I should be Dead right now

There I was, driving my RV Rig back from spending three months on Vancouver Island, BC and Port Townsend, WA. I was heading to Palm Springs, my winter home for the past 7 years (because the weather is so Damn good).

Then I had a heart attack!

I had just driven past Salt Lake City and was in a town called Murray, Utah, when I started to feel dizzy. Trying to get over to the right hand shoulder, I turned off the cruise control and had slowed down to 40 mph when I lost conscience. The rig proceeded to hit the center divider and came to rest against the right hand guard rail.

Luckily no one else was involved. But what a strange sight for the guys behind me to see 60' of RV bus and tow car playing freeway pinball up ahead.

I vaguely remember the fire department unhooking my seatbelt and asking me my name and did I know where I was. I must have been taken by ambulance to the Emergency Room because then I heard "clear",and felt the electric shock from the defibrillator. That really hurts! I sat up and said "I'll tell you where the money is, just don't shock me again".   

I am lucky even while being unlucky. My crash site was less than 5 minutes from the Emergency Room at Intermountain Hospital, the go to Cardiac Hospital in the western states. If I had the heart attack at any one of my campsites in the past 4 months, I would have died.

Instead of releasing me, they checked me into room in the Cardiac ward. Over the next week, i had 4 procedures including inserting 6 stents to open up 3 blocked arteries, inserting a pacemaker and an ablation. Thank God for Medicare health insurance and United Healthcare

supplemental Parts A and B. My out of pocket cost was zero!

3 weeks in the hospital and 10 weeks in a rehab center made me strong enough to fly back to Palm Springs. I had hired someone to drive the rig back From Salt Lake City To PS. So we timed it for my Sister Esther to fly up from Glendale, California and my son Drake flew in from London, England. We all caught a direct flight back to my winter home.

Thank you Sis and Drake for taking the time to help and support me. I now know the true meaning of love and sacrifice.

My current plan is to Rehab here in Palm Springs and get ready to sell the rig in Q1 of next year. Then I'll move into an apartment closer to Mother Ocean, somewhere between San Diego and Marina Del Rey.

After 10 years of adventures, 3 on my boat "No Regrets" in Europe and 7 in my RV bus in the Western US, my traveling days are over. Some how I was not ment to die yet. Maybe I was Spared to finish my travel book and definitely to share love with my family and friends. I still want to make a difference and share my story.

We will see! 

Thank the Gods... I'm not dead yet!

Rick-