There are elastic ankle braces, easier to get on and off than taping. Dodie has used knee and wrist braces like this. She is free of these for the time being. Available all over Europe in pharmacies if needed there, but you could bring it over as well. Elastic support (compression) socks can also help a bit.

Thanks for the suggestion, but for the time being she’s going a different route: she’s started wearing a brace for her hand and taping her ankle. Results so far are quite encouraging. She’s biked the last three days straight and is going out on her own again today. Yesterday is the first time we taped her ankle, and at rhe end of the ride she said neither her hand nor foot hurt. Which of course is fantastic news, if it holds.

Hey you two, maybe Rachael would be happier with a slightly swept back bar with attached drops of some sort to create a possible change of positions. Dodie found with her arthritis in her hands/wrists that that seems to work best. She also has twist shifters which she loves, and the brakes are nearby but nothing to do with the shifters. Dunno if it might help for Rachael. Everyone is different right? But maybe worth a look?

Going! I’m glad you commented. It nudged me to finally look it up. It’s close to getting sold out except in the back balcony.

Ooooooh!

Where did you ship your Lumix cameras? I will be interested to hear if they can be refurbished. We're taking off today on a cruise to the Caribbean. I'm leaving my Lumix home even though it's easier to carry in a waist pack and am carrying my Kodak to try it out. It's a cheaper version of your new camera with a better zoom than the Lumix (I have the same shaking that you get when you zoom in, although I'm going to try the burst mode to take multiple pictures) . I hope that as I walk around, I will be able to get some nice pictures.

I spoke to the neighbor about this bird. She said he’s a regular, showing up for a morning snack most days.

Thanks for the counsel, Karen. You’re right, there’s a strong need for organization here, which I’m constantly honing. I’ve always got a mental object list in mind when I leave the house, or sit down somewhere.

One thing I haven’t brought up is the role of the prednisone in all this. I’m suddenly prone to distraction and losing the thread. I think that what I’ve views as euphoria might partly be the prednisone talking. There some learning about the new me going on here, but we’re doing better than all this seems.

Oddly enough, Lapp the sparrows suddenly disappeared a few seconds ago
,,

Too many scares, Scott. I know you’ve been through way too much, but perhaps you should allow more time for yourself to get oriented and organized before you depart someplace to make sure you have the glasses, wallet, etc. I do hope this is a “seen” as a good idea and not a scolding. We are all pulling for you to have a great trip! The birds are counting on it! ( so you can count them up) :)

Looks like it is doing it’s morning exercises ;)

Incoming!

Awesome!!!

Yes, of course we’ll buy a new spanner - we did so today, as well as a new cable lock that’s also gone missing. I’m convinced I just walked off and left them on the floor when I was done boxing the bikes. We wouldn’t have taken them as carryon - everything like that would have gotten packed into one of the panniers as checked luggage.

No idea if Alaska accepts bgfed but unboxed bike. You’d have to check with them.