Thursday, August 27, 2015

Riding all over and how well do you swallow...?

I'm still here, but haven't done much other than the motorcycle ride things every week...  Its always another small town at 60 or more miles away..  Tuesday is the Kansas City group which is centered on the big city here, but the Wednesday ride is centered around Topeka..  Then to make matters even more interesting, we have been going on Friday as well..

Friday is Southeastern Kansas, but often comes North back up here toward KC...  So, if it isn't insanely far we go there too...  Last Friday it was Madison, Kansas which was 125 miles south of here by Emporia..  But it was for a lunch so we met early and rode down...  250 mile day..

This week on Tuesday we went to Butler, Missouri...  Its on the Interstate headed for Joplin about 70 miles South of here...  They had a kind of Shepherd s  pie brunch made with eggs and hash brown potatoes...   Filling...!   Then yesterday, it was decided to go to Westmoreland, Kansas...  That was 125 miles away, North of Manhattan, Ks where Kansas State University is located.....    The special there was Spaghetti with meat sauce...   The sauce was hand made with fresh cut tomatoes from the local garden.   The cook said she started it very early in the morning....   Much better than the jar stuff I dump out....  Two pieces of garlic toast...

Then one of our guys wanted to ride up to his home town of Bailey...   That was within 9 miles of Nebraska...  But the day was sunny and the clouds were puffy, on a deep blue sky....   We ended up riding 310 miles that day....  It was after 5 PM when I got home....  Biscuit was with Ben at his house so I was free all day....

Needless to say the motorcycle stayed home today....  But that didn't mean I was able to...  I had a swallowing test at the hospital..  I wasn't looking forward to that much and my feelings turned out to be warranted...

They put in an NG tube in your nose that has sensors connected to the computer....  Then you swallow 1.5 ounces of saline water and they watch you throat as it pushes the liquid down....    10 times..!  

You have to inhale lidocane jell into your nose before they can put the tube in so you don't gag so much...    That's the same stuff you put on a sunburn...  Tastes rotten in the back of your throat.  Then when she put in the tube, I thought I was going to pass out....    No wonder they usually put that tube in during surgery while you are passed out...  Then when its over, they pull it out all at once while you blow air out your mouth...  It didn't make it feel any better, but I think it gives you something to concentrate on while the tube is coming out...

Needless to say, I have had a rather sore throat tonight...   Ice cream for supper..

So what's left of me is still here and not doing much more than planning to go to Arizona again this year..  But perhaps those plans will make another post...

Retired Rod