The worst part of road burn is waking up in your own bed and having no idea where you are. This is what happened to me over the last week, and it didn't help that I left my fiance and her friend stranded at a train station.
Let's recap the last few weeks. I did my initial U-Haul road trip. That had me landing in Topeka, KS. Then an interview in OK, and a night in Amarillo, TX. Then off to Las Vegas, NM, which rocked. A night in the roach motel in Gallup, NM. Drove to Phoenix, and spent a week there. Had to get back to DeKalb to get my crushed car into the shop. I drove all day and night. Arrived in DeKalb at 11:00 AM. Got my car to the shop, spent a few hours with Chris, slept for a few, and was up at 3:00, and at Midway by 4:00 for a 6:00AM flight to NYC.
This was the worst flight I've ever been on. Word was that due to recent storms, there were no available pilots to fly given FAA restrictions. Then they found one, but he was down to the minute. So he took every jet stream and made the flight one that tossed luggage and books down the aisle. When we touched down, it was such a hard landing my gimpy shoulder went out of socket, and my back wrenched so badly it still fucking hurts. Advil so longer works...which is why I am up. Back pain is awful.
I did one week at camp and had to fly back for a family reunion/engagement party. The camp I ran wasn't supposed to go up, but at the last minute, it was viable, and when you work for someone like D Murph, you can't say no. He let me leave camp though for 40 hours.
I left Thursday at 7:00. Landed in Milwaukee at 9:00. Met my sisters and Bryan (Marla's fiance) and we ate and drank. Up the next morning, and hit the road. I got a free breakfast because I went to Panda Express and asked for steamed veggies. The veggies weren't ready, but Kung Pao chicken shortly was. I said, "I'll take that." When I had to pay, the manager said, "It's on the house. We didn't have the veggies ready." I offered to pay, repeatedly...they refused...this is the difference between the Midwest and the East. So my breakfast was free.
Did the four hour drive to Merrill, WI, and saw my beloved family I've not seen for so long. I saw little kids who sat on my lap who are now adults. Weird. I was mixing up names. This is sad...it reminded me how disconnected I am to my great extended family. Worst of all, I had to leave before, one of my greatest friends, Ben Henrich, my cousin arrived, and he (rightfully let me hear it). He went out with Chris and my sisters, and I got the text, "Your fiance is awesome, and you suck for leaving early." That hit me hard. I will NEVER put myself in that position. God bless Chris for being so great as to meet parts of my family alone, but it reminded me, I have to be more in touch. I can be gregarious, but I just shut down to way too many people.
Anyways...the Friday shindig was awesome. We ate very well. Chris got her first taste of cheese curds and LOVED them. Personally, those things disgust me, so I guess I'm not a true badger, but Chris is. The entire night was Chris meeting the family: My Uncle Lee, who I did not talk to enough. My uncle Bobby and Aunt Dorthy, Aunt Harriet, cousin Holly, cousin Jerry Lee, and so on. The greatest moment was when my Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave (who are providing our music for the wedding), asked if we wanted to hear the wedding music. Of course we said yes. So, in their home which is on the Wisconsin river, with an amazing picture window, we sat there and listened to harp and violin play our wedding music. The worst (or best) came when they played "Lo How the Rose Ere Blooming". Chris and I both cried.
"Low How the Rose Ere Blooming" is central to our relationship from the movie/book _The Time Traveler's Wife_. She understands that I am on the road, and I arrive and disappear in no time; much as the protagonist of the book/movie. On top of it all is the age difference, so we always joke that while I was doing X in college, she was in elementary school, and how funny would it be that if I showed up, and told a fourteen year old Chris, "Your future husband is a professor right now." I know that's not elementary school, but humor me.
The point is that the Time Traveler is always off, but not of his own will, and he hates being away, and struggles to survive, but some how he always makes it back to his love.
So after all the festivities, I finally went to bed at one. I was up at 3:30, and on the road to Milwaukee for an 8:00 AM flight. I made it in plenty of time. When I checked in a man walked up to the counter and said, "This woman doesn't speak English, but she was supposed to be in Minneapolis, but she was dropped off here, and so was her luggage." Whoops!! For a typical traveler, this is really nothing new. But the people at the counter didn't know this. The customer relations person gave me my ticket, and said, "You've been upgraded to business class." Good place to be. Free drinks, and loads of food. So much space too. Wow! I've never flown first class, and I don't anticipate I ever will, but this was a nice sniff.
It was one of the best flights I've ever had, smooth, I could walk around, it was nice. Is there a flight in this country without turbulence? I found it. Hit the ground at LaGuardia, which I still maintain is the biggest craphole of an airport in this country. Imagine the tiniest space you can fit 10,000 people in and you have LaGuardia. I caught a cab back to the dorm. Dropped my luggage and went to meet the kids.
More on the camp in a bit. So once I landed, I was back to camp director, which when you don't have a resident life director sucks because you're the first line of being the bad guy. Still, when I met up with the camp, they rushed up and surprised me...which with me in NYC is a bad thing because I nearly punched some of them. Still, I missed them. They were a great group. And they looked happy to see me, which shocked the shit out of me.
So camp, went, and that's a whole new blog, and with my A-hole neighbors who crank their bass, I'm in no mood to wax more than I need to on the point that I had crazy few weeks.
Once the camp was done, I went to Woody and Garth's engagement party, now that it's legal in NYC. The party was great except for the fact that is was casual formal, and all I had was camp clothes, which means a gray cotton shirt and torn khaki cargo shorts. Everyone else was New York Stunning. Didn't feel out of place though.
Stayed up, went to JFK at 4:00. Flight left at 8:00, I think. Caught my plane. Met Chris and Krissy at O'Hare at 8:30. We hung out in Chicago. I tried to get Krissy authentic deep dish pizza at Gino's East, but the guard dog at the door, an albino (not really) with a dumbass mustache tattoo on his finger kept misrepresenting the directions. "If you want to get out of line, seats are available at the bar." Okay, so we try that. Conner the near albino says, "I"m sorry only I seat you at the bar and restaurant." Oh. That means I have have to give you money, and I'll be damned if I do that. So we go back to line after losing our spot, my bad. We wait. Then Conner, "mustache boy" says there are seats on the patio if we wish to take them. I pull Chris and Krissy out of line, and say, "We'll sit outside." Conner says, "I'll sit you when I'm ready." At that point, I said, "We're gone." I used to love Gino's East, but after this, I will never take people to one of their places of business. It's not the hottest NYC club. It's a pizza place and as soon as they throw up the velvet robe, I'm gone.
We went to Navy Pier, which is a total tourist trap, I know, but at least they know how to take care of patrons, unlike Gino's East. Can you get my drift, avoid the big timer Gino's East.
At some point, I said, "I'm too tired. I need to go home and sleep." Went back to DeKalb after thirty, forty some hours of being awake, I went home and slept for 15 hours. Which made me miss Chris' phone calls for a pick up, and I'll never forgive myself for that. I totally let her down. Thankfully it was not an emergency, and they cabbed it back to DeKalb, which I paid for, but damn I felt like a schlub. They were totally cool about it.
So to recap. I did an all night drive to DeKalb from Phoenix. Slept a bit and then was off to NYC, where I ran a camp that the students lived and went to class in Spanish Harlem. Left on Thursday for a family party (which rocked!). Did the party on Friday. Left at 4:00 AM on Saturday. Landed and was back on duty on Saturday. Did the camp. Once it closed, I hung with my good friends,Garth and Woody. Garth was so nice. He kept saying, "I don't know how you're still standing." Went straight from the party to the airport, and then to Chicago. I still have no idea what time zone I am in. I've woken up for the last few days, and it takes me 30-60 seconds to establish where I am. It doesn't help that I moved into a new apartment. So let's hope I'll have a clue where I am at tomorrow.
Out,
Luke
