I am writing this from in my weekly rental room in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My room is more like a suite without having the bedroom separate from the living room and is quite comfortable and functional. I have just completed an 1800 mile trip from College Station, Texas to Colorado Springs via the scenic route. What should have been a 900 mile trip by the most direct route has been 1800 miles by avoiding interstates and going the scenic route via regular roads and highways and quite a bit through mountains and canyon roads. The only Interstate I drove was the short stretch between Socorro and Santa Fe, New Mexico on I-25. It has been quite a breathtaking and somewhat arduous journey but well worth it. Anyone who visits America via the Interstate highway system cannot ... read more

Taos to Creede, Colorado - August 24 - I have pretty much seen everything else in Taos the last few times I have been through, so after touring Taos Pueblo and making sure my reservoir and radiator were ok, I went back through Taos and out on Hwy 68 (The Low Road) to Espanola. From the coolness of the mountains I was back in the heat of the desert country again. I headed north on Hwy 84 towards Pagosa Springs Colorado. As I went north the elevation increased again till it was cool again. I enjoyed the scenery, especially while driving through the “Red Rocks” area around the Ghost Ranch and Echo Amphitheater. I stopped at some turnouts along the way to savor the view and enjoyed the drive till I got to Chama at 7800ft ... read more

August 22 – Friday – When I arrived a Ft. Stanton I had driven 764.4 miles so far on this trip. Of that 600 miles of it was just getting out of Texas from College Station. But now the shooting the gap portion of my trip was over and the enjoying portion could begin. Last night I stayed in the BLM equestrian trailhead campground at Ft Stanton free. It is at 6300 feet elevation and was cool enough for me to shut my windows and use a blanket. It also rained last night and some this morning. It felt great this morning when I headed out westward on Hwy 380 from Ft Stanton to I 25. It was quite a scenic drive as well. I had visited Lincoln again yesterday. Lincoln was the central location of ... read more

I am writing this blog mainly to round out this “trip”. I know it is strictly not a travel blog but in view of my other 400 blogs or so my “series” would be incomplete without entering this experience. It may even be tedious to some but I hope my past 3 blogs and this one are informative to someone who has never experienced time in an American hospital and give them some idea of what to expect. I can’t just leave my telling of these events “dangling” but need to complete the “trip”. May 6 – Tuesday evening -I’ve been going over my insurance claim summery. As it stands now I owe $14,625.03 to the hospital and $1690.05 to other claims for services rendered. A total of $16,315.08. So I will have to gnaw on ... read more

April 4 – Friday - April 4 – Friday – The nurses came in around 10AM and gave me a huge jug of some kind of chalky liquid I had to drink. Half before 12 noon and half after 12. It was some kind of liquid laxative which was to help “clean me out” before the colonoscopy that afternoon. I can assure you it worked very well in that respect. I went to the bathroom for a BM several times till I was “clear”. A Dr W. came by and said he was the Lung doctor, and would be checking out the results of the CT aniogram. He asked me what I thought he should be looking for. I told him I guess to see if the cancer had spread from my colon to the lungs. ... read more