Day Eight - Life does flip-flops

Actually yesterdays post was for July 26th as I have been riding a roller coaster for a little while.

Today I will relate happenings after arrival at Chuck and Susan's RV.

Sunday evening sitting around the campfire Chuck started tempting me. He has a friend with a motorcycle (I could see it from the campfire) who offered it to Chuck if we wanted to spend a day riding around more of Colorado together. Chuck pointed out that home was only about 1100 miles away. I had planned on three days getting back home. IF I stayed and rode a day, I could make that 1100 miles back in two days. He suggested that I think about it overnight. I did.

The more I got to thinking about it I thought that wife was missing me and I really should just take off in the morning and ride home in two days and relieve her mind a little earlier. I think she worries about me when I am on the road. It must be the 42+ years we have been married.

Morning came and I sat around the campfire drinking coffee at dawn. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is on a clear Colorado morning. We took the dogs for a walk in a mountain meadow, came back and talked more and enjoyed the morning.

Around 11:00 we packed the dogs in the car and headed up into the San Juan Mountains (dirt road) to let the dogs roam in a much higher area, about 10,200 foot elevation.

After returning, Susan fixed us a light lunch. About 1:30 Susan decided to run into town to do a little shopping. I remembered about 3:00 that I had not taken my pills that morning so took them at that time. Decided to take a shower and get into clean clothes.

Sat down to watch the end of a National Geographic program that Chuck was watching and while watching it took stuff out of the dirty pants pockets and put into the clean ones I was wearing.

Program ended and time showed as 3:58; I was trying to fold my dirty pants up to put back in my bag and could not get them straight, so tried to stand up to shake them straight and fell to my knees.

Chuck had just stepped out the door of RV and was right there and told me to stay still. We waited several minutes and then got me back up and sitting on the couch. Told me to sit still and he would be right back. He went to another RV and got a retired physicians assistant to come look at me. She did a few simple tests and guessed that I had had a TIA. Transient Ischemic Attack; a mini-stroke. She suggested that I rest and not try leaving that day.

While talking with her and Chuck, I had another one and she told Chuck to get her husband and the car as they were taking me to an emergency room.

To shorten this considerably, I ended up having 13 TIA's between 3:58 in the afternoon and midnight. They admitted me to the hospital and put me in the Intensive Care Unit.

The next afternoon the doctor came by to release me around 3-3:30 and while he was there I had two more TIA's. I ended up staying four days in ICU before being released.

I figure looking back, that God did not want me having those while riding the motorcycle so provided a way for me to be with friends and close to medical help.

Day Seven - Inzane is over

Starting Mileage: 72228
Ending Mileage: 72709
Mileage for day: 481

"This is the start of catching up on my blog posts. Life got interesting from this point forward"

Great and typical day for riding in Colorado. Started out cool and clear. Day got warmer. Day got cooler. Day brought rain and fog (clouds) in the upper mountains. Scenery was beautiful when you could see it. High mountain fog and rain restricted visibility in what was probably some of the prettier areas.

Difficult riding at times with the weather conditions and roads that had been recently repaved and still had loose gravel in spots making life interesting.

Wish that I could have seen more of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison but weather did not cooperate in that area.

Arrived in Mancos, Colorado and was met by 'Santa' Chuck at the intersection into town. Fueled up and he led me out to where he and Susan had their RV camped for the summer at Echo Basin. Beautiful area. They fed me a steak and corn on the cob and had a beautiful campfire setup.

Life is good. So nice to find friends and hospitality so far away from home. Makes you glad to be alive.