Shizzle Popped

[sugar magnolia]

Ft. Collins. We had lunch with our granddaughter in Hays on the way through today. She’s a wonderful young woman and a diehard liberal living in hard red central Kansas.

An old injury to the rotator in my left shoulder flared up this afternoon. Driving tends to aggravate it a little but I’m having trouble moving my left arm very far tonight. I’m throwing everything in the book at it. Hopefully it’s better in the morning.

Dealing with the rotator cuff thing right now, and Biofreeze and Voltaren have been my friends.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Speaking of Hays, Kansas… In the summer 1976 Hubby and I participated in the Bike-Centennial which was a bicycle ride from Astoria, Oregon, to Washington, D.C. You could ride the entire trip or sections of it. We chose the two week Astoria, Oregon, to Prineville, Oregon, trip. A big fella from Hays, Kansas, was part of our touring group. Everybody called him “Hays” instead of his real name “Dave”. What a trip!

[Shizzle Popped]

Nampa, ID…just outside Boise. ~770 miles in 12 hours and 15 minutes including lunch and gas stops. It was a VERY long day but we’re getting closer. My shoulder fared better today but I mostly kept my arm tucked against my side and only used my left hand to help stabilize the steering. Traffic on I-80 and 84 is pretty light which helps. GPS took us up US-287 to Laramie instead of I-25 and I have to say it’s a much more interesting drive. Most of the drive through Idaho was through a heavy haze, I think from wildfires.

Depoe Bay, OR tomorrow and a 250 mile shorter drive.

[Shizzle Popped]

The Most Comfortable vehicles I have ever driven were Crysler products. They seem to get the driver ergonomics right every time. Total pieces of crap mechanically, but a joy to drive when they are fresh and agile. Zero back aches. No leg fatigue. Neck felt fine. I mean I felt like I was in Mother's Arms. Easy to steer. Accurate turns. Good go fast into traffic. Great power up a hill. I kid you not - every vehicle from a Ram truck to a soccer mom van drove and fit perfectly. Loved 'em. Trade 'em in a 50K. Don't dally. Get another one quick. Chrysler engineers have MTBF (mean time between failures) dialed in perfectly too.

The only Chrysler product I’ve ever owned was an early Neon. For a cheap car it was fairly well executed and reasonably comfortable. Unfortunately, mechanically it was an absolute pile of crap. I didn’t keep it long. When I was looking at cars the last time around, the cloth seats in the lower level Murano were impressively comfortable but I didn’t care for the leather seats in the SL. My wife couldn’t see out of it very well so it got knocked off the list early anyway.

[Shizzle Popped]

Ft. Collins. We had lunch with our granddaughter in Hays on the way through today. She’s a wonderful young woman and a diehard liberal living in hard red central Kansas.

An old injury to the rotator in my left shoulder flared up this afternoon. Driving tends to aggravate it a little but I’m having trouble moving my left arm very far tonight. I’m throwing everything in the book at it. Hopefully it’s better in the morning.

Then I'm really glad Amtrak will be doing the drive back.

Me too! We’re over 1,900 miles on the trip odometer already with another 500 miles to get to the Oregon coast tomorrow and whatever the distance to Lynnwood,WA on top of that. I’m getting too old for this shit. I’m afraid the days of long driving trips are coming to an end.

[Shizzle Popped]

Ft. Collins. We had lunch with our granddaughter in Hays on the way through today. She’s a wonderful young woman and a diehard liberal living in hard red central Kansas.

An old injury to the rotator in my left shoulder flared up this afternoon. Driving tends to aggravate it a little but I’m having trouble moving my left arm very far tonight. I’m throwing everything in the book at it. Hopefully it’s better in the morning.

Dealing with the rotator cuff thing right now, and Biofreeze and Voltaren have been my friends.

I’m sorry to hear about the rotator issue. I was rear ended by an appropriately named RAM pickup around 25 years ago. I thought it was just a muscle strain and ignored it. It cleared up after a week and I forgot about it, until it kept coming back. It’s gotten worse with age. Physical therapy has helped. Some. Voltaren is a life saver. My PA suggested it to me when arthritis in the large toe on my left foot was making it difficult to break in new shoes. I use it for all sorts of things now and it was the first thing I reached for last night.

[Shizzle Popped]

Speaking of Hays, Kansas… In the summer 1976 Hubby and I participated in the Bike-Centennial which was a bicycle ride from Astoria, Oregon, to Washington, D.C. You could ride the entire trip or sections of it. We chose the two week Astoria, Oregon, to Prineville, Oregon, trip. A big fella from Hays, Kansas, was part of our touring group. Everybody called him “Hays” instead of his real name “Dave”. What a trip!

What are the odds? Even today, Hays is only around 20k people and getting from Hays to Astoria still takes some effort.

[bill_g]

Offering you a preemptive Welcome to Oregon! Safe journey tomorrow.

[Shizzle Popped]

Offering you a preemptive Welcome to Oregon! Safe journey tomorrow.

Thanks! I can’t wait. We’ve spent the last seven years missing the PNW!

[Shizzle Popped]

I may have some photos at some point if I can figure out how to downsize them enough for the forum software on my iPhone. I didn’t bring a laptop this trip. I’ve taken a few photos but my wife took a bunch, mostly through the bug spattered windshield though. I clean the windshield every time we stop for gas, not that it matters much. The front of the car is covered in about eight layers of bug goo. I’m got to have to seriously clean this thing before my daughter sees it.

[bill_g]

Offering you a preemptive Welcome to Oregon! Safe journey tomorrow.

Thanks! I can’t wait. We’ve spent the last seven years missing the PNW!

You better get to sleep. It's after midnight in spudminer country.

[Maybenaut]

I may have some photos at some point if I can figure out how to downsize them enough for the forum software on my iPhone. I didn’t bring a laptop this trip. I’ve taken a few photos but my wife took a bunch, mostly through the bug spattered windshield though. I clean the windshield every time we stop for gas, not that it matters much. The front of the car is covered in about eight layers of bug goo. I’m got to have to seriously clean this thing before my daughter sees it.

Download the app Image Size for iOS. Icon is a blue diamond with a curving arrow inside. (h/t to whatever4 for turning me on to that).