I'll Be Home for Christmas 2014: Day 0

It started with a tickle in my throat on the morning of the 16th. I took some ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and a whole heaping load of denial before work and went in, determined to at least leave early. I shelved cookie re-decorating that night to "rest" instead, then awoke at 2:30am with a low, but increasing fever. I would not make it in for the Year End Team Meeting, which was therefore canceled. A trip to Urgent Care got me an antibiotic and a recommendation to stay out of work for at least another day. I still felt awful Friday, but went in and got my computer. I updated my flight plans to depart early morning, Tuesday, to give me more time to recover.

After a strong Mucinex tablet, the ear pain intensified, and Saturday morning included another trip to Urgent Care and a steroid shot. On Sunday, the pain migrated to the other ear, and I knew that I could not fly. Suddenly, it hit me: I could drive to Wisconsin. I have a car, my mom made the drive last year, and I had the time, so long as I gave up my Monday to drive. But how to get two days of activity into just one? Easy, stay up late and leave later. Around midnight or later, Monday morning, I was still awake and decided to rearrange all of my books, the bookcase, and the chair and ottoman in the corner. I'm happy I did it, because it all looks nice, but I ended up sleeping in, feeling horrible in the morning, and not leaving until 1pm on Monday.

In the morning, I started doing laundry, but couldn't put things in the car or take out the trash until that was done, as all of my pants, apparently, were tied up in said laundry. So I did some work things, packed, fed Bruno, cleaned, packed, cleaned some more, texted, and finally had my pants. But then I had one last work thing to do at 11, so I finished that and started on a "just 5 minute" survey that took me about 20. Then I dragged on, not wanting to leave Bruno, who was still freaked out from the pet sitter visit on Friday and was hiding under the bed again. But at noon, or just after, I took my final items out of the apartment and left.

But before driving out, I needed food, so I went to Tacos and had a taco salad, talked to people (though I shouldn't have, what with my dreadful voice), and wrote down directions to ...

TEXARKANA! Home of the Continuing Legend, the Boggy Creek Creature!

But first, I had to navigate the Interstate-less East Texas highways and stave off lingering throat pain and congestion.

In Atlanta, I stopped at Jeff Peace's financial firm parking lot for illness-related reasons and made a Facebook post.

Long story short, I drove over the Sulfur River, past Texarkana, and into Arkansas. At a Flying J, I had a cheese sausage and $2.39 worth of cooked green beans. The first taste was boring, but suddenly, I found myself wolfing them down as it they were manna from heaven. The cheese hot dog was still good, but I guess my body really liked those beans.

Then I got back on the Interstate - thank Eisenhower - and after a couple hours, I made it to a Super 8 Motel just south of the Little Rock Loop. A phone conversation with my mom, football watching and blogging, item rearrangement, shower, and now it's time for bed.