive early. In bed by about 8:30!

Saturday, April 10, 2010 - Travel Day to Pohick Bay Park

Out of the campground by 8:45, but then spent a good 20 minutes trying to pay at the ranger station. Whatever happened to just getting a price and paying for it? Now everyone wants your name, phone, address and every other piece of information just to pull a price out of the computer! It’s ridiculous, a huge waste of time. Anyway, we got on the road, and as we went, I found a battery place in Richmond, because we needed to replace the two golf cart batteries we use for auxiliary power. When we first bought the RV, we installed two excellent Trojan batteries, which lasted about 6 years. Then last April, we replaced them in Maryland with a brand the Battery Plus store swore would be just as good. A year later (actually, less than that, as they haven’t been holding a decent charge for months now - we’ve had to run the generator every day we haven’t been on electric this entire trip and before), they needed replacing. The good news (?) was that the place I called was another store of the same franchise, and they honored the warranty, so it didn’t cost us a dime. Just to thank them, of sorts, I noticed they replaced watch batteries, and as Hubby needed his replaced, I asked them to change it out. After a bit, they came back with the watch with the back still off. Apparently, they had the batteries for it, but not the equipment to put the back of the watch back in place (it’s a rather large watch). So they referred us to a place in a mall ten miles away, so we had to divert there to get it fixed. It was going to take them 20 minutes, so we discovered a creamery and treated ourselves to a nice little cup of delicious ice cream. Afterward, we hit the road and finally made it to Pohick Bay about 5:00, after some traffic delays. What was supposed to be a short driving day has turned out to be a long slog! Got set up, the horses on their highline, and ready to relax for the evening!

Friday, April 9, 2010 - Travel Day to Occoneechee State Park

Packed up and got ready to go. Before we left, we had to change out the tire that Hubby had picked up earlier this week. Had a few problems with the levelers sinking into the ground, so we had to move down to the gravel to get it right, but it didn’t take long and we were soon on our way. A few brief stops on the way, then we arrived at Occoneechee just before 5:00. We’ve been here once before, but we’re not particularly fond of it. It’s nothing more than a large, unlevel gravel parking lot with electricity on each aisle (yes, they’re aisles like at Wal-Mart), but they have very nice stalls. No one else was there when we arrived, but another rig showed up a while later, though we never had a chance to speak to them, like two ships passing in the proverbial night. Uneventful, just tried to relax in the evening.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 - Final Ride at Woods Ferry

The weather was a bit cooler and cloudy this morning, with the forecast saying that rain would arrive around 2:00. We were out by 10:00, with plans to finish off the rest of the trails that we hadn’t been on yet, and to hopefully find a towel that Hubby had lost on the first ride. Started out on the blue trail again, and sure enough, we found the wayward towel. We took the yellow trail, then came back on the green connector, which had some very pretty sections. Actually, every trail had it’s own character, and ranged from sections that were quite narrow, to wide dirt roads.
Very little gravel, so we weren’t quite sure why there was a notice on the kiosk saying horses should be shod, because there really was very little to be concerned with. Also, I should note that it’s practically impossible to get lost here, as there is a placard at every intersection with a mall-like "You Are Here" map, probably one of the best marked trails ever. Also, there was a stockpile of maps at the entrance to the campground, which is more rare than you might expect.
At about noon, it began to rain (another excellent weather forecast :-). We pulled out the ponchos and carried on. The horses were particularly slow and ploddy today, even with the slightly cooler temps, but after the rain, they seemed to be a bit recovered. In fact, toward the end of the trip, there was a long fairly gentle climb up a dirt road. I decided to trot up, and set out at a moderate pace. Hubby’s mare decided she wanted to race, and cantered, then galloped by. Of course, my gelding (her son) wasn’t about to be left behind, so he chased after her. Both started to gallop faster and faster, until we were at breakneck speeds. There were berms every 10 yards or so, and every time we reached one I thought they would slow down, but instead they seemed to use it as a launching pad, getting ever faster all the way. It was incredibly exhilarating, but also a bit hair-raising, as these were speeds we’d never experienced like this before! We never expected that so late in the ride! Just goes to show what good shape the horses are in now! When they finally slowed down, I was just thrilled there were no crashes, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Whew!
Got back all in one piece, then started getting ready to leave tomorrow. We were hoping it would rain again, and a bit harder, to get rid of the thick layer of pollen that had collected over the week. It did a bit more later and overnight, which helped, but at some point, everything needs a bath!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - Birth of a Nation

After breakfast this morning, we decided to do what we could about straightening out the horse trailer, at least enough to get the tack door open and closed more easily. Hubby had a great idea to use a homemade hoof stand we had, on it’s side, with a car jack, to push out the dent from the inside of the tack box. As I stepped outside the RV, I noticed everything had a fine coating of green pollen on it. Then when I looked into the woods, I saw what looked like a fine mist of green. It was pollen coming down so heavy it was turning the air green! Good thing neither of us have allergies, or we’d be miserable! Anyway, we tried to make Hubby’s idea worked before we made a discovery; hydraulic jacks don’t work on their side. Who’d’ve thunk? Anyway, we resorted to using a 3 pound hammer Hubby had picked up at the hardware store. Just before I crawled into the tack box to start pounding, I noticed a swarm of insects on a tree stump. They were emerging from between the bark and the stump, gathering at the top, then lifting off into the wind in a steady stream. They looked like regular brown ants with wings, but they might have been young termites, maybe they turn white later on. Anyway, the wave continued for about 10 minutes, then they were gone, like it never happened. A truly amazing birth of an insect nation! After the parade, I got into the trailer and start banging away, and after about half an hour, we managed to get the door to swing freely and the dent slightly less pronounced, albeit it now it looked like it had been hit with a mini hailstorm...
Afterward, I got back to work, closing in on finishing our taxes, while Hubby spent the afternoon reading.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - Another Ride Day

Decided to get up early, before it got too hot, to ride. Up at 7:00, out by 9:15. Headed out the purple connector trail, then went counterclockwise around the yellow loop. Very nice trails here, mostly easy to moderate, with just an occasional climb, lots of varying scenery, from pine and mixed deciduous to the occasional field of grass. The horses were much better behaved today, no silliness, but plenty of controlled energy. I think they really enjoyed themselves as much as we did, it was truly a lovely ride. Got home about 12:15, just as it was starting to get opppressively hot. Spent the afternoon on...TAXES...while Hubby did a little housekeeping and some chores.

Monday, April 5, 2010 - Problem-Solving Day

Called the tire shop in Chester to make sure our tire had come in, then Hubby headed out with the pickup and horse trailer. As he backed out of the campsite, he jacknifed the trailer and made a rather large dent in the front end of the trailer, and made it so the tack door wouldn’t open or close properly (usually I do all of the backing up of trailers, but he said he could manage...;-). Anyway, he managed to slam the door shut eventually, then headed out to take care of business, which now had expanded into trying to see how to fix the trailer. I spent the day on taxes again, while he ran around town, picking up the tire, some oats, some groceries, and some tools to try to bend the trailer back into place. Meanwhile, I spent the day on....TAXES!

Sunday, April 4, 2010 – Easter Sunday

We decided that today we would go for a ride. Everyone (except me) has had time to relax, and we really didn’t want to let the horses go any longer without getting under saddle. It’s been almost a month, after all. Well, they have obviously been feeling their oats, so I put a lead on them, found a clear spot at a nearby campsite, and ran them around in circles for about 20 minutes each, getting some of their excess energy out of the way. It was a good job I did that, because they were both really frisky once we got under way. We managed to keep them in a controlled walk for the first mile or so, then came up on a hill that they just insisted on running up, so we let them, knowing that would help release some of their pent up adrenaline. After doing that a few times, they settled down to their old selves again. Passed two other groups of riders on the trail, and they behaved themselves well enough, even though one group had rather curious dogs. After awhile, fortunately, everything seemed to be back to normal, though Hubby’s mare seemed friskier than she’d ever been, which he rather likes anyway. A lovely day, though not exactly the "day off" I had anticipated, and I guess I got enough relaxation to feel better afterwards. At least I wasn’t hovering over a hot computer all day!

Saturday, April 3, 2010 – More Taxes, More Rest

I am so sick of trying to make heads or tails out of our tax code! Even with Turbo Tax, it seems incomprehensible! Made worse because I didn’t have an e-file backup of last year’s return to import, so I’m having to start from scratch on all my assets and depreciations! Arrrrgh! We need to chuck the whole thing and go for a flat tax, the same rate for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE!! If a welfare recipient can live on $20,000, he/she can live on $18K, and send 10% to the government. By the same token, the government should learn to live on that 10%! If our government wants to quintuple the productivity of small business, all they have to do is get rid of the tax code as it is, and have a flat income tax instead. Not the FAIR tax, which has too many ways to get around (you want to see the start of the biggest peacetime black market on the planet?), but a flat income tax for EVERYONE. A post card for your return, no deductions to track, no hours of bookkeeping to do, only to find out you STILL haven’t broken it down enough to make Uncle Sam happy! I mean, come on! Isn’t vehicle maintenance expense enough? I have to separate out Oil, and Tires, and whatever else they decide they want to know? It’s ridiculous. Well, enough of my rant, tomorrow, I’m taking the day OFF!!!

Friday, April 2, 2010 - Exhaustion Hits

I spent the morning Friday calling every tire place in a 30 mile radius, but no one had any in stock, so I ended up ordering one for Monday delivery. Then I spent the day working on taxes, while Hubby more or less crashed because of all the exertion he’d been putting in (he is 76, after all)! We did manage to get the satellite dish up and running, so he could watch some news and tape a few movies for later. Worked until dinner, then spent a quiet evening recuperating.

Thursday, April 1, 2010 – April Fool’s Day (a/k/a the Day of Hell)

We decided on trying out a new horse camp rather than one we’d been to before, so we headed south to Woods Ferry National Recreation Area, part of the Sumter National Forest just outside of Leeds, SC. It was mostly freeway, and looked pretty straightforward, and Gracie (my phone GPS) estimated it to be just over 3 and a half hours. Since it had been such a long day, we decided to forgo our usual 7:00 wakeup call, and slept till about 9:00. We packed up, headed out to the stables, picked put the horses and were on our way before noon, in plenty of time (we foolishly thought). This was the warmest day we had experienced, with temps well into the 80’s, and some of the roads were very rough. At once point I had to pull off once to cool down the van after a long climb. About two hours or so into the trip, BOOM! A tire blew out on the RV, the one I had repaired at Pohick Bay. We pulled over and went to work. We’ve had so much experience changing tires, we’ve got it down pat, plus this time we tried something new. We used some leveler pads we started using at crooked campsites, and rolled right up onto is, leaving the flat tire just high enough off the ground to only have to use the jack as a backup. It worked beautifully, and no pumping! I pulled out the generator, Hubby got out the electric lug wrench, I started the generator and began to remove the lug nuts, while he got out the spare tire out from the undercarriage. In less than 15 minutes, we were done. Gracie helped me find a nearby tire store in Spartanburg just a few miles away. We drove there, and discovered that it was more than just a blown plug, it was a broken bead around the edge, so we’d have to replace it. Unfortunately that particular store didn’t have what we needed, so I got on the phone and called around, finally finding a place less than 10 miles away, but killed a half hour doing it. So we hurried off, trying not to lose too much time. The guys at Master Tire were great! We would have had to wait for them to change the tire out, so we just had them mount it, then we drove off to a nearby Cracker Barrel parking lot, did our little tire routine again, and were ready to go in about another 15 minutes. Hit some more rough patches (Interstate 26 is a real MESS in that part of the western Carolinas!), then about a half hour later, BOOM! Another tire blows out on the RV, on the other side! I pulled off at once, fortunately it was right before an exit, so I pulled forward enough to get us on the shoulder on the exit rather than the highway, and went at it again. Fifteen minutes later, we were on the road and I was on the phone trying to find another tire. Of course, now it was getting late, and no one had one in stock, they’d all have to order one, and we’d already passed the largest towns where they might possibly have one, so we decided we could make it to the campground and sort it out once we got there. I didn’t have exact directions, for some reason the National Forest website, which is usually pretty good about such things, had no directions on it, so we were hoping for signage. Not much was to be seen, but I kept following my Google Earth map of where I THOUGHT it was, and kept going. We finally turned off on a road that looked like it was the place, but I didn’t want to take any chances on getting to a dead end with no turnaround, so I send Hubby ahead of me to check it out. His walkie-talkie was just about out of range when he told me to follow the road. He wasn’t at the campground yet, but he seemed to think we were going in the right direction. I followed him, losing touch on several occasions, the sun was just about down and things were looking bleak. At last he called back to say he was at the campground entrance, so I raced along as best I could to catch up to him. We met up at the entrance to loop A, and we walked around trying to select a good spot, then drove around loop B just to make sure. Loop B had several campsites that looked, once again, like they were being occupied by the homeless (at least they had a car and tents to sleep in), but no horse corrals. So back at loop A, we picked a spot that was very long, not terribly level, and closer to the road than I like, but I was in no mood to quibble. By the time I was backing up into it, I couldn’t see a thing, and had to maneuver between two stumps with only Hubby giving me guidance. At last, we were in! Got the horses settled, the animals fed, and poured a nice strong cocktail for us as we celebrated the end of an incredibly hellish day! Somehow, it was grossly appropriate that it was April Fools, but this was no fooling!