Settled into my 4am waking time again now that I am not sick... It allows me to see the Euro sports though. The Camino stage 4 looked like another amazing part of Spain, this time in the hills and mountains and I was rather surprised to see that 3min50 gap closed down to 20 seconds towards the end.

Chilly morning, just like this morning. These are the last days in the forecast for the cold so the warmup is just about here.

No clouds meant colder temps but that also meant SUN!

I got the boys to school then had to stop at the house to fill the radiator in the sled before heading to North 40 for the anniversary sale.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE PEOPLE"S DESIRE FOR DEALS! HOLY SHIT was that place packed at 8am. It was astonishing the number of cars in the parking lot for the beginning of the 3 day grand opening sale! I managed to find a spot then on my way in the store found the primary thing I was looking for, the storage bins which were in the entry way. I was lucky to find a flatbed cart just inside so loaded up my stack then went on wander around the store. I had my list and found the pair of fly cases, boxes of ammo, the tub of deck screws, and a pack of nitrile coated work gloves. THEN I had to stand in line like I was at Costco.

I entered a number of the giveaways for that very slim chance but you can't win if you don't enter. The sale goes on today and tomorrow so we or I will likely stop by again as there were a few things I would like to pickup. Plus enter the giveaways I missed. I managed to stuff the bins in the back seat of the sled and headed home. As I left the parking lot there were cars parked along the street and in the field across from the massive lot, there were that many people there... Thankfully I had known what I was getting into so was able to remain calm and not get to overwhelmed by the masses. It helped having a cool person to talk with while waiting in line.

After unloading the car and loading up my bike and kit in case I could stop on the way home for a ride I headed north to Art's house. Now that I am not sick I could go, as giving him a cough would kill him with the 5 broken ribs...

Truly what an astonishing thing to see. My best friend fully cognizant and aware, able to use crutches, but still with the turtle shell back brace and no weight bearing on his leg, but he is mobile. AFTER A 70 FOOT FALL ONTO A BOULDER! The nerve pains in the legs have diminished greatly from what they were after surgery and his wife and daughter are doing wonderfully in caretaking for him.

We hung out and talked for hours and around 1:30 he crutched himself outside to get some sun in the driveway. He is not going to be climbing until next year as he is determined to let the bones all heal fully and will do what PT tells him. One thing about us rock climbers, even more so big wall aid climbers, is RESILIENCY and DETERMINATION! Art's son said, "only Dad could walk off a 70 foot fall" which is essentially what he is doing. Any other person would likely be dead or paralyzed. Apparently the surgeon said a mm more and he would be, but thanks to the core strength in his body his spinal cord stayed intact.

His ass is not enjoying being largely bed ridden, literally his butt cheeks are over stimulated from the constant pressure on them combined with his internal mandate for movement... He is one mentally tough SOB and will make it through, thanks to the help of his family.

It was after 2pm and I had to head for home. I had the hope of stopping on the way for a ride but as I got closer to Deer Park I decided to head for J's school in hopes of parking there and riding. I then realized that the bike took up the back seats and left no room to bring J home... So to the house I went to unload everything and sit for 20 minutes before driving back up to the school to get him.

Today is the Spokane Bike Swap which we will be going to to hopefully get Hive account@stryeyz a new bike, I will look around, maybe join a club. Then once home we will go on a family ride which J and I will probably go for longer then. Camino 5th stage is soon and the PDC is going on. Utd will get destroyed by Chelsea most likely, then this evening I will grill then we will watch the new Super Mario movie.