Throwing in the towel

All right, I think my neurologist saw this coming.  I decided to take him up on his offer of a handicapped parking sticker.  I managed to catch a cold this week from Jed and/or Caroline.  It's settled nicely in my chest.  I'm coughing a lot, I haven't slept great, and I'm just overall weak.  By the time I try to make it across the parking lot all the way to the car at the end of the day, my legs aren't in very good shape.  It's worse in the summer heat and humidity, too.  (I did hike a bit around Zion and Bryce just two weeks ago, so it's not like I'm always this bad.)

I'm still only going to use it on days when I think I really need it.   My dilemma is that I'm usually in pretty good shape in the morning.  So either I'll not use the permit and have a long, difficult hike at the end of the day, or I'll use the permit and bound out of the car looking like a perfectly healthy 37-year-old in the morning, attracting resentful stares from those who pass me by on their trek in from the parking lot.  We'll see how this goes.