Saturday, August 4, 2007

We're back!


I am back from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. What a great trip!

It’s hard to put in words, the experiences that we had.

There were quiet mornings, sunny afternoons, and loons calling. We lay in the tent listening to morning birds. We cooled down by jumping in the cold water. I watched the sunrise and the moon appear. We loved sitting in the breeze reading Harry Potter out loud. We ate steaming bowls of soup made on a little stove. We munched pistachios and drank sugar free kool-aid while sitting on the shore of a lake listening to waves roll in on the rocks. It was bliss.

I ended up bringing my expired glucagon, as my prescription was not approved. Apparently it is now in the appeal stage, and I will be notified in another 30 days if my health insurance will agree to cover it since the prescription coverage will not.

I brought two new meters (Freestyle Lite) that my friend from Michigan brought with her, courtesy of her friend that works for Abbot. I liked the bright light and the bigger numeral display. Otherwise, it isn’t much different than the Freestyle Flash. It does use different strips that she also brought for me.

On the third night, we headed into the tent, tired from the day. Each night that Dixie entered the tent she crashed hard. Living outdoors was exhausting for her. That third night, around midnight, I awoke to scratching. Dixie was still laying on her thermarest, but had one paw extended and was hitting me. I tested and was 42. I opened a zip lock baggie and got out two GU packets. I ripped open the packages and slammed them. During this time Dixie rolled over and went back to sleep, as if saying, “my work is done.”

It was very hot and humid, and I had a harder time keeping pump sites in for more than two days. Many times during the day, and especially after a portage, I lifted my shirt to wipe sweat from around the site and to check its integrity. I usually fill my Cozmo cartridges the whole way up. (300ish units) For the trip, because of the heat, I only filled them halfway. I kept the spare cartridges in a Frio cold pack that worked marvelously. I had also purchased a Frio pump pack, and kept my entire pump in that during the hot afternoons.

So what were the challenges of the trip? Black flies that bit and bit and bit. (especially around the ankles) Long portages (a mile at a time) carrying a canoe over my head. Hot nights in the tent, trying to get comfortable. (most night it was too hot for a sleeping bag so we just slept on our sleeping pads) Falling while carrying the canoe, landing with it on my head, and spending the rest of the day with a headache. But even with those things, it was incredible.

I’m already thinking about my trip next summer. ☺



DIXIE TIDBIT:

Dixie loved the trip. She sat on top of the food pack in the canoe, and her sniffer worked overtime. She did a great job, not only in the canoe, but also on the portages.

The flies really got to her. She had a couple of afternoons of swollen bumps around her eyes and on her snout, but nothing that a couple doses of benadryl didn’t remedy. She was a trooper.

If I haven’t mentioned it lately…. Man, she’s a good dog. The best.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having met both Dixie and you - I agree she is a great dog - and you are not so bad yourself ;).
It sounds like it was a great trip.

P.S. Why does it look like Dixie has caught a rabbit in the first picture - or is it just me?

Molly said...

Sara-
Dixie got to bring one toy on the trip, and you're right, it was a stuffed bunny. In this picture she was playing with it. :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness! I was a little worried she had 'hunted and gathered' herself a little friend! :P

Minnesota Nice said...

I too thought she'd helped herself from nature's banquet. (Dear sweet Dixie madly hunting down the litle forest critters?)
Sounds like a wonderful trip - we all need wsmething like that to refresh us - nature's healing at its best.
Glad you had a good time.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Sounds like a great trip! Glad that you made it back without having any traumatic stories to tell us about (although getting smacked in the head with a canoe does NOT sound pleasant...).

Anonymous said...

welcome back sounds like a great trip. And yes she is a great dog. and so cute.