It seems that everyone I work with has figured out that I'll be gone for three weeks. The work is really piling on and I have little time to update anything here. I get so much work email every I receive daily warnings that my in-box is beyond its space allocation and will be cut off. I can't imagine what it will look like when I return. I'm trying hard to care.
Nevertheless, the trip is almost here and it's getting down to the wire for Hester and I. I'm pretty sure I'm all set with gear, routes, cash, and physical conditioning. I continue to second guess myself nonetheless. I've spent hours at night perusing maps and programming routes into my GPS and then changing them because I received a cool "must see" route from friends on line. Honestly, the only firm plans I have are for the first two days' riding. Denver on day one and Great Falls the next day are just slab rides over major highways with nothing to look forward to other than catching up on a few audio books and not being at work. I'm sure I'll feel like I'm really away once I hit Canada.
I believe the rehab therapy on my back is helping. I go three times a week and get adjusted, ultrasound, stretched out on a mechanical traction table, electrical stimulation (essentially shock therapy) on my neck, and I do an hour of various core exercises on a big ball and using giant rubber bands. I feel like a tool in a room where I'm easily twenty years younger than the other patients. I do all of this after ninety minutes or cardio and weights at the gym, which begins at 5am. I feel like I'm accomplishing more and getting back to my home office before most of my neighbors are even awake. It sucks, but it's helping. I pay way too much for my health insurance to simply accept the aches. Furthermore, I've worked too damn hard to plan, coordinate, and afford this trip to let the experience be marred by arthritis pain. I just wish I had listened to others and started sooner.