Too much fun

We are here at the apartment in Mountain View, 15 minutes from Stanford. We arrived yesterday, settled in, and went to various meetings and tests today. Another bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram, and a pulmonary test. It seemed funny that they gave me a pulmonary function test today, after Donald W. gave me the Donald W. pulmonary 8000 foot altitude straight uphill for 1 1/2 miles followed by 10 miles of downhill in the rain, sleet, hail, snow, and bear shit, all with a 35 pound pack on, whew, test. The Donald W. test took 3 days, and the Stanford test took about 30 minutes. I passed them both, but still have as my greatest regret that first cigarette.

I last blogged in mid-Strawberry Festival. Mike B. and I had a great time, hakunah matata, and Sam Bush was a great closing act. We got up at 6 on Monday, Labor Day, and packed up and left. We didn't get the start we needed, and then I got nabbed for speeding while passing a semi. Sheesh. Lost time hurrying. I pulled out the 'C' card, but the CHP had been immunized against sob stories. Anyway, I made it to SLO at about 1:00 and left at 1:15 for my 1:56 flight and just made it.

I got into the Bozeman Backpacker Hostel at midnight, and Donald and I headed out the next morning. I expected temps of 65 day/45 night. Donald said No no, you need thermal underwear, it will be colder, so we stopped at Target and got some undergarments. Thanks Donald, you were right. The low we had was below 32, as we woke to ice in the cups on day 4, Friday. Tuesday we camped at Pebble Creek campground, very nice, right by the creek. Wed. we headed for the trailhead, hitching a ride with 2 older women that were seasoned backcountry pros and took pity on us standing in the rain with our packs. All the truck-driving tough guys were scared of us.

And rightly so. Donald came down with some strange double vision thing before I arrived, but decided to tough it out as there was nothing to be done. Maybe viral. So he was wearing an eye patch. I hadn't shaved in a while and looked pretty scruffy. The tough guy truck drivers knew they were out of their league so avoided us.

By the time I hiked the first 1 1/2 miles uphill, I was gassed, gasping for breath, and Donald was singing Broadway show tunes. The rest of the hike was downhill, so I had that to look forward to. Our first night campsite was only another mile, and was awesome, looking out on a prairie sloping down from 9000'. The only animals that didn't get the memo that we were in the hood were 2 wolves that went walking by about 100 yards away. The weatherman was a disappointment also, raining, sleeting, hailing, and finally snowing on us.

We compounded things by losing the trail (the trail simply stopped) on Thurs., forcing us to tromp an extra couple of miles to find it, and tromping up there meant through streams and high brush. I was soaked, Donald had raingear. I built a drying fire at the next campsite and spent 5 hours drying everything, and it was all wet by 9 the next morning. We hiked out of there on Friday, and with great luck found the last remaining cabin in Yellowstone an hour and a half south. It continued to rain, so we were glad we abandoned ship.

Yellowstone was great in spite of the weather and the wildlife disappearing. We asked around and were told that yes, the animals had hunkered down. Driving around on Friday and Saturday we finally saw some wildlife. There were bison everywhere - fields, roads, parks, campgrounds, cabins, everywhere. We saw some pronghorn antelope, blacktail deer, an eagle, and 2 black bears. We did lose some of the sense of the majesty of the mountains all around us because of the low clouds most of the time, so that is a good reason to go back.

We knocked around the thermals at Mammoth Hot Springs and at Norris Geyser area. What a bizarre planet! Make sure you go to this park at least once in your life, and give yourself at least a couple of weeks. And thanks Donald for putting off some of your patients and doing this trip with me, and getting all the gear we need, and generally being a great person, and thanks Merle for letting him take the time, and thanks Dana for letting me get away from it all for a couple of weeks. I will have some great pictures to post once Donald sends them to me.

So now I have cleared the slate of all the fun I could muster, and that was great for stepping away from thoughts of the impending Boo Qwilla Thrilla (thanks Mac). That thrilla is just about here, and I am marching into battle, but not without trepidation and fear. I have marshalled my forces, and I have all of you behind me pushing me forward and giving me strength. Like any good warrior I can see the possibility of death in battle, but there is no choice and it must be done. Hooah.