Welcome to another entry in my not famous writings. Today's fotos have nothing to do with my agenda today, but I needed something to look at so these are my best friends. So, lets begin. I received a phone call Friday morning from a friend who needed to get to Boise ASAP. Um ok, why? My uncle has stage 4 cancer and isn't going to last much longer. I need to talk to him. Debate in head.... Boise, hmmmmmm...... Intervention from above, DO it. Sure I'll be there in an hour. I tossed the bare minimum in my bag and headed north for a 330 mile drive. I have driven this once before on a trip to Seattle way back in 1989 but I really don't remember a whole lot about the journey. So, it's basically something new. We headed up I-84 at about 1pm and the adventure began. Curious as to why this journey was so important got me to asking questions. Why are we doing this? The answer was quite interesting so here we go.
Years ago, this person had been sent to live with this uncle and his family. Life at his home was not worth a shit and had left our friend with thoughts of suicide. Upon arriving at the new home, a new life was started and changes occurred. The thoughts of death and depression were slowly replaced with thoughts of a new self worth. No longer criticized and put down, positive reassurances helped transform my friend into a person who began to believe in his self. The time spent with this uncle preformed a miracle and my friend left as a self confident man. Not perfect, but aware of who he was and what he wanted. Years go by and some untrue and hateful rumors by my friends family caused a rift between the uncle and him. The years pass by and the fateful call of stage 4 cancer and death made the friend want to try and mend the rift and then thank the uncle and his family for saving his life. The trip up was filled with apprehension. How would this reunion go and wold it end happily ever after. With Google's help, we arrived in a tiny little farming community near Boise. The door was opened and soon we were seated in the family room. Not one to beat around the bush, the friend opened up and explained his life and what had happened. He spoke of the rumors and how it had affected his family as well as the uncles. He told them how they had saved his life and how he needed to say this before it was too late. Long story short, everything went well. Any bad feelings of the past were gone and stories began being told about the families pioneer heritage past.
Privacy allows me to tell no more. I was witness to a great event and even a part of it in a way. So, here is where I make my plea. Life is short. Events of the past can leave us with scars and outright hatred of family or friends. We need to look beyond our petty hurts and resolve issues before its to damn late. Sometimes it will turn out good, other times it might not. We shouldn't live with any regrets. In my life, I had a aunt and uncle, for lack of a better phrase. They didn't save my life but they kept it from getting too out of control. They always listened and added advice and I went from there. We are no longer friends sadly. Events of the past led them to persecute my family for standing up for what was right. It hurts to see someone you looked up to fall so hard but choices were made and we all have to live with them. So, get off your asses and go do what you need to do. Will it turn out good? You never know, but at least you tried. Thats whats important. Jeep on my friends.
So, I was just looking back on some past entries and realized that I never finished the Medtronic story. It sure isn't a good ending but it is an ending. So, my appointment with the final surgeon to put the shocker in my back was coming up. I was excited because I knew that pain-free time was headed my way. Enter my usual luck. Apparently, the gentleman who was paying for my health insurance stopped paying in August without telling or informing me. I had no clue because prescriptions were still being paid for. October 1st rolls around and no more nothing. The Medtronic dream crashed and burned and life suddenly looked painful. The foto above is me as a teen doing what I loved to do. From age 13-18 most of my spare time was spent on the hardwood dreaming of glory. The good old days!
So, with the dream shattered, the rest of reality caved in like an out of control avalanche. During this 2 month period, the lovely insurance company had approved the test trial, an MRI on my head and a few other things: with no intention of ever paying them. Suddenly, I was $26k in debt. So lets recap, I take probably $600 a month in prescriptions, along with Dr visits to make adjustments. Gone. Luckily for me, a lot of the drugs had 90 day supplies so all was not lost. Pain meds, no longer available. Dr wont see me cuz I suddenly owe him a ton of money. Wow. Life suddenly looked nasty. I don't even remember how long I have been on the pain meds. It seems forever. Now, they are all gone. I will admit that I have been blessed so far in this disaster. I have not had but 2 or 3 bad nights. For this I am truly thankful. Over the counter stuff does absolutely nothing for me so I really feel good about how my pain has ebbed for whatever reason. Above is one of the sources of my pain. Years ago, I was riding at the dunes in St Anthony and took a wee bit of a flight over the handlebars. Busted my damn tail bone and it still hurts to sit to this day. But I would do it again.
So what comes next, I have no idea. The medical bills keep coming in and all I can do is nothing. Had I made it through the final implant of the device I might have been able to go back to work and enjoy life. For now, I just live day to day hoping that the pain will stay where it has been and allow me to function somewhat. It sure isn't fun. I miss being out in the middle of nowhere exploring what once was. The last foto is one that should cause concern to most people. The red areas represent federally owned land in each state. Nevada and Utah are in the top 3 of land the state or its people do not own. Just a thought to my readers. Jeep on my friends!
Interesting title, huh? So, what does it take to have a world famous blog? I sure wish I knew. Seriously, you see these people on TV all the time. They write maybe 2 or 3 blogs a week and everyone and their dog has to read them. Sponsors begin to pay them money just for the privilege of putting an ad on their blog site. How would that be? Honestly I would love to find out. I am sure I could spew forth words of total wisdom to the masses??? OK, probably not. I am not qualified in postpartum depression or anything like it. I live with the depression caused by my body deciding its no longer playing and going home. I deal with it in my own way and I am sure no one really cares how I do it. So, what would I have to write about to make me famous? I wish I knew. I would have no problem writing a few hundred words 2 or 3 times a week. It would be easy. Would it be interesting? Highly doubtful. Well, I could drink myself into a heavy drunkenness and write. At one time years ago I was rather funny as a drunk. I just don't think the body would be happy with that. It would probably want to go home even sooner. OK, foto one above. Due to the lack of funding.... instead of a nice new top, I got to go with the half cab look. I like the look but it sure isn't the most comfy way to go. The seats can only go back so far and that's the end. We will decide come spring how well it did keeping the snow and rain out of the back.
Another irritating occurrence are the people who get to Jeep 24/7 365 on other peoples dime. I follow 3 of them on YouTube and it drives me nuts. Big name companies give them parts to "test" and comment about on their videos. Other normal people like you and I join in and contribute X amount of $$ a month to keep them on the road. One dude has been all over the west and even up into Canada and Alaska. Hell's bells, I have a hard enough time coming up with $50 to make a day run out into the west desert to find a new mine or ghost town. This guy Jeeps Saturday to Thursday and finds a town with wifi to do a weekly video on Friday. Now doing videos is a pain in the ass for the most part. My problem is that this laptop is so damn old it creeps along and takes about an hour to do 5 minutes of video. If anyone reading this would like to help this situation out, feel free to email me and I'll show you which new computer I want. Granted it would be awesome to live that lifestyle, I'd be in Death Valley for December and probably Mexico for January and February, but then I would miss out on my latest job. I now get to watch the grandson on a regular basis. It has been quite enjoyable relearning things I have not done in over 20 years. But hey, I am remembering the lessons and we get along just great.
I know, here's an idea. What if all 9 of you chipped in to keep me on the road from say April to October?? I could live with that. I would pick a state a month and do as much exploring as was possible and make videos and update my website and........... Such a sweet dream. Now, I would probably have to get a Wrangler Unlimited for the space. So we would have to figure that into your donations. A 2 door and 2 dogs wouldn't be very comfy. Who knows, I might even be able to finagle some sponsorship's from some companies. I know that the one guy pretty much gets all sorts of shit free and just uses it. So, lets work on the donations first and then we'll visit a few local companies to see what they would be willing to donate. Sounds like a plan to me. The last foto is of the granddaughter Taleigha. It was her 7th birthday a couple of days ago and we had a fun party to celebrate it. Such a cute young lady. She'll be driving the boys crazy in a few years! I have re-read this and there is nothing profound in it to make me famous. Damnit. Jeep on my friends!
