Yellowstone Trip

Visited Yellowstone Aug. 11 to Aug. 18. Along the way we visited the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Drove 3370 miles (5329 kilometers)

Aug. 11- Everybody got into the car and loaded everything at 7:00. The car would not start. I left the key in the car and the door open. The jump cable saved us. We only wasted 10 min.

After 3 days of driving, we arrived at the East Gate of Yellowstone. A ranger politely informed us that the gate is closed forever because of wildfire. He told us to take a detour via Northeast Gate to go to our hotel, which was 200 miles of zigzag mountain road. We drove 50 miles back to Cody and checked into a Holiday Inn.



Day 1
Holiday Inn
1103 N SPLITROCK BLVD.
BRANDON, SD 57005

Day 2
Holiday Inn
12444 OLD HILL CITY RD
HILL CITY, SD 57745

Day 3
Holiday Inn
Cody

Day 4
Yellowstone Grant Village
44° 23.385 N, 110° 33.328 W (44.389750, -110.555467)
866-439-7375 or 307-344-7311
To reach a Guest: 307-344-7901


Day 5
Yellowstone MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS HOTEL (WY 82190)
44° 58.572 N, 110° 42.098 W (44.976200, -110.701633)


Day 6
Holiday Inn
1809 SUGARLAND DRIVE
SHERIDAN, WY 82801

Day 7
Holiday Inn
1103 N SPLITROCK BLVD.
BRANDON, SD 57005

Day 8
Sleep at Home, finally!

Visit Milwaukee

Visited Jim and Kay in Milwaukee. As usual we had lunch in their nice cafeteria. Stayed there for one and half hour.

Then we visited Xianbin family. Their twins are now three year old.

Then we toured Marquette campus.

Blood test for D physical Exam.

Went to ACL Laboratories at Highlands for blood test. Will know results in a few days.

Aug 8 update: got test results. Everything is normal.

RBC: 5.0 (4.5-5.9)
Hemoglobin: 15.2 (13-17)
Hematocrit: 44.0 (39-51)

Glucose: 98 (65-99) - this one is close!

Dodge Caravan Oil Change

Dodge Caravan Oil Change at Merlins for $17. (54600 miles)
Checked front and rear brakes. Both have more than 50% left.
Tires are OK.

Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS

Bought from Amazon for $378. Bestbuy has it for $499 + tax.

New Keypad

Installed a Sears Craftsman LiftMaster Chamberlain Garage Door Opener Wireless Keypad model 976LM Security+.

Need to change battary in 1 year. That is July 2008.

Bought this from Amazon for $40.

New Water Heater

$703 to get it installed. The installer charged $200 to fix the old flexable pipe. The total cost is $903.
This unit has lifetime warranty. Which means HD will fix it for free 20 years from now.

GE 40 Gal 12 year. Contract #: 二二6 - 9743212.
(877)843-3777

Low Blood Count!

RBC: 3.8 (4-5)
Hemoglobin: 8.6 (12-16)
Hematocrit: 29.0 (36-45)

Way too low.

2007-08-24 Update
Hemoglobin: 12.5 (12-16) Basically normal.

2007 YMCA Membership

Starting May 22. Paid $193.

New lawn mower from Wal Mart

Bought a new lawn mower from Wal Mart for $109. It came out box assembled. This is nice.
I mowered lawn for 5 minutes before I realized that I did not add oil. The sound was strange. It seems to be a nice lawn mower. At lease better than the old one that I always had to spent 5 minutes to start it.