Tuesday, December 21, 1993 - Baltimore

Blowing like crazy today. We mailed all the rest of the Christmas presents. To my joy, my mail was waiting for me in General Delivery. Was I glad to get it!
Took advantage of this extra day in Baltimore to go to the local Kaiser clinic to have my eyelids checked. They've had strange little sores and encrustations for several weeks. They come and go. This is the closest we'll be to a Kaiser clinic for a long, long time. I phoned the advice nurse, and she said it would be a good idea to get them checked, but first I had to call the number she gave me to get a Maryland Kaiser ID number. That took a while, because I had to listen to several recorded messages and a lot of music. When I finally got the ID number, I had to phone the advice nurse back for an appointment. The appointment was for 2:10, so I had plenty of time, and I knew right where the clinic was, so I thought it would be easy to get to, but when I reached the building, the door was locked and a sign said to use the Charles Street entrance. I went to what I thought was Charles Street, but the only entrance I saw was to a bank. Went in there and was told I had to go back out, turn left, and go up the steps. Did all that but only found another locked door. Went back down the steps and out to another street. Saw another bank entrance, so I went in there. The security guard told me to go back out, turn left, cross two drive-ways, and go up the stairs where the sign said "Johns Hopkins". Did all that and found another locked door! But I also saw a sign that said "Kaiser Permanente" and another sign by a telephone saying to dial 001. Did so, and the man who answered unlocked the door. Went in and was stopped by a security guard. I told her where I was going, and she had me sign in. Never in all my life have I seen a Kaiser that was so hard to get into! When I finally got there, the doctor was very nice. He examined my eyelids, said it was a minor infection, and gave me some medication.
Now that all the essentials have been taken care of, we hope the wind calms down tomorrow so we can get out of here. We want to go to Washington, D.C., next.