We left the Grand Canyon to reach Flagstaff by dark. We met my cousin, Kathy, who has lived there for many years. On the next day (Saturday, Dec 8) Kathy took us to Sedona which is supposed to be a "must see." It does have some of most beautiful canyon country views you can imagine. It is also a New Age hot spot. I was surprised to see so many mainstream Christian churches there though. We had lunch at the Creekside restaurant. I never saw the creek but I was impressed by the lunch menu they have for your dog along with a free dish of ice water. In the evening after our return, I began to feel a bit funny. My extremities where very cold, I was slightly short of breath, had a headache and started to feel a bit more confused then usual. We had been above 5000 feet since Denver (5 days). The Grand Canyon is at 8000 and Flagstaff at 7000, so altitude sickness seemed like the obvious diagnosis. I felt like I should try to make to morning when we where leaving for lower parts but it slowly dawned on me that I could be dead by morning. We went to the hospital and after running 500 tests on all my poor health conditions which came out negative they concluded, "Yep, its altitude sickness." They reasoned it would make no sense to admit me since I would still be there, so they told us to high tail it out of town. We left Flagstaff at about 3 am heading down.
The drive to lower altitude took about 2 hours so by the time we got there I was feeling better. Monica wanted to find a Goodwill to do shopping for stocking stuffers and gag gifts so by a quirk of fate and providential guidance we ended up in Bullhead City, AZ, elevation 500 feet in the Mojave desert. (Its one of the lowest spots in the US.) Bullhead City is right across the Colorado River from Laughlin, NV which is a mini-mecca of casinos. We got a room for $22 a night and booked in for 2 days to get some rest (no slots). I felt good enough to play golf on Monday and Monica rode along braving the 40 degree desert morning and later 25 plus mile an hour winds. The views of the desert were spectacular and we enjoyed our rest in the Mojave.
Next day (Tuesday, Dec 11) we are off to LA. We arrived at the Pacific just before sunset. A semi-conclusion to our journey. We will be in LA till after Christmas when we plan to visit our son Drew in Oakland, CA. Click once on pics for better view.
Best shot from Sedona
Dogie lunch menu
Destination Bullhead City, AZ
Desert view Laughlin Ranch GC
Braving the weather -- Look, no crutches!
The patient has recovered
Desert sunset
Pacific Ocean
Arrived at Manhattan Beach, CA. Where else?
Sunset on the pier
Journey's end
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