Slept late in the motel parking lot this AM. Headed west bound for Death Valley. Cogitated over last drs comments that i9 need to be inactive to let my kidney heal. Paid him heed. Chance exit off I-15 @ Mesquite, NV & stopped @ visitors’ bureau. Asked about camping & a shower. Town has a rec center: $1.00 shower & I’m clean. Shopped @ well stocked Smiths grocery chain store. Drove out S of town into BLM land in desert. Found spot off main gravel road. No trees, way open, mtns in near distance. Uninitiated might say bleak. I say not a lot of high density animals or plants.

Urologist said 3 weeks for 70% healing. Need to find out what i can do starting next Monday. I will treat this week as still recovery for 3 weeks.

Going to work my way along the N shore of Lake Mead to Las Vegas by weekend. I decided that if I went to Death Valley this week I would probably gone hiking which might not have done my healing any good.

Tuesday night Zags play Michigan State. Might stay around Mesquite which appears to be a hopping gambling town just across the border from straight laced Utah. Places to dirt bag camp in town.

It is very noticeable that the speculative economy went into the toilet in LV and even here in Mesquite as building construction and occupancy is at a stand still. Development on outskirts of LV was dead, many bldgs unfinished w/ nobody working on them. Housing developments platted but no housing starts.

Quiet night, temps around 30 & almost 70 at hot part of day.

Another go to place thought is Quartzite, AZ. I believe Mel’s dad is there. Town pops up filled w/ snowbirds. Might be a slow place to recuperate, would be staged for Sedona, AZ. Yeah, just the place to fall.

Last night I slept near Blue Diamond on the way to Death Valley. I woke around 6:00, crawled out of sleeping bag, and took one of the new pain pills, and then crawled back under the covers. I got up around 6:30 and a hellish wave of nausea hit me. Pounding head ache, dizziness, light headedness, weird. Concern is kidney took a turn for the worse. Made decision to drive back to ST George to seek medical help. My thought was if I had hospital problems I would rather be here w/ relationships already established. My body was out of control. I kept hoping I would “straighten out” and not need to see a doctor. Finally mid afternoon I entered the clinic. My story is getting longer to tell. New dr but had access to my medical records. Blood was drawn & analyzed for crit level and I am topped off so there is no kidney bleeding. This dr diagnosed my issue as a reaction to the new pain pill. He wrote a script for hydrocodone and told me to take a pill when I was in pain which is almost all from my head. As the day wore on my body burned thru the Rhyzott and I reconnected back to earth. The dr kept emphasizing that I am healing a tear on my kidney that is like having had surgery. I must be gentle to allow the wound to heal. He said 3 weeks is too early to really start riding. The dr was maybe 75 lbs overweight and maybe had little idea of physical conditioning contrary to fit urologist. I will “shop” dr advice next week. The urolgist said in 3 weeks I would be about 70% healed, fully healed 6 to 8 weeks. I am counting on riding a week from this Monday. The high blood pressure he attributed to the fact that my blood level is back up and it should start dropping as the meds: 1 pill per day at bedtime kick in.

Went to a restaurant / sports bar to check out Gonzaga’s game. I was early. The OSU game was on which was great so I watched the Bucks win in OT. The bar did not buy the special package meaning they did not receive the Zags game. The help was very helpful in identifying possible establishments that might have coverage. The waitress used here cell phone to call the places. Chilis had the package. I drove over and worked w/ the bartender to turn the TV at the bar on to the game. Several colleg football games were on. Several people asked if the bar TV could be turned to one of them The keep kept his agreement and turned on the game when it started. GU won in a tough smash mouth game. Cool. medical treatment, a Buck  and Zag win.

Tired and spent. 130 miles each way ST George to Las Vegas. Tomorrow I plan to be in Death Valley for a shower in a park XG. I read that several XGs in the park have wi-fi, perhaps my card will work.

Sleeping at the gravel edge of a motel parking lot. Temp is low 40s. Bed time.

Yesterday I drove to LV to see Race Across the Sky and see Grace’s on screen presence. She made an impression on the movie maker as she had her name captioned. Movie wight make weaker people want to race the 100 miles.

Slept in parking lot near theater. Noisy. Plan today was to hit REI for a Death Valley guide book and a Jockey outlet for new underwear, so far the only items to wear out so far.

Woke up w/ a pounding headache and pulse. Visited a quick check right in same parking lot. Concerned that fall damaged my brain. DR said that he wasn’t concerned about bleeding. He didn’t explain why I have had a headache since the first fall back 10/8. The hydrocodone didn’t knock out the headache so he prescribed another pain killer, a one a day deal. BP was 147/89 which is way high which might be causing the headache. he prescribed a BP lowering drug. Stopped @ pharmacy to fill script. Insurance balked @ the BP medicine. Ended up driving back to clinic where the dr changed the script to what the insurance would accept. I take a pill tonight and will see if my headache is gone in the AM. Both of the falls have my body out of whack.

Drove thru the wild burro management area again NW of LV where the burros have the right of way. Saw several last spring. They are protected, all you can do is fence in your yard and shovel the manure.

Tomorrow is Death Valley. Forecast is for balmy 74 degrees. I will learn how wired the park is.