Met a new health care provider this afternoon. I presented my case and issues and he told me that my chest pain is from rib injury and someday the pain will go away. I should start taking ibu now as my kidney can tolerate it and my pain will go away. He said the big concern is still falling. I can increase my activity level. Shop for doctors to get what i want to hear. No, really, the drs have been consistent. I have gone running to one anytime I feel some pain that i don’t understand.

So tomorrow another easy ride out Sheepsbridge road. Keep hr down & smooth out the bumps.

Watched the GU WSU game on internet tonight. ( Thanks Tom) A dog & cat fight w/ GU finding the where with all to come from 15 down to win by 5. Impressive win. Dickau made the game & was interviewed. Ya got to know Zag basketball to understand.

Had fun getting my propane system fixed today. Working w/ local people that have history and friendship with other local people and me getting involved was fun. So far I have enjoyed my stay here.

New blood pressure med, not the big beta blocker killer, that will not compete w/ my exercise.

Insurance company is contesting the hospital claims by asking for more info. They believe my injury is from an accident, which it was.

Weather is still favorable w/ dry, clear skies, temp in upper 50s & lows a bit below freezing. However the wind makes itself felt. i have been parked in town and the van has been rocking sideways.

I will be here at least until Tues. AM. I am thinking. Subject to change.

Addendum:

2 days ago after dinner I learned that i had a companion aboard. I was sitting @ my table when a mouse scampered up onto the dresser. How did it get in? No idea. The mouse crept up to my computer. How to get it to leave? I put a piece of cheese on the table w/in arms reach and put on a long fingered riding glove on my right hand and all but cupped the cheese. The mouse returned after awhile. I closed my fist but the mouse was quicker and escaped. It didn’t return. It was climbing around behind the bed pedestal where I could not reach it. I accepted the fact that the darn thing would be scurrying around all night. Next day it would be all out effort w/ a trap. I put the bed down, crawled in, and started reading while hearing the nails scratch on metal 7 wood. It figured how to get out: right where I was sitting. Several times it crawled on my bed. I flicked the bedding causing it to catapult into the air and then run away. I blocked it’s scurrying out of my mind for a fitful sleep. Yesterday @ the local ACE I scored the savage spring trap made in Lititz, PA, next town to Manheim where I used to live. I baited it w/ peanutbutter and set it out during the day. No mouse activity, maybe it left. I watched the Zag game last night w/ the 2 traps set on the pedestal. Sometime during the game the mouse returned and the trap did it’s work. Mouse gone. I drove out to camp spot. I crawled into bed for reading. Darn, a mouse appeared. A peanutbutter baited trap was on the dresser. I watched the mouse sit on the trap and eat the peanutbutter off the release. I kept flinching my eyes waiting for the snap and splat. The mouse scored. I got up & rebaited the trap w/ more peanutbutter. Mouse returned and again feasted on the bait. No snap. Finally the mouse triggered the release which caught a rear leg. It crawled away w/ the leg trapped trying to get behind the bed. I grabbed the trap w/ mouse, opened the door, and released it outside. I wonder if I have an outside opening somewhere that allows mice to get in.  Or, did they jump in when the door was opened and I didn’t notice? I hope the later.

Big news!: rode the Spot today on desert road @ JEM TH. Down & back up pedaling easily and going very slowly over any rough stuff. 1 hour 45 mins, 12 miles. Long way to get back up. Happy to ride w/ some physical effort. I have lost about 3 pounds of muscle mass and my cardio is shot. I kept my heart rate down and didn’t pee blood.

Yesterday I replaced my Turner pivot bushings w/ ones made by PUSH that were given to me but I never got around to installing them. I did that yesterday as well as washed the bike. The suspension was soo smooth pedaling in the parking lot I needed to find out today if I put the bike back together correctly. Very gingerly i rode out the desert road and slowing down for all the dips to minimize any shock. And on the uphills I kept my hr way low. I was pleased with how I disciplined myself and how my body felt. Today is 4 weeks & a day since fall.

I still have pain in my left front below the rib cage probably from the hematoma.  Hydrocodone dulls that. I have a pretty severe cold hampering me.

Tomorrow is ST George for van service.

I ordered a solar charger for the rig battery that will arrive this week. I will set it in sun and plug it into the cigarette lighter to back charge the battery while listening to the sound system.

Zags played a big body hit game last night against Cincinnati and forced a come from behind overtime and won in OT. GU is for real w/ 10 freshmen w/ 1 starting. Watched @ Players again, getting to be friendly w/ a partner, a manager, and several servers. New place. Beer choices suck but that is Utah common.

Yesterday on my ride of the trails I found a tucked away spot behind 2 buildings blocking main road traffic and noise w/ wheels almost on the trail. 22 degrees @ get up.

Today plan was to road ride a bit further today trying to ride to Washington city, eat T-day dinner @  Players, and camp back @ JEM TH.

Wasn’t able to ride trails to Washington, ended up on streets. Washington has a trails system also, perhaps plans are to join the systems. Washington county also. My bike computer is also a heart rate monitor which I pay attention to when the sun doesn’t block out the readings. I noticed on the return route way high hr; I slowed and it dropped probably as fast as it rose. I reviewed the results downloaded into my laptop and saw pulse variations. My effort didn’t justify the highs. Suspect & hope that errant readings were caused by no sweat to keep the chest strap pickups picking up heart rate. Hope so. Mileage at erratic was 12 miles.

My mother was born in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, Dad’s foundry is in New Washington, Ohio, I lived in Washington state for 28 years. I am currently staying in Washington county, Utah. Feels like home.

Changed clothes and walked 2 blocks to Players. The partner & managers recognized me as did several servers. Thanksgiving dinner cooked from scratch and well done. I served myself a normal serving on a huge platter, I chose not to pig out. It was a buffet so I was protected for another round should my serving disappear.  Several staff people visited w/ me and we engaged in conversation. One server, young & attractive, whom I met nights earlier and we could say hi to each other during later visits shared that she is marrying into money from her partners side. She had 4 previous engagements w/ men that she laughs at upon reflection. And my server is 38 has 5 kids and we were engaged in this lesbian subject conversation. I took a small second helping but I left a bit of food. Bad, my eyes were too big, I could have stuffed it in.

Nice day. Drove back to JEM th, temp 58, calm, bright sun. I sat in m y chair outside reading Wendell Berry.  A review on the back cover says, “Berry is at his best when his characters’ competent, self-sufficient lives are thrust against the brutal forces of modernity.” The past what we remember and perhaps the choices we made to get here today.  Great writing but I get the blues reading it. I measure myself against his characters and think of what i could have been but would I have realized it. The choice is gone. I tell people I would like to have been a fire lookout in my younger day. Age is no a disqualifier. I can still be a lookout. Do I really want to be one? How many Berry character books will I read?

Sitting outside @ TH a car pulls in w/ 4 young people, 3 guys & a girl w/ mtn bikes from Bozeman escaping the skiing snow for one last bike fling. A brief chat before  they headed out on out & back JEM trail. Its around 4. Another rig w/ 2 guys pull up & take off one way shuttle. Shuttle guys who are older return first. Young people arrive. The woman, Annita pronounced in Dutch, is first. I mention Wendell Berry and she says she has read several of his. First person to share reading him. Guy offers me a beer, picked rainier. We stood around in the darkening skies chatting & drinking cold beer in getting colder night. Satisfying safety meeting. Pete spent summer near Twisp, WA and we rode some of the same rides this summer. Cool.

And i am here in the dark quiet again. Moon is just past half. Clear & chilly and calm.

Tomorrow I plan on cleaning up the Spot and replacing the bushings w/ the better ones from PUSH. But then i have been telling myself that for some time that i will do it.

Can you remember typing w/ a manual typewriter and using correction tape of whiteout to correct mistypes? All my college papers were done that way. If I were still doing it that way i would be high from the correction fluid. No, just cramped hands from peeling the tape off.

Learned tonight why the banjo was invented: Certain crop farmers hands would become so cramped and knarled from hand cultivating that they could not spread their hands to play the strings.