Chele's version of our weekend

Chele is so much better with words than I am.  Here is her description of our weekend adventure.

Our 7barL Spring Fling



Mustang, Cory, and I left Friday after Cory got out of school for 7barL ranch in Live Oak, FL.  It is one of my favorite places. It is a very nice place to camp with friendly folks, awesome trails, and it is very close to Jacksonville. We arrived with a flat trailer tire but did not let it dampen our spirits but rather ignored it for another day. We met Marilyn and Susan there under the big oaks over by the barn and setup our camp. Friday was simply get setup, eat gourmet food, blaze a fire, and relax, which we made good use of. We roasted wieners over our fire, added multiple toppings, and had awesome Marilyn home made mac & cheese with it. We picked from a dessert tray and roasted marshmallows later. All retired fairly early so we could hit the trails in the am.


Saturday morning we awoke to two Friesians with no hay banging away on their stall doors right by our campsite. They banged most of the night actually. Susan brewed real coffee in a coffee maker and we spread out a huge breakfast on the picnic table. No one left hungry as there was something for everyone. Marilyn mixed something up in the crock pot that looked very interesting with chunks of meat. After getting our gorge on, we saddled and hit the trails with an old friend of Marilyn's. We headed out and road the Mattair Springs section back behind the ranch. I believe we rode around 3 hours.


We came back to camp for a lunch spread compliments of Marilyn with big fat sandwiches and relaxed for a few. We removed the flat tire but needed air in the spare so we had to wait to put the spare on. Note to self: check trailer spare tire air; add some extra parts we need for a flat tire, LOL. After a short break we mounted right back up and headed to the Linville Tract with some new riders. We rode Linville Tract, past Suwannee Springs, to the old highway 129 bridge, over the old rusty bridge, conquered Cory's 90 degree fear hill, and headed west down the Florida trail for a short bit till we hit a huge wash out from the flood. Part of our group decided to head back to camp at that time so I came back with them. Marilyn, Susan, Mustang, Cory, and Marilyn's friend headed on down another trail to continue their ride.


I wanted to get back to camp, get the spare tire aired up, and mounted on the trailer before dark. When I got back my Buddy Andy the owner of 7barL had already mounted the spare tire for me. I was very appreciative to see that, thank you Andy! Talk about hospitality! I rinsed down Dawn who was quite sweaty from two trips out that day. Andy brought us over some smaller fire wood as the wood we had over there by us was really large and I did not have an ax handy. Another note to self: need an ax. About the time I got Dawn in her stall with water and hay the gals returned from their Florida Trail tour.


We got a fire blazing, drinks made, and Marilyn was over by her trailer rattling bowls. Yee-Haw…crock pot surprise. We started our gourmet meal with Caesar salad. Our main course was Marilyn stew with big chucks of roast and corn bread…Yum, Yum, with another pan of homemade Mac & cheese on the side. Desert concluded the meal...cheese cake selector wheel. Rich and luxurious...ah!


We all gathered around the fire and swapped stories till midnight by a blazing fire under a blanket of stars with a finger nail clipping of a moon above us. Made sure the horses we settled in with hay, the Friesians were happy, and headed off to bed with visions of roast dancing in my head.


I slept hard but awoke to the tinkle of rain on the aluminum roof of the horse trailer at 6am before the sun arose. Got up and made sure that all of our stuff was under shelter as best it could then headed back to bed. I'm not sure what time it was when we finally got up but I'm thinking it was like 8:30am. Susan brewed up another pot of real coffee, spread out another big breakfast, and we settled under Marilyn's awning to relax, visit, and eat. We gathered around the weather radio but did not like what the station was predicting so we turned it off, LOL.


After we found out that the rain was only going to get harder we decided to pack up and go home, reluctantly, before all was wet. We all got packed rather quickly, loaded the beasts, and headed back. We had to stop by the garage and get Andy to air up the spare tire for us before we left. He and a few others were watching the weather radar which showed a big front coming in. Andy aired up my tire for me in the rain. How is that for hospitality?


I have to say we had a wonderful time at a beautiful place with awesome friends in spite of a few glitches and I'm already for a return visit anytime! I simply love 7barL, Yee-Haw