8 Inches of rain and a mile of pain!

We planned to hang out in the Camden, TN area as Eric was to mail a package to us there, however, six days was more time than we'd planned to spend. We anchored in Birdsong Creek on Friday and Sat nights, October 19th and 20th. The weather was still sunny and beautiful but the pain in my hip was starting to worsen. (This is a chronic condition where my S-I joint locks up but I'd been symptom-free for 7 months).

On Sunday aft, the wind piped up and our anchor started to slide. We were still in 16 ft of water so our depth alarm didn't go off but the shore was getting alarmingly close to us! We headed over to Birdsong Marina which was less than a mile up the creek. We were thoroughly welcomed and taken up to the office and museum by Mr. Bob (the owner of the resort) in his golf cart. Birdsong is the location of the only fresh water pearl farm in North America and we watched a video and heard a mini lecture by Mr. Bob on their operation. Very interesting but we opted not to go on the full tour, thank goodness, because the long walk up the dock to shore about did me in. Lots of pain now when putting weight on my left leg. That night the local drought ended; the heavens opened and the rain poured down.

It was still raining Monday when we borrowed the courtesy car (actually a red Ford pick-up truck) and drove the 9 mi into town. We decided I needed to see what they could do for me at the Emergency Room of the Camden General Hospital. After spending 2 hours there, I had a prescription for pain pills and an appt. with their physical therapist for the next day. I was dreading the walk down the dock back to the boat; still raining too.

On Tuesday we headed the red pick-up back to Camden (in the rain) for my appt. We decided to do some shopping first. By then I was using the wheelchair at Wal-Mart and the other places we stopped. Paul got pretty adept at pushing the grocery cart with one hand and pulling me along with the basket of the wheelchair with the other. I wasn't too swift with the hand controls! The therapist at the hospital, Quade, tried a few things to help me but I was so sore from all the walking that he couldn't do much besides cause more pain so they hooked me up to the electric stimulation thingee with cold packs and set up another appt. for the next day. Another long walk down the dock and it's still raining!

On Wednesday we took our truck back to Camden (in the rain). No more painful walk up the dock though - I decided to ride my my bicycle instead. With help getting seated from Paul, it really was a much better way to go! We did a load of laundry at the laundromat near the hospital and went to my appt. My therapist in Green Bay had faxed some of my history and suggestions for treatment to this clinic so that was helpful. Quade said he rarely sees my type of problem and apologized for using a textbook with pictures as an aid to treat me but I didn't care - IT WORKED!! So Wed night was our last night in Birdsong Creek: 2 nights at anchor and 4 in the marina.

We spent Thurs night, Oct 25th, at anchor behind tiny Kelly's Island. We're still on the Tennessee River, nearing the end of the Kentucky Lakes. The rock formations along the shore are beautiful. Still a little rain today and only in the 50s - brr!

We anchored again Fri night, Oct 26th, near Wolf Island, just off the channel. We watched a beautiful full moon rise before it disappeared in the heavy cloud cover. I'm still not walking normally, just due to sore muscles I hope, but the pain is much less. No more jumping off the boat when docking for me and I need to be careful to not take big steps to get on and off the boat. They seem to think that's what caused the flare-up. Thank goodness for good medical care and an understanding husband!

We got one channel on the tv at anchor. The weatherman from the Jackson, TN station said they had EIGHT INCHES of rain in the area the past week. That's twice the rainfall they had all summer! More adventures to come - thanks for checking on us!