Five members and two guests enjoyed the trails at Guana River Preserve on Saturday. Jamie and her son Justin missed us at Princess Place, but were able to ride with us this trip. Pinky met us in the parking lot before we headed out, and walked (on foot) with us a little way before she sadly went back. Hang in there.... we are wishing Doc a speedy recovery so you can join us soon! The first 30 minutes of our ride was hardly worth the drive. We went through knee deep water for a long way and then trudged through heavy muck beside a fence next to a paved road. Thanks to our cellular trail boss, we found out that we had taken the wrong trail, so we turned around and went back to where the mistake happened. After we got on the right trail, things were much better. We rode near some open marsh areas and then went down some nice roads that had a huge oak canopy. We took a short rest/lunch break in a clearing in the pines. After that we were ready for more exploring. We found our way to the "official" picnic area at Diego Pond, complete with hitching posts, picnic tables, running water, AND a mounting block. After about 3 1/2 hours of exploring we made it back to the parking area. Everyone enjoyed a smorgasbord of Liz's famous cookies before we headed off to the next adventure.
Some decided to go home, while two trailer loads decided to go just up the road to Mickler's Landing for a quick ride along the ocean. We crossed A1A and made a U-turn into the parking lot and came to an abrupt halt. Since it was such a nice Saturday afternoon, most of the area population had the same idea as we did, and the parking lot was full (not horse people.) There is a designated horse trailer parking area, which was occupied by a film crew and all their trailers and trucks. Cathy, KD and Traci got out to walk around and survey the turn around situation (not too good!). We had one movie star sighting - a smart A#$ young guy named Cole Hauser. A security guard came and made the crew move some trucks to give us enough room to circle the parking lot and exit. There was nowhere for us to park and some other riders told us that it was high tide and there was not much beach to ride on anyway. That will have to be another trip... probably NOT on a weekend!
The 2008 FCTB Christmas gathering provided food, fun and entertainment for all. It was a full house at 7BarL, considering there was another club there and some stragglers scattered about. Friday it was overcast and we had light rain, but decided to make the most of the day and headed out for a good ride on the Suwannee tract. After about 2 hours we got back to camp and were treated to Sister Sarah’s good camp cookin’. We had mushroom salsa chili, home made mac-n-cheese and some tasty meatball subs, all topped off with a homemade apple cake. Friday night was highlited by our fireside chat, which covered such topics as Key West, Bimmy Juffet and some Elmis sightings. I think some of us hit the suds sooner than others! Saturday we had a good long ride. All managed to make it across the steel bridge, but the trail we planned to explore was a little scary, so we backtracked a little, crossed under the bridge and invaded the music park, where we got to play on the hilly trails and took advantage of their nice new bathrooms. We made it back to camp with no casualties (although Mustang and Linc did entertain us with some fancy piaffes and airs above ground) and all looked forward to Wildcat’s Low Country Boil. The dinner was excellent, and again the crowning glory was the delicious dessert, this time provided by Liz. Pinky and Susan joined us Saturday afternoon and we were entertained by their redneck camping accommodations, which involved climbing up a ladder and over a ramp to get into the back of the trailer where they slept. Sunday’s ride was the whole Mattair loop. We were happy to see the sun, since the rain brought in the cool weather. We managed to make it back to camp and have a quick snack before everyone packed up and headed home. A special congratulations goes out to Wildcat, who stayed in the saddle all weekend, and was quite tickled to see someone else get bucked off for a change. (Luckily not from our group!) Miss Cory won the prize for best rider- she and Beauty kept up with the big folks and showed us a thing or too about cowboying up! Check out Beauty's pink blaze. Thanks to everyone for contributing to these special memories. We are definitely a unique group…check out the rest of the photos HERE.
We saw lots of wildlife including turkey, deer and sandhill cranes. Luckily we didn't see any bears but we saw loads of sign on the trail. Cathy and KD stayed again Saturday night, but Linnelle had to head home to start moving into her new home. Because the drive from Jacksonville took 2 hrs 45 minutes, it's not somewhere we'll go on a regular basis, but was well worth the drive and certainly a place that we would go again.
