Slept as late as we could, missed breakfast at the hotel so we went out to a nearby IHOP. Did a little shopping, as usual, then headed back to rest up for the rest of the day. Too cold to sit by the pool, unfortunately, but after all, it is still winter!
Slept until just before 9:00, then hustled down for the free breakfast here at the Hyatt House Richmond West, our favorite hotel in this area. Ran out to do a little shopping, then spent the rest of the day preparing for our training camp tomorrow, and resting as much as we could. Here are a couple of pix of our new backyard.
It's been weeks since Hubby has taken a ride, as most rides have been on Sundays with my brother, and once with his former step-daughter, so we decided to take the day and run out to Dupuis WMA near Indiantown, one of our favorite riding spots. It was a beautiful day, we got a little turned around on the trail we were heading for, I think because they changed some of the colors on the trails recently, but it was a very nice 5.25 mile ride. A bit short, but enough to get Hubby back in the swing of things, didn't want to overdue it as he's been off for so long. Always a good day when we're on the back of our horses!
Spent the day running around in Okeechobee, picking up hay, stuff at Tractor Supply, a switch for the new satellite dish (which we turned out to not need because we had one already, but Hubby thought it was something else :- ), and had lunch at a rather strange restaurant called Lightseys. Everyone told us it was the best seafood in town, and it may have been, but the decor was odd and tacky, and the butcher case at the entrance was filled with rather dry, not-so-fresh looking fish. Undeterred, we ordered lunch, though I had asked for the Gator special, but they were out of gator, so I ended up with a rather pedestrian salad. Service was fair, but nothing to write home about. Too windy to sit outside, which would have made it more interesting on a nicer day. Not short of business though, a steady stream of customers while we were there. Just HAD to take a pic of Hubby with The Big Fish hanging outside! Highlight of the day!
Set the alarm so that we could meet some friends in Naples for brunch at the Dock restaurant. We had decided to take the truck, since it was the vehicle that was disconnected from a trailer, because Hubby had to readjust the height of the trailer hitch the other day. Anyway, jumped in and cranked it up, it started, then died, then wouldn't start again. Since we didn't have time to mess with it, we quickly unhooked the van from the horse trailer and ran out, just making our 10:30 meeting with Jane and Bob. Enjoyed a nice brunch on the waterfront for a few hours of respite before returning back to camp. Fortunately, when we went to seek out the problem with the truck, it only took about a half hour to figure out that it was the bleed valve on the fuel filter. Hubby had changed the fuel filter just before we left to come here, and the wrench he used to tighten it had too many slots in it, so it started rounding the plastic vent valve and not tightening it enough. After finding a more hexagonal wrench, he was able to tighten it a bit more, and that solved the problem. Now all we need to do is to get a replacement valve, which is only about $2.50 at an auto parts store, and that will give us a permanent fix to the problem, though all seems to be working now. While sitting in the truck when Hubby was working, I took the opportunity to read the owner's manual about how to work the radio, and learned a whole bunch of fascinating things about what my radio could do that I never knew, even though we've had the truck over two years. Can't wait to give it a try on our next trip! Anyway, had a relaxing afternoon, caught up on a few more series episodes of Vegas and some others during the evening, before getting to bed at a reasonable time, and under more quieter circumstance. We had had a neighbor the last two nights who had run their very loud generator most of the evening, but they left this afternoon, so we had a very quiet evening. One bit of good news, we've discovered that it takes only about 2 hours of running the generator to completely recharge the batteries, enough to last the entire evening and the following morning, which should end up saving us a bunch on gas, not to mention providing us with a lot more quiet hours! Some things are working out well with the RV, thank goodness. One of these days I'm going to write a pros and cons list about our new RV, "Things I Love and Things I Hate about it our Open Range Journeyer." Should make some interesting reading for anyone looking for a new trailer! Anyway, off to bed, planning on a nice long ride tomorrow!
Finally, after what seems like FOREVER, we've gotten back on the road, albeit temporarily. We headed out early, opting for the southern route around Lake Okeechobee, with quick stops at Tractor Supply for supplies for the horses, lunch and fuel along the way. We arrived just after 1:00, quickly finding a nice spot to set up. This campground is essentially a field around a number of buildings and a parking lot, so aesthetically it's far from the prettiest place we've ever been, but it has a long row of corrals along each side, and a number of highline posts along the back. We opted for a corral large enough for both our horses to share, and parked under a couple of trees, hoping the shade would keep things from getting to hot, as the forecast is calling for warmer than normal temps here (while there's a massive blizzard heading toward New England, tee hee). We spent the afternoon working on various projects before settling in for the evening. Our new trailer has a much larger inverter system, so that we only need to run the generator for a couple of hours in order for it to charge the battery enough to last us all night, at leas that's what we hope. The purpose of the trip is to be a shakedown cruise, to make sure everything works properly, as we have a mechanic from the RV place coming to us next week to make some warranty repairs, and we needed to make sure we'd found everything that needed fixing. More things than I want to admit, but we're going to make sure they're taken care of before we start having to repair things on our own! We were both tired from our early morning, and were in bed by 10:00, first time that early in a very long time!
After months of work, work, work, we finally managed to take a day for ourselves, and trailered the horses over the Riverbend for a fantastic two-hour ride. I spent the morning making changes to my new work website, a work in progress, but finally we broke away after noon. What a great ride! The horses were perfect, a bit sluggish at first, not surprising they've gotten lazy after such a long layup, but they truly were brilliant today. I even managed to do one of the longest gallops ever! It was great! We can't wait to get back on the road, but so much work still remains. We only just got the old RV on the market this past week or two, we still have warranty issues on the new RV, but they've been waiting for parts, and can't come out for another two weeks, and we're still waiting for a shipment of blinds for the bedroom that I ordered back in November, but because the company changed hands, we fell through the cracks, and now they're trying to catch up. We're going stir-crazy here, and can't wait to move on, but it looks like we may just take a short venture out just to get a change of scene, then come back for some of the other essential work. We've got more jobs coming up in late Feb/early March, so we'll likely still be here, though it's WAY overstaying our welcome here (but as it's my brother, he can't complain too much... : -). Can't wait to get back on the ROAD!!!!
