Saturday, July 14, 2012 - Travel Day to Richmond, VA

Headed out early enough to stop for breakfast on the way to the airport, arrived in plenty of time to relax before getting on the plane, which we had been able to upgrade to First Class for a modest fee, and enjoyed all the perks that go along with it. The flight was short, less than 1 ½ hours, and arrived on time with no problems. Had to grap a shuttle out to the car rental place, then we hit the road down to Richmond. Arrived at dusk, checked in, then discovered an Indian Restaurant immediately behind the Hyatt where we were staying. As that’s our favorite food, we headed out and had a fabulous meal. Tired by the time we finished, ready for bed shortly thereafter!

Friday, July 13, 2012 - Shop and Pack Day

Headed up to the Carousel Mall in Syracuse to fine a new suit for Hubby, and after looking in a number of stores, ended up back at old reliable, Macy’s, where he found a nice light gray suit, just what we were looking for. I also got a few pairs of shorts for the second half of our trip, a week on Chincoteague Island for the famous Pony Swim, an event I’ve been wanting to do since I first read Misty of Chincoteague about 45 years ago! Once we finished shopping, we headed back and spent the afternoon packing and preparing for our travel tomorrow.

Thursday, July 12, 2012 - Travel Day to Skaneateles, NY

As we were leaving Brookfield, we discovered another campground area next to the one we were in, and realized that the area we were in was apparently the group area, as opposed to the actual individual camping area, and were surprised that no one we had spoken to had mentioned that previously. Oh, well! It was much more set in the woods, so we probably wouldn’t have been able to get a satellite dish anyway, so we were probably better off. Pretty sure the water situation was the same anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered. Found a nice place along the route for breakfast (though it was miles away from where my GPS has said it was, surprise, surprise), before heading out to the new stables. Found it without any trouble, and was warmly greeted by our hostess Sharon Tanner. It didn’t take long to get the horses settled, and got ourselves parked and situated as well. Quite a nice barn, with an indoor arena and numerous paddocks, though it was on a pretty busy road, so the dogs will have to be confined on a leash unfortunately. Very dry here, apparently they haven’t had any rain in the past 6 weeks. Weather pretty good today, but it’s supposed to warm up considerably this week, so we’ll be leaving the fans on when we leave! Glad to have electricity for that!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - Work and Change of Plans Day

Slept late, had a nice breakfast, and spent the day working on various jobs on the computer. It was mostly a restful day though, with the horses grazing quietly. Our original plan had been to go to our the stable where we’re booked on Friday, but decided that we really needed to get there tomorrow so that we would have time to go shopping for a suit for Hubby and some other items we needed before our trip. A quick call to our hostess and things were set. From what we saw in our ride yesterday, there didn’t seem to be a lot of variety of terrain here, so we didn’t figure we’d miss much, and frankly, the handpump is a pain, and the stones and inclines weren’t sitting well with the horses. They’re ready for a rest! And we need some time to regroup before a very busy six weeks!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - Ride Day at Brookfield

Nice and quiet here, yeah!! Even though we’re very close to a road, it’s a quiet road with almost no traffic, which was great. Took our first ride today, with a plan in mind, but ended up doing a different route in the end. The horses seemed quite tired (understandable, considering they did over 35 miles last week, almost all of it straight up and down), and, naturally, we started climbing first thing. Lots of rocks here, too, though there were a few sections that were really nice. We had been told that the farther from camp you go, the less used the trails were, and that was exactly the case. Trails were well marked, including a watering hole, and we only missed one turn because the marker was set back into the woods a ways, and a bit overgrown. The map was very comprehensive, a nice change, can’t remember the last time we had a good map! Nevertheless, after several miles in, the horses were really displaying signs of being tired, so we shortened our planned trip and headed back to camp. The full ride was just under 7 miles in the end, quite enough for our first day out. Put the horses out on the anchor for awhile so they could graze before we put them away. Settled in for the evening, both of us feeling tired as well, looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

Monday, July 9, 2012 - Travel Day to Brookfield Trails, NY

Headed out by 9:00, with a stop at the dump near the ranger station, which took some maneuvering because of the tight circle, but we managed, as always. Grabbed breakfast at McDonalds (I had forgotten they do a decent egg and cheese bagel), stopped at a Tractor Supply for oats, another quick stop for brandy, then found our way to the Moscow Hill horse camp, one of the Brookfield trailheads. A bit dismayed to discover that the only water here is a hand pump, but some folks across the street were kind enough to let us fill up the RV so we didn’t have to struggle with that. Still a pain to water the horses. Hard to believe how often this place has been recommended, with no one mentioning the water limitations. Anyway, no one was here, so we spread out, found a good spot near the lower corral where Hubby could find a satellite signal and settled in.

Sunday, July 8, 2012 - Last Ride Day at Bear Springs Mountain

Still had music late last night, but not as loud because it was further away. Still wore earplugs just to be sure of getting a good night sleep. Planned a trip today to get in one more trail on the books, even though it’s named the "box of rocks" trail, and everyone warned us it was really rocky. Turned out, not so much. There were a few short sections where it was pretty rocky, and it was more rocky than many of the other trails, but on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the rockiest, this would only be about a 7. It was a more interesting trail than all the others we’ve taken here, because it was more of a trail than a road, which the other trails were, albeit lots of grass, they were still wide like a carriage road. We liked it though, one of the better ones here, even with the rocks. When we got back, we put everything away before settling down for the night, early morning tomorrow as we set off for our next horse camp, Brookfield.