Day 17 & 18 (Mayo Clinic & Lost Wallet)

I'm going to go backwards on this blog posting because of what happened this afternoon and then I will work my way back to when I left Milwaukee, just morning.

Let me start by saying what a wonderful visit I had today at the world renown Mayo Clinic. Apparently, people like the King of Saudi Arabia have come here to be seen by the Mayo doctors. I think what impressed me the most was the actual history behind the Mayo Clinic. I would encourage anyone to Google "Mayo Clinic". My hotel stay was not all that great because the hotel that I stayed at was old and had thin walls so I had a TV playing through the night on one side and then two elderly ladies chit-chatting on the other side. I wasn't going to make an issue of it though. Did I mention that the hotel room door had an opening at the bottom of about 2 inches as well? I should have known better but wanted to try to keep the cost down.

So I got up at 5:00am and packed up all my gear and checked out of the hotel but they did let me stow my gear in their office until after my Mayo Clinic tour was over. I took the shuttle over and you definitely see a lot of people that are sick in one way or another or they are family members who come along with them. Rochester really is a busy town with all of the people that come to the Mayo Clinic. It is my understanding that they saw over 500,000 patients last year alone.

I finally got to meet Nicole Engler and she was so nice. I really felt very welcomed to be there and I must say I felt overwhelmed by the Gonda building on the Mayo Clinic campus. It was incredible and it even had a walking subway system (no, not trains but feet and lots of them) under the city within the buildings. In the winter you literally never have to worry about getting out in the cold weather to find almost anything you need. You will notice some of the pictures with the walking subway entrances.

I got to meet and talk with Jeri who I believe oversees the "Stephen and Barbara Slaggie Family Cancer Education Center". You know for some reason, I never thought to ask her. See the education center was the first one of this type that I had seen and I was so very impressed with the various resources that they have for patients and family members. It amazed me how much is available to people and these folks are here to help in every and any way they can.

My public tour started at 10:00am in the Judd Auditorium where we watched a film on the Mayo Family and how the Mayo Clinic started. We started on the walking tour and I really was intrigued by the history of this facility. This visit was mainly about the history behind the clinic as opposed to visiting research labs and I found it very highly interesting.

So, after my tour, I took some more pictures and then went back to the hotel to load up my motorcycle and head out. I must confess that part of me wanted to see so much more, such as the St. Mary's Hospital which along with the Rochester Methodist Hospital is part of the Mayo Clinic as well.

So as I stated in the beginning, I somehow lost my wallet and was completely stressed out. I wasn't worried about the money as much as all the work that Lisa and I had to go through to cancel and renew my debit cards and get cash to me through money wire. So I had to check into another hotel and have my bank FedEx my new cards in the next day or two. I suppose I can go visit some of the other facilities now and check out more of this walking subway system they have.

Great news in regards to pictures. Below is the link to the photos that I have taken since I left. They are not necessarily identified so you'll have to figure it out until I can label them. Looks like I have some time now. My trip from Milwaukee to Rochester, MN was uneventful but it was nice and sunny.

Since I am going to be behind a bit, I have decided to make up this time by driving non-stop (via a brief stop over in Helena, MT) to Seattle with little catnaps along the way and a little boost of energy drinks.


Posted Pictures (not all labeled yet)
http://s443.photobucket.com/albums/qq158/pwestjr


Pete West
PO Box 380001
San Antonio, TX 78268
(210) 563-0509 (cell)
pwestjr@gmail.com

"Cruisin' For A Cure" U.S. Motorcycle Tour to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
http://cruisinforacure.blogspot.com ("Cruisin' For A Cure" travel blog site)
http://www.active.com/donate/cruisinforacure (donation website)