Hello everyone, from fantastic Las Vegas!   I arrived here just before Christmas, to visit my parents who live here now.  I agreed to stay here with them to enjoy the holiday season, but about the time I was planning on moving on, I noticed that my middle finger on my right hand had an infected hang nail.  I didn’t think much of it, hoping that it would clear itself out, but soon it was obvious that it needed more attention than I could give it, so I went to an urgent care clinic here and the doctor I saw determined I needed to have it lanced and take a round of antibiotics.

I say lanced in a lighthearted tone, but in reality lancing with a cauterizing needle (a small battery powered pain pen) was much more painful and uncomfortable and damaging than if I’d let my father just cut the end of my finger off, like he kept offering to do.  The doctor more or less dug around there with the white hot tip of this devilish device until he reached his goal, which I can only assume was to fill some unseen pain-o-meter up to full.  He had said beforehand that they couldn’t do much pain wise pre-procedure because of its location and the minor nature of the procedure, and he spoke very nonchalantly about it, so I didn’t worry too much. A quick poke and we were to be done.  Well after he had finished shoveling around the end of my finger with that most evil tool, he offered me, as a condolence a few pain killers to go with the round of antibiotics.

On a happier note, the antibiotics did their job perfectly and my finger is now fully healed and feels much better.  I have arranged for the next leg of my journey, and it will take me to Kanab, Utah, a town near the border with Arizona.  I will be house sitting there for a spell, as well as watching after a small group of ducks.  While I am there, I will be exploring the areas scenic offerings, which are said to be quite beautiful.  I also hope to continue my quest to meet new and interesting people, play music, and to spread information about Ulcerative Colitis and Rotary Internationals programs.

If you are from Kanab or know anyone in that area, feel free to send them my way and email me at media.rettke@gmail.com.  I am always open to meeting up for interesting conversations, jam sessions, or setting up speaking engagements for clubs or groups.  I will be heading that way, tentatively, around the 1^st of February.  I will keep the website and facebook.com/tysworldtrek updated to let you know the exact time that I go that way.  Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @VeraquRettke