I went to the chiropractor on Friday for another adjustment and therapy. Dr. Pavtis reviewed my neck x-rays with me. The alignment issues are obvious. She also pointed out an earlier injury – an old fracture on C7. It looked worse than I thought it was. When it happened, I remember the doctor telling me it was a small fracture in the transverse process, no big deal. I had other injuries at the time that were bigger concerns. Looking at the X-ray now, the fracture clearly went through the entire vertebra, not just the transverse process. But this has nothing to do with my current situation.

Years of living with an imbalance due to neck dissection surgery has left me with poor alignment and improper curvature in my cervical vertebrae and upper back. Dr. Pavtis wanted to put me on a six-week treatment program. I don’t think we’ll do that. We settled on a few more treatments and stretches and exercises that I can continue on my own. This pushes our departure from Mesa back another week. We’re flexible with our travel plans, but the Phoenix area will soon become too hot to stay here in a motorhome.

On Friday night, Donna and I went to the Roma Cafe Ristorante. We used to eat there occasionally when we lived here before. We were a little confused though. The restaurant was in a plaza on Main Street, east of Power Road. I was sure we never went to dinner there. When we walked in, it was all very familiar. It’s family run and we saw familiar faces and decor. Donna asked if they moved the restaurant. Sure enough, our memories were correct. It used to be on the corner of McKellips and Recker. The food is reasonably priced and quite good with some authentic Italian specialities on the menu.

Yesterday, we were up early. Donna competed in the El Tour de Mesa bicycle race. We loaded her bike in the Toyota Highlander that we borrowed from Lana and arrived at the starting area at Red Mountain Ranch about an hour before the 8:15 am start. The 28-mile race was Donna’s first mass start bicycle race. She’s raced in duathlon and triathlon events before, but those aren’t mass start races. At the starting gun, she was off in a pack of a few hundred racers.

Donna in the center of the photo waiting for the start.

After they were off, I drove back home. I had a leisurely breakfast, then drove over to the finish area downtown at the Mesa Convention Center. Along the race route, police officers were controlling traffic at the intersections. The bike racers were given priority and didn’t stop at the intersections. I arrived at the finish line about 45 minutes before Donna thought she would be there. I didn’t want to miss her finish.

The finish line at the convention center.

About nine minutes later. I looked up the road and saw a couple of bikes come around the corner. By the time I recognized Donna, she was flying past me. I called out her name and walked past the finish line to find her. She finished 21 minutes ahead of her anticipated time. She was exhilarated. She had a great race.

We put her bike and gear into the Toyota and walked back to collect her medal. We checked the official finish times and saw that Donna was 2nd in the women’s 50 – 54 age group. I was proud to see she averaged 17 MPH over the course. She’s really motivated for the race in Great Falls now!

After we checked the results, we stopped at a lunch wagon for street tacos.  The carne asada tacos were spicy and very tasty.

We came home and relaxed for awhile – we each took short naps. Then it was time to return Lana’s Toyota. A few weeks ago we left a 2 terabyte external hard drive with Lana’s boyfriend, Joel. He loaded the hard drive with more than 900 movies, several TV series and a large music library! Joel showed me how to set up the drive and access the library, then he drove us home.

Donna prepared a special chicken dish for dinner. She marinated boneless chicken breasts in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh herbs. Then she cut each breast in a way that effectively made the breast into one long strip of meat. She then wrapped the chicken around an asparagus spear and a scallion.

One roll-up ready to grill and one breast cut into a long strip

I put the chicken on the grill. The trick was to lower the heat after getting the grill marks so the asparagus and scallion would cook without overcooking the chicken.

Chicken roll-ups on the grill

Donna served the chicken with steamed asparagus and garlic mashed red potatoes. A meal fit for royalty!

Served with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes

After dinner, I set up the hard drive with my laptop connected to the TV. We watched the end of Breaking Bad. We have so much entertainment to choose from thanks to Joel, Donna will cancel her NetFlix subscription.

This morning Donna went kayaking at Saguaro Lake with her friend, Audrey, and a few of Audrey’s friends. I’m watching the Formula One race from Bahrain. We’ll see what the rest of the day will bring.