An Unexpected Down Day

Quite to our surprise, we are still in Williams this evening.  We got up this morning, not really in a rush, but certainly eager to get on our way to Grand Canyon.

After a quick breakfast of cereal, Gene went out to start his hitch up routine. He got the tires aired up, the tanks dumped, the hot water tank turned off, and the cable TV disconnected.  I was doing my thing inside and had everything tucked and stowed except for the recliners.  I usually push and tug and finally get them into their traveling position, but it is hard for me.  If Gene happens to be inside when I get to that point, he will lend a hand, for which I am grateful.  He was doing that very thing today.  He had pushed one recliner against the wall and had bent down to secure the strap when his back went out.

This has happened before so he recognized it for what it was right away—a strained muscle in his lower back.  He was immediately down on the floor for stretching exercises and then put on his back brace and went for a walk around the campground in an effort to loosen up the tightness.  This routine usually helps, but today’s episode was worse than usual.  He is having great difficulty sitting down and, once down, even more difficulty standing up again.  He called his doctor who phoned in a prescription for muscle relaxer.  He is feeling slightly better this afternoon after a day of Advil, muscle relaxer, and hourly short walks.

I untucked and unstowed, plugged in the cable, turned on the hot water tank, and extend our stay here for two nights (at the Passport America rate of $20).  We’ll get to Grand Canyon yet, but it won’t be today and probably not tomorrow.  The last time he had this severe a strain was almost exactly 10 years ago.  It was a couple days before we were to leave for Rhode Island on vacation.  We had to cancel that trip.  I’m still waiting to get to Rhode Island.

I did the laundry and a few other house cleaning chores.  It has turned out to be a pretty productive day, especially if you consider taking Gene’s shoes off his feet, fetching this and that, and being sure the toilet seat is always in the up position.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.  One thing for sure, we are grateful this issue is not life threatening.  Painful as it may be, there are certainly worse things that could have happened.