Hey Darlin',
Sorry to report that despite feeling much better after my massage and shower, I was only in bed about half an hour when some of the pain returned. Now it's like a stitch in my side, more than in my hip, so I supposed that might be an improvement. I took some aspirin, which didn't help a bit, then an hour later took three extra strength acetaminophen, then after doing several hours of heat, decided to change to ice for awhile. It was nearly 3:00 when I finally fell asleep, though the good news is that I ended up sleeping until after 9:00 a.m., which is by far the longest stretch of sleep I've managed in a long time. I was determined to stay in my recliner as long as possible today, so other than a few loads of laundry, that's exactly what I did. I continue to have residual pain, and I expect it to get worse once I go to bed, but I don't know what else to do. I made a chiropractic appointment for tomorrow, that's the last thing I can try before I'll have to go to full-on medical care, which won't happen until I get to Florida in November. I'm icing it before I go to bed, that seemed to help the most so far. Anyway, watched some movies and a few more Havens, and just had a lazy day. Lola's face is almost back to normal, though her lymph nodes are still swollen, though less so than yesterday. At least she's on the mend! Wish I could say the same! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Sorry to say I was still in pain last night. I took an acetamine PM pill, which is usually more than enough to knock me out, but I still couldn't sleep, so I took a second one, which is usually enough to knock me on my butt for the night and half the next day, but it still didn't put me into a decent sleep. Grrrr! I'm getting really sick of this! I ended up getting out my heating pad, and that eventually helped enough for me to get more intermittent sleep. Lola's swelling has gone down remarkably, and she seems a lot more chipper this morning. Last night she barely moved, but today she seemed a lot happier. Fed the horses (Meg gave them a second round bale of hay a couple of days ago, the pigs!), and then took Lola to the vet where Amanda works. She's lost some weight since the last time I weighed her, back down to 61.5 pounds, and she did look a bit skinnier. I guess she hasn't eaten much in the last couple of days. Speaking of weight, I was down nearly three pounds this morning! That makes nearly 15 pounds in the last month or so. Can't complain about that! Anyway, we determined a course of action for Lola, and she continued to improve throughout the day. Once we got back home, I did actually get to sit in my recliner for a few hours in between loads of laundry, then headed out to a 6:00 appointment with a massage therapist. I figured that would do me some good, and hopefully it will allow me to have a full night sleep. She spent a lot of time and really worked the layers of knots that I had, so fingers crossed, I'll get more than a couple of hours of sleep tonight. Hot shower, here I come! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
Sorry to say, after two hours of sleep, I once again woke up every hour in pain. Grrr! Can't WAIT to get back and sit in my recliner for a couple of days to recover! Got up about an hour before my alarm, just because it was more comfortable to be moving, and was ready to go in plenty of time. With the airport only five minutes away, I arrived by 7:00, quickly turned in my rental, made my way through a very thorough screening, managed to get carry-on tags for both my bags which I had consolidated, and was soon boarding on time. Arrived in Denver on time, collected my bags and made my way to the American terminal, arriving at my gate with eight minutes until boarding. By the time I checked my bags and filled up my water bottle, it was down to two minutes. Thank goodness everything went smoothly, I had been worried about the short turnaround, but was grateful it all worked out, and I didn't have to sit in the waiting area for long. The flight was uneventful, lunch was okay (note to self, salmon with quinoa is served cold! Does anyone really eat quinoa?), but my back still ached the entire trip, despite taking seven ibuprofen since I'd gotten up this morning. We arrived nearly half an hour early, and my ride got stuck in traffic so it was after 6:00 by the time we left the airport, but I was grateful I wasn't driving, I was so exhausted. Amanda had told me that Lola had suddenly developed some swelling in her lymph nodes, and I was shocked when I saw her face, it was practically round! We made an appointment for her vet the next day (so much for me sitting in my recliner for a few days!), and I gave her an allergy pill, hopefully that will help if it's a bee-sting or spider bite. Heading to bed right after my shower, can't wait to fall back into my own bed! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
SO HAPPY to report that I FINALLY got a good night sleep last night! It's amazing what a little back support can do! I did still take a few Tylenol during the day, but I literally spent almost the entire day in bed, though I did get up and stretch a bit this morning, which helped loosen me up. I spent the entire day reading and uploading my pix to my Diary, occasionally nodding off, and getting as much packing done as I could. I went out once to fill up the rental car with fuel, and the gas station is literally across the street, so I was back in no time. I'm ready to get back to my own bed! I finished the evening with a hot bath (this room actually had a stopper in the tub!), and finishing off my ice cream. I'm feeling so much more relaxed, I hope I can get through the night without pills. Early morning tomorrow, then home by dinnertime! Can't wait! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Well, last night was another unqualified disaster. Despite all of my preparation, I was still crippled by midnight. I did fall asleep for nearly two blissful hours, then woke up in sheer agony again. I tried every conceivable position, including sitting up in bed, and nothing helped. I took way too much Tylenol, and even dragged all the bedclothes off and tried to sleep on the floor, but to no avail. I couldn't wait to get up, and did so by 5:30, just try to alleviate some of the pain. The car is more comfortable, and if it wasn't so cold outside, I would probably have slept out there. Grrr! Anyway, I finally did start moving, and was on the road at the crack of dawn. Today I drove the Chief Joseph Highway to the northeast entrance to the park, where I had to take a little nap because I could feel myself ready to doze while driving, and after a 30 minute power nap, made stops at Roosevelt Lodge, Tower Falls, Mammoth Springs, where I had a bison sausage and some coffee, Sheepeater Cliff, Obsidian Cliff, Roaroing Mountain, the Norris Geyser Basin, then over to Canyon Village were I went to all the Upper and Lower Falls lookouts (I was way too tired to try to get down the trails to the falls, so the overlooks would have to do and finished off with the Mud Volcano. Saw lots of cows on the CJH, and a lot of bison in the Hayden valley, as well as the occasional elk and deer. Again, it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't been so dang tired! When I got back into town, I stopped at Walmart for a couple of things, then back to the hotel. I had made arrangements to change rooms (I was originally going to change hotels, but they showed me that the other section of the hotel had beds with more support, so I'm taking a chance in another room tonight, we'll see how it goes. I've seen all of Yellowstone that I want to at this point, so tomorrow, I'm going to get caught up on my blog, uploading pix and videos while I have a good wifi at the hotel, and maybe even explore a little around town, like the Buffalo Bill museum. We'll see how I feel in the morning. Meanwhile, I'm headed to bed! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
As tired as I was from everything that happened yesterday, I ended up with the worst night of sleep I can ever remember. My hips started bothering me when I went to bed, so I took something that Maureen had recommended, naproxin gelcaps. She said it would work in as little as 15 minutes, which would have been wonderful. I've typically been taking ibuprofen pills, and they take nearly an hour. Well, I did start to feel a bit better in about 25 minutes, but an hour later, I was in agony again, so I took another one. It did absolutely nothing. An hour later, I was taking a third one, which I wasn't supposed to do, but I was in so much pain, I plowed again. That didn't do anything either. It was excruciating! I even got up at midnight to get some ice, hoping that would bring down the inflammation, and it helped a little bit, for a little while, but in the end, I was awake for about 45 minutes of every hour, and managed to doze off briefly. I think I got maybe an hour or two of sleep. I woke up to my 6:00 alarm, had breakfast and got over to Albertsons asap to get some extra strength Tylenol, and took a regular dose of that. I started working in about 30 minutes, thank goodness! It also helped that by then I was driving this little rental Nissan that had a pretty comfy seat, probably the first comfy chair I've been in since my flight from Philly! It's a pretty long drive from Cody to the eastern Park entrance, so I was feeling a lot better by the time I got there. Today's route took me around the South Loop, which included the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center (which wasn't very exciting or informative), the West Thumb Geyser Basin, then Kessler's Cascade, a gorgeous waterfall. I knew I would be late for the next Old Faithful spouting, and I was so exhausted I was nearly falling asleep at the wheel, so I took a 30-minute power nap at the Cascades to boost me up, and it worked well. I got to see Old Faithful and took a walk around the Upper Geyser Basin, which was beautiful but exhausting, then stopped at the Grand Prismatic Spring, and managed to struggle up to the overlook. I misread a sign and though there was an overlook for Fairy Falls, which was 2.5 miles from where I parked, but there was no way I could make it that far. I was really dragging by this point, so I had to skip Fairy Falls. I managed the Lower Geyser Basin, Beryl Spring, but I was done in by the time I struggled around the Artist's paint pot. I skipped the Norris Geyser Basin, but I might have time to do it tomorrow. I was so thoroughly exhausted by this point. I managed to make it back to Cody by a bit before 6:00, topped off with gas, picked up a couple of things at Albersons, nuked dinner, ate half a fresh salad, and splurged on a little Ben and Jerry's. Tonight I'll be taking a couple for Tylenot, having Sleepytime tea, and topping it off with a melatonin. I fully intend to sleep tonight. Early morning again tomorrow, going to do as much of the Upper Loop as I can. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hey Sweetie!
The rain started about 9:30 last night, thankful just a soft patter with no wind. It continued off and on throughout the night, and most of the day. It quit long enough to have a dry breakfast, but started again shortly thereafter, so I ended up going back to my tent and snuggling up in that warm, dry place. A few hours later, Maureen came by and invited me to hike up to a thermal feature they had found, and to enjoy a hot springs bath as well. I dressed in my bathing suite under my clothes and off we all went, except for Tony, who is still struggling a bit. It turned out to be well worth the hike! Though almost a mile, my knees held up just fine, and the sight of a bunch of little geysers piled on top of each other was inspiring. On the way back down, we followed the hot creek until it was cool enough to soak in, and we each found a nice little spot to soak. It was still raining intermittently, but it didn't seem to matter. Lovely! A pretty magical experience! Got back to camp around 2:00 and again spent the afternoon reading in my dry cozy nest. Eventually came out again for dinner, and now it's reading and rest. A great day! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Today was a mostly lovely rest day. I did take the time to wash a little bit of laundry, just enough to get me to the end of this ride, and also to wash my hair. Camp is right on a nice little creek with easy access, so I just filled up my two collapsible buckets and left them out in the sun, and when they were warm enough, washed my hair. I didn't want to experience that brain freeze like the first time! The rest of the day was mostly reading, either sitting in the sun in a tiny camp chair, or inside my tent, which got pretty warm after awhile. Still, a much needed, restful day. Forecast has rain in it for the next few days, so I've taken my rainsuit out of my saddlebags and put it in my tent in case I need it in the morning. Longer ride tomorrow, supposedly 14 miles, but that info hasn't been all that accurate, so it may be different. Doesn't matter, we'll get there when we get there! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
Today was a rest day in camp, though I was the only one that truly rested (well, me and the livestock). Maureen, Tony and Ann went for a hike, and Chase and Keaton hiked over to the Yellowstone River to do some fly fishing. Once everyone was out of camp, I ventured into the woods with a shovel to do my requisite ablutions, a first for me! After that, I managed to do a quick wash of my hair using cold creek water, which was enough to breeze my brain! That exercise was followed by me sitting in a chair in the meadow and getting some sun and reading for a few hours until the bugs found me, than I retreated to my tent for awhile and had a quick doze. Once everyone got back to camp, we had a burrito dinner before calling it a night. Once back in my tent I had what I would normally call a "sponge bath", with a collapsible bucket with a little creek water, bar of soap and a washcloth, but felt much cleaner afterwards. I had a pretty good night sleep last night, and with the rest day today, I'm feeling much better, more normal. I'm hoping to settle into a good pattern now, though I'm already in bed and it's barely 8:00, so I'll have to read as long as I can o get back to my normal rhythm. Looking forward to another ride day tomorrow! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Darlin'!
And I thought I was exhausted yesterday! Whew, what a day! I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so finally got up around 5:00, had breakfast and finished packing, and was ready to go at 6:30. I relatively uneventful trip to the Philly airport (other than not being able to go over a bridge because it wasn't wide enough for my dually!), and the United flight to Denver went without a hitch. Very nice first class service, which turned out to be the only good thing that happened today. I had a 3.5 hour layover, then the flight got delay, and delayed again, then delayed again, then reverse delayed (less delayed?), then delayed again... Well, you get the idea. Apparently the reason was because they didn't have a pilot. Three more hours of layover added to my already longer than usual time. Finally got off the ground at 7:15 (original time of ARRIVAL was 5:22!), arrived at 8:45, gathered my luggage, and then one of the other passengers who was local offered to drop me and another lady off at the hotel I had reserved, which was a relief because there were no taxis and Lyft was supposedly 20 minutes out, if they would come at all. Finally got settled into the hotel, walked over to Albertsons to pick up a couple of things, was all set to take a hot bath, but discovered they had no drain plug, so I took a a hot shower instead (my last for at least 12 days!), put my email on vacation hold, am writing this post, and now, I'm going to bed! Hoping for a good seven hours of sleep! Will be journaling the old fashioned way for awhile, will get this diary caught up when I get back, with LOTS of pix! Good night, babe! Love you!