Mountain Music in Cumberland Gap National Park

I want to pick the brains of my fellow bloggers about the hand pain I've been experiencing.  A prescription for Meloxicam seemed to give some relief at first, but once again any drive over half an hour has me trying not to touch the steering wheel, and after 3 hours on Thursday I had to spend Friday stopping and icing both my hands and wrists on the side of the road every half hour just to complete another 3 hour drive.  Today I broke down and took a Tramadol along with the Meloxicam and was able to tolerate today's 3 hour drive, but can still feel quite a bit of discomfort - trying on a "support glove" at Walgreens caused me to gasp out loud and rooting around in my purse or lifting my backpack produces shooting pains.  Once the pain starts it encompasses my whole hand down to a few inches below the wrist and often is accompanied by tingling and numbness as well until I get a chance to rest it.  This is why I stopped riding a bike, gripping the handlebar caused my hands to throb and my fingers to go numb after just a few miles.  I blamed it on the bike at the time, but obviously this is not so.  Holding the camera, a cellphone or typing for too long produces similar though not as acute results.  My doctor says arthritis is the culprit but I haven't gotten an xray done yet.  I was just wondering if anyone else out there has experienced something similar and has any input, please comment at the end of the post if you have advice!  It's getting really hard to do the things I love and that is just not acceptable, right?

Site 29E

The campground at Cumberland Gap is only about half full which made it easy for me to grab a spot away from the other campers and it's not likely that I'll get neighbors late in the afternoon on a Saturday so I should be able to enjoy smoke-free lounging for the next two nights.  My site is literally steps from the Gibson Gap hiking trail so after setting up I laced my boots and went exploring.

Thanks to the hand pain I didn't hold anything unless I had to and I've gotten pretty creative, even devising a way to hang my camera that doesn't strain my neck or have it bouncing around.  My hiking pole also got stowed in a loop on my pack but of course I still had to bring it to use it as a monopod!

Nature's critters are so good at camoflauge, check out that dragonfly!

I spotted the coral fungus when I was waiting for a Girl Scout troop to finish getting their picture taken by their troop leader.  Speaking of GS, Katrina has another interview with them for a volunteer coordinator position - hopefully this one is it!  They wanted her to apply again as they felt she was "the one that got away" last year so we've got our fingers crossed.  She is covering for me at work while I'm away for a month so even though I hope she gets the job I selfishly hope she doesn't start for at least 2 weeks.

It's getting late for spring wildflowers this far south, but I did find a few.  I also found a sign at the campground that said to show up at site B5 to enjoy some Dulcimer music.  So I did!  I will have to post it when I get to Tennessee - I sat in McDonald's for an hour trying to upload a 1 minute video to YouTube and it was only 68% done so I finally left.

 Don't forget to comment about hand pain if you have any insight for me!