I took the new suicide-inducing pain drugs and within 15 minutes I thought my whole body would fall asleep in a way that felt paralyzing. This worried me as I don't want to be tired tomorrow while negotiating a busy freeway, but they supposedly only last eight hours and I took them early enough so I won't be driving for another 13 hours. The pharmacist did say I might experience "residual fatigue". I don't want that either. But OMG! Finally a night's rest other than me waking up checking the time and worrying if the drugs wouldn't wear off the next day.
Everything was great and I started driving at 7am. Continued on Interstate 91, then 90, then 80 crossed the Massachusetts to Connecticut border, Pennsylvania border and lastly, the Ohio border. It's so much easier to drive than walk! I stayed at the Cracker Barrel in Youngstown and they instructed me to park on the right side where there is a lot of room and RV parking spaces.
A guy in a small bus pulls up and parks probably fifty feet away. He's right in the breezeway. He sits in the driver's seat and smokes wafting all that stink into my van. I really hate people! I moved to left side of the restaurant. I hoped they wouldn't make me move, but I think a lot of people don't even check or call and just park where they want. No one bothered me all night. In pain and weird discomfort all night, restless, HOTTER than hell here with a lot of mugginess. I'm watching the weather closely. In seems in the next week most cities will drop down into the 70s. Fall is around the corner! Thank god.
Left Youngstown around 8am for Akron to shop at Whole Foods. I parked in a handicapped space. I looked all over for a parking spot close enough to the store so I can hobble in on my walker and there weren't any. Hit the road around 9am which is late for me but it's still cool in the morning. I hope I can drive a little longer and stop when the temperatures are cooler. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa mostly on Interstate 80. The "I" states have really shitty roads! Siri took me into south Chicago as a detour. I was not happy about that. I got to Davenport, Iowa around 6pm and stayed at the Cracker Barrel. The temperature is 75 and no mugginess!!!
Why am I staying at all these Cracker Barrels? Well, Walmarts are always hit and miss. Sometimes they are tired of nomads taking advantage of the free stays thinking it's long term free rent time so management doesn't allow it anymore. This is most common in cities. This takes a lot of effort on my part to park the van, hobble in with the walker, get an electric cart, go to the customer service, and then listen to them argue about whether they can or can't remember if management lets nomads park. If not then I have to repeat the process at another Walmart. It's too much effort unless I need to do some shopping. But I don't buy much from Walmart. Cracker Barrel always welcomes nomads to park. They even have large parking spots for the RVs. Cracker Barrels are safe, too. Walmarts too often have sleazy people using the parking lot in the middle of the night for who knows what. I also don't want to be camping out in the wilderness alone just in case I fall or do some damage and I'm alone. The only issue with Cracker Barrels is they are always located right next to a freeway so there is often LOUD traffic noise.
Woke up at 4am (!) left around 6am through Iowa and into Nebraska. It was high 60s and low 70s all day. No humidity. I stopped in Lincoln, NE to do a load of laundry. God I love clean clothes and it's been a while. I probably should have washed the sheets, but I didn't have that much energy. I have discovered if I can find the laundromat in a ghetto, they usually have the cheaper top loading machines. Hooray! Headed to Kearny where there is a Cabela's. On the way passed a lot of corn and everything smelled like cowshit. Nebraska will be forever known as the vortex for corn and cowshit.
And sunflowers! I think they are sunflowers or some kind of daisy. As soon as I crossed into Nebraska they were all over. All over the side of the interstate, bordering the fields of corn, probably in the cow pastures, too. I love them. I wish I knew what they were.
I pulled into Cabela's and only one small RV was parked in the far end of the lot. Thirty minutes later this massive monster of a RV pulls in RIGHT NEXT TO ME!
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| See the black at the left side, that is my window ledge! That's how close they are!! |
(I have tried to fix this font change! I give up!)
I was pissed. They had the whole parking lot to choose from since the other RV had since left. How fucking entitled! I kept muttering, "Those men must have the smallest penises in the universe to be camping in that monstrosity!" Their RV is huge, the size of a small house. Why aren't they at a RV park where RVs snuggle up next to each other with no room in between? This is a common complaint on the FB groups where people park right next to you when there is a whole parking lot to choose from. No one understands this behavior. RVs usually have really noisy generators, too. So thoughtless. I kept thinking of ways to get revenge getting angrier and angrier. Then I reminded myself to be KIND. I often have to remind myself to be kind. Don't flip people off while driving, don't cut people off because they are bad drivers, don't be rude or unfriendly. Instead, do things to be nice like let people in when they are trying to get into your lane or get into traffic, pull over if they want to pass but can't, give them the parking space if it looks like that is where they are heading.
As I'm talking myself into being kind, I had an epiphany...move the van so they have room to get out tomorrow because as close as they are they can't. They'd have to back up. More importantly, I've been waiting for someone to cozy up to me...ask if they would climb to my roof and check my solars. Of course, I did my best dying swan act hobbling over to their RV. I'm sure when I started yelling, "HELLO!? HELLO!?" they thought I was going to yell at them. His name is Sean and her name is Barbara.They are on vacation from South Carolina for just a few weeks and they are heading home now. They are traveling with his brother and sister-in-law, but I didn't meet them. He was happy to climb to the top of my roof! He also kept justifying why he parked where he did so I know he was feeling just a bit guilty for being a dickless asshole. They were actually very friendly inviting me over for a beer. After he checked my solars and dusted them off, I moved my van about fifty feet away...because there is a whole parking lot that is empty! People are so fucking thoughtless.
I am craving diet Pepsi...soft drinks. I don't think I've had a soft drink for 20 years. I know it would make me incredibly sick, still, I want one! I see the vending machines at the rest stops. It just sounds good especially when it's hot! Stores have those "healthy" soft drinks, but they are around $2.50 each! Too much money!
The nerve pain is getting worse. It used to feel like little bee stings now it feels like someone is taking a cattle prod to the bottom of my foot or stabbing it with a knife. The burning has intensified and the cast against my foot feels like rough concrete even though there is a sock between my foot and the cast. It seems fine when I'm driving, but as soon as I go to bed, the torment starts. It makes it really difficult to sleep. So I took another nerve pain pill. It seemed to make it worse, then better.
I woke up with a "hangover" headache then later in the afternoon I felt really sick, angry and depressed. Ah, it's the drug. No more. I'm still pretty shocked any health care provider would prescribe this suicide-inducing drug to anyone! How irresponsible the physician's assistant didn't warn me about the side effects in advance before I bought it. Pharmacist didn't say a thing either.
Drove west on Interstate 80. Stopped at Walmart in Sidney to get some cheap polyester pillows so I can prop my foot up at night into something soft and squishy. (They only cost $3.44!) As soon as I crossed into Wyoming the landscape became barren, flat, and rather ugly. Cheyenne was not impressive. A big strip mall, clean with a lot of different stores, but nothing memorable, but I didn't go searching for a downtown area which might have influenced my assessment. Headed south on highway 25 to Colorado but started feeling too sick and tired to go on. I checked out Walmart, but it was in the middle of a huge, noisy shopping center. Pulled in for the night at The Horse Palace Swan Ranch Casino across from the Wyoming State Infomation Center. I was going to stay at the information center as a lot of people suggested online, but they had "no camping" signs. It's very quiet here. One RV parked across the lot.
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| Nothing says Wyoming like a thunderstorm! View from my parking spot. |
As I'm typing this post, I notice my van is shaking. I look out the window. Wind! I guess summer is over and fall is moving in like a tornado. The rain will wash all the bug guts off my windshield...and it did for about an hour. I keep reading about flood warnings for the next couple days on all the routes I want to take south.
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