Travel – Stuff Just Happens!

Laurie and I have traveled quite a bit over our many years together.  We’ve been in all but one state in the USA, we’ve visited 7 Canadian provinces and we’ve been to England, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand.  Some places that we really like, we’ve visited multiple times…Hawaii, the great Northwest including British Columbia, Maine, Texas (San Antonio and the Hill Country), northern Ontario (fishing), Arizona, California (not LA!) and Las Vegas.

Sometimes during these vacations, (now that we’re retired we have to call them 'trips'), stuff just happens!

For example:

·         Significant panic on narrow roads in a surprise October snow storm as we crossed over a mountain in Scotland.  The snowplow operator in the sunshine at the bottom of the mountain asked us how the roads were up on the mountain... I managed to avoid becoming an ugly American with my response!

·        A nail driven into the bottom of my foot when walking along the rocky beach on Arichat, a small French speaking island off the coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.  An old fashioned doctor with a big desk fixed me up at hardly any cost all all!.

·         A rental car that sounded like it was going to explode when I took it ‘off road’ on a power line ‘wagon path’ in British Columbia.  It was almost dark and we were literally in the middle of nowhere…Once we got on a paved road...it was a miracle!  The noise went away...

·         Driving from Massachusetts to our new home in Chicago in March, with our cat Fluffy in tow, we encountered a huge ice and snow storm…stalled traffic on I-70…almost out of gas… got the last hotel room in town and…we were actually delighted to find a Pizza Hut open so we could get something to eat.

·         A U-Joint falling from a big rig and taking out my left front tire at 70 mph on the Ohio Turnpike.  The wheel was also destroyed on our brand new car and it had to be special ordered.  We ended up driving a “Rent-A-Wreck”…the only car available for the rest of the trip. (That rental was a real dog!)

·         A passenger on a ferry from Port Hardy, Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert British Columbia decided to attempt suicide and cut his wrists while sitting in the bar…followed by a major detour to save his life via a helicopter pick up!  This all made for a very long ferry boat ride...

·         Passing out on our flight to England…due to a couple of Scotches and a poor oxygen mix in the cabin.  I wasn’t the only one who passed out but for a couple of minutes, Laurie thought that I’d had the ‘big’ one!

·         On our trip to Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand, when we checked our luggage on United in Los Angeles, it managed to find its way onto a plane to Melbourne Australia…only 1,498 miles off course!

·         On a trip to visit family in Michigan and Ontario, thanks to a kidney infection, as we came through Buffalo NY, I had to seek emergency medical care at one of those new-fangled walk in clinics.  

·         After arriving at O’Hare Airport in Chicago for our flight to Australia, we realized that we’d forgotten our prescription medicines...So then it was a panicked cab ride back home then back to the airport…but we did make the flight. 

Then there was our last trip!  Our latest ‘adventure’ occurred when we went up to the Cleveland area for our son’s graduation from Law School.  My back started acting up and the pain was pretty intense…a possible kidney stone?  I was hurting so badly that I didn’t think that I’d be able to attend David II’s graduation...

So Laurie and I headed off to the Emergency Room at a local hospital!  What fun we had!  It was a great way to spend an evening.  I do hate hospitals but one has to do what one must do…

One piece of good news was that although it was a Friday night at about 8:30 pm, there was no waiting!  When I mentioned that they didn't have much going on for a Friday night, I was 'shusshed' and told that I shouldn't bring that up again as it was bad luck...

We registered and then we were led to an examination room.  One puzzle, at least to me was the number of times the various personnel asked me some of the same questions…despite the fact that it was written down from the start.  That experience probably provides a testimonial for our litigious society.

I really look happy, don’t I!?  Laurie took this photo after the tests and exams were completed.  Lots of tests and a CT scan led the doctor to conclude that I was having back spasms… She gave me some ‘swell’ drugs to stop the spasms and reduce the pain.  We counted and we think that a total of 7 or 8 hospital associates were in actual contact with us during this 3 hour visit.  They were all very professional and very, very nice as well. 

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I made it to David II’s graduation ceremonies… and it was a great experience! 

I wonder what adventures await us on our future travels… 

Note: Beginning in June, I'll be blogging on a 'summer schedule'...about once every 3 days instead of every other day.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! 

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave