So where am I? As of this picture I’m probably floating over Colorado on February 21st.
So we did it, we got on a plane again. We swore off the idea for quite some time because every time we fly with a wheelchair it’s a train wreck. Something breaks on the chair or I do. Both situations have happened, and both of them were quite devastating. Luckily only a few of them have needed lawsuits but that’s beyond this post. If you have any questions though, inquire within.
So if we’re passing over Colorado, West. And what’s west of Colorado? Why it’s the best stop in the United States! That’s right, Las Vegas. This was our fifth or 6th time heading out there and like every other time we had a blast. Unfortunately though there were some drawbacks like the fact that they broke my chair by dropping it onto the tarmac. That was super cool because the bearings were crushed in the front wheels so it’s sabotaged our first couple days in town.
It’s hard to see but the bearing is basically shredded. The repair guy said that if he took off the bearing to measure it that he wouldn’t be able to put it back together because it was just in pieces. So that added another day of wait but what can you do?
Apparently this type of situation happens so frequently that they have a 1800 number to expedite the process. Obviously their bottom line is barely affected by the incredibly complicated yet expensive medical devices that they break each and every day, week, year in perpetuity throughout the future so they boiled it down to a phone number. I think the most interesting part was that they had one of the staff members at the plane quiz me what was wrong with the chair as if that employee had any idea about the complex engineering that goes behind a powered wheelchair for somebody who is thoroughly disabled. Additionally, when things are broken, they don’t show immediately. Luckily the crunching sound of the front wheel began rather quickly, but what about something that’s damaged that only makes itself known in the weeks to come? Does that let the airline off the hook? Say that they dropped something, it broke, but technically only broke into pieces several weeks later? Who pays for that? Unfortunately, if I can’t prove it, probably me.
Anyways if you look closely you can see the ball bearings that go into the front wheel fork bearings.
Not the worst thing that could have happened, not by a long shot. Obnoxious? Absolutely. Unnecessary? Again, absolutely. The end of our trip? Absolutely not. Once we calmed down, smelled the gambling in the air and eventually got fixed up our adventure began. I’m not going to touch on every stop we made because some of them were pretty redundant, like there was this burrito place really close to our elevators that got us to our room. Yes it was incredible, cheap, and more authentic than most of the stuff you can get in the realm of fast food in Minnesota but I don’t think you really need me to cover that. Okay, I’ll cover a little bit… Their breakfast burrito with chorizo and extra onions was amazing and I ordered it maybe three or four times throughout the week-long trip.
But anyways, easily one of the best stops was a place called Omega Mart, here are some pictures:
We stopped by our favorite restaurant Carson Kitchen. It’s our vacation tradition and usually our last stop for a gorging meal before returning to Minnesota. We went there by random chance our first trip to Vegas like a decade ago and we just can’t skip it. Here’s some more pictures:
And now the high point of the entire trip (which was technically my birthday gift from my wife), a whole bunch of wrestling stuff! I was gifted the ultra package which was three nights of wrestling, the first being the live pay-per-view that was being broadcast that night, and the next two nights filming their television show. Here’s a few more pictures:
In the end we made it home safely, the chair was a little bent up but really nothing too bad. Unfortunately we missed a couple of our events because of being trapped at the casino we were staying at. However the most unfortunate part was that my wife Angela and I had a huge reservation for Bazaar Meat By José Andrés but even though we planned several days ahead and reserved the taxi, they bailed on us. Basically we were stranded that night and made up for it by going to the one and only ultra reliable TGIFridays. It wasn’t 12 courses of unique dishes by one of the world’s most renowned chefs, they did have a steady supply of alcohol which eventually becomes just as important. Hopefully we can hit it up next time.
Thank you Las Vegas, I hope to be back again soon.
-mh
