Hola Nomads.

Hola, Nomads,


Mi alegro de verte.



Well hey, I’ve been away for a while, and unable to post, but now I’d like to rejoin all of you on BajaNomads….with my amigos who share a common love for a special place, Baja. Damn nice to here again…I’ve been kind of chomping at the bit to get back.

Briefly, to explain my long absence and lack of posting, I‘ve been gone to another place where things got a mite complicated. This summer when I was Up North I got pretty sick, got hauled to a hospital, slid into some weird chambers, X-rayed, hoorayed, & manta-rayed, and was then told…

”Yup, you’re sick alright….get used to that….and you better also get used to not being able to move, being prodded awake every hour, have needles and tubes stuck everywhere, noisy monitoring machines, constant tests, nosy staff, eating mush, throwing up mush…and bedpans…yeah, bedpans!… you’re gonna love those things.”

Really? I see.

Well, right away, ’my acute instincts’ told me I wasn’t going to like this trip at all.


I’ll refrain from going into boring detail about what happened to which organ and why, just suffice to say I’ll be making periodic visits to the clinic for the remainder of my ride. That’s just the way it is. Think of it as a system failure due to operator error….like when you forgot to add water to your solar batteries. So stuff happens, get over it and live your life.

Things are cool enough now, though….and a few good things came out of my hospital stay.

1. Me! I came out! …and I promise to be good from now on and post only classy and germane events.

2. And another big plus. My brother and I bonded more profoundly than we have for many years. He’s a doc and gave me this sound medical advice on one of his visits: “Stay the hell out of hospitals, Rog. This place is full of sick people.” His bedside manner and humor sucks, but he is what he is, and I love him.

3. I now have an long and unique scar that I will have tattooed into a map of Baja.


Some anecdotes from that sickbay:


- Shadow Dogs

When under some drugs or other, which was pretty much constant, I often had a dream...an illusion… of my much-loved dogs being close to me…somewhere over there in the corner of my eye, never clearly seeing them…but thought I could hear breathing ….merely always a peaceful, moving shadow just out of reach. Just imagining they were there close-by gave me the strangest but greatest feeling of comfort and well-being. Well, all of us dog-people can attest to this phenomenon, right? We do love our dogs and take good care of them…and vice versa. (Now I am wondering what I would have imagined if I owned a different type of pet? Like…would a python elicit the same dreams?) Turn up the Demerol drip, Doc.

- A Flashback.

You know I love history. This event seemed strangely déjà vu from another speed bump I bounced over back in December of 2010 and reported on here:

Trip of Blood.

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=49730#pid5760...

Advisory: Best read with a few shots of Don Julio.

- My Thanks to Many & Introducing Nurse Rachet

First, muchas gracias for all the nice remarks in the posts here on Baja Nomads. It’s nice to be part of a family…even one in cyberspace. And, a special thanks to those amigos and a certain pair of amiga/co-pilots…who called my room daily with their kind words and best wishes. But tesoro, you all really peeed off the station nurses with those not-allowed middle of the night phone calls! Almost all of my nurses were, and still are, dreamboats and A-1 co-pilots. Well…with one notable exception! This was alpha-dog Nurse Ratchet, a real ball-crusher, who often scared the hell outta me at 5 AM when she would bang open my door, rip off my bedcovers, and roar me awake with: “Hey, you slacker! Wake up already. This is no summer camp. Time to draw some more blood, bucko!” She will surely reside for eternity in Hell….and I am now attending church regularly in the fervent hope that our future paths never cross again.

Mil gracias to mi amigo, Don Jorge, who twice came a long distance to visit my hospitals (I had two, you know) George (Nomad Don Jorge), is a great contributor to Baja Nomad Forums, a knowledgeable farmer/rancher who lives in California…and now a North Dakota beef rancher, too! He is warmly welcomed.

And finally thanks to the special Nomads who sent flowers, called with kind wishes and good will, ….and those very nice amiga visits. All of those brightened my days more than I can ever say.



Current Trip/Lunch Report from Ruby’s, Oceanside Pier, Ca.

Many weeks later in December, Jorge and I got together again for lunch at Ruby’s way out on the Oceanside pier, a couple thousand miles away from the ND hospitals. (see pics below) This time I could greet him upright…on my feet, not from a bed. Gracias, mi amigo. It was great fun out there at Ruby’s. That was a long, long walk…good for my exercise program…but kind of pushed my current limits.


Hey Jorge, isn’t that David K jogging towards us?

For added energy, though, that tasty pumpkin milkshake con rum was muy bueno!


Make the next one a double, por favor.


As we left the café, I thought, “Hmmm…Funny, but it sure looks like that pier got a whole lot longer!”



“Hey Jorge, it’s a bit fuzzy out here, but that might be David K jogging towards us again, whatchathink?”




Time to start posting again.

This all transpired from late July until mid-November…way too long to be in any one place, let alone confined to a hospital bed. The long treatments were of a sort that left me groggy and with a Marlene Dietrich Syndrome… I Vant To Be Alone. Hope you can excuse me for not feeling up to posting earlier, but I was way, way out in left field, and what interesting stuff could I possibly have posted about anyway? Well, OK…. there was this one shadowy nurse late one stormy night. I’ll call her Florence….sigh...what a night…what a gale/gal.

Out on parole

Enough already. It’s time to get over all this medical-leave stuff and return to posting an insane amount of photos and dialogue per same….like the one above. I’ll say adios until I can bring together some more posts as to the last few weeks of travel since leaving the clinics. Life is never dull…and things sure still seem to happen regularly. Thinking back to my rascally youth, my folks always said life would be eventful, with a good amount of bumps in the road…and they were spot on.

Baja and other southern climes will always be on my dance card, although for a while longer I must remain within the US and…shudder… Nurse Ratchet’s grasp. So I’m afraid my next bunch of up-to-date posts will have to be of a Non-Baja Vacation nature. With photos, naturally. And responding to memories of Baja with my thoughts and photos will always be a pleasure.

I’m currently on a long, lazy motorhome road trip rambling around the countryside with no particular destination. It’s a Nomad thing for sure. You could call it an Aussie walkabout …or a Lakota vision quest… but really I’m just bumming around. Revisiting favorite old haunts and exploring some new trails. If anything remotely interesting happens I’ll post some drivel about those events as they occur. A recent birthday visit to the Grand Canyon and a desert tour with some other vagabundos was a real hoot and I may post about that….or becoming waterlogged driftwood on the Oregon Coast.

Again…I will try to post only interesting events and photos with the touch of class & propriety that Baja Nomads deserves….I promise.

Okay, time to re-group, re-pack the trusty old Southwind, and get this lashup ready to roll.. We’re on the Road Again and Burning Daylight, Pilgrim!





Uhh…Hmmm, thinking of re-packing….……WHOSE PANTIES ARE THESE?



See?…told you. Only classy posts from now on.

Seriously…am very thankful and glad to be here again.



Happiness is Being Over the Hill, Not Under It



(above photo from Punta Chivato shell beach trail 1989)


MERRY CHRISTMAS, NOMADS AND ALL!










[Edited on 12-24-2012 by BajaNomad]

Don't know you, Never met you but damm glad your back posting again.
Just your posts great to to look forward to.
Seasons greetings and a healthy new year.

Corky

Roger,
Welcome back....y Feliz Navidad

What a Lovely Christmas Gift

I agree wid yo' bro....That's exzactly what I said:

Stay outta hospitals....they're full of sick people!

Welcome back, nice re-introduction.

Pompanos return

Merry Christmas Roger and glad you are back... and no that wasn't me on the pier that day! Next time call me...

you're probably anxious to know whats up with mark and olivia!

Quote:

Originally posted by willardguy you're probably anxious to know whats up with mark and olivia!

He knows the facts... still cold beer and hot cheeseburgers there... with an eyesore of an abandoned hotel next door...

Good to hear from you!

We thought and talked about you last week as we past the old place on our way to stay at Playa Santispac for the night.




This was during a delivery of rice crispies and marshmallows 3 years ago. Same bunch now, 3 years older and without dogs this time. Good health to you.

Welcome Back Roger.

Sorry you missed goose season especially under those conditions. Your favorite nurse said to wish you a Merry Christmas.

[Edited on 12-24-2012 by durrelllrobert]

[Edited on 12-24-2012 by durrelllrobert]

[Edited on 12-24-2012 by durrelllrobert]

Pompano !!

Hola,Your post and humor are sorely missed...hospital=were sick folks are...graveyards=where folks are just dying to get in too !!! I know,, dont quit my day job!! K&T

[Edited on 12-25-2012 by captkw]

ROGER....SO GLAD YOU ARE BACK AMONG US AND POSTING!!!


We've all missed you and your unique brand of humor, your fabulous reports and incredible pictures!

Keep taking care of yourself and get back to 100%...We need our top Baja reporter back on the story.

God Bless you this Christmas and in the new Year with great health, laughter and good times!!!


Miguelamo

Good to have the board gentleman back! You sure kept alot of folk here wondering what was was going on for some time.

BTW, like the picture of the cornudo jeep , pink hat and all , Hah!

Felices

KC

There's a lot to say about hospitals.....

Finally---- the world is right again.

Well Rogelio...
I don't log in very often but you got my fingers to scratching the keyboard. So glad you are back and communicating.

I too, am stuck on the north side of the border for the same reasons as you. Fortunately, the nurses are in fine form here. I hide from Nurse Ratchet. She wants to Indian Leg Wrassel, and that is always a losing battle.

For the time being, you had better stay in So. CA. The weather here in Northern CA is horrible. We have already accumulated twice as much rain as last year. Staying alive here is a crapshoot: 100'+ 100 year old Cedars are falling left and right. They have inadequate root systems to withstand such soggy soil. If your house is in the path, you don't stand a chance. I am in their shadow.

Rain rain snow snow...not Baja for sure! So far, no hurricanes though.

So, in the Spring, if you are still meandering, you always have a place to land here. I just bought a new house and when I see the sun again,(next Spring or Summer) I will break out the Cerveza and Margaritas. I will shoot you an email, and if it hasn't changed, you will then have my new address and phone number. My email hasn't changed.

Stay well, Amigo!

Antonio

...and Merry Christmas to you and all Nomads!

[Edited on 12-25-2012 by toneart]

Unfortunate word choice, given the circumstances

Quote:

Originally posted by Islandbuilder Quote: Originally posted by DENNIS Seems like he went underground again. Unfortunate word choice, given the circumstances

Ohhh...yeah. It didn't occure to me at the time. Thanks.
Sorry Roger.
Hey.....ya wanna hear some dirt jokes?

Thanks. It's a pleasure to be here.