A Month on the Move: Tennessee Part 2

We had a great visit at The Moon with Christie and Ardicio this week, and it was all over too soon.  Thankfully, our horses are used to fireworks, and were turned out on 12 acres of well fenced pasture for the 4th of July.  Ardicio rented a pontoon boat from the marina at Pickwick Landing State Park, and took us all out on the Tennessee River/Pickwick Lake for a fun day of tubing and swimming.  

The whole boat took turns out on the tube (even Popcorn their Jack Russell), in the beautifully warm water.  

We stopped in a cove called Cooper Hollow for lunch, and most of us swam over to a beautiful waterfall at the end of it, unable to jump anymore because the sediment has made the base too shallow.  

Emma was a true competitor out on the tube, when playing king of the hill she dug in like a tick and won most rounds.  We zig zagged into Alabama and Mississippi in the boat, hitting more states for our trip.  After going home for showers, we made our way to dinner at Hagy's Catfish Hotel for a wonderful meal.

 There is a really interesting 1800s building out front that we had to checkout.


A lot of us traversed a set of steep steel steps (say that three times fast) to get a better view of the river.

Afterwards, we drove over to Pickwick Dam and watched the fireworks, and then headed home for some rest before our next travel day.  We packed in a hurry, and of course forgot things.  Ardicio has already overnighted my camera battery and charger for me, thank buddy.

Today, Rylie and I embarked on finding the best Sweetarts product, gathering up every single one possible for our data, and decided the winner was the Mini Chews.  Many samplings were made, and we have sound findings, you're welcome.  Side note, the Sweetart gummies are TERRIBLE.  




During our research, Rylie and I were listening to music, and I was singing along. It's road trip 101 to stay awake, you belt it.  Even if my singing range is only like 2 inches on a yard stick of singing ability.  After a while of listening to Rylie's chosen songs and her not looking excited, I asked her "Am I ruining your songs by singing to them?" and she replied "Yes, but it's OK I have others." Just an excuse for me to take control of the Spotify I guess, I'm still going to sing along.


A short 7 hour travel day, and 370 miles later, we arrived at Rob's parent's house in Charleston, Arkansas.  They are graciously hosting our whole circus, and provided us with space for the rigs and horses. 


After dinner, the kids got to go swimming with their cousin, a great reward for a long day on the road.


 

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 10, 2024 at 5:38 AM

    It's one of the best blogs I've ever read!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

English Fitted Pad Tutorial

Image
I often get asked if I will have fitted English saddle pads available in my Etsy store, and since I don't make them very often (it's impossible to make them fit everyone's saddle correctly), here is a tutorial on my method.  I've made them several different ways, but I find this to provide the closest contact with the saddle, while still providing the smooth rounded pad edges of fleece that still looks to scale. First, make a pattern on light card stock.  Cut it out making sure it's symmetrical.   Trace it onto the back of a piece of white fleece.  Then, trace the line with a small amount of Tacky Glue. Lay  a piece of flexible cording (I have used a yarn cording) onto the glue:  After it's dried, cut out the pad, leaving 1/4" of fabric on the outside of the cord. Then clip half way to the cord, every 1/4".  Sew each "tab" down to the underside of the pad, grabbing a small amount of the fabric on the pad underside.  You can ...
Read more

Australian Light Horse Set - Part 1

Image
I could write a long post about 2016, and reflect, but instead I'm going to get straight to tack, because I'm so excited to share more about this recent project. I love a new challenge, and I decided to take some photos along the way while making this Australian Light Horse  tack set.  I have a few notes for the next time, but I'm very pleased with how this came out for being a first attempt. This set produced a lot of first for me, one of which being a partially exposed tree that had to be real wood and metal. The second was an Australian style saddle, which I have managed to never make in my 8 years of serious tack making. After making a pattern I was happy with, I started making my tree with two carved down pieces of Balsa wood.  It's a lightweight and flexible craft wood, but next time I'll be using a harder wood and carving more shape into it I think.  Using some brass craft metal (K&S Engineering found at Hobby Lobby), I made some nicks in wh...
Read more

RF Tack Trailer

Image
  When we bought the house in North Carolina in 2022, I finally had a real workshop.  A leather business that started in my living room down in Florida to make cool tack for my friends, and quickly took over my bedroom and garage, finally had room to spread out.  I'm sad to say Rob's Coast Guard career has once again prompted a big move, and probably will again soon, so I've decided to make things more mobile. This is now the shop of Rachel Fail Custom Tack.   What was once a 4 horse trailer, is now a full leather shop. I even tackled a new lighting technique with this trailer.  I also built a huge frame from totes full of supplies. I'll be getting a weight ticket this week, anyone want to take bets on how much it weighs? I have guesses, but we will see how close I am.  It's been a long couple weeks getting this done, starting from the bare frame. Tomorrow, I need to install the rooftop AC, which after this past week's high temps and humidity, I'm real...
Read more