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!

Hiya Babe!
Almost time! Spent the day packing and going over list after list to make sure I had everything. First, I packed everything I could think of, then pulled out my personal list and filled in the blanks. Then I went to the list the outfitter suggested and did the same. Finally went to my Amazon recent orders list, to make sure that everything I bought for the trip over the last few months was also packed. I sure hope I have everything after all that! If not, well, I'll just have to make do! I even made a list of the stuff I'll need to pick up at the grocery store once I get to Cody, very happy there's an Albertson's practically next door. I'm getting very excited! Once I had the bulk of that packed, I finished organized the trail markers, glad that job was done. Watched a few Havens, have quail eggs on toast for dinner and generally tried to relax the rest of the afternoon. We have to leave at about 6:30 in the morning to get to the airport on time, so I'm planning an early evening. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Was up before the roosters started crowing this morning, in the park while it was still dark. I took the time to print a replacement sign for the one that fell out of the back of the Gator, and arrived early enough to get it out and to check on another trail I was concerned about, but the park guy assigned to take me out there was very upset about having to help me, so I was barely able to get the sign up, and certainly wasn't able to check the trail I wanted to check, and only after he yelled at me and threatened me for no reason, just because I was trying to do a good job. Not a great start to the day. It went downhill a bit from there, when a couple of calls came in with people getting lost, not because it wasn't marked, but because they missed seeing them. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to people that ignore markers, or turn when there are no markers telling them to turn, and generally not paying attention. It seems I could put up 8000 ribbons, and because a person doesn't see three of them and misses a turn it's somehow my fault. Frustrating to say the least. So that's my rant, feeling underappreciated and pitiful. Anyway, we started out on our first round of retrieving markers around 10:30 a.m. for about two hours, then had to wait around until the last 50's were well on the trail, heading out around 4:00 and finishing about three hours later. Still a few short sections left, but I've already said I'm not helping tomorrow, I have a full day getting ready for my Yellowstone trip, sorting and packing everything I need. Regardless, I spent the evening sorting through the ribbons, but couldn't do as much as I wanted because not all the markers made it back to the farm. Feeling exhausted, wish I felt a little more satisfied and fulfilled with the work, but I guess at least I was able to catch up with some friends today. Desperately need a shower and to get to bed soon! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Babe!
What a long and tiring day! Woke up early, Richard and I were on the trail before 9:30 to finish up marking the few trails in Horseshoe Bend park while waiting for the signs, which we finally got around 10:45. We went straight up to Frenchtown Preserve to finish marking, but the trails were difficult for the UTV to navigate, and there were a lot of trees that came down in the storm, so it was very slow going. We worked our butts off trying to get it all done, and managed to just finish up by suppertime at 6:00. We did the riders meeting at 6:45, and I finally got back to the trailer by about 7:30, totally exhausted. Barely have enough energy to write this post! Since I have to be back over there by about 6:15 a.m., I'm taking my shower and getting to bed very soon! Whew! What a day! Love you, darlin'! Good night!