Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) kickin adventure: Day 8: Keep it Straight

Day 8
All I can say is that I didn't sleep well last night. My throat was sore. My body was sore. If it weren't for all the positive things that I had read... if it weren't for seeing mom stand up w/o help... if it weren't for talking to people and hearing their positive testimonies...if it weren't for all that, I would really start questioning things. It has been 8 days and I feel worse than ever!
11 - 2:30 RR. Napped, wrote in notebook, visited w/Mom & Sheri.

For our break we decided to visit Basin.

It is about 15 minutes South, and was the zipcode featured in the National Geographic article. NG only selects one zipcode, so Boulder and the Free Enterprise missed out, even though they were the original health mine. I'm glad that we went to Basin. It only served to reassure us that we had made the right choice in choosing the Free Enterprise Mine!
At first we stopped at the Earth Angel.

This is run by an elderly man, a WWII vet. We drove onto the property and were chased by four guniea hens who I'm sure had planned to each take a tire of the car and try to pop it!!!

We drove up a small hill and arrived in rabbit heaven! There were more rabbits than I had ever seen in one place and at one time! There was also a goat and various other farm-type animals. A trailer had a sign that said "Office" so I hollared. A voice in the distance advised me to come inside. I hesitated. The voice beaconed. I entered. In a (I'm sorry) very unkept, smelly bedroom was a kindly man who engaged me in a lengthy conversation about the mine. He invited me to take a look. There was no one on the property at the moment, but after I had visited at great length, I looked at the mine.

It is referred to as a "wet" mine, and I found out why.

It is a walk-in and the rock walls are very damp.

There are electrical light hung randomly to give the mine some light, but I didn't feel really safe when I was there.

Next we looked over the very tiny "town" of Basin. It seemed like something transported from "Twilight Zone". Basin is an old mining town, vacant except for a very active bar and a couple of kids playing in the street. A drive across the highway took us to the Merry Widow Mine.

It is another "wet" mine, but was more lively than the Earth Angel. I spoke with a few people who have gone there for years.

This is another "walk-in" mine. Along the side is a small stream of water, or I should say a small stream of red muck. People dip rags in this to put on whatever is ailing them.

You need to walk about 300 feet into the mine and there is a section in the back with chairs and benches where people sit and talk and play games. Along the way is also a little pet room. The other difference about the Merry Widow Mine is that the owner only allows guests to go in for one hour at a time. The Free Enterprise lets the client come and go as they please. FE also has one blanket charge. MW charges $3 for each visit.