Today was the first day the deer flies were out. Sigh. Although I doused Zelda with Deep Woods Off, they still drove her absolutely crazy. Last week it was still safe to ride in the woods and I managed to fit in a glorious ride to my favorite field.

I hadn’t taken a good long ride in awhile, so on the Fourth of July, I set off with no deadlines. The beauty of the holiday was that no one was out on the trails. I know many people who don’t like to ride alone but Zelda is pretty steady and she is good company. She balked a little at one bridge crossing, but since she’s so big, I decided she was going regardless.

We covered about 8 miles and got back tired, hot and happy.