Doctors, sleep, and boredom...

Went to the doctor again today ... have probably seen him more in the last 6 moths, than in the preceding 15 years. He gave me a renewal on my sleep meds (which are finally working) and tended to think that my speech progress is more me, than it is the drugs. I do notice that I seem to talk better in the evening time, and I know that the half-life of Ativan is somewhere around 20 hours - so I put two and two together and declare that they must be related. My speech has, however, progressed to the point where people think I have some strange foreign accent ... I can live with that. The bike riding has progressed to the point where an 11km route I've worked out is now pretty easy for me to do. Time to ramp it up a notch.
"Semi-retired" life takes some getting used to. I get really down when the "todo" list is "sit on couch". Need to find something to occupy my day while this recuperation project continues. I'm not yet strong enough to manage a full (or even part-time) job.

It's Hard To Sit Still

I rode my bike again this morning, and walked with Laura again this
afternoon. I have a "todo" list I'd like to get to, but the pragmatic
side of me says "the only important thing right now is exercise, and
trying my hardest to increase my strength and endurance". Easy to say,
but not so easy to do. When you've spent your whole life checking
things off lists, the sitting around "getting better" is harder than
it sounds (I can only bike/walk so far before I "shut down").

BTW - Dave sent us this postcard from Rome ... kind of an inside joke.

Sleep. Drugs or Bike - pick two...

Seems I have a bit of a dilemma - if I take lots of drugs at night, I sleep well, but my bike-riding abilities are diminished. If I ease off on the drugs, I don't sleep as well but I can ride the bike better (ie: single track poses less of a problem). I use my bike riding ability as a good gauge of progress ... the better I manage on single-track, and the more comfortable I am in riding with one hand, the better I'm doing. I'm surprised at the improvements I've made despite lack of good quality sleep ... I can only imagine that it could be even better with sufficient rest. I also noticed that, when I do get a good nights sleep (like last night), my attitude about life is improved as well (I find that if I'm tired, I'm also depressed). This stroke thing has definitely been the biggest struggle I've ever faced. I can only hope that I continue to improve...

Better bike ride...

First full day at home in a long while, and the first bike ride in a month or so. My brain must be healing, because I no longer find the long, flat dike overwhelming. I can even ride with one hand to scratch my face, and singe-track is almost doable. My right side is still affected, though, because after the ride I can barely walk (all I can manage is about 12km on the bike before my energy is gone). Overall, not too bad. Another few months of this (thinking all summer), and my energy should be up, as well as stamina. I'm still envious of the people who go on long hikes though. I hope I get back to "almost infinite" hiking/walking (note that I'm now biking what I used to walk).

Home again...

We arrived home again about 3pm this afternoon. We stored the trailer in Lynden, Wa - they were the only people who got back to me when I inquired about storage via email (here's a hint - 90% of success is just showing up). In all, a long trip, and we're both happy to be sleeping in a real bed tonight...

Bozeman, Montana

OK - we really like this town. Unfortunately, tomorrow, we're out of here.Got the oil changed in the truck this morning, and Laura got a couple of Verizon phone cards. We were going to go down to Virginia City today, but storm clouds are brewing, it's raining now, and the forecast is for hail. So, we've hooked up the trailer so all we have to do tomorrow is pull out the wheel chocks and disconnect the power and we're gone.

Something we've been noticing, and it continues, is that all the campgrounds/attractions we've been to are empty. This photo is of the main level at the parking lot at Mount Rushmore. It should be full this time of year (all the US kids are out of school). It isn't. Nothing is.

Lewis and Clark Caverns

There seems to some inverse law of quality at work here in America ... it seems the less we have to pay, the better the tour/exhibit is. The Lewis and Clark Caverns, just outside of Bozeman, are the most recent example. $10 each got us a two hour, two mile guided tour of the caverns. The views (inside and outside) are incredible. Photos on Picasa.

Three Forks, Montana

So we didn't get to Missoula today ... Three Rivers will have to do. We're at a lovely campground, and it's been sunny (no rain) all day. Tomorrow morning, we'll go by and see about the "Lewis and Clark Caverns" and if they look promising, we'll go inside. Then we'll try to make it to Missoula.

PS: Dave left some Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in the trailer ... I had one tonight and it tastes exactly like the stuff I drank in 1978 at the BCIT SUB and the Sheraton Villa (and every other place that served draft beer). Funny how we remember tastes and smells?

Hardin, Montana - The Road Home

The weather is miserable all throughout the mid-west. We woke up this morning to steady rain - forecasted to last at least four more days. So we've decided to head home. Today, we drove from Deadwood to Hardin, Montana - some 290 miles. Tomorrow, we hope to get to Missoula, and somewhere in Washington state on Monday. If we get home on Wednesday, it would mean we've spent 55 nights in the trailer so far this year. But we might stop at Lake Chelan, WA for a few days if the weather's nice....

Deadwood - Saloon #10

Go figure .... probably the best meal we've had in the USA in the last couple of years we had tonight. In a saloon. Actually, it was the "Deadwood Social Club", part of the #10 Saloon. We both had fresh walleye ... and walked away completely satisfied for $50 (that included a drink each before dinner). The only other meal that compared was at the dining room at the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore must be a magnet for fat, camera-toting, obnoxious, proud-just-because Americans. Crazy Horse is much the same, but a little more rough around the edges (probably because it doesn't want and doesn't get federal funding). Mount Rushmore is, still, pretty awesome. Until you see Crazy Horse, and know that it was started in 1948, and Mount Rushmore would fit inside Crazy Horses head. The scale is huge! Probably turns out that staying in Deadwood and commuting was a good idea. Even though the drive down through the Black Hills was an hour each way, just to be out of the crowds, the kitschy, and the traffic was worth it.

Deadwood - Wild Bill Hickok

Yes, that's right, Hickok is spelled without a second "c". Wild Bill is buried famously here in Deadwood, South Dakota, murdered while he played cards. Laura and I mistakenly parked at a park at the bottom of the hill marked "cemetery". Turns out, the cemetery itself had plenty of parking, and was about 4 blocks (straight up) away. Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's headstones are easy to find, and quite close to the actual entrance. Sheriff Seth Bulock is a Grouse Grind worthy climb up above the cemetery (OK - only 750' above the cemetery - but it is at about a 30 degree climb).

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

OK, this really is impressive. Laura and I are camped at the foot of Devil's Tower National Monument (the first National Monument in the US). Now, this isn't quite impressive for Doug 2.0, but for Doug 3.1 it really is - Laura and I hiked up from the parking lot to the Visitors Center. Not quite the Grouse Grind, but certainly more than anything I've done since last October. Kind of "fell apart" at the end - but I'm convinced that if I continue to do small hikes like this, I'll only get better.

Little Big Horn - Custer's Last Stand

We drove today from Billings, Montana to Buffalo, Wyoming. Enroute, we spent a few hours at the Little Big Horn National Memorial. It's a beautiful park, and one of the only battles the USA has been in where they marked exactly where people fell/died. Everyone is buried either in a mass grave, taken "home" by the natives (for warriors), or in the case of Custer himself, buried at West Point - where he graduated. The battle grounds are littered with tiny white (for US Calvary and civilians) or red (for Native American) "grave" markers. I noticed that, over time, the story is becoming less US Calvary - centric and more balanced. The Native Americans give a pretty good tour which describes the avalanching mistakes made by the US Calvary, resulting is this bloody slaughter. Everyone under Custer's command died.

Pompey's Pillar....

The pastor at Mike's funeral said something quite profound; "we live this one life like we have two". We only have one life, so when you get near someplace you might want to see, go see it! We are only about 30 minutes away from Pompey's Pillar - where William Clark carved his signature into the sandstone - the only physical evidence that the Lewis and Clark Expedition ever took place (who knew?). So we went. We also took a look at some petroglyphs left by early American natives, before the time of the horse, near here....

Gulf Oil Spill

Although this isn't  really a "spill" - more like a "fountain" - the devastation is the same.
This photo from the Boston Globe: http://tinyurl.com/2465cbg

Welcome to Billings

We're now camped out at a KOA on the Yellowstone River, in Billings, Montana. Last night, we were beside the Boulder River near Big Timber, Montana (the film "A River Runs Through It", was filmed there). The temperature is starting to warm up - not quite shorts weather, but nearly. En route to Deadwood, Sturgis, Mount Rushmore, The Crazy Horse Monument, Devils Tower, Sundance, Little Big Horn - there's a lot to see in this part of the USA!