The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men.....

You know what they say about the best laid plans! Well, ours sure went awry. When I last posted we were headed to Idaho to visit friends, then home to Snohomish WA to visit family and stash the motor home and cats.  Then we were headed back east to start the Trans America Trail (TAT).

 Silly Wayne, how can you ride the TAT if you go and break your leg???

Yes, Wayne went out riding one day with JD and Tommy. Usually the boys come back before 5 but that day it was 6:30 when Wayne rode up to our friends house. Now usually Wayne goes to our rig first, takes a shower then rides his bicycle down to JD's place.  So I thought some one had a broken bike. So I ask him "Who's bike is broke?"  He answered "I broke my leg" What!!??!!

 Note the blue straps around his right leg and the tree branches used as a splint!!

 It was 5 hours from when he broke it until he arrived back at JD's house. JD and Tommy had to cut a trail up the hill to where they thought he could safely get back on his bike and ride the 21 miles back to camp. They made his splint and a crutch for him to use as the two of them helped Wayne hop on one leg UP this hill. Keep in mind that at 59 Wayne was the youngest in this crowd. The other two are 68 and 70. I think they both went to bed early that night. Wayne felt so bad that they had to work that hard in his behalf...

As one friend noted, Wayne is smiling but ElRae looks horrified...

So at 7 PM I loaded Wayne into our newest purchase (a 2006 Ford Focus) and headed to the ER in Boise. It was about 8:30 when we arrived to a packed ER. The staff was wonderful, removing all his gear without having to cut any of it off.  Made Wayne happy, he had just bought those Gaerne boots and Klim pants aren't cheep either.  The nurses kept asking, does that hurt Mr. Andersen? But amazingly enough he had no pain after the initial break and had only had 5 Advil all day!

Here is the break, but it doesn't show the extent of the damage. It was explained to us that he exploded the tibial plateau, so there were many little pieces floating around. Wayne spent 2 nights at St Alphonsus Hospital and while there he was given the option of having an exterior frame (also called an X-fixator or Xfix) bolted into the bone or a soft brace. Which would you pick?

Wayne chose the brace, which turned out to be the wrong answer, but our question was why was he even given the choice? Someone was going to put one on at some point so we should have done it then. We also had to decide where to have the surgery and do the rehab.  As it was going to be at least 3 months we decided to go with our old doc back home so calls were made and we then had a plan.  Our friend John arrived at the Boise Airport on Friday to drive the Beast and Toad because I had to drive the new little car. We had an appointment with the surgeon on Monday in Edmonds Washington.

Wayne traveled home on the couch, trying to control some of the swelling

John set us up in his yard in Monroe but the Toad (the trailer with the bikes) had to live at a different friends house. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and waited for Monday to see the Doc.

This is what they found when they took off the bandages. Wayne had developed fracture blisters right away, but the St Alphonsus staff never indicated a concern or told me to change the bandages.  So he developed a raging infection.

Our doctor took a look at the infection and at the CT scan which showed the severity of the break and arranged for us to be pre-admitted into the ER at Harbor View Trauma Center in Seattle. So I loaded him back in the car and off we went to downtown Seattle, never a place I want to be and he would end up staying 14 days! Have you heard about how bad the traffic is in Seattle!!! It is awful and I would be staying 35 miles away.  Sometimes it took an hour, sometimes 2 just to get there.

We got to Harbor View and once they had Wayne in the ER a whole parade of doctors came to visit. There were the ER docs, representatives of his 12 doctor surgery team. (WTH??? 12 docs on a team?) and then the looky loos. I swear someone would go out to the nurses station and say "Have you seen that patient with the infected leg?  You should see this!" Staff was coming and going in groups of 3 or 4 to look at his leg. They put him on this really strong antibiotic Vancomycin, which it turns out he is allergic to.  He immediately developed what is called Red Man Syndrome which made his face and upper body get red and hot.  It also creates problems with the injection site, so they had to move the IV site to a different vein almost everyday. They also had to monitor his kidney function as that is often effected. But the good news is he didn't loose his leg!  The bad news was that the surgeons wanted to get him into a Xfix as soon as poosible to keep the joint open.  But it was 5 days before the infection was under control enough that they would consider breaking the skin to install the Xfix.

 Here is the external frame or Xfix. It was attached to the bone in 4 places and allowed the doc's to create the space needed to fix the break.

 It looks worse that it was, he really couldn't feel the pins.  He would pick his leg up and move it around with the frame.

 The swelling took another 7 days to go down enough to do the surgery. They made him stay in the hospital during that time because they were still giving him Vancomycin twice a day. Finally his surgery was approved and when he was done he just had this brace.

 This view shows 12 screws, but we have seen a view that showed 14, so who knows how many are actually in there.

 A couple of days on the Repetitive Motion machine to make sure he could bend his knee at least 90 degrees and then he was ready to go home! Or at least to our daughter Becca's house.

After spending a total of 3 weeks flat on his back, Wayne wanted to be up and around but his body was not srtong enough. We began working his upper body and good leg with weights and exercises to help him gain enough strength to use his crutches.

 When the sun came out, so did Wayne

 He missed his cats so I would take him over to where the coach was parked so he could see his buddy.  We had some logistical issues (sewer dump and satellite TV reception) that had to be solved, but once he was stong enough to get in and out of the coach, we moved back into our own house and the real rehab began.

 Out come the stitches!!!

 Looking good enough to start PT but too soon to go into the pool and swim.  It would be another 4 weeks before they would allow that.

 Once PT started Wayne was working on keeping the knee limber so we rigged up a stationary bike for him to ride. On the 4th of September the doc's released him to START putting weight on that leg.  It would take him 4 weeks to completely loose the crutches.

So now it is the middle of October and we have decided that the weather in the Puget Sound area is getting too cold and too wet for us.  We are out of here! Although Wayne likes to swim at the Snohomish Pool 3 times a week, it is time for us to head south. We will take our time, driving only as long as he can stand to have his leg hang down. Good thing we have many stops to make along the way.  Friends and shops and sights to see.  We plan to spend a couple of days in Hillsboro at Lyon's house, drop by the Monaco Service center for some parts, visit friends in Crooked River Ranch, stop in Reno to pick up some of that wonderful sausage and maybe hit a few hot springs along the way.  Our next major stop is Quartzsite AZ where today it will be 90 and sunny!  I'm ready!

May - July - Currently taking a break!

Check back in July for our back roads trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific!

April 25-28, 2014 - Winding Down this Trip

Our trip is finally winding down. DC was the last big stop. But as one friend said, how can you go to WA DC and not stop at the Gettysburg Battleground? So I looked it up and it is only 40 miles north of our route to visit family in Lexington KY. 

So we got up on Friday and headed north into Pennsylvania.

 

Of course we had our normal luck with the weather, it was rainy and cold. So we left the bikes in the trailer and decided to go to the museum and the Cyclorama.

A cyclorama is a 360° cylindrical painting that is intended to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted.  When completed for display, the full work included not just the painting, but numerous artifacts and sculptures, including stone walls, trees, and fences.  Along with a narrator who told the story of this failed assault that was the final battle of the 3 days we call Gettysburg, there would be people behind the painting making the sound effects and using lanterns to highlight the different scenes as the story unfolded.  Viewers would be in the center with the painting all around them. This form of painting has been described as the nineteenth century equivalent of an IMAX theater.  Today when you view the cyclorama they do the same things, but using higher tech options!

There were 4 versions of this painting, each displayed in a different location.  The painting that hangs in Gettysburg, a recent (2005) restoration of the version created for Boston, is 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference, although this version has lost some of its size due to the ravages of time.

The Cyclorama alone was worth the price of admission!

 

From Gettysburg we headed back south and then west through Maryland. This town had a number of neat looking churches.

 

On our way to Kentucky we cut through West Virginia (I want to come back and ride some of the hilly country there). Then we headed to Lexington to visit with our niece Rachael who is a Doctoral Candidate at University of Kentucky. 

 On Monday Rachael and her boyfriend Courtney took us out to one of the stops on the Bourbon Trail, Woodford Reserve.

 Here the mash is cooking

 Woodford Reserve is triple distilled, here are the three stills

 Once kegged, the bourbon sits in the keg house for between 6-9 years. It is tested periodically and bottled once it is decided that the correct taste has be achieved.

 This 18 year old kitty lives on site.

 Rachael and Courtney at the tasting table

 Yum!!!

 

 From there we went to the Keeneland Racetrack.

 For a photo op with the jockeys!

We had to look at the track

We didn't see any racing but you could see how everyone was gearing up for the Derby the following weekend.

 

From here we are headed home.  We will spend the next couple of months visiting friends and family so I will not be posting until we start the Trans-America Trail in July.

 

But I will leave you with one more photo,

 

 

Do you think we need new tires? We wore these out on this trip. But new ones have already been purchased and we will be ready to ride again soon!

Check back again in July for the TAT!  In the mean time, keep the rubber side down and be safe!

 

 

April 18-25, 2014 -- Washington DC

We left North River and made that 9 am appointment at Cummins.  It took them until 2:20 before they even got us an estimate! For something that Wayne already diagnosed for them!  Unbelievable! Then they said they couldn't even work on it until tomorrow. But one of the mechanics wanted to start on it, so they actually got to it and finished it before 6:00. We got on the road and drove for about an hour and called it a day.

 

The next day we headed up towards DC.

 

 We stayed at the Cherry Hill RV Park. It was so convenient.  The day we got there they had a 4 PM meeting to help us decided how to see as much as possible and to tell us the easiest ways to get into the city. It turns out that a Metro bus route started in the park and ended at the Metro Rail (subway) station in nearby College Park. Most days we would catch the bus, then take the Metro to where ever we planned to go that day.

 

The one day that was different was the first day when we took the Gray Line bus tour.  They came to the park and picked us up, again very convenient!

 

We started at the Capitol building

Inside the Capitol

It is a huge building

The next stop was the Air & Space Museum

The Emilia Earhart display was very cool, although I must admit that having gone to Kennedy Space Center and Kill Devil Hills on this same trip meant that we had seen most of this stuff already.

Next stop was to see our friend Barack.  Don't think he was home...

 Next stop was the World War II Memorial

 It is one of those places where you can sit by the fountain on a warm day and just enjoy...

From there we went to the Martin Luther King Memorial

"Out of the mountain of despair,

 A stone of hope" -- inscription on his statue

 Some of my favorite quotes from MLK

Our next stop was another museum, the Museum of American History. We only had about an hour and a half so we went through the Electrical Age and America on the Move exhibits.

 Had to check out the bikes

 These two are part of an exhibit that has Portland OR as the back drop.

Sunday we rode the Metro into DC and planned to start with lunch, then hit the memorials along the National Mall. We had no idea how long it would take us to get there and we got into town much too early to go to the brewery for lunch. So we stopped at the National Portrait and Art Museum.

 Very cool weather-vane

 The Preamble to the Constitution done in the license plates of all the states

 Wayne gave the beer a thumbs up, and lunch was marvelous too!

 From there we walked toward the White House, passing Lafayette Park.

 We stopped to see our friend Barack again.

 He's home today, as shown by the snipers on the roof, on the left side.

 Once again the inside of the Washington Monument is closed.  Three times I have been here, and all three times it's closed!

 We missed most of the Cherry Blossoms as a big wind storm came through last week and blew them all away.  Usually they last two weeks, this year? Four days.  Oh well, other trees are in bloom.

 Vietnam Women's Memorial

 Vietnam Veterans Memorial -- The Wall

 Three Servicemen

 The Lincoln Memorial

 The Korean War Veterans Memorial

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is new, and I think it is one of my favorites

 Signs of the times...

From the Roosevelt Memorial it is a nice walk around the Tidal Basin to...

 The Jefferson Memorial

It's easy to find where you are going on the National Mall.  These signs are everywhere to point you in the right direction.

 

From here we caught the train back to the park and made plans for Monday/Museum Day.

 We started by taking the Metro to Union Station. Originally the train station, it is now the hub of all transportation. Train, subway, bus and soon the new streetcars.

 First stop was the National Postal Museum. As a retired Postal Employee, I felt a need...

 The National Gallery of Art. We had planned to eat lunch here but the lines were too long.  Did I tell you that all the museums and monuments are free?  You can pop into any of them just for lunch, or to spend the day. We ended up eating at the Natural History Museum.  From there it was over to the American History Museum to spend the rest of the afternoon.  We managed to see the rest of the first floor and most of the third floor, but will have to save the rest for another time.

Dinner and beer at the City Tap House.  A nice benny of taking the Metro is that neither of us was driving!!!!

 

 

We took Tuesday off to rest our bodies, besides rain was due! On Wednesday we headed to Mt Vernon, George Washington's plantation in Virginia.  Again the train and bus system was our friend.

 Mt. Vernon stayed in the Washington family until the 1850's when it was purchased by a group of women from around the nation for the express purpose of preserving and allowing the public to have access. 

In Washington's day there were no hotels and not many inns so when you traveled you stayed with who ever lived along your way.  After GW finished his time as President many travelers decided that if they had to stay somewhere they'd stay with him.  One year over 600 people stayed there, some were friends, some complete strangers.

 They have done a great job of rebuilding and restoring the grounds.  They even have a working blacksmith who makes many of the metal work pieces.  They look so much like the originals that the new ones are marked with initials and dates so that people in the future will know which are original and which are not.

 The view from the Washington home.  The land across the river was turned into a park to keep development out of sight from Mt Vernon. GW often said that Mt Vernon was the most pleasant local, and the view was part of what he liked so much.

 Martha and George are both interred here in a tomb that George directed to be built.

We wandered around the rest of the property, and then caught the bus for the long ride back to camp.

 

Thursday was our last day in DC. We started by taking the metro to the Pentagon.

 We walked around to the side where the plane crashed into the building on 9/11/2001.

 The memorial is unusual, but I can see how it would comfort those that survived.  Each Memorial Unit is a cantilevered bench with a victim's name on the end over a lighted pool of flowing water.    They are organized by the year of their birth. Those of the victims on the plane face the direction from which the plane approached and those from the Pentagon face the building where they were when the plane hit. I bet workers come out here to have lunch with there fallen friends. Pictures of the Memorial at night are very striking.

 We then took the metro to Arlington Cemetery.

 Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

 This tree was so large and interesting that Wayne went up to read the name, it's a type of White Oak. that little piece of orange is Wayne. Notice the headstones.

 For some reason I thought Arlington only had this type of headstone.

 Jackie and JFK, and the Eternal Flame

 Above the Kennedys is the Custis-Lee House.  This was the home of Robert E Lee and his wife, the grand-daughter of Martha Custis Washington before the Civil War.  Lee quit the Union Military in favor of fighting for his beloved state Virginia.  Once Mrs. Lee and the children left, Union forces took over.  Cemetery space had run out and they were looking for a good place to bury the dead.  The decision was made to bury them in the garden around the house to make it uncomfortable for the Lee's in case they ever returned.  That was the beginning of Arlington Cemetery.  

 By the time we were done, we were hungry.  Not knowing what kind of neighborhood our next metro stop was in, we decided to surface at the Metro Center Station and hit the food trucks for lunch. Then we got back on the train, going to the station closest to the National Cathedral. (It was still a 1.3 mile walk)

This is a huge Episcopal Cathedral, built in the Gothic style.  The first chapel held a service in 1921, but the rest has been 80+ years in the making. My battery died at this point, so the rest of the day was picture-less...

 

After the Cathedral we walked down Embassy Row admiring the buildings and all the statues along the way. We were beat by the time we got off the bus back at Cherry Hill.  We had an amazing time in DC, I highly recommend it to everyone.  Even after a week, I still have a long list of things to see next time.  I hope there is a next time!