Well, Dan made it to the doctor today. It was not something as simple and easy to fix as a sinus infection or allergy problems. They suspect possible migraine headaches due to stress. They pulled blood and will be sending him in for an MRI and other neurological tests very soon. They put him on several medications, including prednisone. His blood pressure, which is usually lower than average, was higher than it has ever been in his life, so they have him on some medicine for that, too. High blood pressure can cause headaches -- or pain can cause high blood pressure.

Day Sixteen

Started out the day with a trip to a lovely city park called the Garden of the Gods. It is filled with huge and interesting red rock spires, usually covered with rock climbers.

Then we headed to Pike's Peak. We took the toll road to the top, at 14,110 feet. The road is 19 miles long in each direction, with some rest houses and picnic areas to stop at (and when coming back down, a booth across the road where they inspect the brakes of all descending vehicles). The first six miles are paved, then the remainder is gravel. The further you get up the mountain, the narrower and twistier the road gets, with some hair pin turns and huge drops without guardrails. And it is lovely. Colorado Springs gets its drinking water from snow melt, so they impound it into some beautiful lakes on the shoulders of the mountain. And when you get to the top you see the endless views that directly inspired the words to the song America the Beautiful.

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lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
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After coming down from the mountain we visited the US Olympic Training Center. We were very lucky in that our group got to go into the wrestling room and watch the Olympic wrestling team practicing. The great Greco-Roman gold medalist, Rulon Gardner came over and spoke to the children standing in the front of the group. You should have seen their faces shining!!! One of the women wrestlers also came over (unfortunately, I did not catch her name) and spent quite a bit of time talking to my two sons. They had worn their wrestling shirts with the team name on them, so she was asking them about two of the awesome nationally ranked female wrestlers our little school has produced.
I so wish you could have seen Steven's face in particular. This year he qualified for two national championship tournaments (though we did not have time to take him to either) and is now, while only eleven, is regularly practicing against (and beating some) high school students. Who knows how far he will push himself now, after such kind and encouraging words from these two very special strangers?

One rather odd thing did happen this morning. We had been talking about our first visit to Colorado Springs, many years ago, and how it was for Dan's sister's wedding in Canon City. We happened to look down into the hotel parking lot from our little balcony, and there was a woman who looked exactly like his sister, who had twin girls with her who looked exactly like her twin girls, and had a much younger little girl with her, who looked just like her younger daughter.  That was sooooo strange, seeing these people who looked so much like people in Dan's family!!! (I should start playing the theme to the Twlight Zone about now).

Day Seventeen

Said goodbye to our beloved mountains today. Since it was hazy, we lost even Pike's Peak in less than twenty miles as we headed east across the Great Plains. We made pretty good time across the immensity of sky and grass that is Kansas. We stopped off for dinner as night was falling in Kansas City, then pushed on to St. Louis to spend the night. We ran into quite a bit of construction, so didn't reach St. Peters until the middle of the night.

Day Eighteen

Had breakfast with my college buddy, Dave this morning in St. Peters, where he lives. Then headed home, with lots and lots of wonderful memories. We had to pull off the freeway in Illinois for a while due to torrential rain, but otherwise made it home just fine. Unpacked the Jeep, then fell into bed. Back to work tomorrow!