Another Week Goes By

 I got all of my medical appointments done, eye, blood work and flu shot. I’ve been riding every day and for the most part eating right while home. I started on my heater for the van, just haven’t pulled the trigger to drill more holes yet. I hope to finish it sometime this week but probably more likely next week. I get my father’s car worked on Wednesday and hopefully I can sell it. And I picked up my tandem so I can sell that also. Kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul to make this lack of working work.

With the fires still going strong out in Colorado and no snow yet, I’m not in a rush to get back on the road yet. I’m enjoying this beautiful weather here for now. 

Here is a quick write up from my doctor visit on Thursday while I was sitting in the doctors office and some pictures from the last week.

October 15, 2020

I’m sitting in the waiting room for my eye doctor appointment in Lansdale Pennsylvania. I have a 9:15am appointment so of course I’m here at 8:45am. 

This place is very efficient I got called back right at 9:15am. A quick eye test, I can still barely see the big E. The assistant gave me a perforated eye cover and I could see the big E and the next row down. Progress. She said the perforated cover cuts down on the noise. Interesting.

Next I went to another room to get my pictures taken. Pictures of my eyes. I believe pictures of the back of my eyes to be more accurate. This is so the doctor can see how I am progressing. 

Than I see the doctor. He is quite awesome. Tells it like it is and asks questions about me. I tell him about my riding and traveling and about how I walk into things in Walmart. He explains how I’m doing very good for just 3 months post op. The one year mark is the real goal. The operation causes my cataracts to progress faster so I will need another surgery sooner than later. Cool. 

But the best thing about this doctor is how he always says “What else?”, after every question answered. It feels like you could ask a never ending list of questions and he would answer them.  Very comforting. 

So now I have to call my normal eye doctor and make an appointment. 

Two Week Recap

 Thanks Jeff for reminding me to keep the blog going. I really do appreciate it. 

After my adventure with my drone I went to Laramie Wyoming got some supplies and new pedals for my Open. It was a cold day and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a ride in because of the wind and 40 degree high. The guy at the bike shop in Laramie talked me into riding at Happy Jack Trails, he said it would be out of the wind in the woods and not that bad. Well he lied, the trails were great lots of fun but the wind was strong and very chilly. I had a great ride and even came face to face with a moose on the trail. We stared at each other for a minute, I slowly backed up and he magically disappeared into the trees. It is incredible how such a magnificent huge animal can so quickly vanish into the forest on a hillside.

Since it was going to be possibly below freezing at night I decided to skip the rest of the trails in Wyoming and head to Fort Collins Colorado for warmer weather. Also I have been thinking of adding a heater to my van for the winter and I had read about a place that sold them in Fort Collins. It was much warmer in Fort Collins. I got up early to be at VanCafe when they opened, that is where they sell Propex propane heaters. But with all of this Covid-19 stuff they didn’t actually open only virtual, all orders had to be online. I was hoping to actually talk to a real person and get good advice. Nope. And on top of that, when I looked online everything was out of stock, thanks COVID-19. 

Frustrated and not sure what my next move was going to be, I drove to Denver to hang out with my friend Caroline. I dropped in unexpected, heck I didn’t even know I was going until I got there, but Caroline is amazing. We spent the next week hanging out and riding between her work schedule. We went for a couple shorter mountain bike rides on her longer working days and rode up Mount Evans 14,000 foot highest paved road in North America. We went for walks with her dog Silvie a lot. I helped her with her Halloween decorations, she is a huge Halloween fan and is preparing for a big celebration. We got together with Kodie and her friends for a drum circle night outside by the fire pit. And even went to a birthday party with Caroline’s friends to play Pickleball and Karaoke.  It was a wonderful time and great friends new and old. I wanted to stay longer but I still had not figured out by heat situation. 

On Monday I met Chris in Boulder for a gravel ride. An incredible loop of double and single track gravel and dirt roads up and down the hills outside of Boulder to Nederland and back. When we rolled back into Boulder the smoke from the forest fires in Wyoming were starting to fill the air. It was the first time all week that I could smell the fires during my ride. I drove back to Denver and midway through the night I woke up to smoke in my van. I just turned on my exhaust fan to clear it out. It worked for a while. 

Because of my desire to add heat to my van and my desire to get away from the smoke I told Caroline I was going to leave Colorado in the next couple days. Figuring I had to go back home for my doctors appointment and I could use my garage and my tools to work on my van, I decided to drive home instead of flying. Really don’t want to get on an airplane either. I had plans to ride with Chris again in the afternoon in Morrison. I canceled because of the smoke and got out of town. Caroline and I went to the grocery store for lunch and driving supplies for me and right afterward I left. 

I left at 3pm on Tuesday and got home by 4pm Thursday for a bike ride with Ed and Scott.