Limping ahead

The free clinic doctor took a look at my knee and told me I needed insurance, an MRI and a specialist. Joy.

But I’ve made an appointment with the specialist. It’s not until Wednesday, and what do you know, just like a car that runs fine for the mechanic, my knee is feeling much better. I turned in the golf cart this morning.

Still limping, but it’s not too bad. I’m half-debating canceling the specialist appointment but I think it’s a “can’t win” situation. I either go and they say I strained it and to get a brace, ice it and take ibuprofen (all of which I’ve been doing) or I don’t go and somehow screw it up tripping over my shadow.

It’s far more likely that I’ll go than ditch it. I’m not excited about it.

We had no volunteers this past week. Steve took off to Minneapolis on Tuesday, but I’ve hung around here. I wasn’t off but it was a pretty light week. We were officially closed Thursday and Friday, but I did work some on Friday. It’s not like I have anything else to do.

All in all, it’s been a darn boring four-day weekend. I wish I could have left town, but honestly, with the knee like it’s been, I wouldn’t have gone even if Steve had been here. I am not up to limping around a strange city.

As it is, I had planned on heading to Regina (about four and a half hours northwest) this next Friday, but I’m not so sure now. Beyond the fact the hotel rates have crept up, I just don’t know what the doctor’s appointment will bring. I figure I’ll make that call on Wednesday evening. Rates are about $100 a night right now (tax inclusive).

In my brain, I planned a two-day weekend but at this point I am thinking maybe I could just get up Saturday morning around 6 a.m. and head up there, stay one night and come back. I understand there are Tim Horton’s right over the border and I am totally into Timmy Ho’s. Canadian Maple - best donuts ever.

Odds on that are about even now. I really want to, if just to mark off Saskatchewan from my “have traveled” list. I also want to see Winnipeg, and the hotel rates are cheaper there right now, but there are two mandatory stops (the Peace Garden and the geographical center of North America) on the way up, and plus it’s an hour longer drive in the first place. That’s two days for sure. So I’ve penciled that in for August.

That would leave Labrador/Newfoundland and New Brunswick as the only Canadian provinces I haven’t visited. (No territories, though.)

If I can visit those two places, I’d then shoot for Medora, which is in North Dakota but west. It’s not exactly on the way back to Florida, but if I don’t get to it before I leave I will swing by on the way out. However, there is a reason for wanting to go sooner – they have this musical show that’s a big thing. It ends on Sept. 7.

That’s the Badlands of North Dakota – Teddy Roosevelt National Park – and I’d love to see that before departing this state. If I can’t get there before Sept. 7, I guess I will just leave that way on the way out. It’d be longer, but I do want to see it.

And the one advantage to saving it for later is I could again swing by the Badlands in South Dakota and check on Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Wall Drug again. But as it would add a couple of days to my trip back to Florida, I’d be fine if I could get to Medora before that.

So it’s one of those things where you make preliminary plans and the just hope it works out.

That happens to me a lot.