SPIRIT OF THE SUWANNEE

Sept. 1-3

Saddled up at our campsite

Pete and I arrived safely to the Spirit of the Suwannee campground. The drive up from Naples was a breeze -- no traffic and no bad weather. So we were pleased to make the trip in six hours! Spirit of the Suwannee is located just off of I-10 in northern Florida, about 70 miles east of Tallahassee. We enjoyed a roomy, shady campsite that was about 100 yards from the barn. Sunday morning we saddled up the ponies and headed out on the trail. We did see one deer along the way, but the majority of the four-legged creatures were golf carts that just about all the other campers enjoyed off-roading in, which was interesting! The horses did great though, and the golf cart cowboys were very respectful of the horses. Once we got out of the campground on the trail, we enjoyed walking along the Suwannee River under the shade of the trees. It was beautiful. We even took the horses down a steep sandy slope to get onto a “beach” along the shore. The sand was very soft and deep, but the horses just trudged through it like it was heavy snow (not that we would know what that is like!). The best was riding them back up the slope – they both dug in deep and cantered their way up! It is truly amazing what they are able to do. It was awesome! All I can say is, it was a great ride to kick off our trip with. Labor Day weekend beckons “headliner” entertainment at the Spirit of the Suwannee. – Kim, Maggie & Tessa (The Girls)

Don’t let Kim’s narrative fool you; the drive up was tougher than she lets on. She drove, as you may know, so there was intense pressure on me to navigate (okay, she did provide me with mapquest instructions) and correct any driving errors she could make (there were none, but in between naps I was trying to keep her in between the lines). By the way if you’ve never stopped at a “flying J” it is a must, people! It’s like a trucker’s supercenter, and they will sell you an amazing number of things that no one I know would ever consider purchasing. Exit 285 just north of Tampa on I-75: just do it. Pulling into S.O.S. (Spirit of the Suwannee) was like arriving at Woodstock for RV’s. Everyone we’ve met has numerous tattoos, (even some of the horses), wild and reckless children, and a penchant for loudness. Playing bad country music so loud it hurts your spleen, yelling as loud as you can at your spouse, your feral child, your muffler-less ATV (camouflage pattern, of course), or your ridiculous, brain-damaged excuse for a dog. It’s tough owning Border collies at a place like this; it’s like dropping your honor student prodigy off at the Sheriff’s Boot Camp for the bad juvenile offenders kicked out of the detention center - you just pray they don’t pick up on anything. My boney butt survived today’s ride, (bike shorts under the jeans, my brothers!) so I guess we’ll continue to Alabama, but it will be hard to match today’s ride which is the best trail I’ve seen in Florida. Gotta go – I have a sudden urge to go scream at something. Where’s GeorgeW. when you need him. - Later, Pete

On a sandy beach edge of the Suwannee River









Footnote: We suffered a very traumatic experience with Tessa – but all is well. On Sunday night of the Labor Day weekend, the SOS set off a fireworks display. This was not your ordinary fireworks experience. Rather than the fireworks that shoot up into the air with a poof and fan out way up in the sky, the SOS show was a quick series of “bombs” exploding in rapid succession -- not at all what we expected. Jake handled it well, but Tessa panicked, jumped off the ground and in sheer fright pulled herself right out of her collar and ran – she was gone. We soon find out that she ran back toward the barn area near our trailer. We were told a black and white dog just went through here like a bullet! We a least knew at this point which way she fled. Needless to say we had several fellow campers helping us call and look for her. We exhausted ourselves on Sunday night to no avail and decided after midnight that she was hunkered down and would probably come back in the morning. It was awful. She had no tags on her, because I had her collar. I was very afraid that someone would take her if they found her. It goes without saying that neither of us slept that night, and at first light, we hit the trails again calling her. By nine o’clock there was still no sign of her. Twelve hours missing!!! We went to the guided trail ride barn to leave them my cell number and ask them to keep a look out for her. While we were talking to the manager of the barn, he said, THERE SHE IS! We turned around and Tessa was just peeking out from the far tree line. Once I called her, she came a runnin’!!! A miracle! Once we had her in our grips, I finally broke down and cried like a baby. What a relief. In the grips of total exhaustion and elation, we packed up the trailer, loaded the horses and headed for Troy, Alabama – two dogs and two horses – life is good!




Our sweet Tessa...