Dodie here - once you are stuck in Tucson it might be a good idea to get your cough/ribs checked out. Better to do it before you are driving north and it becomes an urgent matter. If you need antibiotics it is best to finish the course well before you have to fly. So sorry you are being hit with all these irritating medical issues. Love to you, both.

Why do teeth do things like that? Sorry to hear that the tooth has to be pulled. But better here than when touring in Europe. I hope it all goes smoothly.

It looks like s/he knows just how gorgeous they are!

Nice tail!

Dodie here. Yes, sleeping flat with bruised ribs is not ideal. Last year in Portugal I propped my upper body on pillows and found it easier to breathe that way. It allows the lungs to more fully expand and helps prevent congestion which can lead to increased coughing. Really nice sharp shinned hawk, by the way.

When we get back from Chile, I’ll have to read more of your posts. Thanks for sharing and inspiring fellow riders. I’m planning on going to New Zealand next January

Oh, that’s funny. Actually, it’s a transitive error. I titled it the Tuscan Mountains at first, wishing I was in Italy I suppose, and then semicorrected it. Thanks.

Don't worry about your stumble in the Tucson Mountains. I know you'll recover as you have so many times before. I've tripped on trail rocks many, many times--even when I was in my 30's. I'm more worried about you misspelling "Tucson mountains" in the title of this page. I'd likely make the same mistake if I had been to Tuscany as often as you have.

Ah, what image size and compression quality are you shooting? I have been choosing 1920x1080, which is the smallest of the (strangely limited) three sizes offered by our camera. That is the 2 Megapixel size. The next one up is 8M. I choose small because of the time needed to upload, given weak hotel wifi. But yes, I too have desperately shot well before really (optically) zooming all the way, to guard against the darn bird taking off.

Sounds like right thinking to me. Also, here’s another idea you might keep in mind. As you know, it’s not easy to find the bird with the zoom extended. Film is cheap, so I’ve started taking preliminary unzoomed shots at first for birds I’m afraid will disappear. I’ve captured several birds that way that I’d have missed otherwise. If I can follow up with a good close-up, great- but as long as the first shot picked the bird up at all there’s the chance that I can zoom in on the image I did get and identify it. I’ll include an example of this on the next post.

Yeah, the size and weight is a big issue. We figure if Steve had the P950 it would use up the entire handlebar bag, and by the time he stopped, pulled the camera out, removed the lens cover, found the bird, focussed, etc, the bird would be looong gone. We are sticking with the Lumix as well.

Dragging the feet is a problem alright, and it definitely gets more pronounced after I’ve gotten more tired. It’s hard to counter too because I can’t really force myself to concentrate on lifting my feet every step of the way.

Interesting theory about the camera, but no. I’ve definitely got the right camera for my purposes. It’s not just the size and weight, it’s the accessibility. If I couldn’t just keep it in my shirt pocket I’d miss many shots - like the amazing sharp-shinned hawk from yesterday that I can’t wait to show off.

That sounds so horrible. I think I must have done a pretty good job at breaking my fall on the way down to have done no more damage to myself than I did.

Hey, I like this double comma tick you’ve adopted! It’s a unique brand. I always know it’s you even without reading the byline.

Dodie finds that with her arthritic knees, even after both replacements, she has trouble lifting her feet high enough when walking, especially when tired. We checked out the Nikon P950 in stock in a Victoria store the other day, and although the features are so cool, it does seem large for bringing on a bicycle tour. Are you sure though that you were not trying to wreck your camera in order to upgrade to the P950? Not recommended really as a way to get a new camera. Hope you are feeling better soon.

Ouch,, that sounds like a bad fall. Hope you're feeling better. I know the impact of falling face first is enormous.

I had a bad fall like that,, my feet getting stuck and me falling face first. It was a true face plant. I hit the ground with my cheek. You can't imagine the swelling and black and blue that ensued. I wasn't even on a blood thinner but the bruise was incredible. This was in Spain and I went to the hospital with it - that's a story in itself. Nothing was fractured and the only thing I could do was apply ice packs and hide my ugly face. In the end it looked much worse than it was.