HAPPY MEDICAL NEW YEAR!! SHEESH!

  Well, this has been quite a week.  Christmas Eve I began to feel like a mean “bug” was beginning to take over my physical body.  I immediately went into survival mode and pretended that I felt fine, spending Xmas day with the Heisers, watching the plentiful gifts being open..even taking a dozen Casey’s donuts for their Xmas morning healthy breakfast…

 

 

We arrived at 7:30AM and found 3 anxious children and one excited dog who had sniffed out his gift under the tree…Feeling a little weak and puny, I shrugged it off and truly enjoyed the organized mayhem of presents, paper, and a gazillion little Lego parts flying through the air.  We had a great time, and wished we could have watched the rest of our extended Cave kids open their gifts too…

Arriving back at home before noon, we soon began loading up the Hiker…Got a lot done too, considering I felt like a wet noodle…”You are NOT getting sick…You are NOT getting sick”…We pulled the Hiker up on the drive to finish loading..in and out, in and out..Damn! It’s getting COLDER…(or is it just moi?)

Wednesday after Xmas we rode up to Uncle Jr.’s house to help with groceries…Even though my brain said I was OK, my stuffy nose and beginning of a cough said otherwise..I decided  walk a wide berth around our elderly Aunt and Uncle, being careful not to touch anything they used, keeping a distance away, and coughing into my elbow…We didn’t stay very long because I had a Doc appt. in St. Charles to see my plastic surgeon, A.K.A., Dr. Magic…That went well,…but I DID  notice he immediately used hand sanitizer after shaking MINE…smart man.

Thursday, Den and I woke up at 5AM, ready to roll ..OK, I was marginally ready…HMMMM..OK, maybe you ARE getting sick..spit, spit, hack, hack….and why won’t these chills go away?? McGyver put the 80 gallons of water on board and we pulled out of the drive at 6:30AM ..sharp..Maybe, Donna, you just needed to get “on the road”..?? (Still delusional)…

Our goal was to make Nashville Thursday late afternoon and Wally dock on the North side of the city..We made it with no problem ( me slamming Coldease and clutching a box of Kleenex along the way)…Getting out of the Hiker at the Wally parking lot, I just happened to notice a low rear left tire on the rig…VERY low…NO, REALLY???? THESE ARE BRAND F’ing NEW TIRES!!!!  DENNNNIIIIIIIIS!!!!!  Den took one look and said, “I guess it’s good we are at WalMart. I’ll just pull the Hiker to the tire area, they can take the tire off and take a look, and I’ll meet you inside…by the cold remedies”…whatever!

Long story longer, I loaded up on Nyquil, Daycare, and more Kleenex, then went to find McGyver…He was looking very disgusted, and I just got in on the conversation with the tire guy..Turns out they didn’t have a jack big enough to jack up our Hiker and get the tire off…SAY WHAT????..(and, just for the record, Mr. Tire Guy needed some extensive dental work and a little “jacking up” himself. ) Mr.Tire guy suggested a Camping Center a few miles away…We got back in the  Hiker and drove through Nashville rush hour traffic, narrowly avoiding many fender dings..By now, McGyver’s face was beet red and his knuckles pure white..…Bottom line?…No, they couldn’t fix our tire…That Camping Center didn’t DO tires…(or windows)…

  If you are still awake, I will continue, if you aren’t, I will continue…

We finally decided to just go back to the Wally parking lot.  Dennis took our tire off with OUR jack, and rolled/walked it up to the Wally tire center so they could look at it…I sat inside the camper, finally admitting that I definitely WAS sick…and definitely running a fever…I put some soup on the stove, pulled out the bedroom slide and sat on the bedroom step bundled up in 3 coats, leaning my head against the wall…fighting the tears…We’ve all been there…I was defeated…..

We didn’t pull out the other 2 slides, according to Wally-docking ettiquette (or so we had read online.  We are, after all, Wally-docking virgins)…I lit the candles, not for atmosphere, but because Den said to keep the lights to a minimum, so we didn’t lose our batteries…This was NOT the ambience I had planned on for this trip.. Dennis came back later, saying they had fixed the valve stem, aired the tire up, and didn’t charge us a dime!!..He put the tire back on and came inside.  We ate, jammed up against the wall at our table..I threw the dishes in the sink and we crawled into bed at 9PM…AND, …WE WILL NEVER WALLY DOCK AGAIN!! WE ARE NOT THAT IN NEED OF PUNISHMENT!

OK, if you made it to this point of my blog, you must have napped somewhere along the way..I totally understand…Sooo, we left Nashville and headed for South Georgia…I was now fully admitting I was pretty sick…and Dennis was now held hostage inside the cab (albeit extended) of the GMC with a sneezing, snotting, wet mess of a wife, now sounding like she was going to cough up a lung…Happy Trails, Roy.. To cap it all off, when we pulled in here, our tire was low again…AHA!!! THAT’S WHY THEY DIDN’T CHARGE US..THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!!…Dennis aired it up with our little compressor, and that will have to be addressed later…Just get me a bed.

So, enough of the sob story…We are now camped, until this Friday, at a lovely little campgrounds called Cotton Hill, now serving as our sick bay and “chill out” spot…It is on Walter F. George Lake, 17 miles South of Eufaula, Alabama…It is a great Army Corps spot for $12 a night, with full hook ups and a laundry..I did manage a short walk around and there are lots of campers here. We are right on a little bay…

“Named for one of the principal towns of the Lower Creek Indians, Eufaula was settled on the site of Creek villages at a time when the land was still claimed by the Creek Nation.  By the time of the Civil War, Eufaula was a prosperous river port on the Chattahoochee River and a commerical center for much of the surrounding area. Many of its elegant antebellum homes still stand today, saved from destruction when Union troops halted just west of town after receiving a truce request from Major General Samuel Jones who had just learned that the war was ending. Today the city and surrounding area are home to more than 20 structures and districts that are listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Some of the old homes in Eufaula are considered the finest examples of their architectural styles in the United States.” You knew I had to throw in some history, at least.

  Yesterday, moi and the now also ailing McGyver ,(it was the closed cab ride here, I just know it), took a ride into Eufaula to the Wally…We needed to replenish the Nyquil, DayCare, Musinex and Ibuprofen…Oh, and I really made a great discovery..KLEENEX, EXTRA SOFT WITH VICKS BAKED INTO IT!!! I was like a kid in a candy store when finding this, and was temped to buy them out, but Dennis convinced me 2 boxes should suffice..(key word here is should.)

Well, that should just about do it for my Happy Medical New Year…This trip hasn’t yet lived up to it’s full potential,.. such as sandy beaches, 70 degree temps and cocktails with umbrellas in them by the campfire…If Dennis and I ever are released from “sick bay”, we shall REALLY  appreciate good health in 2013..As for New Year’s Eve tonight??? I see a light dinner, followed by some heavy shots of Nyquil, followed by an early bedtime, snuggled up with my new best friend, Vicks dosed Kleenex……HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!!!!