So I have been in Alaska for the past 10 days or so- It has been great. I meant to keep a journal while i was riding my bike around but my plans changed when i got here–and i never bought a notebook to write in. I figure a recount of the stay will do just as well.

I got here a day before the solstice where there is close to 20 hours of daylight a day. The sun never really goes down, it just sinks behind the mountains for a bit and then rolls back around around 3:30.

Susan, Rae, Colleen and I loaded the truck, camper, and horse trailer with supples for a three day pack trip. We drove 6 hours from Wasilla to the Kenai Peninsula where Colleen and Susan had a competitive horse ride thing in Ninilchik. Rae and I drove to Homer; she to visit family and I to ride my bike.

I did about a 30 mile ride in and around Homer- of course the ride up the ridge was filled with stunning views of what I think were the Chugach mountains. Along the way I nearly ran into a cow moose that was grazing alongside the road- She was HUGE and she had two calves with her. I quickly pulled to the the other side of the street to snap a picture. I was able to get a few before she noticed me- ears flat and breathing thru her nose– at which point I quickly hopped back on my bike and rode on. I finished the ride by riding the length of the Homer Spit

Is how I feel today– In preparation for me Alaska trip I packed up my bike with (almost) all my camping gear and headed into the wild. Actually, the ride to Pomo Canyon is only 15 miles or so from the house. While this stand of trees that makes up Pomo Canyon is mostly second growth forest, it is still beautiful and the canopy created by the redwoods gives it as espescially otherwordly feel (think a darker scarier Endor).

When I arrived the was one car in the parking lot, which translated to only one other fire ring out of 20 being taken up. I set up my tent, had some freeze-dried chillimac and settled down to ready my Rebecca Solnit book. I chuckled to my self as I was reading a ‘po-mo” author in Pomo canyon… yeah I know, silly.

The next day I woke up early to begin my ride to san Francisco, again a training run for alaska. The previous weekend while riding the Coleman Valley Loop I noticed that Willow Creek road meets Coleman Valley Road (CVR) note* Pomo canyon is on Willow Creek Road (WCR) at the coast. I decided that when I left for SF I’d ride up WCR to CVR to Joy Road, which would drop me down onto Bodega hwy where I could catch Valley ford to make my way normally to SF. Needless to say the road leaving the campground was “paved” but it quickly gave way to gravel and the was intermixed with straight up dirt. Oh yeah did I mention that it was all uphill? ALSO I had 40 lb panniers attached to my bike running slicks–OOK!! The whole time I was not even sure I was on the right road, disconcerting as I had no cell service. I knew I was on MLC land but I was hoping I wasn’t on some logging trail to nowhere. After about 15 miles I saw a gate that resembled the gate that I had hopped over 15 miles before, so I could tell I was coming out of something. Eventually, I did hit CVR and was able to find my way the rest of the way to the Valley Ford cut-off. The ride from there was same as it always is– lots of cows, and fields, although this time I had two flat tires. BOO.

8 hrs later I arrived in SF, my knee was hurting, I was starving and I was late to meet up with N. When I got to Shanes, I had a quick shower and as quickly got a call from N- he was downstairs. Cocktails and dinner with N was great. Really great. Now, the day after a 103 mile bike and an evening of light boozing, I feel beat up, sore and yet very happy at how the past 3 days have turned out.

3.925 !!! Its official Hell YEAH!

Finally got my ass out up and somewhat early to Annadel. This time I went ahead and went for the 25 mile loop. I was having a great time until my derailleur start screwing up. Clickety-click-skip-clickty-skip-ka-chunck-skip… every time I started a climb. I was ready to throw the bike off the trail but then each time I reached the top of a climb I was rewarded by a kick-ass downhill run which made me forget about the pain of getting up. The longer the ride went the more annoying the problem got so by the end of the ride I couldn’t stay in any gear and I basically just wanted off the trail. While bombing S. Burma trail I got maybe a bit too confident with the Heckler and hit a LARGE ROCK that threw me over the handle bars. It was one of those things that i knew was going to happen but couldn’t stop it so I went with it. Luckily I missed most of the boulders the trail is strewn with and escaped with only minor scrapes on my knee and side… oh yeah, and a flat tire (how did that happen?). I was nearly at the end of the ride so I made it back to the car within 30 minutes. Bleeding and kind of sore from the endo I opted to get the Heckler adjusted the next day. I’ll be back Friday!

Shameful… Thanks for telling us in such a timely fashion

School is out yet it still does not feel like summer. Memorial Day weekend came and went. The temperature in Guernville has been hovering around 68 degrees in the daytime and high 40’s at night. Bummer.

Nonetheless school ended on the 20th and Im happy to say I improved my GPA from last semester. 3.92 WOOT! I also received an email saying that my application for fastrack was accepted so it look like I’ll be able to finish a semester early– not to bad- especially since the last semester will only contain two classes. I’ll be done before I know it– which is pretty scary., but very exciting at the same time.

Health Belief Model 1

Health Belief Model 2

Metabolic vs. Respiratory Acidocis/Alkalosis - R.O.M.E
Respiratory Opposite
pH elevated PCO2 diminished = respiratory alkalosis
pH diminished PCO2 elevated = respiratory acidosis
Metabolic Equal
pH elevated HCO3 elevated = metabolic alkalosis
pH diminished HCO3 diminished = metabolic acidosis

Today I had an OR day so had to report to the floor at 06:00, Not bad– sometimes its nice to not have to rush. I had the opportunity to view Two cases. The first was an incarcerated inguinal hernia. The funny thing was it turned out to be a hernia in addition to a VERY LARGE Hydrocele. The hydrocele itself was almost the size of an ostrich egg- and of course I’m wondering HOW and WHY the guy would carry the thing around for nearly a year?!?! Esp. since he had insurance. Needless to say this particular case turned out to wholly interesting and complete with an unexpected surprise. The next case was something similar to a Whipple procedure, except the surgeon informed me that it was not quite a Whipple but, rather a Roux-Y. Apparently for the sake of charting they needed to call it a whipple since the computer didn’t have Roux-Y…whatever. This jobby involved a resection and anastomosis of the duodeeeenum to both a pancreatic pseudocyst AND itself (see pic now). Seeing the entrails, sutures and staples, I couldn’t help thinking of the cat/rat pet that Thufir Hawat had to milk for antidote in the movie Dune….ummm yeah- OK that IS an aside. So yeah- that particular case went very well and I was happy the surgeon was so accommodation of my incessant questioning. The surgery ended beautifully with the pt. coming out of anesthesia in slurred speech “That was the WORST 20 minutes of my life!” Ha! Also, on that note, I have to say I was somewhat disappointed that the CRNA or anesthesiologist didn’t grill me (as I had been warned) especially since I spent some hours reviewing perioperative drugs and the like~

I skipped the last case cause I had to meet up at post-conference which also was fun- then had to zip down to RP for my monthly Sophomore Rep/Nursing faculty meeting- WHEW! and then yeah– Scholarly Careplan for Sunday, exam and presentation Tuesday– FUCK yeah let’s party. Chat later?