Saturday, December 29, 2007
On The Road Again
I love roadtrips. I'd always love to drive rather than fly anywhere. I don't mind long hours in the car, especially when I'm driving. I love seeing the countryside and seeing more of America. And I've long contended that one of the best things about driving places is that you see things you'd NEVER see unless you drove. Things like, say, Mississippi. I have no earthly idea why anyone would voluntarily go there unless they had to. Or if Mississippi was between them and their destination and they weren't flying. (And, presumably, didn't want to go AROUND Mississippi.) But I'm digressing.
Watersyne and I decided together that driving back to Houston from NJ would be fun. Or, "fun." Most people we told gave us a weird look and some encouraged us with comments like, "Why would you do that?" It was quite nice.
So Christmas came and went and we planned to depart from NJ on the morning of 12/26 and the rough plan was thus:
12/26 - Drive from NJ to Ashville, NC, where my Aunt and Uncle live.
12/27 - Drive to Memphis.
12/28 - See Graceland, then drive South and stop somewhere in Mississippi or Louisiana.
12/29 - Finish the drive to Houston.
So we had a plan. And as my good friend Xtrosity always likes to say (especially when I come up with a plan), "Custer had a plan."
The morning of the 26th, we awoke and loaded the car. My parents kindly made us a nice, greasy breakfast, which, ordinarily, I love. And I scarfed it down, as per usual, and then felt... lousy. I felt sick. But I figured it was because I just was getting old and heavy, greasy breakfasts don't go down as well anymore. So off we went.
Things started out okay, but as we drove South I began to feel more on-and-off queasy. We had Dunkin' Donuts coffee on the way (since we weren't going to be able to get it in TX much - more on that another time) and I intermittenly felt okay... and then queasy again.
We went from Jersey into Pennsylvania and then through a small part of Maryland and into Virginia. By about 3 PM, I couldn't drive anymore. We stopped and I asked my lovely to take over for me because I felt like maybe a nap would help me feel better. Well, it's a good thing we switched when we did because by about 3:30, I was a violently ill, vomiting mess. And it was bad. It was one of those stomach bugs that just overcomes you and you are unable to stop being sick. Every rest stop, we pulled in so I could A) throw out my latest puke bag and B) visit the pooper. Thank God Virginia has nice rest stops -- they're even manned by someone who hangs around just to keep things working seamlessly. And the bathrooms are the cleanest I think I've ever seen on the road. So thank you, Virginia, I am eternally grateful for that.
So after being violently ill for about two hours, we checked our mileage and realized we had at least another two hours until we'd make Asheville. I decided I just couldn't handle it anymore and I needed a bed and so my sweetie found us a Holiday Inn near Roanoke, Va. I was shuddering a shiver I've barely ever felt before. In fact, the last time I felt this way was the last time I was sick and I remember it vividly -- December 2004, almost exactly three years earlier. It was the same kind of overwhelming stomach bug that debilitates you completely. Anyway, I felt like I was dying. My body was shivering SO hard as it tried to stabilize my body temp... it was so bad I could barely talk or get my hotel keycard to swipe through. I was getting a little nervous because we kind of knew where we were, but not real well. What if we needed to go to a hospital or urgent care center?
Anyway, I slept it off for a few hours and by about 10 or 11 that night was beginning to feel better. I watched Purdue win the Motor City Bowl and that, of course, improved how I felt. My sweet Watersyne took care of me all day and night and made sure I had fluids and kept my fever down with Tylenol.
By morning, I was able to eat again and suck down Gatorade and we were off again. However, my Aunt was scared she was going to get sick so she actually begged off having us come by for lunch or whatever. The unfortunate thing is, you know, how often does one actually get to Asheville, NC? Well, I'll tell you... the last time I was there was when Xtrosity and I were passing through town on our way to Florida for Spring Break back in March of 1997. So, by that timeline, I guess we'll next try to visit sometime in 2017.
Regardless, Asheville actually would have been somewhat out of our way so we continued Westward out of Virginia and into Tennessee. We contined heading West and realized, hey, Tennessee is a long-ass frickin' state. We made it to Nashville by dinnertime and decided we'd try to find a good place to eat in Nashville and then continue on to Memphis, which was another 210 miles away.
Ah, yes. We realized how far we really were from Memphis earlier in the day. However, in trying to be proactive, we'd used Watersyne's platinum hotel status to book a room that morning over in Memphis. We figured getting there would be no problem. But when we realized we might not feel like driving the full 650 miles, we tried to call and cancel the reservation. It was, after all, before 6 PM.
Watersyne, however, got the runaround and was told we'd be charged for cancelling. Which is utter bullshit, especially since she's a platinum member for all her hotel stays (insert own joke here), but they stonewalled us and said they couldn't change it. We felt that was ridiculous. But it obviously motivated us to finish the journey.
So we swung into Nashville at around 6 PM and found an awesome steakhouse, the name of which I cannot remember. But we now have favorite steakhouses in places like Nashville and Edmonton, Alberta. You know, just in case.
After our delish meal, we hit the road again, knowing we had 210 miles to cover before we got to rest again. Of course, on the dark, open highways of Tennessee, one can set their cruise at 80 MPH and practically never turn it off. We made it to Memphis in two hours, 45 minutes.
And that was through Day 2.
Watersyne and I decided together that driving back to Houston from NJ would be fun. Or, "fun." Most people we told gave us a weird look and some encouraged us with comments like, "Why would you do that?" It was quite nice.
So Christmas came and went and we planned to depart from NJ on the morning of 12/26 and the rough plan was thus:
12/26 - Drive from NJ to Ashville, NC, where my Aunt and Uncle live.
12/27 - Drive to Memphis.
12/28 - See Graceland, then drive South and stop somewhere in Mississippi or Louisiana.
12/29 - Finish the drive to Houston.
So we had a plan. And as my good friend Xtrosity always likes to say (especially when I come up with a plan), "Custer had a plan."
The morning of the 26th, we awoke and loaded the car. My parents kindly made us a nice, greasy breakfast, which, ordinarily, I love. And I scarfed it down, as per usual, and then felt... lousy. I felt sick. But I figured it was because I just was getting old and heavy, greasy breakfasts don't go down as well anymore. So off we went.
Things started out okay, but as we drove South I began to feel more on-and-off queasy. We had Dunkin' Donuts coffee on the way (since we weren't going to be able to get it in TX much - more on that another time) and I intermittenly felt okay... and then queasy again.
We went from Jersey into Pennsylvania and then through a small part of Maryland and into Virginia. By about 3 PM, I couldn't drive anymore. We stopped and I asked my lovely to take over for me because I felt like maybe a nap would help me feel better. Well, it's a good thing we switched when we did because by about 3:30, I was a violently ill, vomiting mess. And it was bad. It was one of those stomach bugs that just overcomes you and you are unable to stop being sick. Every rest stop, we pulled in so I could A) throw out my latest puke bag and B) visit the pooper. Thank God Virginia has nice rest stops -- they're even manned by someone who hangs around just to keep things working seamlessly. And the bathrooms are the cleanest I think I've ever seen on the road. So thank you, Virginia, I am eternally grateful for that.
So after being violently ill for about two hours, we checked our mileage and realized we had at least another two hours until we'd make Asheville. I decided I just couldn't handle it anymore and I needed a bed and so my sweetie found us a Holiday Inn near Roanoke, Va. I was shuddering a shiver I've barely ever felt before. In fact, the last time I felt this way was the last time I was sick and I remember it vividly -- December 2004, almost exactly three years earlier. It was the same kind of overwhelming stomach bug that debilitates you completely. Anyway, I felt like I was dying. My body was shivering SO hard as it tried to stabilize my body temp... it was so bad I could barely talk or get my hotel keycard to swipe through. I was getting a little nervous because we kind of knew where we were, but not real well. What if we needed to go to a hospital or urgent care center?
Anyway, I slept it off for a few hours and by about 10 or 11 that night was beginning to feel better. I watched Purdue win the Motor City Bowl and that, of course, improved how I felt. My sweet Watersyne took care of me all day and night and made sure I had fluids and kept my fever down with Tylenol.
By morning, I was able to eat again and suck down Gatorade and we were off again. However, my Aunt was scared she was going to get sick so she actually begged off having us come by for lunch or whatever. The unfortunate thing is, you know, how often does one actually get to Asheville, NC? Well, I'll tell you... the last time I was there was when Xtrosity and I were passing through town on our way to Florida for Spring Break back in March of 1997. So, by that timeline, I guess we'll next try to visit sometime in 2017.
Regardless, Asheville actually would have been somewhat out of our way so we continued Westward out of Virginia and into Tennessee. We contined heading West and realized, hey, Tennessee is a long-ass frickin' state. We made it to Nashville by dinnertime and decided we'd try to find a good place to eat in Nashville and then continue on to Memphis, which was another 210 miles away.
Ah, yes. We realized how far we really were from Memphis earlier in the day. However, in trying to be proactive, we'd used Watersyne's platinum hotel status to book a room that morning over in Memphis. We figured getting there would be no problem. But when we realized we might not feel like driving the full 650 miles, we tried to call and cancel the reservation. It was, after all, before 6 PM.
Watersyne, however, got the runaround and was told we'd be charged for cancelling. Which is utter bullshit, especially since she's a platinum member for all her hotel stays (insert own joke here), but they stonewalled us and said they couldn't change it. We felt that was ridiculous. But it obviously motivated us to finish the journey.
So we swung into Nashville at around 6 PM and found an awesome steakhouse, the name of which I cannot remember. But we now have favorite steakhouses in places like Nashville and Edmonton, Alberta. You know, just in case.
After our delish meal, we hit the road again, knowing we had 210 miles to cover before we got to rest again. Of course, on the dark, open highways of Tennessee, one can set their cruise at 80 MPH and practically never turn it off. We made it to Memphis in two hours, 45 minutes.
And that was through Day 2.
Labels: driving to Tejas, on the road again, vomiting
