Introduction (v 3.2)

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Welcome to Voyages with Parkinson’s! If you are looking for my photography store, you can find it here: C. B. Williams Photography. If you aren’t looking for my photography store, please consider giving it a go, anyway. I cover a wide variety of photographic subjects, from the Colorado Rockies to Miami Beach, from ammunition storage bunkers to marmots…if I ain’t got it, you don’t want it!

If you are a new visitor, and/or simply want the backstory, click the Menu button at upper right, then select “About This Blog”.

Also accessible via the Menu button at upper right is my new “Links” section. Here you can find links to relevant tools and web sites, both within and outside of the realm of Voyages with Parkinson’s.

In other news, I have finally compiled all of my “PD Travel Tips” into a single document. That document is accessible via the Menu button at upper right, and is just above the Search function.

If you just want to delve into the latest site content, scroll down.

Up ENDing Parkinsons

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The number of exercise programs / options targeting Parkinson’s continues to grow. Recently, “Up ENDing Parkinsons” made its Charlotte debut. This is rock climbing for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). You read that right! Well, I assume you read it right. I really have no way of actually knowing what you thought you read.

But, yes! Rock climbing for Parkies! This seemed like the perfect fit for me. I spent a lot of time during my twenties and very late teen years wandering northern Colorado, looking for rock formations to scale. So, about three months ago, I decided to try Up ENDing Parkinson’s.

Charlotte is not exactly known for cliffs, so this is actually an indoor, human-made climbing wall. Several such walls, even. And this is REAL climbing. With ropes and harnesses. I never bothered with such equipment when scrambling up remote rock formations in my foolhardy days of yore. On some of the climbing ‘routes’ they connect your rope to a machine that prevents you from plummeting if/when you lose your grip. On the rest, they connect your rope to a human “belayer” who stays on the ground while you climb. I imagine that if you fall, the belayer would be catapulted into the ceiling, though I haven’t seen that happen (yet).

I was amazed at my lack of energy and my overall weakness. However, I was assured by several people that it’s normal for folks to feel that way in the first session, and that most folks get past that quite quickly. I went back a week later, but actually felt weaker during that second session. I had planned to go again the following week, but decided I needed to use that time to finish plotting my Maryland trip. Then I was in Maryland for about two weeks ago. Then I started having, ummm, issues with the Vyalev pump. I’ll address that in my next post. For now, I continue to believe in Up ENDing Parkinsons, and intend to go back soon.

Predictions for 2026

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Gaze deeply into my shiny bald head. You will see into tomorrow. Or you can simply read my predictions below.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will formally rename the Book of Mormon to “The Newer Testament.”

The United States government will finally admit that North Dakota doesn’t actually exist.

Sheep will continue going to Heaven; goats will still be condemned to Hell.

Gravity will stop working. President Trump will claim responsibility, calling gravity “the worst idea anyone ever had.” Descendants of Sir Isaac Newton will vehemently disagree.

I am not dead.

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The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. That is, *if* there have been any rumors of my death. Yes, I got back from Maryland safely, and no, I have not completely clawed my keyboard apart.

None of my future travels are even in the planning stages yet. But, for several reasons, I’m thinking my next few trips will be to states that are within easy driving distance of Charlotte. That would mean road trips to Tennessee, West Virginia, and Regular Virginia. Maybe even Georgia and Kentucky.

After that, I may focus on states that are small enough to use a single hotel as a field HQ. I do get tired of having to tear down and build up my travelling pharmacy. This would prioritize Connecticut, New Hampshire (maybe), Rhode Island, Delaware, New Joisey, and New York City. I plan on doing NYC as its own trip, separate from upstate New York.

In the meantime, I’m dealing with a significant issue in regard to the Parkinson’s pump therapy. I also recently started another (very) physical therapy activity. I will write about both of these in the coming weeks.

Maryland 2025 Trip Report (Day 0)

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This trip did not start well. While packing yesterday, I couldn’t find my neck pillow. Fortunately, today’s flight is a short one, so I’m hoping my neck will be OK. On the drive to the airport, I had a collision. Specifically, the sideview mirror on the passenger side collided with a road construction sign that was sticking out from the curb. Lucky for me that my mirrors can be folded inward. I was afraid the mirror was damaged, but I stopped to check it out, I found it had just been partly folded inward. It was fine once I manhandled it back into place.

After two more near-collisions, I got to the Charlotte airport, where I chose to make use of the wheelchair service. My pusher got me to the TSA checkpoint and helped me unload all the stuff that needed to go through the X-ray machines. He then waited in the recombobulation area while I went into a private screening room for the full pat-down. Now that I have the pat-down down pat, it didn’t take long until I was back in the wheelchair. The pusher didn’t start pushing right away, so I figured he was just giving me more time to recombobulate. So, I got my belt, shoes, phone, etc. all in place and fastened. Again, though, no response from the pusher.

After waiting a moment longer, I formally announced that I was ready to head to the gate. The pusher asked whether I was certain; I confirmed, and off we went to the gate. Gate A24. Those of you who are frequent flyers based in Charlotte know what this means. Y’see, gate 24 is part of a recently completed extension of an existing concourse. This new area is a LONG walk from the terminal.

As I was de-wheelchairing, I went to grab my carry-on bag from the rack at the back of the wheelchair. It wasn’t there. A brief conversation with the pusher man revealed that one pair of TSA employees had been inspecting my carry-on while another pair was inspecting me in the privacy of the screening room. Apparently, the bag inspectors had not finished by the time I was ready to go.

Despite my morning mirror mishap, I still had plenty of time left before my flight. Wheelchair man undertook the long walk back to the TSA checkpoint, leaving the wheelchair with me as collateral. The TSA folks let him take the bag and haul it all the way out to gate A24 and a waiting Cedric. And so, I recognize that I have another…

PD Travel Tip:

Always keep track of your own bag(s). Specifically, don’t trust airport or TSA employees to track your bags for you, even if you are required to leave a bag in their custody.

I boarded the plane normally and, despite not having a neck pillow, I also slept normally.

After picking up my rental car, I made the 2.5-hour drive to Cumberland, Maryland. I found a Mexican restaurant there called El Rio Grande. This turns out to be a small chain, that has no relation to the small chain of restaurants in Colorado that use the same name. Unlike the Colorado chain, the one here in Maryland does not put insane amounts of alcohol in their margaritas. But they make up for it by serving HUGE margaritas. I could only drink about half of one. Oh, yeah. Food was excellent, too.

Tomorrow’s destination: A scenic train ride.