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| Ron enjoying sunshine at Kent Pond |
30 Jul: And we are up, dressed and ready for breakfast at 7:15 in order to get Cynthia to the doctor by 8:15 to learn what the MRI said about her hip pains. Dr. Gammons is really good; he said my sweetie is just wearing herself out. The new hip pain is another torn tendon, this one on the gluteus maximus, and as long as the pain doesn't get any worse, things are healing as well as can be expected. We did our grocery shopping but forgot to get a couple of critical items (yogurt). Neither of us slept well last night, and we were falling asleep, so we took a nice, long nap. Cynthia wrote: I had a pelvis MRI on Friday and met with the ortho specialist in Vermont. They are internationally renowned for sports medicine. The major problem is the date on my birth certificate. And they cannot fix it. The hip tendons above the piriformis are torn on the left side and starting to tear (threads) on the right side. The tendons wear out. Because they tore due to overuse, they will sort of heal. The tendons are thin, like tissue paper and stick to the piriformis muscle that sits directly under it and on top of the sciatic nerve. When I rise from sitting the sticky stuff adheres to the piriformis and the sciatica nerve below the piriformis muscle. The dr said I am doing all of the right things. The tendons won’t heal, but they will get bigger and stronger. Injections do not help, and I don’t want pain meds. It may take a year. Ron went out to talk with a couple of hikers this evening, Yard Bird and Penobscot. Yesterday's excitement was talking with White Lightning, who started the 9th of May and has covered 1700 miles in 73 days, 23 1/4 miles per day, every day on average..
29 Jul: Immediately after finishing breakfast, we hustled down to the Post Office to retrieve the medications Cynthia had requested via USPS, which does not deliver to the Inn. Ron then checked QQQ and decided to eat some frozen mango before hiking to the ski run again, except hiking uphill is much harder than he thought, so he only made it to the sink holes and decided that was good for today. Last year he hiked to the sinkholes in a mere 36 minutes versus the 50 minutes today.
28 Jul, Sunday: And another beautiful day, but it is unclear just how much hiking we will do since Ron's knee and thumb joint are slightly less well than yesterday morning. It is Sunday, a day of rest. We rested the afternoon away! Thanks to Kamie B. Cynthia pulled on the back brace she received at Winchester Hospital and that is helping!
27 Jul: Pain eventually brings Pollyanna down to earth. Cynthia is lying beneath her new heating pad, trying to warm herself back up to her normally ebullient self. Ron is about to head out the door and up the hill, having dispatched the final message about our Sprague ancestors. Boy, oh boy, did Ron overdo the hiking today, but fortunately Tyler and Lydia provided conversational incentive for him to hike downhill without thinking. After dinner at the Inn, Ron spent a pleasant 20 minutes outdoors talking with Post-it and Amber before they needed to check the laundry. Post-it started the 19th of March in Springer. Amber stayed at home in Pennsylvania but came up to the Inn to provide support.
26 Jul: Another successful day of sitting around doing genealogy. We did take Cynthia to the hospital for an MRI to see if there is some reason for the intense pain she experiences when arising from a sitting position. We bought a heating pad and an electrolytic drink to see if either of those might help. Today went quite well, so we are encouraged.
25 Jul: Today we met Canadians at breakfast. They had just finished hiking 100 miles of the Long Trail, especially 11-year-old Geneva and her mother Momma Bear. Kate is getting ready to ride a motorcycle from Nova Scotia to British Columbia to attend Simon Frazer University, Drat, we sat inside all day again today until time to leave for physical therapy. Ron learned yesterday not to go for a long hike at 7 PM, so this may be another day of rest. Physical therapy at 3:30 PM was wonderful and left Cynthia feeling much better. Heat seems to be really, really helpful.
24 Jul: Rain is forecast to begin at 2:38, so Ron is going to repeat his hike to the sinkhole, hoping for a better outcome today. QQQ bets are in, so it is best to get outta here and not obsess. Cynthia is still hesitant, being exhausted from recurrant pain. The MRI is scheduled for Friday afternoon. Results next week. Ron went for a hike too late; he had forgotten that the days are getting shorter now. But at least he met a couple of nice guys hiking, Hot Dog, hiking the Long Trail, and Yard Sale, an AT thru hiker who started in June and carries an unbelievably small pack and no sleeping bag.
23 Jul: We had great hopes for a good nights sleep, but it didn't happen. Our injuries are still interfering with our abilities to return to sleep after awakening in the early morning. Regardless, we continue to thank God for our lovely life together. Rain, rain, rain. for the next three days is the forecast. The sun broke through, so Ron hiked to the sink holes, despite a couple of very brief, light sprinkles. On the way back, Ron was threading his way down through tricky wet rocks when his foot caught on something and he fell headfirst, bruising his right palm and wedging his body upside down between the rocks. The worst damage appears to be a muddy right shoulder and hip. Nothing is broken, nothing torn, nothing bloody, and maybe nothing is bruised. We won't know for sure until morning.
22 Jul: We got out for our usual walk to the big rock and back. Cynthia's physical therapist, Shannon, gave her a great massage and heat treatment that provided welcome relief. Shannon agreed that this may be a knot in Cynthia's piriformis muscle. Ron rode into town for groceries and returrned barely before dark.
21 Jul, Sunday: We woke up and usual and thank God as usual, ate breakfast as usual, and Ron went back to bed, having not slept well through the night. He re-awakened at 2 pm. It is another lazy day. It was great fun to have breakfast with BitterGoat! Too much fun that BitterGoat has met Starfish, Cynthia's Facebook friend from 12 years ago, 22 Jul 2012. Cynthia could not hear well because of background music and loud conversation at a large table, but she was delighted with a flash of understanding what BitterGoat meant by Nothing!
20 Jul: Cynthia rested, trying to avoid her recurrent pain in the hips. Ron wonders if that could be a muscle cramping. Ron hiked up the Sherborne Pass Trail long enough to discover that he has gotten much older recently. It was a hard go just to get to Cynthia's first "sitting rock." He also tried to do a little trail maintenance and discovered that he is entirely out of shape for using a hoe. Stay tuned; we will document any "progress" to be found. Cynthia’s goal post-publication of James Lea is HEALTHY AND FIT. No more sitting Based on Greg's recommendation, we went to the pub this evening and stayed until closing listening to a delightful band, Kilashandra (click here) playing their own songs. The only other couple left at the bar at closing was another female pastor, Hannah, and her husband.
19 Jul: The Republican National Convention looked more like a Trump rally on steroids. It was great fun to wathch all the hoopla. Cynthia continues to stand on point, twinkle toes, to get her muscles back into place for pain free walking. She's finished her second cup of coffee, and we are about to head out the door and onto the trails. We hiked around Kent Pond and up the hill to the big rock and beyond ... to the "new" stone steps just before the next "road" crossing, a new personal best for this year. 4.90 Miles. All three rings closed
18 Jul: We got up and out early enough to get acroos the stream and to the big rock again, but there Cynthia determined that we needed to return so that she could get a shower before a physical therapy session. Shannon was also puzzled that Cynthia's twinkle toes posture could reset her hips so that the pain goes away. Ron continues working on James Lea appendices when not shuttling Cynthia hither and thither. Oh, yes, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner of salmon at Choices. Cynthia made it through the entire day without the intense pain that has afflicted her for at least two weeks now.The moon was beautiful, too.
17 Jul: Another day in the birthday month. We will get off our duffs and go hiking today. We will find suitable food. We will NOT sit all day again. And indeed, we hiked over the hills and through the woods, across the stream to the big rock. Then we decided to err on the side of caution and returned in time to ride home on the motorcycle in the rain, stopped at the pub for salads and a Magners, and returned to our usual couch potato positions absorbed in electronics devices.
16 Jul: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beloved. I'll keep you, even with all these injuries and medical appointments. We did absolutely nothing energetic today. We didn't even go out for food. Maybe we will celebrate Cynthia's birthday tomorrow with more activity. Ron spent the day working on another James Lea appendix, now that he has discovered a better way to make smaller files.
15 Jul: And today we took Cynthia up Killington to rehab. It is still too early to trade her in on next years model. Shannon found a tight piriformis and is of the opinion that there might be a tear there that is healing. No hiking today because she has a pedicure and manicure this afternoon. The big revelation today is that Cynthia can entirely eliminate the pain by standing on her tippy toes. Amazing but true.
14 Jul, Sunday: Another day, another hike to the big rock and back. Seems likely that this was the day we encountered our favorite trail maintainer, Charley. Great to see that he is still lookin healthy and fit. Cynthia is napping this afternoon after struggling with her hip pain today. Ron is still struggling with appendices for James Lea.
13 Jul, Sunday: And today on our hike we met Drag'anFly, a delightful 83-year-old woman who is on a mission to complete a hopscotch thru hike. She started at Springer, but skipped many miles in Tennessee to visit friends, skipped more miles in Virginia for a family event and was hiking southbound today for logistical support (Plans Too Much shuttled her north so that she can hike back to her van). After she summits Katahdin, she will return to complete the sections she skipped. This is her second thru hike, the first was in 2014 when she was 74. She usually lives near the Appalachian Trail Museum in Pine Grove Furnace and volunteers there frequently. Eric cooked us dinner of arctic char, veggies and baked sweet potatoes tonight. Then we enjoyed sitting outside our room in lawn chairs and talking with several people/ hikers until mosquitoes convinced us to retreat indoors. It has been a marvelously pleasant day. We hope your day was equally pleasant.
12 Jul: Cynthia says that Ron should take a break from James Lea to go hiking for the day, but Ron's knee is also a limiting factor just now. So far, his knee is calming down nicely after two months of being less and less painful. No more squats for Ron - ever. But then Cynthia slept very well last night and woke up eager to get out and hike, so we did our usual hike to the big rock and back, and met several through hikers including Slip and Slide and New Hampshire Peak Bagger. We even enjoyed dinner with another delightful couple, Mike and Karen, from North Carolina, who have completed 1800 miles of the trail in several installments despite injuries. Cynthia begins physical therapy on Monday at Vermont Sports Medicine in Killington.
11 Jul: Cynthia's sleep was greatly disturbed by lots of pain in the tendons of her hip, perhaps IT band issues. In the early afternoon, Cynthia and Ron teamed up to send his Pacemaker test today. Ron then rode to town for groceries, but otherwise we had a lazy day pampering Cynthia's poor abused tendons while Ron worked on converting James Lea JPGs to Grayscale for the book. Cynthia's tendon pain reached new highs today.
10 Jul: Murray suggested Cynthia’s hip pain is tight IT band at pelvis. She needs to knead it vigorously with her knuckles before arising to walk. After breakfast we had an ADVENTURE hiking. The color radar forecast suggested that the rains were diminishing and vanishing as they approached our area, so we rode the motorcycle down to Kent Pond and dismounted just in time to experience rain coming down in sheets for twenty minutes. After it stopped we hiked only as far as the stream crossing because several important stones were under water. We still congratulate ourselves on maintenance activity.
9 Jul: Another warm day is forecast, with thunderstorms in the afternoon. Cynthia's hip pain is inexplicably worse again this morning.
8 Jul: Cynthia phoned the ortho in Rutland for an appointment and is scheduled for July 30 at 8:30 AM. We had a great hike today, even further downhill from the boulder because Cynthia felt so good after we began walking....4.24 miles. This afternoon we had a real treat; Oke came to the Inn and visited with us for half an hour. He chuckled quite enthusiastically when Ron pulled the straw hats Oke had given us from the drawer next to the safe where Oke had stored them. Life is good.
7 Jul, Sunday: Refreshed, we hiked 3.5 miles in cooler temps only because we started at 10:30 AM. We pushed further downhill from the boulder.
6 Jul: We are again happy to be alive, thank God again and again! Another day of zero hiking; we hope Cynthia's hamstring is appreciative. The James Lea book has been paginated, and the table of contents created. Yay!
5 Jul: It rained early as we ate breakfast, and we never quite made it out the door to hike today. We are again happy to be alive, thank God, and are quite pleased that we are able to continue hiking, albeit less distance than formerly. Cynthia has been experiencing a debilitating pain in her hips that goes away when she walks any short distance; very puzzling. Ron continues working diligently on the James Lea book, and is excited to be making such good progress towards completion.
4 Jul: Happy Fourth of July. Today was just like yesterday, except that Ron's calf muscles are complaining about the unaccustomed exercise and Eric fed us quite delicious Alaskan char with our sweet potato and Irish soda bread. We hiked the same "morning" hike of about a mile out and a mile back around Kent Pond to the huge boulder that marks the beginning of the long downhill leading to Thundering Falls (click here) and the same evening hike up the Sherborne Pass Trail (click here) for far less than a mile. Cynthia's hamstring wasn't feeling up to the climb, and Ron's calf muscles were quite tight too.
3 Jul: We arose a little later, but got started hiking a little earlier and repeated the hike we did yesterday. This time it wore Ron out much more than expected. Time for a nap. The new chef, Eric, introduced himself and assured us that he was capable of feeding us well according to the demands of our diet: no oil, no butter, no fat, no cheese, no salt and no sugar. Our salad and sweet potatoes were perfect. Again, we hiked an additional half mile up the Sherborne Pass Trail in the evening, and Ron is pleasantly surprised that his aggravated knee seems much better already.
2 Jul: Hiking Vermont: We did hike the state of Vermont a few years ago, and we continue to love hiking. This year Cynthia is recovering from a torn hamstring tendon in Feb, a nasty fall that bruised her ribs in June, and a bump on her head from falling to the floor after melting in 101 degree heat a few weeks ago. Today we hiked almost four miles on the Appalachian Trail at Killington, VT; we managed the rocks and roots on the trail, clambering up and down gentle slopes and crossing a stream bed on the stones, which proves to us that Cynthia is fine. We are staying at the Inn at Long Trail (click here) until mid-September. We can walk out the door and hike daily in this hikers heaven. The huge breakfasts are awesome. We have been coming here since 2008 and love the people. No A/C is needed!
1 July: The three hour ride from Milford to The Inn at Long Trail begins whenever Ron gets packed. The bike was loaded at 11:40 AM, and we were en route to fuel the bike, but returned to the hotel to return room keys. By 1:30 PM we started searching for food in Western Mass. Greenfield had 5 pizza restaurants, one Wendy’s, multiple cannabis dispensaries and a whole lotta closed cafes. At the next exit from I-91, Bernardston, Massachusetts, Zeke's (click here) was recommended, the Crumpin Fox country club that offers good salads and delicious salmon. About an hour north on I-91 was US highway 4 west. The ride was story book beautiful over Quechee Gorge (click here), along the Ottauquechee River (click here), and through picturesque Woodstock, Vermont to Killington. Brogan gave Cynthia a huge hug. Ron enjoyed a tasty lettuce, tomato and turkey open-face sandwich on toasted Irish soda bread. Our favorite room has not changed… in fact it has likely been unchanged since 1970 apart from the bathroom update which we donated. Route: I-495 N to I-290 E to I-190 N to MA 2 W to I-91 N to Hanover, NH, L on US 4 to the Inn at Long Trail (click here)
