I Really Did Pay Attention in Fifth Grade Science Class

Strange things were happening last night, not only to us but to some things inside the Journey.  When we went into the Super Walmart in Laramie, Wyoming last night, I began to get a little worried.  I found myself very tired and was having a bit of trouble breathing.

 I have to watch my breathing closely because of repeated bouts of pneumonia I've had during my Coast Guard years that left me with some lung damage. The feeling I was getting seemed like I was again coming down with pneumonia.  Marti and I went back to the Journey, where I laid down and took it easy.

In the bathroom, several bottles of soap and lotion had leaked all over the place, it was a mess to clean up.
In the kitchen, we had an unopened bag of potato chips that popped open.  Marti figured she had crammed one to many items into the microwave to store while we travel and popped the bag.

I was pretty tired so I went to the bedroom and climbed into bed.  The Select Comfort Mattress (which I can't stand, but that would take up the whole post) felt like a rock.  I looked at the gauge and it read 100, I normally set it to about 55.  Looking at the other side gauge and it too read 100.  What in the world?  I let pressure out of both sides to the level we like and tried to sleep.  Sleep took a long time to come because I couldn't get a full breath.  In the morning, I woke early and still felt some difficulty in breathing.  Even more interesting, Marti said she was having trouble getting a full breath, too.

Being the intrepid travelers that we are, we pressed on anyway and hoped for the best.  I turned on my GPS and as I was scrolling through the settings and found that we were at 8500 feet in elevation.  Duh!

For us living at or near to sea level and then finding ourselves high up in the mountains, no wonder we felt some shortness of breath.  And the bottles of lotion that leaked, the popped chip bag and the mattress over inflation were all related to the increase of elevation and decrease in air pressure.  Stuff I learned in the fifth grade science class, and for some reason (Oldtimers?) I didn't remember any of it.  I was thinking maybe Murphy had returned and was haunting us.

We did another longish day, 537 miles, which we enjoyed.  The scenery in Western Wyoming and Utah were beautiful, the camera doesn't even come close to capturing the beauty.  With the snow in some places, it added an additional dimension of beauty.

Tonight we're at another Super Walmart blacktop boondocking.  It is in Brumley, Idaho.  We missed seeing the scenery in Idaho so far because it was dark when we rolled into the state.  We did see an interesting road sign, it said:  "Sandstorm Area.  Do Not Stop In Road".  Wonder what that's all about?  I guess we'll find out in the morning.

Tomorrow, we are going to try and contribute to a campground for the evening.  We are very close to our goal of Astoria, Oregon and the granddaughters, so we thought a night at a campground to rest a bit, clean up the inside of the Journey and even do some laundry will be a welcome change from all the other nights we've spent "campgroundless".  That is, if we can find one that is open this time of year.

Now it's off to bed.  I'll probably have to re-inflate that #*%^@&* Select Comfort Mattress...

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