One very sick Sadie

Sadie has had diarrhea for four days. This morning's bout was especially runny and smelly and I told Mary I had to take her to a local vet for a check-up. Had she contacted giardia? I had seen her eat horseshit a few days ago.

Mary talked to the campground hosts for a vet recommendation and they referred us to Kathleen Sexton in Bishop. That is where we went at 10:45am, and Dr. Kathy was sitting in the waiting room reading a book when we came by, and attended to us promptly. As I thought, she suspected giardia and gave Sadie a shot, then prescribed some pills for her. I have to keep her on a 24-hour fast. That will be hard to do!

Sadie seems OK now, with fewer bouts of the runs as she sits quietly in the truck. I'm at the Looney Bean Cafe in Bishop as I write this, charging up all my camera and laptop batteries, even my Kindle, via the outlets. It's also Kevin and my 7th-year anniversary.

Weather is pleasant, with cool temps in the upper 70s. The big news on NPR have been the death of Betty Ford (I didn't realize she had been still alive!), the assassination of Wahid Karzai, half-brother of Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and the still-lingering debate in Congress over raising the debt limit

We thus took a "Zero Day" of hiking and instead drove 20 miles north of Bishop along a dirt road described as the "Petroglyph Road," ancient rocks formed 760,000 years ago on which ancient peoples carved interesting diagrams. Sadie remained in the shade of the truck while we stopped at three locations to photograph the ancient art works. The White Mountains were to our east, the Sierras to our west, and in the middle was this Volcanic rock formation, and US Highway 6, which ends at Bishop after 3205 miles across the country, ends here. A fertile strip of land grew crops and curious cows.

We then ended up returning to the Looney Bean Cafe where Mary ordered an ice coffee and I charged more camera batteries. Sadie rested in the truck. I think whatever antibiotics she was given tired her out. She deserves a day of rest.