Thank God.
Okay, the vacation started out rocky to begin with.
One of the cats got ill right before we were to leave so we had to put it off a day. Pav spent the all trip at the vet’s. That’s a story for later.
We finally left 1pm Wednesday. It promptly started raining until we were about four hours into the trip.
I was only able to drive for two hours before I was done. My body just can’t do it anymore, dammit. We didn’t even make the trip in one day. We were both so exhausted. The hotel we stayed in was awful. It’s off of exit 205 on Interstate 81. Big name but big suckage.
The rain that we had left behind on day one caught up to us for most of the second day, much to our joy. (insert sarcasm) We got to Lorna’s mom’s place in Boyertown, PA without any more adventures, though.
I stayed there one night and headed to Jersey on Friday, saw Kelli test for and get her first degree black belt. I can’t remember the name of the style they follow but I call it Moo Shoo Duck since it has Moo Duk in it. Anyway, saw Kelli get her belt then went out to a celebratory dinner at a place called Prospector’s. Decent place.
I wasn’t feeling well (truck lag?) and had bourbon salmon. Not bad, but didn’t taste any bourbon. And yes, it was cooked thoroughly. After that, we ran some errands and returned to my brother’s house. I really love my niece and nephew and I had a lot of fun with them. Ryan and I played some Xbox games. Ghost Recon (?) and some sort of race car thing. Kelli had her cousin over so I didn’t see much of her while the cuz was there.
I still wasn’t feeling well but I ate two slices of pizza and, later, some ice cream cake. Ryan and I stayed up late playing with the Xbox and on the computer.
When I woke up Sunday, I felt like crap. What I had to eat the day before violently exited the opposite end. I lay on Kelli’s bed while she told me the names of all her stuffed animals (and she has a lot). I felt so lousy that I had my bro test my blood sugar in case I was crashing from the cake the night before. Nope, ’twas fine. I was supposed to go visit Mom but I just kept feeling worse as the day went on. Finally, when they left for Mom’s, I left for PA and Lorna. All I could think of was getting to Lorna. I feel bad that I didn’t see Mom. I normally would have gone to her and had her fix me but my step-Dad’s brother was in town too and they were having this gathering. I did NOT want to hang with strangers while I moaned, groaned, and pooped my brains out.
The trip back to Boyertown from Riverside took much longer than it should. I pulled over at a rest area off the turnpike and slept for about 45 minutes. Then I continued on. I got to Boyertown, caught Lorna up on the black belt thing and bits of the trip, then I went to bed. I got up a few hours later and hurled what little was in my stomach.
We went to the doc Monday (yes, I was feeling that bad) and he confirmed what we were afraid of: another bout of diverticulitis. And a bad one. He prescribed liquid diet and two antibiotics.
Tuesday morning, Lorna says she’s not feeling well and then she gets sick too. We think it was either a 24hr bug or a combination of too much licorice and bad Lebanon bologna. By Wednesday morning she is feeling mostly better and we finally leave Boyertown Wednesday afternoon, drive until 7ish, stay overnight, then continue the drive today.
Lorna’s feeling better, although wiped out, but I’m still puny. I managed to eat a baked potato a short while ago so if it stays in, I’ll be able to eat more tomorrow. This morning we stopped at Cracker Barrel where I had some cereal and banana. It didn’t stay put very well, though.
The dogs are thrilled we are home. Sam is in Lorna’s lap in the recliner. The others are stretched out around us. Jo and PopCorn are on the bed, declaring they are Queens of the House. My fish are doing great, although I see less shrimp, I think.
And so, we are home, at last.