Vacation

 

Siletz Bay, Oregon

Jackie and I went for a short vacation along the coast of Oregon, which is really amazing, and we had a great trip. Just got back yesterday.

I knew that this vacation would make it a challenge to keep up my 10,000 steps each day, and sure enough, my streak I had going since Christmas ended at 27 days, though not for the reason I thought it would.

The first couple of days I did OK, getting just over 10,000 steps day one, then 14,500 the next day, and I was feeling confident. Then in the morning on day three I realized that I had left all of my daily pills at home and had not taken any medicine for two days. The one that really gets to me is Synthroid, which regulates my metabolism in place of my missing thyroid, which was removed eleven or so years ago due to cancer. Without Synthroid, my body slows down and my energy fades, so we cut our trip short, not right away but one day later, and for a couple of days I only walked a few thousand steps.

These kinds of things are going to happen, which is why I need to build up a reserve of steps. In fact though, looking at just this month, I am still more than 20,000 steps ahead of my target pace even after the trip, and I have walked farther in 24 days than I did in all of November. Now that I am home and have taken my meds for a couple of days, I am back on course. I was going to make up any deficit from vacation, but I think I'll skip that and be happy with where things are.

The picture above, by the way, is the view from our Hotel Room in Lincoln City, Oregon. We could see lots of birds and several seals (or maybe sea otters) from our balcony, and I think that some of each are captured in this photo, although I cannot tell you which is which.

My steps put me near Osburn, Idaho, well more than halfway across the state. The map tells me that it is only 17 miles to Cooper Pass in Montana, which means I will get there in four days at the latest. I like crossing a state quickly. Montana is going to be a grind.