Tag: Travel

Colorado 2026 Trip Report (Day Zero)

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Flying to Denver: another chance for the airlines and TSA to make a good impression. And TSA delivered. I only had to tell one person that I had a medical device on me, and they knew exactly what needed to be done.

My buddies from AA (that’s American Airlines, not Alcoholics Anonymous) got everything right in the end, though their communication skills could use some work. When I got my boarding pass, it said I was in group 9. I tried to explain to at least three separate AA employees that I can’t be separated from that carry-on bag, and that I was quite concerned about the overhead bins becoming full before I got to board. Each of these people said basically, “Awwwwww, there, there, shut up, boy! Nobody’s going to take your widdo bag from you.” They were right. As I stepped into the plane, I immediately learned that AA had upgraded their overhead bins, doubling the overhead storage capacity. I had no problem finding space for my carry-on bag!

Other than being on an escalator when it lost power, witnessing a luggage jam that had to be manually cleared, and then not recognizing my own luggage, it was a smooth trip.

Fleeing the Weather

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It’s that time of year again. The “air you can wear” is in full force and effect. The forecast is calling for 100 degrees on Monday. So, what’s a lad to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. This little lad is fleeing to Colorado.

Now, don’t start grabbing numbers off your favorite weather web site to throw in my face. I am fully aware that the average high temperatures in Denver and Charlotte are surprisingly similar at this time of year. But Denver is just the airport. Once I have picked up my rental Jeep, I will be heading for the really high country. Much of this trip will be around TWO miles above sea level.

Just for fun, here are the high temperature forecasts for Monday, in my destination towns:

Charlotte, NC750 Feet above sea level100° F
Denver, CO5,280 Feet above sea level91° F
Leadville, CO10,152 Feet above sea level70° F
Lake City, CO8,671 Feet above sea level75° F

That said, both Lake City and Leadville are very close to active wildfires. If I don’t pay attention, I could very quickly go from nice and cool to literally burning. Wish me luck!

New PD Travel Tip

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This post is a bit late as it involves something I learned on the last day of my road trip to Kentucky. Which was two and a half months ago.

As you all know, Parkinson’s Disease (PD) can cause a person to slowly hunch forward. For this reason, physical therapists and Rock Steady Boxing coaches continuously try to get us to constantly pay attention to our posture. But staying focused on posture is not always easy.

As I drove all over Kentucky, I occasionally noticed that my posture had completely abandoned me while I was behind the wheel. I wasn’t slouching straight forward, but forward and to the right – towards the radio. Usually, I wasn’t aware of this posture problem until it started hurting my back. So I was definitely not looking forward to the long drive back to Charlotte.

Thus, in preparation for the long drive home, I adjusted the driver’s seat so that the seat back was straight up. I hoped this would decrease the slouching a little, since there was no room for my spine to recline. This worked far better than I had imaged it would.

Y’see, with both the seat back and my own back being perpendicular to gravity, the back of my head very lightly rested against the head restraint. So lightly, that every single little bump in the road caused my head to bounce just a little. So there was a constant (and kinda fun) jostling as long as I maintained my posture. Every time my head stopped bouncin’ around, I immediately noticed the change and corrected my posture.

The results? I completed the five-hour drive home with zero back pain! And this was no fluke. I still keep the seat back as vertical as vertical can be, and the ol’ driving fatigue and back pain haven’t been happening. So, it looks like we have ourselves another PD Travel Tip!

PD Travel Tip: When travelling by car, keep your seat back as upright as possible to improve posture and to prevent fatigue and back pain.

Kentucky 2026 Trip Report (Day 2)

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I slept in again today. The plan was to visit Hensley Settlement in the afternoon. “What is Hensley Settlement?” you ask. Well, you’re asking the wrong guy, because I never got there. Y’see, my GPS software apparently decided it was time for another battle of wits. I didn’t have an address or longitude / latitude for Hensley Settlement; I just browsed the area on Google Maps, and tapped the Hensley Settlement icon.

The GPS started by having me take the main road out of town (Middlesboro, KY). Then it had me take a very sharp right turn (probably about 160 degrees) onto an alleged state highway. This was a seriously winding, hilly, and narrow road. After several miles, this road ended at a junction with another seriously winding, hilly, and narrow “state highway”. I drove several more miles on this road before the GPS told me to turn right onto an even crazier road. This road was also seriously twisty and hilly, but it was only one lane (and it didn’t claim to be a state highway).

I kept my eyes peeled for potential pull-out and/or turn-around spots along the way but did not spot any before the road morphed into someone’s driveway, and I was surrounded by a pack of barking dogs. As if it wasn’t hard enough to get turned around while a pack of dogs is all around your vehicle, one little shit (a schnauzer) kept darting under my vehicle. Fortunately, the lady of the household popped her head out the front door and bellowed a mighty “HUSH!” And just like that, there were no more dogs, and I cleared the Hell outta there.

When I got back to the state highway, the GPS told me to head the way I had come from. Then it instructed me to turn right (the opposite side of the road from the driveway it had just sent me on). I took a quick glimpse. This road looked even steeper, windier, and narrower than that driveway. On top of that, I hadn’t seen a single road sign mentioning Hensley Settlement. So, with tears in my eyes and my money on my mind, I decided to call it a day and just wander aimlessly around southeast Kentucky to see what I could find.

Nothing. I found nothing. I eventually returned to Middlesboro, where I had some cheap Mexican food for dinner before retreating to my hotel. Once in my hotel room, I did some stuff on my laptop. In the name of convenience (i.e., not having to move hotel furniture around), I got myself into a somewhat uncomfortable position while using the laptop. So, I was not terribly surprised when I couldn’t get to sleep due to pain in my back.

What did surprise me was the fact that the pain started spreading. I applied approximately 2.35 buttloads of IcyHot to the area where the pain seemed to be originating. This did nothing. In fact, at this point, my whole body felt cramped. I took an extra dose of Carbidopa / Levodopa and a couple of Ibuprofen tablets. Still, it got worse. Soon, not only did I feel cramped all over, I also felt like I could vomit or experience explosive diarrhea at any moment.

At this point, I started debating whether to go to a hospital. But I quite convincingly told myself it was chilly enough outside that I would need to get dressed, and I didn’t think I could dress myself at that point. So, no horse pistol for me. After hovering over the toilet for a few minutes, I actually began to feel better. Soon, only the original back pain remained. And it felt like it would be eased just by laying on my back on a hard, flat surface.

So, I put my back on the tile portion of the hotel room floor and did my best to relax … (to be continued) …

Kentucky 2026 Trip Report (Day 0)

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Over the course of the last month and a half, I have on three seperate occasions accidentally thwacked my right elbow on a door frame or door. This first two times, it hurt for a few minutes then it was OK. This last time has been a different story. I now experience a flare-up of pain in that elbow whenever I try to lift anything with that arm. This is especially ungood when you realize my right arm is my “good arm”. The left arm is already weak.

So, as I was packing for my drive to Kentucky, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to lift my own luggage. Ultimately, I ended up loading the luggage into the space between the front and back seats of my minivan, rather than in the pit behind the back row as planned. This was probably a good call. I probably could’ve gotten everything into the pit OK, but I doubt I could have lifted the big bag back out. In fact, when I got to my hotel room, I absolutely could not lift that bag onto the bed. So, for now it sits on the floor between the beds. Open…so I have to squat to get things out of it. But I need to be doing more squats, so perhaps it all works out for the better.