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Third day at Nationals. I got to the fields early and took some pictures in the morning fog. I observed 1 men's game with Josh: Prairie Fire vs. H.I.P. Then i was done for the tournament. I stayed late to watch the exciting semifinal games on the showcase fields.
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Last day at Nationals. I slept in, made breakfast, then went to the fields to watch three great games of ultimate. And the Boston teams won in all three divisions: Slow White in Mixed, Ironside in Men, Brute Squad in Women.
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Drove from Rock Cut State Park to Lewis & Clark State Park at the western edge of Iowa. Pretty empty campground, but really windy all night.
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Drove from Lewis & Clark State Park across Nebraska to Swanson Lake State Park. The lake was pretty empty and i was the only person in the campground.
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Headed south from Swanson Lake into Kansas, then cut across the flat plains of Colorado. Star called me when i was between La Junta and Walsenberg to inform me that he'd be up at his Ocate Cliffs retreat by the following afternoon, so i drove west from Walsenberg, looking for a state park.
There wasn't much on my route in Colorado so i pushed on into New Mexico. I stopped at a gas station in Questa, NM and asked about camping. They directed me to the Wild Rivers Recreation Area in the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument, which they assured me had nice camping areas with showers and bathrooms. In fact, while the areas were nice, there was no RV hookups, pit toilets, and no showers. On the plus side, there was strong enough cell signal for data.
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Puttered about at the campsite for a bit, looked over some overlooks, then drove south to Taos. I stopped at a pet store (with a one-eyed owner), then walked around the Taos Plaza before turning back east to find Ocate Cliffs. NM Route 120 is barely above a logging road for about 10 miles and the shaking of the camper resulted in half a bottle of olive oil spilling onto the carpet. With the mix of the sagebrush outside, it smells pretty good in there.
The two-mile-long driveway up to Ocate Cliffs basically is a logging road and i left the camper along the side of the road in the valley before attempting it. I made it up (in first gear almost all the way) to find a crew of construction workers putting the roof on the new building that Star is making there. It's super remote, but if you walk out into the field, you can get good cell reception, which i found surprising.
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Spent a VERY cold night in the camper wishing that the heater worked. Star and i walked all over his property and out to the Ocate Cliffs proper, then i helped him build a couple simple gates for the fenced-in pasture. I made one final journey down the horrible driveway, hooked up the camper (which i'd parked at the bottom), and drove down to Storrie Lake State Park, just outside Las Vegas, NM. Another park failure. I drove in, found a spot, payed my $14 for the night, and only then did i discover that there was only an electric hookup, no water, and the showers were locked and closed for the season. Aaargh! Was hoping for a shower, but i guess not.
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Drove to Santa Fe and had a late breakfast with Caitlyn, then continued on to Star & Crystal's house in Albuquerque. Soon after arriving, i went over to Bataan Park and visited with the guys who were out playing guts. I played a couple games and they all made me take the center position every game. I held my own though—a few horrible misses but some good points scored and a couple of defensive plays. That evening, Seera was introduced to guinea pigs.
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Got up early and drove to Coronado Center to catch the shuttle bus to the Balloon Fiesta. When i walked up to buy a ticket, the guy behind the counter handed me one for free, saying that someone had left it there. I walked around the field until the balloons started filling, then found an empty spot and watched and took pictures. Not all the balloons filled up, probably due to the cloudy weather.
At noon i went out to Johnson Field at noon to play ultimate, but only 3 other people showed up, so we tossed the disc for a while. Amy met me there and we had lunch at Frontier. Went out to dinner at Garcia's on 4th Street with Star and Crystal.
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Dropped my camper off at an RV repair place to get the electrics fixed. Stopped by Roosevelt Park to play a round of disc golf. Some of the holes and tee pads had been moved around since the last time i'd played, many years ago. I shot a +5, which was not that great.
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Seera had a really swollen lip and was eating less and less, so i got an appointemnt at the vet where i used to take her and Teco when i lived in Albuquerque. The vet said that it was probably a bug or spider bite, gave me antibiotics and pain killers, then took some blood to see about her general health.
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Took Seera over to Roosevelt Park and played another round of disc golf. Better today, shooting a +1. I had a -2 up through hole 12, then got some bogies. Seera was slow, but found her way to me with some coaxing. Later that morning i heard from the vet. Seera's kidneys are failing and she probably, with no treatment, has only a couple weeks to live. The vet said that she could go on IV fluids for 4-5 days, at a cost of over $2,000, and that might start her kidneys back up, which might give her a few more months, but it was uncertain. I said that i'd think about it.
In a funk from the news of the impending death of my dog, i took Seera and drove up to the top of Sandia Peak. We walked slowly along the crest trail for a while, then i came back around on the rutty dirt road that comes out at Placitas, eventually looping back to Star's house.
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Made the decision to not go through with treatment for Seera. There was a chance that she could die from the treatment or it might not work, and i'd rather have her in the car with me than 24 hours a day in a vet hospital. Tough.
I went over to visit Chuck in the morning, hung out with Craig for a while that afternoon, then had dinner with Travis.
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Had breakfast at Garcia's on Central with Debo, then drove down to Las Cruces. I had a Lotaburger with chile on the way out of Albuquerque. I stopped at the rest stop north of Socorro and took a picture of Seera in the truck, duplicating where i took my first picture of Seera the day i picked her up and drove down to Las Cruces for Jennifer's wedding. I stopped in Socorro and walked around where we used to play ultimate and football on the golf course by our house.
Arrived at Jen & Tommy's and parked my camper in their driveway, then we went out for some excellent Thai food.
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Jen and i drove down to El Paso to play pickup ultimate. I thought that i might not be able to keep up, but i did pretty well, even juking out a younger guy to get open for a goal. Unfortunately, when we left, i forgot my hat on the field.
When we got back to Jen's house, her parents and aunt & uncle had arrived. That evening we went to a Mexican place in Mesilla, then saw a jazz band performance at NMSU featuring Jen's son TJ on trumpet.
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Jen and her parents and aunt & uncle and i all went hiking to Soledad Canyon, then came home to excellent gorditas that Tommy had got from a food truck at the flea market. After we'd all eaten, i packed up the camper and followed everyone else out to White Sands. Seera managed to climb one of the dunes all by herself! Once we'd had our fill, they headed back to Las Cruces and i drove east through Alamogordo and Cloudcroft to Hope, NM, just west of Artesia. I was shooting for a state park south of Artesia, but it was dark and that would've taken another hour, so i stopped at a roadside rest stop and spent the night.
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Long day of driving from Hope, NM to Becca's house in Round Rock, TX. We went out to a seafood restaurant and they forgot to make our meals, so we had a long wait between our salads and main dishes. Becca and i stayed up past 1:00 AM talking.
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Becca and i went out to a taco place for breakfast, then i stayed at her house all day, working on a writing project. She came home with her daughter Ryleigh and we had dinner then watched Hotel Transylvania 2, which was passable.
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Becca took Ryleigh to preschool, then went to work. I drove to Lake Bistineau State Park just east of Shreveport, Louisiana.
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Drove from Lake Bistineau State Park to John W. Kyle State Park in Mississippi.
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Long drive from John W. Kyle State Park to Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville, Tennessee.
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Drove from Cumberland Mountain State Park to Rod & Karen's house in Athens, WV. Rod and his daughter Maya and i went out to a good barbeque place for an early dinner, then Rod and i walked his dog and watched the Cubs win the National League Pennant.
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Left Rod's house and drove up Route 20, stopping along the Bluestone River to take pictures. I also stopped at the Dairy Queen in Hinton, on Rod's recommendation, for a cheap breakfast overlooking the river.
I hit I-64 to I-81 and made a decision to continue north to Shunk instead of towing my camper into Philadelphia. When i stopped for gas, my credit card was declined so i had to use my debit card. I arrived in the dark after a long day of driving.
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Added antifreeze to all of the toilets and sink traps, parked the camper, loaded up the truck, and headed out. I spent longer than i wanted in Shunk trying to deal with my unworking credit card and finally gave up. I called them again from a rest stop on I-80 and got the card cancelled and a new one issued. Someone had charged a bunch of stuff on it in Florida. I have no idea how they do that.
Continued on to Philly, stopping at the hardware store before arriving at my parents house. We went out for Indian food for dinner.
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Drove home. I logged 6,181 miles on this trip. Got my pile of mail and was pleased to get my AASI/PSIA 20-year pin in the mix.
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Seera hasn't been moving much since we got home.
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Took my truck in for its 55,000 mile service (at 55,700), then went over to the farm and loaded up on veggies. Seera trotted around the farm pretty well. It started snowing in the afternoon.
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Snow.
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Drove down to Brattleboro for a doctor's appointment. Still battling lyme. Bleah.
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