Lookout Bozeman....

Man, I gotta start writing more again. Now that I have something to do other then just sitting in my van all day (and night) long I find myself putting off writing to do other things. Things have been going well on the home front since my return though and it's been good to see people I know again. After returning from my big adventure I'm surprised how many people know who I am and what I did but I don't have a clue who they are. I guess that's nothing real new though, I've always been terrible with names.

I honestly don't know what I've been doing with all my time. Somehow I've been managing to stay mostly busy during the day but when the day is over I don't know what I really did. I've been filling in at the shop now and then when they have some tough diagnostic problems or if they're short handed for a day. It's kind of nice just going in once in a while and I actually enjoy it. I think most of that is because I know I don't have to come back the next morning and because working for a day is a break from the norm. Just like when you're working everyday you relish your days off because it's something different.

The really good news is that I went to see a local bone and joint doctor and he said he doesn't think surgery will be required for my knee. That the ACL tear is small enough that building up strength in my leg/knee and wearing a brace during more strenuous activities will give me the support that I need. While the thought of avoiding major knee surgery is nice I'm also a little bit apprehensive. I pretty much had my mind made up to just have surgery and (hopefully) be done with it. I knew that surgery wouldn't be a necessity but with my activity levels thought it would probably be best. The only way I'll really know if my knee is strong enough to do whatever I want to do is if it never fails again, which is something I'm really hoping for because it hurts really bad when it dislocates. I definitely don't want it to fail again someday when I'm by myself 2 days back in the mountains somewhere. Hopefully everything will work out all right though and it will sure be nice not having the spend the money on the surgery.

I'll be giving my knee a good test over the next week or so though because today Sarah and I will be leaving for Montana for about a week. Sarah has a job interview out there and instead of doing it over the phone she asked if I'd like to go to Montana with her so she can do it in person and see what the area is like. Since life has been so stressful lately I figured I could really use a vacation so I took her up on it. The last couple days I've been getting the van and cleaned out, repacked, and re-organzied for double occupancy. We'll be heading to the Bozeman area and I'm sure there will be a stop in Yellowstone too. We're hoping for good weather but either way I'm sure we'll have a great time.

We'll be in Montana over Thanksgiving so if anyone in the area reading this wants a couple extra dinner guests next Thursday we'd be happy to accept your offer. I promise we won't stink.

I'll have my laptop and cameras with me so you can expect some more updates from the road. I'm looking forward to doing some traveling with someone for a change.