Slow day today in Billings

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  Billings, Montana, United States
Friday, September 26, 2008

Yesterday was a full travel day so I thought to stay here in Billings for 2 nights and plan where we will be heading the next couple of days. Wyoming doesn¡¦t have lot of different directions to go so it needs a bit more time to research.
Tomorrow will be another long but exciting drive day, about 7+ hours. Not so much in mileage as in scenery driving. We will be driving one of the most scenic drives in the US but also in the world. It¡¦s called the ¡§Bear Tooth Highway¡¨ and I¡¦m lucky, it will be open for another 2 weeks before it will be closed for the winter season. The highest point will be almost at 11.000 feet. It¡¦s from here to Cooke City, Montana and then we will be taking the north entrance of Yellowstone Park, drive the east side of the park and then straight into Grant Teton National Park. (Grand Teton was named by, who else, a French man who when he discovered the area, named the mountain range ¡§Big Nipples¡¨, hence Grand Teton). fº
As much as I was planning to lasso it up and dance tonight in one of the cowboy bars, I¡¦m tired and can¡¦t be messed up for tomorrow so I went into town this afternoon, had lunch at The Rexx, downtown Billings (which is not a very interesting town as I thought it would be) and the rest of the day was planning, mapping and taking Johannah to a park in town.
Johannah is doing really good. For those who don¡¦t know: The last reason for delaying our departure was because she didn¡¦t feel well. She was lethargic, slept a lot, and didn¡¦t eat/drink as much as usual. She¡¦s very sensitive about routine and places that she feels comfortable/safe. The vet said that it could well be a depression, her 9 year work routine (she was with me at work since I got her when she was 6 months) is gone and so is all the attention that she got over there. The first 6-8 weeks after I was laid off, we kept ourselves pretty busy but the last 4 weeks were much more quite, I was a lot at home so she was too. I could have stepped it up a bit but I didn¡¦t realize it until she showed symptoms. Sometimes you¡¦re so on top of something that your objectivity takes a backseat. Whatever funk she was in, is gone. She¡¦s been eating ok (always takes a few days to get used to this travel schedule (read: lack there off). And goofing off and I¡¦m so happy to see that.
Anyway, I had a full blood test done. Everything seemed ok except there were some elevations in her kidney and liver screen. The vet told me that she was good to go on the trip but that I have to have these 2 tests re-done while on the road in about 3-4 weeks (that¡¦s 2/3 weeks from now). If they¡¦re still elevated (or higher than they were), she has to come in for more screening because that could mean some sort of problem. That can have an effect on our trip but I¡¦m going to assume that she¡¦ll be just fine. fº

I¡¦m so glad that she¡¦s with me on the trip, I¡¦ve always been wanting to do this with her, she¡¦s is the best dog ever, so sweet, smart, funny, pretty and the best snuggler too. The trip would have been so much more quite without her. I realize that I don¡¦t know many people in this country and spend a lot alone so there is no better constant company then my Johannah. (You know that travelling with people can be pretty obnoxious, no matter how great friends, you can get pretty annoyed and have to compromise all the time. My compromise is that I can¡¦t go into every place, visit certain spots but I wouldn¡¦t want to have it any other way, she¡¦s the best travel partner!

Except for the snoring¡K¡K¡K.hahaha

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