What to do when you get to the campground

The first thing you do is get the spot set up for comfort. Get the horses out of the trailer and let them get their feet under them. Set up your tie lines or panels for pens.

Get the trailer leveled after you take the horses out. Put out the chairs and lounge if you brought them. Then get your fire ring ready or the BBQ pit. Get the awning out. If you need one, put up your tent. Now relax a minute and decide what you are going to do for activities.

                                                                    

Do you have children with you? Is there a swimming pool at the campground? Do you or any one like to hike? What about in the evening, have you got games to play. Maybe you have a guitar and banjo for music. Other people in the campground might like to join you with their musical instruments. This is a favorite of mine. I love to play bluegrass with other campers.

Check out the trails with the owners- they usually have trail guides that tell you where they lead and the difficulty of each trail.

Have your children get out their gear and set it up them selves. They need to know how to get things done. If they have horses- they should brush and clean them. They will always go and meet other kids in the campground, make sure they keep in touch with you.

You can now go for your first trail ride for the day. It probably will be a short ride on the first day.

Spring riding is just around the corner

Winter is almost over and spring is just around the corner. It is time to get out all the tack and get it in shape. Clean it up and dust it off. I don’t know about you but through the winter I stay indoors most of the time. There was a time when I loved to be out in the cold and snow but the years have taken a toll on me.
I have a problem breathing in the cold now.

                                                    
Bruce will go out and ride in the cold and he has a close friend that will ride with him. It keeps the horses in shape to ride every now and then even in the cold.

We have a riding arena just down the road from us and they like to go there and ride indoors and play games on the horses. I enjoy cow cutting, but I don’t do it a lot. I also enjoy team penning but it has gotten to be a hard sport in our area. The people are out to win not to have fun. I don’t have a problem wanting to win but not when you get mean and nasty with others in the game.

   
  

Real Estate in California is having a struggle, as so many across the country are.

The real estate market in Santa Cruz has had vast devaluation in homes and condos. Even with the bad news they are finding a slight increase at the end of 2009. The single-family homes inventory began to thin out with only 631 homes on the market in December of 2009.


The city of Santa Cruz saw the most sales of any town in Santa Cruz County for the year. With most of the sales in the Seacliff neighborhood. Most of the inventory left on the market now is in the San Lorenzo Valley area, and Santa Cruz proper areas.

When looking around the other areas, I found 50 homes in the Belmont area. All are from 5000 sq. ft to 7000 sq. ft and priced well with in the range of others. All area are having the same problem of valuation and selling.

In the Los Gatos Mountain area one real estate company has 38 properties in the area for sale. Another has 22 properties for sale in the area. The prices are all competitive.

Banking is also a factor in getting the homes sold.

This is a paid review

Do you know Winterset Iowa and Marion Robert Morrison ?

http://www.johnwaynebirthplace.org/This is a place very worth the trip. Winterset is the birthplace of Marion Robert Morrison. You don’t know him? I bet you know John Wayne. They are the same. John changed his name for the movies. He was born in Winterset in 1907 in a small home.

                                                        


The home now is used for a museum and it is very nice to see. There are many, many movie pictures and artifacts about John in his movie career.

Winterset is also located in Madison County Iowa. Madison County was made quite famous for the “Covered Bridges of Madison County” movie, starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.

They have a tour that goes to all the bridges or you can drive to them yourself with a map.

Winterset also claims to be the birthplace of the Delicious Apple Pie. Trust me this is a nice place to visit.

                          

Getting the Kids Ready to go Back to School

Posted by Gaylord Campbell


This year we had a particularly difficult time getting the kids ready to go back to school. They are finally at the age where they managed to stay up until midnight (and beyond) on New Years Eve, and this made getting them back on the correct sleep-cycle completely impossible. I think it's more of an age thing than anything else.


On New Years Eve, we as the parents knew that we would be going to bed before the kids and their cousins, so we told them they could stay up, but they needed to remember to set the home security alarm (ADT HOME SECURITY ) before they went to bed. We couldn't do it because they were playing flashlight tag outside. When we woke up in the morning, of course they had forgotten, but we easily forgave them. Family went back home on New Years Day, so I thought the next two days would be enough to prepare them to go back to school.

The next two nights we tried to put them to bed early, but it didn't work out so well. They were in bed, but not asleep until midnight. So we let them sleep in, and we ended up taking them to school an hour late today.

Camping in a Tent or a camper

Here is a biggie. I much prefer the camper but when we take our horses we use the horse trailer and it has a cowboy camper. It has some storage, a refrigerator, and a sink with hot and cold water to wash with, and a bed inside. We have a port-a-potty that we carry and use in the back. We have a Chuckwagon kitchen on the outside that is protected by the awning on the side of the trailer. It is a fold down unit that has a two burner, Coleman propane stove and storage for my cooking dishes. It really is very comfortable when we use it. We also have a generator for electric.

the luxury camper full ammenities.

It is a lot better than a tent but not as nice as a full size camper. So there are many things to look at and decide on what you want to do. It also depends on your finances. Campers can be very expensive. Some tents are very nice. We have a two-room tent that we also carry in our horse trailer. If it gets rainy we will set it up for a dry place to spend time.

Full size campers are the ultimate camping experience. It is just like taking your home with you. You have everything that your heart desires- that is all that you put in it. You can have TV and Microwave and all the bells and whistles. You have a full bath and kitchen. Complete luxury while camping and traveling.

Horse trailer with camper in front.

Cooking and camping

Now you are about ready to go camping and you need to decide on what you are going to cook, and where you are going to cook.


You can use a fire ring and a grate for grilling. You can use a tripod for a hanging kettle and coffeepot. You can either make or buy a solar cooker. Or you can use a propane cook stove.

I have a two burner Coleman cook stove that I carry with us. I also have a solar oven that I made and use quite a bit. We always have a fire in the fire ring when it is cool out, so I can put some things on it to cook.

I use an electric crockpot a lot. It does the cooking while we are out riding or site seeing around the country. When we are in a place that has electric hook-ups, I will use the crockpot. If we are in the fields or forest with the horses I will use the solar oven as the cooker.

It will do the same as the crockpot, simmer all day and make a yummy stew.

Coleman makes a kitchen cook stove that is really neat. I have not used it yet. It has a two burner stove that has a battery electric lighter. It has a sink, a cutting tray and a griddle. Check out all the Coleman equipment.

This Coleman kitchen has all you need.
Check out my other blogs  http://www.macdonaldsroundup.com/  and http://www.macdonaldtravelopus.com/