HEART OF DIXIE TRAILRIDE & CAMPGROUND

September 3 – 6

Sunrise from the campsite

We stayed at the Heart of Dixie Trail Ride in Troy, Alabama, and had the campground to ourselves. The horses were able to stay in a paddock rather than a stall, which was great after a five hour trailer ride. The sunrises were beautiful, and trails were fun – some open, some cut into the woods and some hills to give us just a taste of what is to come as we get further north into the mountains. The campground was very nice and quiet, which was a blessing after the crazy Labor Day experience at the Sprit of the Suwannee. Tessa is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Every load noise sends her into a panic. So we have to watch her carefully and keep her safely tied up. Playing with the ball is the best therapy for her at this point. After we set up camp on Monday night, Pete and I both totally exhausted from no sleep the night before and very stressed thinking we would never see Tessa again, we collapsed into our chairs with a cooler of ice cold beer next to us – we proceeded to have a few and really soak in how lucky we are. We were still feeling a bit sluggish on Tuesday – it’s amazing what stress does to your body! -- The Girls.

“Sweet Home Alabama . . . . Where the skies are blue, and the campers few”. Knowing a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd songs is my personal strategy for making friends and getting out of potential skirmishes. Nothing but really nice people so far, very talkative and friendly – southern hospitality. From the chaos of Suwannee to the peace and quiet of Heart of Dixie was a welcome relief. Troy, AL is the home of the Trojans, which is a football team that everyone is very excited about; and I wanted to debate the fact that everyone that lives in Troy would technically be considered a Trojan even if they never donned pads and a helmet, but Kim said to be quiet. Two cool things about Troy: an awesome Wal-Mart supercenter, and the campground had cable, so we could watch some US OPEN tennis, and listen to Keith Olberman rail against GW. The dogs are loving Alabama ‘cause we’re playing fetch with the ball for hours everyday. Our plan is to wear them out so we can sleep longer through the night. I think they’re just getting fitter and drinking more water – so, ‘bout the same. Great trails, the adventure continues . . . (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Dixie. Later, Pete


Above the lake with the campground in background



Pete and Guinness hit a 300-yard drive!