Moving on

I encountered an unexpected obstacle. Suddenly I literally could not walk even 50 feet without crippling pain in my right hip. At first it felt like muscle pain, but after a while I became convinced that Dr. Baldauf’s prediction that I would eventually have to replace my right hip had come true.

After several days of not even being able to even venture to the dumpster without a walking stick, we headed to the local urgent care. Fortunately, Dr. Winter was both highly communicative and interested in what I was experiencing. He was pretty certain that what I was experiencing was a severe muscle strain, and not the result of bone rubbing on bone – I have very little cartilage remaining in my hip. I told him I hadn’t fallen or twisted or anything to trigger a severe strain, but he told me at 64 such an event wasn’t necessary. He said I might be surprised by a severe muscle strain with no apparent event to trigger it, but he said in his experience with those 60 plus in years, he was not surprised in the least.

So, hopefully I can nurse may way back to an acceptable level of hiking prowess with some ibuprofen and some gingerly care of my hip. In the meantime, I will watch the Tour de California as it passes by Zephyr Cove RV Resort on its way around Lake Tahoe. Pretty impressive!

We start making our way toward Oregon. Hopefully we can soon lose the snow!

Talk to you soon!