Monday, October 31, 2011 - Happy Halloween! Travel Day to Redden State Forest

Skies were clear and cold, hard to get started, but we forced ourselves to get going pretty early anyway. Nevertheless, it was almost ten by the time we were departing the RV dump. The drive was a pretty easy one, with no problems getting lost. Fortunately Gracie (my GPS) got us here without any incidents, though a little later than we had hoped, around 3:30 or so. I felt terrible the whole drive, really under the weather, with the same symptons I’ve had all weekend. I let Hubby do all the running around to decide whether we were going to start in the campground or out by the lodge, which was more convenient to water. He ended up decided to the lodge, because of the water and because it had an easier shot for the satellite dish, so we filled up with water and headed up there. The ranger said we could stay there until Friday, but that since the lodge was rented for the weekend we would have to move then, which is fine with us. Our plans are in flux at the moment. So we parked behind the lodge, found two nice trees to highline the horses, and got settled in. I was in slow motion, though, I wasn’t as much help as usual because of how awful I felt. Finally got everything set up and settled in, hoping my health improves so we can enjoy our time off!

Sunday, October 30, 2011 - Sick Day Again

Snowy back yard at Byrne

Felt no better this morning, spent even more time in bed today, though when I did get up, I helped Hubby with some preparations for our departure tomorrow. Very cold, lots of snow to the north of us, record levels in NYC and New England, millions of people without electricity. Another nice thing about having our own generators! Not looking forward to leaving, but we’ve already outstayed our maximum time here, and we need to start moving southward, albeit just to Delaware. We had made several plans over the last week, most of which got blown up for one reason or another, so the final plan is to head to Redden State Forest in southern Delaware. They don’t have a "horse" camp, but they do have 5 or 6 campsites and a lodge with a water spigot, and some horse trails and roads. The best part is that it’s free, and after having had to spend so much time in stables and full price campgrounds, we need to conserve for a while. Fortunately it’s only about three hours’ drive, with luck. Spent most of the day in bed, but it doesn’t seem to be helping, I still feel pretty awful.

Saturday, October 29, 2011 - Rain/Snow/Sick Awful Day

Woke up feeling under the weather today, and the weather was pretty awful to be under. It rained and snowed off and on most of the day, cold and damp all around. My head felt like it does after a long fever has broken, that kind of achy, shrinking feeling, except I haven’t had a fever. I have a dry cough and apparently some chest congestion, though no sore throat, no runny nose, none of the usual stuff a cold starts with, so this is weird. My eyese seemed a bit senstive to light, too, which I can’t remember ever happening before. Let myself sleep late, got up long enough for breakfast and went back to sleep for most of the afternoon. Had dinner and spent the evening watching TV, but was ready for bed. Not looking too good right now.

Friday, October 28, 2011 - Sunny and Cold

Quite chilly today, though the sun outside was brilliant and made it look warmer. Stayed inside and did some more office work, then relaxed for the rest of the day.

Thursday, October 27, 2011 - Rain/Shopping Day

Started raining early and kept it up off and on all day. We decided to take the opportunity to go do some more shopping. Lots of people out today, likely getting ready for the Halloween weekend. Nice to get back to our cozy little house on wheels, snuggling in for the evening.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - Another Ride Day before Rain

Since the weather forecast is calling for rain and colder weather tomorrow, Hubby and I decided to take another ride today. This time we managed to find our way along the whole horse trail in reverse, as we had intended yesterday, and it was lovely again. This is really a nice place for horses, and I hope the locals encourage the forest service to open up camping to horses more regularly, particularly during the off-season. It’s been really perfect weather since we’ve been here, just a bit cool on a couple of days, but mostly fine. Being the end of October, though, we can’t expect it to last much longer! Another relaxing evening, still catching up on our rest as much as possible.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - Ride Day

Took another ride today, this time trying to reverse our 8.1 horse trail from last time. Had some trouble though, lost track of a couple of turns and ended up getting lost somewhat. We eventually realized that the trail markings are only on one side of a tree rather than the standard both sides, so it was easy to get messed up. Spend more time on roads that we normally like, and the ride ended up being shorter than we had planned, but it was still an enjoyable day. Any day spent on the back of a horse is a good day!

Monday, October 24, 2011 - Catch Up Day

Spent the day catching up on paperwork, bookkeeping and phone calling. Have to pay attention to business every once in a while, seeing as we’re not exactly retired! (and probably never will be, this is too much fun!)

Sunday, October 23, 2011 - Rest Day

Relaxed today, again trying to recuperate from all our recent exertions. Made it a movie day! Vegged out in front of the TV, that was about it!

Saturday, October 22, 2011 - Hay Day

After several false starts and not too much help from craigslist this time, I managed to find a place nearby that sold nice grass hay mix for $5.50/bale. These were nice heavy bales, though, some of the heaviest we’ve seen in a while. We’re glad to be done with the last batch, that ended up getting really dusty from getting wet the first day out. New stuff is nice and green, just cut within the last few weeks, though of course, fall grass won’t be as nutritious, so we’ve been supplementing them with senior feed and oats anyway for the last month or so. Nice seller, helped us load up, we got 30 bales in the horse trailer to keep it dry until we finish up the old stuff and get ready to move on. Having such a good time at Brendan T. Byrne, we’ve decided to stay awhile.

Friday, October 21, 2011 - Fabulous Ride Day!

Made the full 8.1 mile loop today, and it was wonderful. One or two places were along gravel road stretches (not our favorite), and along tarmac road, but most of it was lovely footing through beautiful pine barrens (though I’m not sure why they call them barrens, they seem pretty full of stuff to me!) Got in some lovely trots and canters, and really enjoyed ourselves. Starting to feel like things are getting back to normal! Another quiet evening, restful after our lovely ride.

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - Shop a bit

Took a quick ride into town to do some shopping. Found a great dairy bar and diner with FABULOUS homemade frozen custard and ice cream. Tried their pumpkin flavor (‘tis the season!) and it was delicious! Taking everything at a nice slow pace while we recover from our busy September and prepare for our somewhat busy November.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - Sleep and Work

Slept late again, which is actually an agenda item (1. Make multiple deposits in our sleep bank). Also got some much needed paperwork and phone calling done. Relaxed in the evening.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 - Great Ride Day at Brendan T. Byrne State Forest

 Took our first ride today, and it was great! Got a bit turned around because we didn’t want to take the whole 8.1 mile loop (still too tired for that), but we did want to get out for a short ride since it’s been so long. Out about 90 minutes or so, some on gravel road, some on lovely sandy, piney trails. This looks like a great rest stop for a while!

Monday, October 17, 2011 - Sleep, Sleep and more Sleep

Slept late, laid around all day, first layer of exhaustion nibbled into, many more layers to come.

Sunday, October 16, 2011 - Move Over to Real Campground at Brendan T. Byrne State Forest

Called over to another nearby state forest, the Brendan T. Byrne, and although they don’t technically have a horse camp, they agreed to let us stay there, since the campground would be mostly empty by the end of the day. There was some kind of motorcycle "enduro" race for the day, so they asked us not to come over until they had left, which would be about 4:00. A very gracious welcome when we arrived. We filled up our water at the ranger station, because we were sort of let do believe that the water in the campground was a handpump, which didn’t turn out to be true, it was actually a spigot, but the kind with a handle you had to lift up. Threads and everything! That will make life easier! We found what Hubby deigned the only spot possibly capable of receiving a satellite signal, which also happened to be right across the road from a spigot, and we got set up. A nice quiet spot with an 8.1 mile horse trail and miles of dirt roads where horses are allowed, so we’re looking forward to a nice quiet stay where we can finally get a chance to recharge our human batteries! So exhausted after everything we’ve been through lately, seems like it’s been non-stop for ages!

Saturday, October 15, 2011 - Travel Day to Wharton SF-HUGE disappointment!

Weather was fine and travel was good, right up until we arrived in the vicinity of the "horse camp" in Wharton State Forest. The "road" that turned off the tarmac was more like a sandy trail, lots of low branches and deep sand that had me greatly worried about being able to get in and out. Hubby tried to scope it out with the horse trailer, and ended up getting stuck twice, so that obviously wasn’t going to work! We persuaded the ranger to let us stay in the day parking area across the street for the night, which had easy access and would have been the perfect campsite except there was no water, and they were adamant we could only stay the one night because it was an emergency. Very disappointing, we were really looking forward to this place! Not sure where we can go now. Yet another challenge!

Friday, October 14, 2011 - Rainy Day on Staten Island

Rainbow over Staten Island

The plan had been to leave today, but there was a constant drizzle of rain most of the day, so we decided to go do laundry instead, so the day wouldn’t be a total waste. Afterward we went shopping for suits locally, but no luck. Had a cup of coffee and some frozen yogurt in a little cafe that we found, where, strangely, some young people were smoking on a large water pipe, Turkish style. Not sure what that was about, haven’t seen anyone smoking inside a building in so long it seems completely incongruous, especially in NYC where it’s against the law to even smoke in a public park! Go figure. Anyway, the weather is supposed to be clear though windy tomorrow, with the rain petering out tonight.

Thursday, October 13, 2011 - Late Sleeping, Paperwork, Dinner with our Hosts Day

Slept late again, happy that someone else is looking after the horses for us (though the stalls are somewhat dark with no windows), did some computer work, then had a delightful meal at a local diner with our hosts Cherryl and Tom. Chatted away for quite a while beyond dinner, swapping stories about all kinds of things. A good time was had by all.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - FANTASTIC SHOW in NYC



Hubby on Staten Island Ferry

South end of Manhattan

Lincoln Center Sculpture

Famous NYC Library Lions

New "Twin Towers" are Lit - not the same :-(

Day Two in NYC was rainy, but we had managed to get tickets for the matinee of the show War Horse, which had won 5 Tony Awards including Best Play. We had originally planned on seeing the show later in the week, but tickets were pretty hard to come by, so we had to take what we could get. It took two hours to get to Lincoln Center, taking the Staten Island Railroad, then the ferry (which we missed by two minutes while getting a Metro card, so we had to wait a half an hour for the next ferry), then the subway up to 66th Street. We picked up our tickets with about an hour to spare, so we walked over to a rather nice Chinese restaurant where we shared a House Special fried rice, as usual. Headed back to the theatre to claim our loge seats, which were fine except the gaggle of teenage girls behind us, who quieted down for most of the show, except at the beginning of Act Two when their behavior warranted a stern warning from their chaperone (after a few caustic words from the patrons next to us). Despite that minor disruption, the show was INCREDIBLE!!! I could never have imagined a show like that being successfully staged as a play. The puppetry of the horses was fantastic. At worst, you had to be in awe of the incredible job the puppeteers were doing, at best they became invisible and all you saw was the animals themselves. Fantastic! The story was compelling, the suspense put you on the edge of your seat, the occasional humorous relief was delightfully welcome, just a great show overall. Again, worth every penny of it. Afterward, Hubby wanted to look for a new business suit, since most of his didn’t fit anymore with his weight loss, so we headed over to Fifth Avenue (grabbing a subway to avoid the rain, which had been pretty constant all day), then found a little shop on the second story that had a suit he almost instantly fell in love with. It needed some altering, so we arranged for them to make the changes, and we would get back in touch with them to have it shipped UPS once we had an address where they could send it. We stopped for coffee and ice cream in a puny little shop, then we headed down to Macys to look for suits for me, as I have the same problem. Stopped at several other place along the way, but didn’t find anything worthwhile. We finally gave up and headed back to Staten Island, getting back after 10:00. Plugged my ears and crashed once again!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - Ride Day on Staten Island

Had nice weather today, so we decided to spend it checking out the trails at the Clay Pit Pond Preserve. Turned out to be pretty disappointing. A lot of the trail ran a perimeter around the park along a road and even behind a dilapidated apartment building, with great piles of trash along the way. Some of the more promising trails turned out to be closed, so in detouring around them we ended re-doing some trails, including one that veered behind a shopping center. Weird to be riding in such an urban area. The trails were pretty poorly maintained as well, with junk all along the way. We only ended up being out less than two hours, but frankly, that was enough. The noise of traffic was a bit unsettling. Looking forward to getting back into some real woods!

Monday, October 10, 2011 - Travel Day to Staten Island

Headed west on a few backroads, having decided to dump at a Rest Area on I-91 south of Hartford. About ten miles before reaching there, one of the tires on the RV lost all of it’s tread, so we had to pull over, change the tire, then find someplace that had a replacement that was open on a holiday. Fortunately, all was accomplished in relatively short order, delaying us less than 45 minutes or so. We found the dump as well, and flushed out our tanks. Eventually we arrived in Staten Island just a little behind schedule. One shock though was the cost of going over the bridge from NJ. $52.50 and for the RV and $32.50 for the horse trailer!!! Just to get on the island!!! Didn’t have enough cash, and they didn’t accept credit cards, so the woman just said that a bill would be sent to me, as my tags had been recorded when I pulled up!! Really?? I guess the reason the tolls are so high is to pay for all the high tech billing apparatus! Is that the face of redistribution of wealth? Charging a fortune to pay for all the bells and whistles of collecting that fortune? How many times does that money change hands? I don’t know why I’m surprised, our whole complicated federal tax system is the exact same thing. Well, enough of that rant, suffice it to say that we made it to our designated stable, Richer Farms at just 5:00. We set up next to the barn with a not so glamorous view of their truck parking area, but at least it’s NYC and they’re on the edge of a park where we can ride, weather permitting. Had to sleep with earplugs in because of the noise, not surprisingly.

Sunday, October 9, 2011 - Prep Day

Once again spent the day preparing for our departure tomorrow.

Saturday, October 8, 2011 - Ride Day in Rhode Island

At last we managed to plan a ride day. Headed off the farm across a field, then down a road till we finally came across a sort of trailhead. That led us through pretty dense forest, past a couple of small lakes, behind some houses in a neighborhood, and generally everywhere the park had trails. This is officially a state park, but apparently the lands were acquired by not yet developed, so other than a few campfire areas, not much has been done. More trash than we’re used to seeing, but not surprising in such an urban area. We were only out for about two hours, but at least we got our ride in! Yeah!

Friday, October 7, 2011 - Change of Plans Day

After much discussion, we decided that we needed to stay through Monday, just to get everything back in order, and to try to catch up on some rest before tackling NYC. We still have some shopping and other stuff to do, so we informed our hostess and she’s quite happy to let us stay. Besides, we haven’t even ridden here yet!

Thursday, October 6, 2011 - Preparation Day

Spend the day alternating between resting and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Did some cleaning, moved the hay back onto the truck, the usual.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - Travel Day to Providence, RI

Early breakfast, turned in the rental car, a blisfully uneventful flight back to Providence, a wild cab ride back to the farm where we found everyone delighted to see us again. Tired, looking forward to getting a good night sleep. Disappointed to discover that the circuit breaker had blown a few days after we left, so all of our New Season recording never happened, so now we’re going to be playing catchup for the next few weeks, darn it. Plan is to leave on Friday, weather permitting.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - Cirque du Soleil

Slept late after all the exercise we had yesterday. Lounged around again most of the day before heading out to an early performance of the new show at Cirque de Soleil. Again, this was something we’d been wanting to do for many years and have never taken the time, and again, this was quite an experience. It was a new show called LaNouba, and we managed to score some pretty good tickets for half the usual price. The 6:00 show wasn’t quite full, but the crowd was enthusiastic and the show was impressive. Rather dark in some places (typical French, I guess), but had some delightful moments. The juggler was particularly good, and there was an act with four little Asian (probably Chinese) girls using strings and what looked like oversized thread spools doing incredible things, even while jumping and leaping. Very impressive, and again, thoroughly enjoyable. I think we’ve made the most out of our mini-vacation, while still pacing ourselves so as not to over-exert. What a blast! Back to reality tomorrow!

Monday, October 3, 2011 - Animal Kingdom Africa Trek!



African Bovine (makes Longhorns jealous!)

Sleepy Bengal

 Got up early in preparation for our big day on Safari. We have been wanting to do Disney’s Animal Kingdom for some time, and I recently discovered they have a special "backstage" tour that’s several hours long, where the group is limited to 12 and there are two guides who take you much more up close and personal with the animals. It’s a bit more expensive than just the entry fee, but we decided that since we only had the one day, we wanted the whole experience as much as possible. We were at the gates when it opened and managed to get on the last tour of the day, with only three other people! Fabulous! We spent the morning seeing many of the other sights, including taking a ride on the Himalayan roller coaster, during which I was reminded why I don’t like roller coasters, and after which I promised myself Never Again! I really just wanted to see the view from up top, but that was too short-lived to make it worth the queasiness afterward. Took a while for my stomach to settle down. We also took the rapids, saw the bird show, and walked most of the trails. Didn’t have time to take the train though, before we had to report in to the check in for the Africa Trek. What a blast that was! Under the supervision of two young female guides, the five of us trekkers got all outfitted with vests and zip lines hooks and even a souvenir water bottle, before heading out on the trail. After following a couple of the public trails (which Hubby and I had already toured), we finally headed into uncharted territory, heading along a narrow path that made it clear why there’s a weight limit (yes, we had to get weighed during the outfitting), as the trees were quite thick and close together. We came within yards of all the great critters; hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, wild bovines, a variety of deer, cheetah, even a lion king and his sister perched high on a rock. We saw so much more than we had when we went on the public tour, it was incredible! We even got to stop at a way station where they fed us lunch, a wide variety of a whole bunch of different kinds of foods. Hubby and I love ethnic food, and this was no exception, we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was one Englishwoman there who wasn’t at all adventurous when it came to food, wouldn’t touch a thing, and one of the tourguides eventually gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can’t understand that, there was nothing at all spicy or displeasingly tasteful about any of it, but c’est la vie, to each his own. Toward the end we were parked in one spot where we could see cheetahs, lions, rhinos, and three other types of African critters. Fantastic! Well worth every penny we spent. Finished up with just enough time to pick up a tropical drink before heading out of the park and back to the hotel for a few more before getting a much needed relaxing evening.

Hubby in "Africa"

 

Sunday, October 2, 2011 - Medieval Times

 Slept late again, trying to put a few deposits in our sleep bank, even skipping the free breakfast so we could have a leisurely breakfast. Ended up going down to the Dennys across from the Convention Center later on. After a relaxing afternoon, we headed down to the Medieval Times, where they have both a little village museum which we wandered around in for a while, then we moved inside to their big event, a "royal feast," around an indoor arena where there is a thin story and lots of horseplay, literally, with jousting and ring-grabbing and stage combat both on and off horseback. Lots of fun, and the meal was even pretty decent too. This one had been on our wishlist for a long time, and we’re glad we finally managed to do it. The show was almost two hours long, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys horses or and innovative way to eat dinner (without silverware!) Had a quick drink at the bar before going to bed, satisfied with the first day of our mini-vacation!

Saturday, October 1, 2011 - A Day by the Pool

After much discussion, Hubby and I decided that trying to leave on Monday, our planned scheduled departure, would be a missed opportunity. We had hoped to visit some sites over the weekend, but with Friday gone to a client, and today we were so bushed we could barely crawl out of bed, we decided to postpone our departure until Wednesday, which would give us time to recover and to go on a mini-vacation. After all, we had had six jobs in September, more than we’ve ever done before, and it was time to reward ourselves. I changed the hotel, car and flight to reflect this decision, then Hubby and I got into our bathing suits and headed down to the pool, which was both indoor and outdoor, and a rather rambunctious hot tub. We lazed around all afternoon, even napping a bit despite the heavy traffic pounding away next to us, till we couldn’t take it anymore. Then we headed up to the room and slept some more. Finally I heated up the leftovers and we enjoyed our Indian meal yet again, before once again crashing for the evening.