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Friday

 Still intermittent internet. Some places are birdier than others.  Yesterday’s walk produced a bird-count of:  2 great blue herons  2 distant ducks – possible gadwalls  5 distant shorebirds – impossible to identify Still not much in the way of internet, but we have Janis and Brian.  Janis (from work) and I had a good visit.  Brian fixed something on the tire pressure monitoring system for us. Drove the Jeep to Glenwood and got a tire replaced.  Dinner with Jon and Deb.  Back to a quiet campground.  
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Thursday

 The weather along the Front Range changed.  It was in the 50s this morning.  We turned on the furnace to take the chill off.  That hasn’t happened to us since about last March!  Morning coffee outside involved jackets.  Shorts and barefoot still, but the torsos wanted jackets.  Well, the change in the weather is only going to last for one day, then it will be hot again tomorrow. Talked to both Becky and Matt this morning.  They got all their kids off to school.  Now every single one of our grandkids are in school.  No more babies or preschoolers. Colorado is not on fire, but nevertheless, it is enveloped in a cloud of smoke.  All the states to the west of us are on fire. We had an eventful drive across the Continental Divide, but ultimately we did arrive at Rifle Gap State Park.  It is good to meet up here with Janis and Brian.  We don’t have much in the way of internet, so no pictures.  In fact, I don’t know if this will even go out today.  I’ll just put it out there and see what happens.  
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Our work here is done

 A nice long visit with an ENT specialist in Denver (Lone Tree to be exact).  Another ear cleaning.  An eardrum perforation check (It’s still perforated).  A hearing test.  Two different swabs to grow cultures.  Four new drugs.  And  clearance to drive over the divide.  You don’t need functioning Eustachian tubes to equalize ear pressure when you have a hole in your eardrum. Here is where we’ve been so far on the Great Urgent Care Tour: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201563872774147443355.0004c582cf68e9c98e366&msa=0&ll=37.405074,-99.580078&spn=23.763779,56.90918 Tomorrow morning we head for Rifle Gap State Park over on the Western Slope. No more Urgent Care for us though.  The next time Judy needs attention, we’re diverting back to this ENT in Lone Tree.  We think they’re the ones who are going to get us through this.  
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The Great Urgent Care Tour

 We decided to stop at every urgent care facility we pass this trip.  Later we can grade them and write a book… Judy’s ears get better, then worse.  Every doctor prescribes something that helps, but it only helps for a few days, then she needs something different.  It’s quite a roller coaster ride.  Tried a new urgent care in Highlands Ranch today.  They got her an appointment with an ENT specialist tomorrow. We were scheduled to travel tomorrow morning to Rifle on the western slope, but that involves going from 5,000 feet to 11,000 feet, to 6,000 feet, then back four days later.  We’ll suspend our travels for now and maybe avoid the high-altitude-eardrum-abuse.