Good News and Bad News

The bad news is Gene is not well.  He is still in considerable pain when he does anything other than walk, sit in a straight-backed chair, or lie flat on his back in bed.  The good news is he is much improved from yesterday, even from this morning.  He slept on the heating pad last night and took another heat assisted nap today.  He is continuing with the muscle relaxers, but he has been able to reduce the Advil dosage.  He has been diligent all day to go for a 15 minute walk around the campground every hour. Yesterday he could barely get up the steps to the bedroom and he had to walk with his hiking stick as a cane.  Today he is up and down the steps with little effort and walking without assistance.

Horned Lizard

The bad news is we are not moving to the Grand Canyon.  Although Gene is better, his back is not healed and the effort of hitching and unhitching, and the stress of driving are very likely to hinder the healing process and even make things worse.  I can do some of it, but I can’t do it all.  The good news is we are within driving distance for a day trip.  It is only 60 miles.  We had wanted to stay at a campground near the park because we had planned to be there several days.  The thought of driving 120 miles every day for 3, 4, or even 5 days was not appealing.  However, things change and we can adapt.  In Nashville, we thought nothing of driving 120 miles to go for a good hike.  We wouldn’t do it every day, but this is the Grand Canyon after all, not Collins Gulf.  The other good news is that the campground is letting us extend again for the Passport America rate for as long as we want to stay.  The cheap campground fee will offset the extra expense of driving back and forth every day.  Gene (in his CPA mind) figured we could go for 3 days anyway for the same amount it would cost to tow the Everest up there and back.

The bad news is my CD burner on my computer quit this afternoon.  I have been trying to be easy with my computer for several months.  It is on its last leg, but I want it to last to the end of the year.  That may not happen.  It seemed to be in critical condition this afternoon.  The good news is I got most of my photos moved to CD before it quit. The other good news is that my computer still works.  However, I don’t have a lot of memory and with the number of photos I take every day, storage will become a critical problem soon.

The best news of all is I saw my first horned lizard.  Gene found him on one of his many walks.

Tomorrow we are heading up to the Grand Canyon if Gene feels like he can sit in the car for 60 miles.