Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - Good-bye To Niece, New Tire, Runaround Day

Woke up fairly early, though the flight wasn't leaving until 1:30, had breakfast, my niece got everything packed up, and we headed out. Fortunately another nice day with just a few clouds and a small possibility of rain. Arrived at the airport early, got a gate pass so I could sit with my niece until her plane boarded. There was extra TSA personnel there, so I was a bit concerned, but I figured their extra scrutiny should make it an even safer flight. After she boarded, I headed out, got gas, dropped off the wheel, backtracked to Lowes to return some stuff and to purchase more stuff, stopped at White Castle for a quick lunch (only place on the way, pretty horrible food), picked up the tire, stopped at Walmart, then headed back to camp, arriving just before 5:00. Hubby and I packed up everything we could, as we're leaving again tomorrow. It's a pretty long drive across the state, and we want to give Minnesota one last chance to change our impression of it, willing to accept that maybe it was just the management at this one camp that was so negative, so we selected the farthest west horse camp we could find, Maplewood State Park, to go to for the weekend. Settled down for the evening, ready to get back on track with our journey.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - Another Great Ride in Highland Ridge

Another good night's sleep, another good breakfast, another great ride, though this time we skipped the second loop (my niece was a bit worn out from yesterday's long ride), though we took one side trail down to the lake, where we saw a couple of Canadian geese on the water, and a couple of boats of fishermen and families. Along the way, we saw a black house cat out in the woods, fat and sassy, but smart enough not to move an inch when we went past. When we got back to camp, we ran the horse trailer up on the Jiffy Jack (one of the best investments we've ever made!), Hubby took off the errant tire so that I could get a new one put on when I go into the city tomorrow, as well as some other items that needed to be returned, and packed them in the van. Another very enjoyable day!

Monday, July 29, 2013 - Wonderful Ride in Highland Ridge

After much discussion about resolving the unpleasantness of our experience here, we decided to leave early. Though we had planned on staying here until Thursday, we decided to pack up this morning, drive over Mystery Cave for their first tour at 10:00 (which was quite interesting and enjoyed by all), then headed out to a farm where I had made arrangements to pick up hay around 11:00 (where my niece's help was greatly appreciated), then headed east and north, back the Highland Ridge Horse Camp in Wisconsin. Going backward is not something we typically do, but we didn't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire, and were a bit worried that any other new place might be just as bad, but we knew the camp and trails at Highland Ridge, and thought it would be a good choice, plus it was closer to the airport than most other places in Minnesota for when we had to send our niece back home. Another advantage is that my niece got to add another state to her list of visited states, AND she got to cross the Mississippi River on the ground. When we were about a half hour from the campground, Hubby pulled over because a passing vehicle signaled to him that something was wrong, so he pulled over, then I pulled over. The guy who waved at him stopped by me to tell me that one of the tires on the horse trailer was flat. Hubby pulled up behind me, and we got to work. We didn't want to bother with the spare, as it was buried in the tack room of the horse trailer, but we had a Fix-a-flat repair kit that he injected into the tire. We soon saw the hole, right along the sidewall and the first tread. This has happened so many times with these Goodyear Marathon trailer tires! It has such a weak sidewall, we used to blow them all the time when they were on our old RV trailer, we finally switched them over for a variety of different brands, all of which lasted longer than the Marathons! This tire was less than a year old and still has great treat on it, but it's useless! He managed to put enough air in it to keep moving, and we stopped at a truck stop in the town closest to where we were heading to get generator gas and to fill the tire up again. Anyway, we managed to get to the camp okay, though the tire was obviously still leaking and would have to be replaced before we left, got our long highline up quickly, my niece put up her own tent again in a lovely copse of trees between the RV and the horses, and we soon settled down. We managed to gather enough wood for a fire again, and it was quite dry so we managed to get it going almost immediately, then I grilled steaks and, of course, had another helping of s'mores for dessert. Despite the loss of a day of riding, I think it's turned out to be best for all concerned, I feel more relaxed already, and I get the feeling the horses and the dogs are more relaxed as well. Another quiet, relaxing evening with a movie.

Sunday, July 28, 2013 - Move Back to Friendlier Camp, Highland Ridge, WI

After much discussion about resolving the unpleasantness of our experience here, we decided to leave early. Though we had planned on staying here until Thursday, we decided to pack up this morning, drive over Mystery Cave for their first tour at 10:00 (which was quite interesting and enjoyed by all), then headed out to a farm where I had made arrangements to pick up hay around 11:00 (where my niece's help was greatly appreciated), then headed east and north, back the Highland Ridge Horse Camp in Wisconsin. Going backward is not something we typically do, but we didn't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire, and were a bit worried that any other new place might be just as bad, but we knew the camp and trails at Highland Ridge, and thought it would be a good choice, plus it was closer to the airport than most other places in Minnesota for when we had to send our niece back home. Another advantage is that my niece got to add another state to her list of visited states, AND she got to cross the Mississippi River on the ground. When we were about a half hour from the campground, Hubby pulled over because a passing vehicle signaled to him that something was wrong, so he pulled over, then I pulled over. The guy who waved at him stopped by me to tell me that one of the tires on the horse trailer was flat. Hubby pulled up behind me, and we got to work. We didn't want to bother with the spare, as it was buried in the tack room of the horse trailer, but we had a Fix-a-flat repair kit that he injected into the tire. We soon saw the hole, right along the sidewall and the first tread. This has happened so many times with these Goodyear Marathon trailer tires! It has such a weak sidewall, we used to blow them all the time when they were on our old RV trailer, we finally switched them over for a variety of different brands, all of which lasted longer than the Marathons! This tire was less than a year old and still has great treat on it, but it's useless! He managed to put enough air in it to keep moving, and we stopped at a truck stop in the town closest to where we were heading to get generator gas and to fill the tire up again. Anyway, we managed to get to the camp okay, though the tire was obviously still leaking and would have to be replaced before we left, got our long highline up quickly, my niece put up her own tent again in a lovely copse of trees between the RV and the horses, and we soon settled down. We managed to gather enough wood for a fire again, and it was quite dry so we managed to get it going almost immediately, then I grilled steaks and, of course, had another helping of s'mores for dessert. Despite the loss of a day of riding, I think it's turned out to be best for all concerned, I feel more relaxed already, and I get the feeling the horses and the dogs are more relaxed as well. Another quiet, relaxing evening with a movie.

Saturday, July 27, 2013 - Second Ride Day/Another Ranger, Another Run-in

First thing this morning while I was out tending the horses, another different ranger came by, immediately and forcefully telling me that we couldn't highline the horses, unless we kept them within 10 feet of the hitching post! Ten feet! That's barely enough room for them to swing their butts around! This time I had a harder time holding my temper, because this guy went from 0 to Bully in his first sentence. We've never been in a place where the rules were so irrational, unreasonable and inhumane, nor where they were enforced with so much enthusiasm that it would make the Gestapo proud. Well, Hubby and I tried to put the best face on it we could, despite our internal seething, had breakfast, then I headed out on another trail ride with my niece. Our plan was to ride down to where they were having the special Civil War Encampment in the old Forestville. When we reached the first water crossing, we were delayed by a group of riders who were having a bit of trouble getting a couple of their horses into the water, a problem that was compounded by the fact that rather just simply cross the river like it was no big deal, all of the first riders stopped in the middle of the water and turned around to watch. It was nearly 20 minutes before we could finally cross, but it was fairly entertaining watching them attempt a number of different ways of getting them across, none of which really worked, it was just the horses getting tired of arguing that made them finally cross. We let them clear out, then approached the water, where Apollo took one sniff, then stepped in immediately and crossed, no problem, with Clio and my niece right behind. The water was a good deal higher than when Hubby and I passed this way a couple of days ago, since we had had a lot of rain since then, and the water was brown where it had previously been clear enough to see every stone on the bottom, but it was no problem for my guys! We crossed the road and another smaller creek as we headed toward Forestville, but once again our plans were foiled by a sign saying the trail to the town was closed because of the event. Apparently the powers-that-be decided it might not be a good idea to have horses around when they have their arms demonstration, though once again, I think that should be the horse owners decision, not theirs. In any event, we turned around and crossed the two water crossings for a second time and came around another side of the loop that brought us near Forestville on the other side, and then back to camp. It was a nice ride, though my horses are showing a bit of frustration at the gravel trails and their inability to move much when they're back in camp. My mind has been working overtime to try to solve the problems we're facing here, especially the negativity this place is fostering in us, and I've thought of several possibilities, to be discussed with Hubby later tonight. Meanwhile, my niece and I ran out in the van to make a few phone calls to find some hay, then drove down to Forestville so we could at least walk around a bit, and see the action. There were a few people in costume, but the troop encampment consisted of just a few tents of Confederates on one side of the barn, and a few tents of Union troops on the other, a lot less than we expected. We toured around for a little while, but there wasn't much to see so we soon went back to camp, where we settled in for the evening, with Pigs in a Blanket for dinner tonight, cooked inside, so we wouldn't have to deal with the wet wood in trying to make a fire, and finished it off with another PG movie.

Friday, July 26, 2013 - First Ride with Niece at Forestville SP

Everyone slept late this morning, with Hubby and I waking up to the sound of hearing our niece creeping into the RV. She did such a quiet job, neither one of our fearless watch dogs even moved! That was almost nine, so we got up right afterward. Breakfast soon followed, then a lesson in getting her horse ready to go (Hubby generously helped her get his Clio ready), then we finally headed north out of the camp, to explore the two loops that Hubby and I didn't take on our Wednesday ride. More of the same wide gravel trails in deep woods, though not as many climbs or as steep grades, and no water crossings, which was probably good for a first day for her. There was a breeze from the north that chilled things a bit, and we both had to put on a long shirt over our t-shirts. Ended up doing about 4 miles, out under 90 minutes, which again, is a good ride for a novice. We don't want to wear her out on her first day! Once we got back to camp, we tackled the job of setting up the high-line post, which didn't take long, and seemed to work fairly well. We put the horses on it and watched for awhile, and all seemed well. A while later, the post got pulled down by Apollo because he wrapped himself around the end then tried to turn back toward his hay bag on the other side. We set it back up and tightened down some more, and we had no more trouble with that the rest of the day. Decided to have a rare campfire to cook bratwurst, but the wood was so wet it took quite a lot of doing in order to get it started, but we managed to do it, and to indulge on s'mores afterwards. It was a very nice evening, and delightful spending time with my niece. We watched a horsey movie until about 10, then everyone went off to bed.

Thursday, July 25, 2013 - Long Trip to Fetch Niece

Woke up at 4:00 in the morning with a possible solution to our problem, discussing it with Hubby once he woke up much later. Since the main problem seems to be the ranger worried about the trees, I figured, what if we created our own tree? If we could get a stand with a heavy bottom, a tall pole, and several guy wires, I figured we could built a structure that would hold the weight of the highline on one end, using one of the hitching rail posts on the other. The question was what to use, so I decided to leave early and go to Lowes to see what I could find. After doing a quick wash of the van and truck and a couple of the muddiest spots on the RV and horse trailer (all while also refilling the fresh water tank), I headed out, first to Rochester, where I found what might be the perfect solution, a heavy deck umbrella stand, and a pole that would fit into it. Just as I was leaving and heading to another store, the sky opened up with such a tremendous downpour that every parking lot turned into a river. After waiting for the rain to abate, and looking at the radar and seeing that more was on the way, I decided I'd better head out and get out of the storm. After a few miles, it started to lighten up, and by the time I was halfway to Minneapolis, the roads were dry and the sky was mostly sunny. Arrived just under an hour from my niece's flight, got a gate pass from the airline so I could get through security and only had to wait a short while before her plane got in. She was one of the first off the plane, and we headed down to baggage claim where we had to wait over ten minutes for the bags, but they also came out nearly first, and off we went! Even though they had provided her some food on the airplane, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we stopped at McDonalds along the way for a burger and fries. We stopped again in Rochester to pick up groceries and a prescription for Hubby that I had phoned in earlier, and once more in Spring Valley to get gas. Arrived back in camp about 9:45, later than we had thought, but only shortly after it got completely dark. Hubby said it had rained heavy for better than 5 hours!! Some storm! We unloaded groceries, gave her the grand tour, chatted for a little bit, then she headed out to the tent to get set up and go to bed. We followed suit, watching a short half-hour Gunsmoke before we headed to bed.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - First Ride Day at Forestville SP

After waking up early, I was out feeding the horses when the ranger came by to first tell me that one of my packages had arrived, and secondly to tell me we couldn't highline the horses. Even though we had used tree saver straps, the rule is no high-lining (and, in his words, "I am the rule and it's not open for discussion,") because he claimed it caused too much damage. It was okay if we wanted to put up a portable electric fence around the hitching post, but otherwise the horses would have to stay tied to the hitching post. Can you imagine? If I tied horses to a hitching post for 10 days and nights in most places in the country, I could get arrested for animal abuse! Well, even though I kept a smile on my face the whole time, I was very annoyed, because the location of the hitching post was quite close to the tent, and even though there was little danger of the horses trampling the tent, it was certainly close enough for the proximity stray manure to be uncomfortably close, unless we tied them so tightly they couldn't move around to the other side, in which case they'd hardly be able to move. We considered moving the tent, but there really wasn't anyplace else as ideal, so we left it, trying to figure out an alternative. We've never had a portable fence, and even though there may have been a few places where it would have been handy, it never seemed worth the considerable investment and space to carry one. Nor am I convinced Apollo would stay inside it, he's a Houdini when it comes to escaping from containment. Anyway, we decided to consider our options further later on. Meanwhile, in the afternoon we headed out for our first ride, anxious to see what the trails were like here. We decided to first go down the historic site of Forestville, since Hubby may not be able to ride again this week, and he was interested in seeing it. As we headed out the trails, we were happy to see that the gravel we had been warned about on the trails was mostly pea gravel on top, so the boots were sufficient to protect the horses' front feet quite reasonably adequately. We rode about 5.2 miles in all, take the most direct route to Forestville from the campground, past the site of the old distillery (which closed down after the Civil War due to the imposition of an alcohol tax-typical government job destruction), then down to the town, or not really a town, just a store and a couple of out buildings. The sign said it's only open from Thursday-Sunday, and I think I read where they have folks in pioneer costume doing pioneer things, so that might be fun over the weekend. I also read that they're having a Civil War Encampment reenactment this weekend, so that will be interesting to come back again. Next we headed out to the south loop, making several water crossings, missing one turn, backtracking then climbing the hill to come back to the camp on the opposite end from where we left. We actually rode about 2/3 of the park, and were still only gone about 2 hours. Not as big a park as I thought, but will still serve the purpose quite nicely. The woods here are close and often eerie, but the trails are wide and very well traveled, with horse manure about every 10-20 yards for most of the journey, although we didn't meet any other riders on the trail. Put the horses back up on the hitching rail, did our chores and settled down for the evening.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - Laundry and Tent-Raising Day

First job of the day after breakfast was to get the satellite dish up and running, which didn't take long at all, as we had a clear view from the end of our driveway. After having so many places without electricity or access to easy water, it was time to do laundry here! We combined the exercise with also trying to discover at what point the fresh water tank stopped siphoning, so I did a load of laundry, then we checked the meter level, which still registered Full, then Hubby dropped the hoses that we had connected to the vent and overflow of the tank, but they immediately began siphoning water, so he put them above the tank again, and I did another load of laundry. After the second load, the meter still showed full, hoses still siphoned, so I did another load, and another! It was halfway through the fifth load when the meter finally registered less than full, but by then I had started worrying that the tank might be imploding, so I went out a blew air into the vent pipe, and it FINALLY broke through. When I checked the meter again, it had dropped to 1/3, so obviously we need to be careful with that! Once the laundry was all hanging out, we tackled the job of putting up the new tent I had bought as an extra bedroom, just a little two-man that would do the job perfectly. Didn't take long, a very simple construction project, followed by getting out the air mattress and pump. Even though we didn't exactly have the right fitting, we managed to fill it, much faster than I thought we could, and before we knew it, job done! Settled in for the evening in the usual time and manner. get the satellite dish up and running, which didn't take long at all, as we had a clear view from the end of our driveway. After having so many places without electricity or access to easy water, it was time to do laundry here! We combined the exercise with also trying to discover at what point the fresh water tank stopped siphoning, so I did a load of laundry, then we checked the meter level, which still registered Full, then Hubby dropped the hoses that we had connected to the vent and overflow of the tank, but they immediately began siphoning water, so he put them above the tank again, and I did another load of laundry. After the second load, the meter still showed full, hoses still siphoned, so I did another load, and another! It was halfway through the fifth load when the meter finally registered less than full, but by then I had started worrying that the tank might be imploding, so I went out a blew air into the vent pipe, and it FINALLY broke through. When I checked the meter again, it had dropped to 1/3, so obviously we need to be careful with that! Once the laundry was all hanging out, we tackled the job of putting up the new tent I had bought as an extra bedroom, just a little two-man that would do the job perfectly. Didn't take long, a very simple construction project, followed by getting out the air mattress and pump. Even though we didn't exactly have the right fitting, we managed to fill it, much faster than I thought we could, and before we knew it, job done! Settled in for the evening in the usual time and manner.

Monday, July 22, 2013 - Travel Day to Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, MN

Woke up early, packed up, flushed out the tanks at the dump and hit the road by 8:30. Dropped mail off at Spring Valley, got an electrical adapter Hubby needed for the generator at an RV store north of Rochester, had stops at Walmart, Tractor Supply and for fuel before arriving at the park, having gotten misdirected by my GPS and essentially circling the entire park before finding the main entrance. It was a bit disconcerting, as at the end of the road they have a sign that there is a bridge out ahead, but nothing to indicate whether it's before or after the park. I quickly called and confirmed we could get through, and soon got to the office, where we got all signed up and registered for the next ten days. Fortunately, the site we had picked out on the campground map and Google Earth turned out to be just as good as we had hoped, and was available, so we've found ourselves a nice private site completely surrounded by trees, with a very long pad so there's easily room for all our vehicles. Unfortunately, MN is another state that thinks you can put horses at a hitching post for days at a time, but we did find a couple of trees to set up a highline with only minimal interference with the fire grill. Although we have electric here, water is limited to just a few spigots, one of which is across the road from us, so we ran out almost every hose we had to reach it and started filling up our tanks. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm popped up, so while we were trying to solve our siphoning problem (we had bought the hose we needed at Tractor Supply), we managed to get pretty wet in the process. Frankly, I didn't mind, it had gotten pretty hot just before the storm, and the cold front brought fabulous relief! Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much cell phone signal here, though I did manage enough to get online to check my email, but not enough to make a phone call. I was hoping to change my neice's reservations from the St. Paul airport to the Rochester airport, but I ended up driving out of the campground several miles to get a good enough signal, only to be put on hold for 20 minutes, then immediately transferred to another department that started with a recording saying the wait time could be as much as an hour! Didn't have the battery life for that, so I ended up getting back to the camp at 7 empty-handed. Meanwhile, Hubby had put up the highline and fed everyone, though he hadn't put up the satellite dish because I had it with me in the van (plus it really takes two to do it properly). So we settled in for the evening using the DVR as our entertainment, knowing that most of the news would probably be all about the new prince that was just born in England today, to Kate and William anyway.

Sunday, July 21, 2013 - Rest Day

Spent most of the day reading, just relaxing, other than getting ready to move again tomorrow. We're going to have a busy week the next two weeks, so we're catching up now while we have the chance!

Saturday, July 20, 2013 - Ride Day at Highland Ridge, Eau Galle Reservoir

Woke up early after a wonderful and cool night's sleep! So grateful for this cold front, the whole country is suffering from a heat wave, and we're one of the first places to get relief. Finally in the right place at the right time! After breakfast we saddled up and headed out, with plans to ride as many of the trails as possible in this relatively small park. Headed out clockwise on the Campground loop, starting with crossing the road and quickly heading into some really nice deep dark woods before reaching the head of the loop. Nice trails, mostly single file dirt track, almost no mud despite the recent rain. Halfway around, we cut over to the Lousy Creek trail and onto the NN trail, which took us to a parking area with a nice view of the dam. John Creek Loop was closed, so we complete the NN trail, went back up the Lousy Creek trail to finish the Campground Loop, except we missed a turn and ended up in the Northwest Day Use Area parking lot. Then we got on some nice but steep trails that I discovered later weren't even on the map and got turned around somehow. Confused by the map, we headed up the road, thinking it would lead us back toward the campground, but when we started seeing private mailboxes, we realized we had gone wrong somewhere. Headed back to the parking lot, where we asked a couple of people for help, one had no idea, a horse guy was able to get us back on track. As we were stopped at the creek that runs by there, there were a couple of ladies on their horses bareback in the river, washing them down, and then a tractor pulling a hay wagon full of city kids came by, and I let them pet Apollo for a few minutes, he was wonderful with the kids. He always loves attention! What a ham! We took an apple and rest break for a bit, then finally getting back on track again, and when we came to the intersection we missed, it was easy to see how we missed it, as it cut back sharply from the trail with minimal markings. No matter, we wanted to try to ride as many trails as we could, right? We arrived back at camp having done every trail (and then some) except the Prairie Loop, which was essentially just a open field anyway, just a half mile of looping around there wouldn't have added much to our already very enjoyable ride. We were out about four hours in all, a very nice ride! We actually ran into several groups of other riders, and there were several trailers in the Day Use parking lot, so obviously it's a pretty popular place for the locals, even if it's not that extensive. When we got back, we decided to jump in the shower for a quick rinse off, and, unexpectedly ran out of water. We had recently had problems with our water tank, i.e. we would fill it up and it would get empty really fast, and we had just figured out that for some reason, it seems the overflow on the tank has a hose inside the tank, rather than just out of the top or side of the tank, so when we fill it up, it sometimes starts a siphoning effect, which then drains a lot of water out of the tank. We'd had the problem a couple of times before, though not to this degree! I mean, we had filled it up when we arrived on Thursday, and there's no way we could have gone through 85 gallons of water, even though I did do one load of laundry! Anyway, we ended up having to move the RV back down to the pump house and fill it up again, being much more observant when it started to overflow and what we had to do to stop it. We've now figured out a system we think we can try to prevent it from happening again, but it will require the purchase of a cheap hose we can cut up and use to clamp to the overflow pipe and then raise the other end above the level of the tank, thus stopping that siphon effect. What a dumb design! I don't know what they're teaching in engineering schools these days, but it sure seems like they're missing obvious stuff, like venting and overflows and siphoning! Anyway, at last we settled down for the evening confident we'll have enough water to last at least one more day!

Friday, July 19, 2013 - Work Day

After an uncomfortably hot evening, a cold front finally managed to head in this direction, creating a thunderstorm at about 3:30 in the morning, which presented a little relief (though it did keep us awake for awhile, and I did get up to open some windows for the nice cool breeze afterward.) It didn't turn cool right away, but throughout the day, the temps gradually moderated, only getting up the mid-80's which seemed like a huge difference compared to yesterday's upper 90's (the forecast called for 92, while the actual temp was 97, according to NOAA). We have a terrific cell-phone signal here, and since I've been behind on so much work, I spent the day getting caught up on a lot of things. After looking at the trail map, and seeing that we could ride practically every trail they have here in just a few hours, we decided to wait until tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be REALLY nice, and knock them all out then. So I worked on the computer, and Hubby fixed the side market on the horse trailer (he had found a replacement at Blains) and a few other chores, before our settling down at our usual time to our usual routine.

Thursday, July 18, 2013 - Travel Day to Highland Ridge near Eau Galle, WI

Got up early again, just to get on the road before the head got too bad, managed to get out before 8:00. We had a pretty straight-forward trip, with a stop for fuel at a Centex gas station, which, oddly, charge 10 cents more a gallon for regular than it did for Super! Another stop at Blain's Farm and Fleet in Eau Galle, a great farm supply store where we FINALLY found a heavy-duty tarp, far superior to those cheap and nasty ones that don't last for five minutes once they start flapping in the wind. We also got some more fly spray, a heavier duty brand we want to try. We like the Bronco, but we wanted to try one that claims to be longer lasting, so we picked up some Zonk It! 35, to see if that works better. Last stop at Walmart in Menominee before heading out to the campground. Missed one sign, and my GPS (naturally), died from overheating just before we reached out destination, so we had to turn around once, although it was easy to find once we made the turn. Took a quick trip to the dump before coming back to the equestrian campground, which is the first campground you see when you turn into the park. A wide open space with almost no shade, though there were trees around the outer edge. The grass was manicured, surprising for a Corps of Engineers location, and all the sites had a pretty good long gravel pad, though the horse containment was a silly pipe rail "hitching post" with a cable stretched across the top of it. I surely don't understand the rational behind using a hitching post rather than a highline. It might be more convenient for the rider, but it certainly isn't a comfortable alternative for the horse! I managed to put up a highline (against the rules, but I'm going to do what's right for my horses, regardless of what some urban bureaucrat says about it!), stretching it between one of the hitching post rails and a nearby tree (using a tree-saver strap, of course!). We put the horses on anchors for awhile, though we wrapped them around another hitching post so they couldn't wander off (the main road runs right along the campground). There was a pump house with a couple of spigots on the outside, so we filled up the RV, the newly repaired tank in the horse trailer, and the portable barrel, which should get us through the weekend. Another incredibly hot day, we tried to survive with just fans, but it was too uncomfortable, so we eventually got out both generators and ran the AC for awhile. Hubby had no problem getting a good satellite signal (no trees), and we settled down for the hot evening.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - Ride Day at Smith Rapids

Can you say "overgrown"? After getting up at the crack of dawn to ride today, and a quick liquid breakfast, we headed east on the mostly linear trail here. We had originally planned on going west, but we ended up going east because there seemed to be at least one loop option, and we prefer those whenever we can, and west didn't offer one. Also, there was a bridge apparently out along the trail, and though it looked far enough away to not interfere with the length of ride we wanted, we still preferred the loop. Off we went out the trailhead which ran out of the back of Site #9 right next to us. We had a short stretch of gravel road before we reached the actual trail, which had nice footing, but was so overgrown we were getting slapped by stuff left, right and center. The first section was in mostly new forest, small trees that didn't provide any shade of note, then we crossed to road to another section that had larger trees, and many that were down and required us to go around them. Actually, they looked like they'd been down for years, because the trail around them was certainly well-established, but it was even MORE overgrown, making the going a bit tough. We finally came to the beginning of the loop, which, even though it was a two-track forest road, it was STILL overgrown to the point of being uncomfortable. Here there were a number of stretches that would have been perfect for trotting or cantering, but the grass was so high you couldn't see what lay underneath it, and we were worried about twisting an ankle or worse, so the best we did were short stretches of slow trots. The road weaved along the river at the north end, which was pretty enough, but heading south was narrower and more overgrown again. We ended up hitting the motorized gravel road at the south end of the loop, and deciding to just take the road the rest of the way back, just so we could have a little open space. Just for fun, we crosses the covered bridge (which took a brief moment of persuasion) just to see what the west trail looked like, and although it looked like it MIGHT have been a bit more traveled, it was still WAY overgrown. Pity, too, because I suspect if they did a bit more mowing of the trails, it would help considerably with the bug problem. That said, the campground was pristinely mowed, and in fact, they came to mow it yesterday, and it looked like a state park, but they obviously don't think much about the trails. One ranger actually asked me to drop a note in the box if there were any trees down along the trail! Too lazy to go look for himself, I guess, and considering there were more than half a dozen that had looked like they'd been there for years, not much care is being taken by management to remedy it, judging by all the well-worn bypasses. Amazing what a difference management priorities make! Anyway, we were back by 11:00, and before the heat settled in too badly, though it was already above 90, and spend the rest of the day in cool air conditioning, at least until the evening when we started running low on generator gas and had to cut back to fans. Incredible, without AC one 5-gallon tank of gas lasts a week, while with AC we went through 5 gallons in less than two days! Good lesson though. Sweated our way through the evening, glad we decided to only stay here half a week.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - HOT Computer/Rest Day

Another very hot day (unseasonable... what else?!), so we decided fairly early that it was too hot and muggy to ride. This place is also the buggiest we've seen, lots of mosquitos and those spotted-winged flies that take big chunks out of the skin, leaving welts and bumps all over the horses, and us when they get the chance! We decided that rather than try to ride today, we'd get up extra early tomorrow and get out tomorrow before it gets too hot. I spent the day working on the computer, as I have just barely enough cell phone service here to get online, and I've been getting behind in some of my work. Got caught up, which is a good feeling, while Hubby mostly read, at least after he got the second generator out and we got the air conditioning going. First time we've had to use that in a LONG time! Glad we had it though, at least it made the day tolerable. Not looking forward to trying to sleep in this tonight though!

Monday, July 15, 2013 - Travel Day to Smith Rapids in the Chequamegon-Nicolet NF

Finally dragged ourselves out of bed on the fourth or fifth snooze alarm, after neither one of us had much sleep last night, probably because for the first time, it was too hot and took too long for the RV to cool down inside, so we ended up only getting a few hours sleep. Nonetheless, we were on the road by 8:00, taking a longer route than necessary out of the forest because my phone GPS took us the wrong way, likely because the signal was so intermittent. We finally got back to Route 2, the main road here in the Upper Peninsula, heading west. We stopped at Rays Mill and Feed in Bark River to pick up some Purina Enrich 32 that we had confirmed they had in stock, as well as a bag of their oats and a few other things. I got into a conversation with a woman while I was there, asking her if she knew a good place to get a yooper pasty ("yooper is from 'U.P.er', a resident of the UP, and pasty (pronounced pass-tee) is a local cuisine item brought over from the Cornish miners in the 19th century like a calzone with mincemeat inside, and which I wanted to try before we left the area) but she didn't know anyplace going west, only back east, unfortunately. I pulled out a few minutes later, and didn't see Hubby behind me, and when I called back to him, he said a young man who worked at the mill had overheard our conversation and had run inside and brought out two frozen, apparently home-made pasties from a freezer inside and gave them to Hubby! Hubby offered to pay him, but he insisted on making it a gift! How nice! I stopped at a corner so I could put the pasties in the freezer so we can have them later, but our plan had been to have a hot one for brunch, so now we would have to go to a Plan B (which I hadn't thought of yet). Our next stop was for fuel, then, just as we were leaving a small town shortly before the Wisconsin border, I found a place called the Pasty Oven (Plan B!), so we pulled in and purchased two small classic pasties with the traditional rutabaga and beef pork filling, which we promptly and quickly ate on the road. They were very nice, and, according to Hubby, very true to the original British style pasty. Two more stops, one for propane and water in the RV and rain barrel that we picked up at the Ace Hardware, the other for shopping at Walmart about 30 miles east of Smith Rapids for groceries and other essentials, then a straight shot out to the forest, with just 2 miles of a gravel road to traverse to the campground. Just before reaching the campground on the right, there is a covered bridge on the road, apparently one of the few left in Wisconsin, and we'll have to cross it with the horses to take the linear trail west. Found a site, #10, where Hubby thought we could get a satellite signal (I thought 9 would be better for that, but it didn't have as much shade and was smaller), and it didn't take long to settle in. I put the horses on their anchors for a while, as the area has lots of unmowed grass, put up a highline for later, got the satellite up and running with some effort, all while smacking at lots of mosquitos and some huge and nasty horseflies that were bringing up welts and blood on the horses, and trying to do the same to us. We sprayed them with more fly spray. We had bought some Dumor from Tractor Supply that didn't work worth a darn, then when I was cleaning out the horse trailer yesterday I found half a bottle of Bronco, which has historically worked better, though these critters are stubborn! Settled in for the evening at last, with all the fans running, as the heat and humidity are really bad here, at least ten degrees warmer than what we left in the UP! Hubby's already making plans to get out the second generator so we can run the AC tomorrow, and I'm in full agreement

Sunday, July 14, 2013 - Prep for Departure

Had a few chores to do today, like rearranging the hay on the truck, and Hubby spent quite a while resurrecting a nice multiple tool jacknife of mine that had seized up from humidity and lack of use, as well as a few other jobs, so it wasn't a terribly relaxing day, but it was a productive one. Got everything put away that we could, so our departure should be fairly quick tomorrow morning. No dump to go to, and Clio has been very good about sticking her butt out in the woods to do her business, so cleanup has been pretty easy here. We had to get one large bucket of water from the pump, but we had we had the horse trailer not leak on us, it seems we would have had just enough water to last the week. Hubby thinks he found and repaired the leak in the tank, around the nozzle, so hopefully that will solve the problem next time. Finally finished up and settled down for the evening.

Saturday, July 13, 2013 - Third Great Ride at Pine Marten

Another fabulous ride here at Pine Marten! This place definitely goes toward the top of the list of favorite places, one we would certainly make an effort to return to. Today we took our longest ride in quite a while, about 9.5 miles long, including most of the Ironjaw Loop and half the Swan Loop, which took us past numerous lakes, through all kinds of forest, up and down a few hills, with lots of opportunities to trot and canter. There hasn't been a cloud in the sky for days, and even though today was the warmest day we've had, it was still quite comfortable, probably in the low 80's, with a nice breeze cooling things down even more. The horses were great, and seemed to really enjoy themselves, having had a rest yesterday. We stopped along Swan Lake (I just HAD to get to that trail while we were here : -) for a drink of water at a marked watering hole and shared apples with each other and the horses, resting for a bit halfway through the ride, then carried on from there. What a perfect day! Got back around 4:00, got everyone settled in, pretty much finished up the water in the rain barrel, so we'll have to get at least one or two more buckets from the hand pump before we leave. We probably would have had enough for the week if the water tank in the horse trailer hadn't developed a leak, we lost half of that before we discovered it, but saved what we could. I'm thinking about getting another portable rain barrel, just to insure we can get a full week (or maybe even two, as we head out to the desert and plains areas, where water is at a premium), and I can hopefully get it delivered to the place we'll be staying at the end of the month. This is the first time we've done it this way with the new rain barrel, and it's been working out great. Had a quiet evening, though we have a list of chores for tomorrow as we get ready to depart tomorrow.

Friday, July 12, 2013 - Rest Day

Took the day off today, just ran out a couple of times to check on email and upload some of my blog, relaxed, read and watched TV the rest of the day. Nice, and Hubby needed it because his back was hurting him a bit after yesterday's ride. Had a horse trailer come in in the early evening, they parked at the other end of the field next to the road, so we hardly noticed them.

Thursday, July 11, 2013 - Another Fabulous Ride at Pine Marten

Another good night sleep, another quick run out to check on email, learning our client's schedule doesn't mesh with ours, so no logistics to work out, back to camp, saddled up and headed out on the Triangle Lake Loop, another fabulous ride! Good footing once again, a beautiful trail that mostly follows the circumference of one of the many lakes here, though a few more roots sticking out of the ground than before. Just over two hours, 6.4 miles in all. They've really done a nice job of marking and mapping these trails. There's a "You Are Here" placard at every intersection, and there's just enough trail markers to be reassuring, not so many as to insult your intelligence (though a few of the arrows are probably not necessary, but better safe than sorry, I guess). There were a few good places to trot and canter, though we mostly walked because the trails were narrow and we didn't want to twist anyone's ankles on the roots. Really enjoyed the ride again today. That large bird screeched at us again when we got near his domain, but it didn't startle anyone today. I tried to get a picture of it, but he took off before I had a chance to. I need to look up what kind of bird it was, possibly a hawk, but maybe an owl. It's underside was completely white, but I think some of it's top feathers had a darker pattern to it. It had a good screech, though! Got back around 3:00, had our ice cream lunch, did a little planning now that we know we don't have to fly out next week, then settled down for the evening.