Las Vegas is our next stop.

What is listed below was started in October of last year and still never got published. The recovery from my back surgery took longer than expected and life got in the way more than once! We have finally got a Wi-Fi connection that is reliable, and the back is cooperating so hopefully we can make progress from here on out. Currently I am over 14 months behind but as we winter here in Florida, I will work on getting caught up. So, enjoy what is here and look forward to the next installment.

Wow! It feels like a lifetime since I have been here and to be honest it has been tough getting here! With the limited internet access we had while travelling I swore I would get caught up once we got back to Delaware! Boy was I wrong.

Let me start by saying that getting older is not for the meek and mild and the last 10 months have been to say the least unexpected. Way back in 2022 while in Great Falls I fell and landed on my right side and evidently, knocked something loose in my elbow. The unexpected pain was terrible but if I was careful, I could live with it. Once we got home in March I got the elbow examined and by mid April I was scheduled for surgery and the results were great.

Before the surgery on my elbow I mentioned to my primary physician that my back had been causing me great pain at times. Much to my surprise I was scheduled for four weeks of PT without any type of examination such as a, Xray, CT Scan or MRI! He explained that regardless of the results of testing the first step was PT so off I go to PT. The treatments mostly stretches and such with little effect. At least until the fourth wee and the new exercise sent me over the top! The pain was unbearable, my legs decided to quit working correctly and my life took a turn for the worse.

Back to the PCP and finally I get scheduled for a MRI and the results were “Severe Spinal Stenosis” and with that I am off to see a specialist. Of course getting in is not easy and to make a long story short, I lived in pain and uncertainty until August 10. The four tier spinal fusion was extremely successful, but the pain was great and the recovery is taking a long time. Fortunately, I am mostly free of pain and relatively sure that my lower extremities are going to work properly. So I am going to try to get caught up and at the same time start writing about our adventures for this year.

When I last wrote we were in Death Valley and headed to Las Vegas. We arrived at an RV Park in South Las Vegas and started the explorations. One of our first stops was a Las Vegas show and we opted for the Blue Man Revue! We had no idea what to expect but we went anyway. If you have not seen this group you have to see them at least once. The lights, sounds and their antics were amazing.

Most people try to visit the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam while in Vegas but we only made it to Hoover Dam cause winter was coming to the Canyon region and we wanted to avoid winter. It was a pretty drive down to the dam and once we got there the tour was fantastic. Lake Meade was way so low and it was not expected to get any better soon. Since we now know that the west had one of the wettest winters in a long time Lake Meade has made a great recovery.

On the outskirts of Vegas is a park called Red Rock Canyon and to show photos here of how grand it was is rather futile. How does one photograph thousands of acres of fantastic scenery? The photos below show the diversity and some of the climbers that use this area for rock climbing training. I believe that this one park offers some of the best climbing and bouldering in the west.