yarr, I be fightin' a cold

A few days back I noticed a little bit of a sore throat. That quickly got worse and progressed to my larynx and trachea, which became raw just in time for a bit of chest congestion and occasionally productive, always painful, barking coughs.

Last night I noticed, after rising to go to work, that my right ear felt inflamed on the inside and was congested. My nose started running like a faucet, I started sneezing, and my eyes were red and itchy. When I got to work I bought two kinds of antihistamines, cough suppressant with expectorant, and nasal spray.

The cough is mostly gone already. The nasal congestion and running continue. Right now it feels like a bad allergy day.

Easiest? No. Nice? Yes.

This past week, Rocko and I continued our exploration of the trails up near the Blue Ridge Parkway. One day we took the Little Sam trail, which connects the Flat Laurel Creek Trail to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and this sign was at the beginning.

Note the green circle that rates the trail as "Easiest". A mile and a half away, at the other end of the trail, a similar sign rates the trail as "Most difficult".

There is no significant overall elevation change that might make the trail significantly easier in one direction than the other. No matter which end you start from, you have to climb and descend, ford the same decent-sized creek, navigate the same mudholes, and thrash through the same overgrown undergrowth that makes you wonder if you missed a turn somewhere.

The truth lies somewhere between the two extremes; this trail is not "Most Difficult" as the marker at the south end states, but in no sense can it be considered "Easiest" as the north end claims -- unless your only criterion is the overall length of the trail from end to end.