I wish I had gotten to this a lot sooner than now, but I got caught up with getting prepared for school then following that up with some health issues that needed to be handled, so I am only getting to my Red Rocks Revue now. I planned this trip because the beginning of the summer did not turn out the way I wanted it to be, so this was my little party and getaway for me. Turns out Red Rocks did not change the outcome of my summer, but thats OK. I am still glad that I went out there to see my favorite band Railroad Earth.

There are a couple of people I want to shout out and thank that made this trip possible.
First, Christian and Joanne Stack for letting me stay at their house for the entire weekend. For feeding me the entire weekend. You letting me stay at your place really made this whole trip possible. It was great to hang out again. Hope to see you for NYE for RRE.
Second, the woman in the army who saw me in my neck brace at the airport and offered to grab my bag from the conveyor belt. It is nice to know that their are people still out their looking out for others. Thanks!
Third, Kasey Callan for saving the day by giving me a ride to Red Rocks. There was no way I was missing the Infamous Stringdusters and Railroad Earth and if you were not driving to the show then I would have been screwed. Thanks for helping me out. You are a life savior. Fourth, Tori for taking me out for lunch. It was great to get out and finally sit down and talk in a long, long time. Means more than you know.
Fifth, Annie. Is it a coincidence that unannounced and unplanned we see each other in Denver at Red Rocks watching our favorite band???
Lastly, running into the guitar player from the Infamous Stringdusters at the airport and just chatting it up with him for a minute This entry took forever that I am I on my new thing thing. My new important thing in my life. What will keep me alive, so I want to make this one entry, so this might be done and just skip to the present.

I have always believed in the good old hearty laugh. A good laugh to make you feel better when your feeling down. However, today I realized the power of a good cry. Sometimes laughter is not always the right emotion to let out. The only thing to get me through today was a cry. It felt good. However, I do think I need a good laugh soon. FYI.

For two weeks now, I have had difficulty breathing. I went to my first day of classes the day after Labor Day and could barely talk because I could not breathe and it took me for ever to walk to my second class because I was out of breath. Shit that should not be happening to any person. Even if I am sick, I should still be able to do normal daily things like walking. I called out sick to school and went to the doctors, so I could start breathing. However, because I looked so good sitting in the wheel chair there was nothing for the doctor to do apparently. My sweet ass goat-tee and dark tan can fool any doctor, for looking good even though I could barely breathe. The CAT scan we got two weeks ago showed fluid in my lungs. This isn’t my first rodeo with fluid in my lungs. It took two weeks for the doctors to finally do something and that was just ordering oxygen. Just about how pissed should I be at my doctor? I guess thats a good first step. Anyway, the nurse called the next day to come in to the office to get the lung tapped. So that procedure I got that most of you will not be receiving was me getting my left lung tapped. I got 2 liters of fluid taken out of my left lung. No wonder I couldn’t breathe!!!!!

Now, my real dilemma is what I do about teaching. The first week of school has passed and I missed three out of the four days. As a math teacher, not a good percentage to start the year. I was on the phone with the union rep about to cry after every word I spoke because I just don’t know what to do. What perfect timing. I want to teach. I want to get out of the house and keep busy instead of sitting home and watching TV. However, I am not really trusting my body these days. The most recent fluid in the lungs to my fractured T1 vertebrae. What do I do? I have this weekend to really think about it because I cannot let these students have more days without a teacher. It is just not fair to them. It doesn’t look like my teaching career starts this year.

I have been just letting my hair grow out because I can for the first time in months. And if you want to see a sweet ass goat-tee you better stop by and check it out soon because it will be leaving soon. Before we get into that, this goat-tee is so freaking cool because the moustache part is ballin’. So if your interested in seeing the coolest moustache ever then you better stop on over to check it out. Well, anyway it will not be around long because chemo will be taking it all away again. I have already gotten my second round of my new chemo friend called Taxotere. I go three weeks on and one week off and this goes for a longer time because it is not as strong as the other stuff I was taking. Eventually, this crap will make me lose my hair again.

This is what I was writing before, so I decided to just keep it in here!

I guess normal is all relative to the people you are talking to or who your talking about. What I consider normal now is so totally out of whack that people who are normal don’t even know the life I live these days. People cannot even fathom that I go through what I go through because I had no idea 2 years ago when I was healthy. I had no idea that people were actually having to live a life like I am these days. I have doctor’s appointments once a month and along with all kinds of scans that I feel like are happening all the time. I have this back pain that I feel like will never go away and when any kind of pain occurs in my body, I have to first think cancer. For example, the past two days have been a bitch with scans. Yesterday I had to get a CT scan of my chest to see how the cancer in my lungs are doing. We hope there has been no change, but we do not not know as of now. Today, I had an incredibly long day. I will leave out what happened in the afternoon because that is the whole reason I have started this blog; however, I can gladly speak about my MRI scan I had scheduled today. We got to the hospital and filled out all the paperwork and were ready to go. As we were on our walk to the MRI room, someone who I will remain nameless, blurted out that I have a gold bar in my eyelid. After my original surgery, the docs put in a gold bar in my eyelid to help with closing that eye. I have never mentioned this for any of my MRI scans because I just don’t think about it at the time. Therefore, the nurse had to talk to the radiologist to make sure it was OK to perform the MRI. I had to get an X-RAY of my head to see where the piece of gold is. Check, got that done. Got the IV put in, check! Then, the radiologist said I was not getting the MRI done. They could not do it. So we had did all that for nothing. I eventually went back the next day to get it done, but come on.

August 2010

September 2010

July 2011

With my friends? Am I the one to blame for
2011 was starting out to be a so much better year. Even thought I started the year with chemotherapy, the chemo was working. My scans were showing improvements. I was starting to feel better and stronger. I was going to the gym to work out. I started subbing at Midland Park, which was great to get out and work.

I have been constantly tackling this cancer thing as a bump in the road. Cancer will not bring me down. I will not let it get to me. Its just something that I got and that I now have to get through. My girlfriend of two and a half years broke up with me. Just another bump in the road of my life, but shit man. How many things can just be another fucking bump in the road? How many more shitty things can happen to me without just ripping my spirits out. Can I really accept this as just another event in my life? Something that will make me stronger in the long run. Puts hair on your chest! It’s Life! No, its shitty and it hurts and its not fucking fair. When do I get a break? With life? Do things really have to get down deeper and deeper in that hole before it starts to climb back out. I guess things are just worse right now because what I have gone through in the past couple of weeks.

For the past month and half I have had some back pain. The spot of the pain is where I had some surgery, so we just assumed the pain is a result of that surgery. Well, the pain was not getting better, and we got a CT scan of the chest again. And again, the lungs are all good. Showing good response, but the docs noticed a lesion on my T1 vertebrae. We got an MRI scan of the spine and yes there is a lesion on my T1 vertebrae along with a fracture of that bone. So I literally have a broken back and a lesion there. We started a 10 day radiation treatment plan on the area. Radiation has worked great for me in the past on my saliva gland and my knee, so we think that the lesion will disappear and we are hoping that the fracture will heal on its own without surgery. So just some more shit to throw on my pile of shit called my life. I am in a neck and back cast that is pretty uncomfortable. Pain, is still there in my back. And I won’t even go into my on the spot vomiting for about a 2 weeks time for no apparent reason. I would just vomit out of nowhere. So far not a good summer.

The timing just sucks of it. Right in the beginning of summer. I was going to try and find a job and live up in Lake George all summer long. I was going to go to a couple of shows especially this week. Two Yonder shows, a couple of Furthur shows, and the Greyfox Bluegrass Music Festival, but those have to be post-poned because of my back. Things were going so well and then this shit started. Its just a roller coaster that will never be steady. It will constantly have ups and downs and never settle down. I have been saying that cancer is just a bump in the road of my life, but cancer is the road now. It is not a bump, it is the actual road and what I will have to be dealing with the rest of my life.

A couple of months ago, Laura and I were chatting it up about music and how Railroad Earth owns the Phish boys and what not. (Go check out the versions of Cold Water that each band plays and then make a comment on which one is better.) Laura was explaining to me how she was going to this show and that she was going solo. I started to think about going to this show, but I told her that she better promise me that I don’t see YEM, Tweezer, Harry Hood or Antelope. If you can guarantee me that I do not see any of these songs then I will go. Well, Laura promised me that Trey and Co. would not play any of those songs, so I agreed to go to the show. See Laura has a personal relationship with Trey and gets the setlists sent to her before any of the shows. Trey and her are best friends. Laura also had to promise me that I was going to hear a “Punch You in the Eye” and “Maze.” She did so I agreed to go.

There was only one day between Delfest and this Phish show, so in that one day I was starting to get excited for the show. I wasn’t getting excited because of going to see Phish, but because I was going with Laura. Laura is the ultimate Phish phan. This was going to be my 12th Phish show and this was her 40th show. You can say she is a pro at Phish. I am at about 40 RRE shows, to put it in perspective. Laura talked herself up as being a big fan of Phish and just going all out at shows and I was getting ready to be with her at a show. It was going to be an adventure. Here is the setlist:

Set 1: Chalkdust Torture, Roggae, Punch You in the Eye, The Moma Dance > Rock and Roll, Sand, Tube > The Divided Sky, Character Zero

Set 2: After Midnight > Possum, Drowned > Maze, Dirt, Alaska, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Fire

I am not really here to review the show. The first set kicked total ass. I got my Punch. I finally could check that one off. Trey butchered Divided Sky though. He just straight up blew it and it just sucked. The rest of the set was perfect. Just great. I finally got my Maze. Laura called that one also. I could check that one off. This new song Alaska was really cool. I never heard it before and was thoroughly impressed with it. And of course, the song that follows me all over the place YEM, but I could handle it since I got such a sweet show.

This was the perfect show for me to go to. There was no way that I could get mad at Phish because of the songs they played. It was a great show and we danced our asses off. I was real happy that I went. I probably won’t be looking to go to any Phish shows; however, Laura if you need someone to go to a show to then I will be there right by your side. I won’t go to a Phish show without Laura because it was so much fun.

In the right corner of the picture are the actual pool of hot springs. Daren and I are in hanging out in the river that runs at the bottom of the canyon.

Daren and I got off of the train and were bombarded with native Mexicans trying to give us a ride to the nearest hotel or the nearest lake. We were way overwhelmed at first because one we were drunk and that was the only reason. We had to sit down and get our bearings straight. We got some information from some locals and we started to walk into town. First thing in order was to reload and eat some food. This was very important for the trip we were about to do. We had a decision to make: either go to the lake or the hot springs to camp for the night. We heard that you could swim in the hot springs, but could not swim in the lake, so that is what made our decision. Before we left we had to stock up on some supplies like cookies, peanuts, hot dogs, chips, and some juice for our little camping trip. We got driven outside of the town to where the hot springs were. Our driver suddenly stopped and said this is where you start walking. OH, goodie. Off we went on our hike down to the hot springs. Daren saw someone and asked how far to the hot springs and that person replied with 1 km! OK! 1 km, is doable. We started walking and we are literally walking down into this canyon. Straight down. Here is a pic of the hike down on many of the stops downward.

Daren and I were talking about something on this long hike down into the canyon, when I had to mention myself getting cancer. And in that second the word cancer was foreign to me. I had totally forgot about cancer and me getting cancer. The word scared me for a sec when I had to say it. So thanks Daren for making me forget about cancer even it was only for a second. So in Mexico 1 km must mean 3 km because thats how long this hike actually was. At every turn we expected to see the hot springs, but it was more road. That was another frustrating thing about the hike was not actually knowing when the end was. Eventually the hot springs appeared, but first we had to set up our campsite. I was excited to get to these hot springs because the reason for going here was to swim in them. We set up camp and entered the hot springs. Lets just say that they were not as hot as one would want at 9 o clock at night. It was nice to get into some warm water and to be swimming at the bottom of this canyon in the middle of the night. The night was gorgeous and the stars were out in full force. And yes, you can see the Big Dipper in Mexico. The stars were amazing. We got out and quickly warmed up and hit the sack because we were exhausted. It was like we were sleeping with the frogs because there were so many and they were so loud.

Tuesday April 25

Obviously, pools were built to catch the spring water, so we could swim in the water. Hot dogs were on the menu for breakfast. After breakfast, we did a little exploring on the dried up river.

After exploring and taking tons of pics, we packed up camp and got ready to head on out. There was no way in hell we were walking about up out of the canyon with our huge packs, so we sat and waited on the side of the road to hitch a ride. This is a pic of us waiting for our ride.

So we got a ride to the top of the canyon, but that was it for now. We had to get back to Creel. We sat some more and waited for some friendly people to drive back to Creel. We saw a group of people leaving the waterfall, so we went over to ask them if we could hitch a ride back to town with them. The first thing out of one of their mouths was, ” How much you going to pay me in gas?” WOW! Real nice. Daren negotiated a price and we all crammed into a sedan. There were four in the front and four in the back. A guy was next to the door and then there was me with my huge pack on my lap and then a kid who we think had down syndrome and then Daren next to the other door. The kid with down syndrome was trying to talk to Daren for the first part of the trip, but was not succeeding. He was really hard to understand, but he eventually passed out. We got back to town and spilled out of the car as the doors opened up. As we were standing at the side of the road, Daren started to sniff his jeans. He would bend over and smell them. I said to him whats the deal. Daren’s jeans were wet and he thinks the kid with down syndrome peed on us. I went to smell his jeans, but I did not smell urine, so I said to him that he was crazy. It was at that moment when I noticed that my jeans were a little wet. So I mentioned this to Daren and he smelled my jeans, but could not smell anything. We concluded at this point that it was piss, but water or sweat or something. We got back to our hotel room and while sitting in the room I started to smell urine. BINGO!! We got peed on! We payed 150 pesos to hitch a ride with a not so friendly person to get peed on. Ridiculous.

Wednesday April 26

The good thing about backpacking travelling or travelling with people like Daren and myself, is that plans are subject to change at any moment at any time. That is one of my favorite parts of travelling. Not really having a set itinerary, but just going with the flow, taking chances, and doing whats thrown in front of you. Daren and I had planned to go to this town called Batopilas. Batopilas is a town located at the bottom of one of the canyons and is a 4 hour trip to get there. We were going to go here and camp and hang out for a day and half. However, are plans changed. We met two nice folks who were staying at the same hotel as us. We talked to them and they were heading to a waterfall named Basaseachi. Daren and I talked and we decided to head to Basaseachi because 1) They were driving to the waterfall, so it would be much cheaper and 2) It’s always cool to meet and hang out with new people. However, there was one hiccup in this new plan. Our two new friends were not driving back to Creel, but heading somewhere different. We talked to some folks in town and found out that we could be dropped off at this town called San Pedro and catch a bus back to Creel. If Daren was game, then I was game, so we headed to the waterfall. Words cannot really describe the beauty of this waterfall, so I will let the pictures and videos do the story telling.

This is a picture of me at the top of the waterfall. You actually start at the top and then hike all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall.

Daren and Adrian hanging out on the rocks!

This is halfway through the hike!

OK!!! So the bottom of this canyon is unspeakable. It is truly amazing. Since it was dry season we were actually able to hang out where the waterfall would be raging down. I am hoping that the videos would be suffice enough to understand the greatness of this canyon. One of the videos is of Daren jumping into the pond.

The hike back up was TOUGH, but I made it. Two hours up, but it was worth it. Next, was the huge conundrum Daren and I were pining about all the night before. It was a two hour drive to San Pedro. We got to San Pedro and said goodbye to our friends and we were now on our own adventure and troubles. Let me explain to all of you what San Pedro is. We were not told much about San Pedro. Something about it being dangers and not much being there. Not much being there is an understatement!! San Pedro is literally a T-Junction with one building to get snacks and drinks. UH-OH!! Two roads meeting in the middle of the desert. That’s it!! Could have been a scene from, “From Dusk Till Dawn.” Daren and I get out and set up on the side of the road to start hitch hiking. We were hesitant about the buses coming and picking us up and we wanted to get out of there as quickly as we can. We started sticking our thumbs out and were there for about 15 to 20 minutes. Cars would drive by and just point in the direction we needed to go, but didn’t stop. Who knows? The sun was starting to set. Daren was starting to get nervous which led to me getting nervous. I mean, we did not want to stay the night in San Pedro. THERE WAS NO WHERE TO STAY!!! Finally, a big suburban actually stopped for us. Daren told the man where we were going and he told us to get in. the FIRST thing out of Daren’s mouth was, ” OH SWEET, you have a chainsaw.” Great. That what I wanted to hear. I mean I won’t even hitch hike in the States, but hitching in Mexico is just was the doctor ordered. Just witness what our ride consisted of for an hour and a half back to Creel! If you like the pan flute, then you will thoroughly enjoy this!

The instrument was the pan flute, the lyrics were all about Jesus. These people were devout Jesus lovers. Daren said to me, “If they ask if you believe in Jesus, you Believe!!” The woman would take her hands off the wheel and raise them in the air and sing her lungs out. Our lives were now in Jesus’ hands. We were still driving through mountains and the canyon; therefore, there were tons of sharp curves, so she would drive fast up to the curve and then brake hard and turn. Despite the drive and the Jesus love, these were really good people. They worked at rehabilitating drug addicts and alcoholics. We finally got back to Creel and did not have to pay them. Thank Jesus, that we got picked up by them. I will never see them again, but they helped Daren and I out, BIG TIME!! As soon as we got out of the car, I just gave Daren a big hug. We, then, walked to our hotel and passed out.

Thursday April 27

Daren and I were exhausted and we wanted to get back on that freaking train and just relax. We got on and just took it easy the whole way back to Los Mochis. From Los Mochis we had to take the bus back to Culiacan. We got back to Daren’s place and passed out.

Friday April 28

We just hung out all day. Daren and I were so exhausted from our travels that we both agreed that just chilling was the right thing to do.

Saturday April 29

Flight to Mexico City.

Sunday April 30

Flight back to the States!!

This trip was just perfect for me in what has been going on in my life recently. I needed to get away and just not worry about the things that were going on at home. Also, I just needed to see my homeboy, Daren. We planned the perfect trip and did some wonderful things and did some stupid things, but we did things that only us would do. It was intense and amazing. Its what makes travelling so much fun and has definitely rekindled my travelling urge in life. Who knows what is next. I just know that I am glad that I have friends like Daren and I thank you so much bro. Next time, we will do the beach and just relax, but for now shit man what a trip. Love ya everyday!

Here was the next part of our excursion. We were about to hop on a train for nine hours weaving in and out of a canyon and tunnels. Chepe was the name of the train on the railway of Mexico. The train left Los Mochis at 6 in the morning to our next destination of Creel. This train ride was absolutely amazing. We spent a couple of days in Creel, but the train ride alone is worth it. I recommend all of you to just go and do the train ride if you don’t want to do any of the hiking and other trips. Daren and I were gitty like two little school girls on that train. The views were amazing and the beers tasted better. I don’t drink a lot anymore, but being on a 9 hour train ride with one of my best friends was the perfect occasion so get back on the wagon. Daren and I were just enjoying our time on that train as much as we could. This post is just going to be a montage of the videos and pictures that I took on the train ride.

In this video, the train stopped and the villagers living in the town would come up to the train to sell their hand woven baskets they made.

The next couple of videos and pictures are from the town of Divisadero. This is where the canyon actually opens up and you see the breathtaking view of Copper Canyon. Simply stunning, I think Daren and I said over and over again.

Now, I would recommend going on this trip sooner than later. The Mexican government plan on drastically changing this area to a huge tourist attraction. All ready they have a cable car that goes across over the canyon. They plan on building a roller coaster that goes out over the canyon, and three more high class hotels and restaurants around the area. I really enjoyed the small town of Creel and how it was made up. I don’t want to see this area become more touristy and taken over by big business with attractions. I really enjoyed the vintage, quaint mountain town of Creel. If you want to see this area before it becomes changed then go do this trip now.

Go visit Daren’s blog @ http://dwmexico.wordpress.com/