Pile o’ Bones with a soup and sandwich

First, a knee update: exactly what I figured. The doctor on Wednesday kind of gave off a “you’re wasting my time; this is nothing” attitude and I can’t blame him. I knew I should have canceled it on Monday, but oh well.

The knee has no damage. Just take ibuprofen and ice it. Just what I’d been doing for the over two weeks I had been in excruciating pain.

Oh, and speaking of: I was going through my RV and I happened upon a leftover from the previous residents, who had been the village managers when I arrived.

In an unseen corner of one of the storage units I found a bottle of Vicodin. Oh, man. Very good to know.

This is the thundercloud that chased me.

Anyway, there’s no telling what the financial damage is to the knee. The doctor’s office wouldn’t even speculate. They took about 15 X-rays, or whatever it is they do now. They used the term X-ray, but I kept waiting on that radiation apron but they never gave me one. I think they probably shot off about eight of them before I even realized what was going on.

I don’t have “insurance,” just like I don’t have a “job,” per AmeriCorps. Instead, I have “medical coverage” but I don’t understand it. I have lots of paperwork and I have to file it and either pay before or have the doctor’s office bill, which isn’t going to happen.

But, when asked how much the bill is, the doctor’s office has no clue and referred me to “billing.” That where I thought I was; I’d left the paperwork to be filled out with things like “diagnosis code,” “explanation of diagnosis” and “amount” that morning and when I returned I expected it to be filled out.

Silly me. The doctor’s office did put some kind of number in the first blank, but more numbers in the “explanation” spot. Yeah, that’s helpful. But what even worse was, the “amount” was blank.

So this mysterious “billing” will have to do that and honestly, life’s too short to worry about it. I’ll call next month, but it was time to take a break and get out of town. 

Since I’ve been to Bismarck four times already, I wanted to get a little farther away. The nearest “big city” (in this case, about 200k: Minot is about 45k and Bismarck is around 63k) is over the border, in Canada.

So on Friday, I up and skipped town. I figured if I just had a bathtub and “The Godfather 2,” which was next in my lineup, I’d be good even if nothing else came through.

The beauty of low expectations is that usually you meet them. In this case, I didn’t quite hit those two (the DVD didn’t play in my computer, so I settled on “House of Cards” on Netflix streaming) but managed to catch up on a relationship with Tim Horton’s donuts that I had to abandon upon departure from Detroit.

Tim’s is a Canadian thing. Yes, Detroit had a few, but us Yanks never could get the Canadian Maple donut quite right. Wendy’s bought out the US chain, but I think they spun it off awhile back. (I own stock.)

Tim Horton was a Maple Leaf defenseman who was killed in a high speed car crash in 1974. He also founded (or co-founded, or something) an awesome donut place. It’s a huge Canadian chain. I guess they have other fast-food restaurants, but Timmy’s is it as far as I care. 

Randomly taken while driving at 75 mph.

.

There have been so many established and they’re so popular it’s kind of tough for some people to grasp that the chain really was started by a hockey player. They’ve even dropped the apostrophe in “Hortons” to confuse people.

Young hockey players don’t even know. I remember when Larry Murphy broke one of Horton’s records and the other veterans bought him a bunch of Timbits to mark the occasion.

Some of the younger players thought it was a coincidence and could not be convinced otherwise.

But it’s not. Tim Horton’s is not “just” anything. They have awesome donuts, and really, really good soup and sandwiches. (They also have coffee, but I don’t drink that.)

Not a screen saver, but equally cool.

And by the time I was in Canada for 24 hours, I went twice. And I intend to go for lunch on the way back. Might even take some Timbits home to everyone.

So when I say going to Tim’s was a highlight of this trip, it is not an indication that this has been a lousy weekend or anything. It’s been very low key, but perfect for what I needed.

I haven’t even found a magnet yet. I did hit an antique mall and found a cookie cutter – a pig – but I haven’t seen a lot of souvenir opportunity for a city that was once called Pile o’ Bones.

They do have the Royal Canadian Mountain Police museum here, but I decided it wasn’t worth the admission for me, although I might still see if there’s a gift shop on my way out.

Yellow flowers and a dizzying sky.

This weekend here, there is some big country music festival, but tickets were only sold for a three-day package for $180. Considering I could have only gone on Saturday, the day when the Dixie Chicks were the big band, pass.

Most of the acts that played will be at the Minot fair in a couple of weeks, with the exception of Kenny Chesney, who is playing tonight. I am leaving in about an hour, so that wasn’t going to work.

One my way downtown the second time – after the sudden downpour – I got passed by several tour buses from Nashville. When I was walking around the park, trying to find the Tim Horton’s I’d seen earlier, I saw several more buses so I guess the Radisson is the big fancy hotel in Regina. God knows the Comfort Inn wasn’t.

But, when I couldn’t find the downtown Tim’s (I swear it said next to Cronwall Place, and I walked ALL around that building!) I just went back to my own motel and walked to the Tim’s next door.