Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Motorcycle Ride Back From Phoenix


Last Friday I had my 5th Chemo treatment which lasted 7 hours and then went from there to the airport to catch my 6:20PM flight to Phoenix for my step-daughter's college graduation. I get there and the first thing I see is that my flight had been delayed by 2 hours not leaving until 8:30PM. I then hope I can get on standby on an earlier flight. I go check out other flights and see that every thing is delayed because of the runway construction at McCarren. GREAT! Then I see that the 3:30pm flight is scheduled to leave at 6:20PM....that's my best bet. I go stand in line at the counter and hear the attendant tell the guy in front of me after his pretty good sob story, that there were 37 people a head of him on standby. THINK QUICK! Need to think of a better story!

I did and almost everything was true, including that I had come straight from the hospital after having chemo, that I would be getting sick soon, that I needed a shot after chemo and had to be there at 8:30PM Well actually all of that was true, except it sounded like I needed the shot before 8:30PM...I had already had the shot after my treatment. But, it worked, I was given a boarding pass for the 3:30pm, now 6:20pm flight and able to get there at my original arrival time. I know it was bad and I will be punished. But I really needed to get in, find something to eat and get to bed or I would have been dead the next day.

The graduation went super, the party that night was even better. I was rock queen on the quitar in Rock Band! Even though I didn't get too much sleep that night. I went to bed at 11PM and the kids continued with beer pong and Rock Band until 4AM! Not too conducive for sleeping. Somehow, my hubs slept through it.

Next morning the hubby and I headed for home on his 1982 Goldwing. Old, but a fun bike. The desert from Phoenix to Las Vegas is just beautiful. I was really looking forward to the ride because I haven't had a long ride since getting this cancer sh*t in May. We hit some pretty hard winds and then some rain just when we were coming into Wickieup. So, we had lunch and waited for about an hour. Other riders came in from the direction we would be headed and said they had hit major storms and the roads were very slick. We decided to give it ago anyway as it looked like there was a little clearing of sunshine and that we might just be able to skirt the storm. We did. However, it was very cold.

We stopped about every hour in the normally 6 hour trip for me a butt break and to stretch out my tingling feet. The desert aroma after the rain was incredible. The smell of creosote was so strong, and everything looked wonderfully clean. I was tired and cold when we rolled up the driveway, but it was such a fun adventure after all this chemo crap. Speaking of chemo, the doctor says only one more! Huzzah! The pictures here are not mine and I think the photographer is listed, but they pretty much sum up what the desert looked like up close and personal on the bike. If you click on the picture you can go to the website of more glorious photos.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

On a 1982 Goldwing through the desert from Las Vegas to Phoenix, just after your chemo:
you're an amazing woman, embodying the "yes we can" spirit I've come to admire.

All the best from a rainy Belgium.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been on a motorcycle in so long....

This made me wistful...and happy that you got to inhale that precious scent of wet desert!

Maude Lynn said...

One of the things on my must-do list is to drive across the desert!

Anonymous said...

Quick thinking!

I'm pretty impressed with you going on such a long bike ride too. You're a tough lady.