I’m Leaving Las Vegas……actually, I think I just left for the last time. I’ve had some great times, some good times, and never a bad time there. Over the course of what, probably 15 trips? – I’ve probably lost about as much as I have won playing $5 blackjack. The consummate ‘broke even’ Vegas consumer. The one that the Convention Visitor’s Bureau likes because ultimately I end up paying for room/meals/transportation in spite of breaking even on the tables and sports book. Nothin’ against Vegas, I think it’s just not that alluring blonde babe that it once was back when I was 21.
We had an epic hike in the Grand Canyon last Saturday. 8 hours, 6,000 feet of climbing and 6,000 feet of descending over 17 miles. The Colorado river is astounding, and I can understand why people become river runners and stay in that profession for many years. It was 65 degrees on the South Rim when we started, 95 degrees at the bottom, and 55 when we got back to the rim at 6pm. I was cooked, my calves still hurt and I walk stairs like a gimp. My buddy Ellsie did 42 miles over 17 hours – quite a feat even though his goal was 12 hours. We never hooked up because his group was late getting back to a checkpoint, 3 hours late. We passed one lady on our way down – she was heading up with a party of about 6. She had wrecked her knee to the point where she could hardly walk and she was a good 1.5 miles from the next safe zone. Then one dude was on the side of the trail with an IV under a portable sunshade with a Park Ranger monitoring his blood pressure. There’s signs everywhere saying “don’t go down and up in one day”. Uh huh.
Pics to follow tonight….
Epic!
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