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| On my 60th birthday in Glacier National Park |
I'm back!
Our Epic Road Trip
The blog's been quiet this summer because we took our camper on a 5-week road trip from our home on the East Coast to Montana, the Canadian Rockies, and everywhere in between! We traveled over 6000 miles, visited 13 states and 2 Canadian provinces, and enjoyed 8 national parks in the U.S. and Canada (and many state parks). It was an incredible trip, with stunning scenery that filled us with awe: towering mountains, glaciers, peaceful lakes, thundering rivers and waterfalls, thick forests, and lots and lots of wildlife! Highlights included the Black Hills of South Dakota, Glacier National Park in Montana, 4 national parks in the Canadian Rockies, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin.
I'll share a few photos here, but they don't do the natural beauty justice. Videos do a better job of showing the grandeur and beauty of these amazing places. I put together a playlist of all the videos and shorts (1-3 minutes) from the trip. You can see it on YouTube and pick out the videos you're most interested in or I'll imbed the playlist here:
How Did I Get Well Enough to Take a Big Trip?
Well, that's a long story: over 23 years long! Check out the ME/CFS Treatments tab for a full summary of ALL the treatments that have most helped me and my son (he's now 31 and working full-time) over the last 2+ decades. Most of the time--with a lot of sleep, a daily nap, and piles of pills--I am able to function fairly well for someone with ME/CFS. I can handle short walks (with my heart rate monitor) and manage the basic activities of daily living.
Most recently, over the past five years, I have struggled with relapses (and I'm sure there will be more) that last several months. My last one was this past late fall and winter. Since the beginning of March this year, I've been very stable. Some of the more recent treatments & lifestyle changes that have helped the most include:
- Treating Thyroid Dysfunction (something that is very common in ME/CFS and long-COVID).
- Switching to a keto-type diet in January 2024, to help control yeast overgrowth and improve energy.
- Adding digestive enzymes (not for GI issues--I don't have any--but for general health).
And, as you'll see below, the way we travel allows me to stick closely to the at-home routines that keep me feeling good at home.
How Did I Manage the Travel & Being Away From Home?
Even with being in good shape, a 5-week road trip presents many challenges to someone with chronic illness! I posted some Travel Tips for Road Trips back in April, after our month-long trip to Texas. Those include getting lots of sleep (for me 9.5-10 hours a night, plus an afternoon nap), sticking to my routines, taking all my medications and supplements on time, and using a heart rate monitor to stay within my activity limits (which are pretty broad these days). One of my routines is morning yoga stretches, and I do that each day, too, usually outside, which helps after those long days in the car!
Bringing our camper with us helps me a lot--it's our little home away from home! I spent a lot of time making sure I had the right mattress and pillows for it, and now, I sleep really well in it (maybe even better than home). All the time outdoors helps me, too, as I find nature very soothing and rejuvenating.
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| My comfy bed, with a view of Lake Superior! |
On this trip, I only had a few mild crash days, when I'd overdone the day before. I definitely pushed myself a bit too hard at times because we were going to such incredible, breathtaking places and didn't want to miss anything, but we took time to rest when we needed it (and we never get up very early!).
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| Relaxing at our campsite in Iowa |
We both find the hours in the car quite relaxing. As I mentioned in that Travel Tips post, I have my supportive back cushion, and we listen to music or audiobooks. I flip through magazines and catch up on social media posts (we often had no cell service in the parks!) while in the passenger seat. And I take my nap after lunch every day, no matter what, either in the car or in the camper.
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| My nap spot in the backseat of the truck |
There was only one evening in the 5 weeks when I felt truly awful, but I knew it was yeast overgrowth due to cheating on my diet too many times! I noticed my tongue hurt that morning and at first thought I'd bitten it or had a canker sore, but soon my whole mouth hurt, I had a sore throat, and felt achy and exhausted ... all sure signs of yeast overgrowth! I got back on my diet, took stronger probiotics and antifungals that night, and by the next day, I felt good again.
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| During an ill-advised evening walk in Banff NP! |
And I only had one bad headache on the trip, too, one afternoon in North Dakota, but I was able to get it under control with over-the-counter meds and an ice pack and didn't even need my prescription migraine meds.
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| Resting in my lounge chair to help ease my headache |
And, of course, I wore a mask every moment that I was in public on the trip, as I do at home, to avoid being exposed to infections because of my immune dysfunction. That's the other nice thing about bringing our camper and eating breakfast and most dinners "at home." I know that even a simple cold could mean a weeks-long (or longer) crash for me, so I'm very careful.
Medications and supplements were another challenge. I have 8 weekly reminder boxes for my pills (most of them extra-large and full!). I was able to fill two weeks at a time, but that still meant refilling them twice on the 5+ week trip. We brought one big plastic bin for all the stuff I take, plus a second one for extras so I wouldn't run out. It took some complicated calculations to figure out how much I needed for 5 weeks before we left!
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| Two weeks worth of medications/supplements ready for travel! |
Staying cool can be a big challenge for me in summer, but luckily, we were traveling in the north for most of the trip! We were blessed with perfect weather much of the time, with daytime highs in the 70's F, and nighttime lows in the 50's or 60's. There's nothing better than sleeping in the camper with all my windows open around my bed! As we came back south, the heat increased, but we only needed to use the air-conditioning in our camper at night twice on the way there and once (our last night camping) on the way home. It got up to 85 F one day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, so we spent a lot of time in the car on scenic park roads, and my personal neck fan helped when we took short walks!
And we had an incredible vacation! We saw so many stunning views and breathtaking scenery and got to experience these unique, beautiful places up close.
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| Beautiful waterfront site on Missouri River in SD |
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| Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park, Black Hills, SD |
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| Beautiful views in Glacier National Park |
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| Bowman Lake in Glacier National Park |
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| Mountain goat enjoying dinner in Glacier NP |
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| Bow Lake in Banff National Park, Canada |
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| Elk in Banff NP |
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| Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin |
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