Bum Trip

Let me point out that I was opposed to this trip, though I am sure I did not tell Faye that. I am not that stupid.

Once again, I became ill in San Diego. That is, and I checked, I have gotten ill at that point each year since 2012. I have no known allergies, I lived in San Diego from 1971 to 1986 and have visited from time to time without incident (omitting the last three years). But it is too much of a coincidence to just ignore. A mystery to contemplate...

And then we returned. We left a day early since I felt very miserable and there was a storm that was about to hit. In hindsight, we (I, actually) should have toughed it out. It could have improved the trip. We were doing fine, expecting to get a place to stay on the far side of Tucson, perhaps in Benson. But 5 or 6 miles east of Lordsburg, we came to a halt in a double line of cars and trucks  in the windy (very windy) desert. Limited visibility, they said, Perhaps there was also an accident but that was never confirmed. After about a half hour sitting out there (I shut the engine off rather than waste gas), they turned us around from the next exit. Back to Lordsburg where we stayed at a Best Western and dined at a place called Kranberry's Family Restaurant. I won't praise it nor criticize it; I ate only a BLT... it's hard to make one extremely good or extremely bad. Besides, I was a captive of circumstance and that circumstance might have tainted any review.

From there, the journey went downhill. Traffic, trapped in an over-priced, ratty, motel in Odessa, TX for a night (and no internet), more traffic, bad drivers, driving into sunrise, total exhaustion, more bad drivers, but no ratty motel; a very comfy room with a good but slow (not unexpected) internet connection. And a good night's sleep.

You would think my mood would have improved after a good night's sleep. You'd be wrong. I awoke still cranky, surly, depressed. I blame genetics. But I should have gotten control over this facet of my personality by my age. In any event, the drivers around me didn't improve my mood but exacerbated the misery I already felt. It was going to be a long slog, 7 hours, mostly on Louisiana's terrible roads but fate tossed in a traffic jam soon after getting on I-10 from I-49 (which had its own set of issues, mostly my fault). This had us idle for ten minutes and then fighting traffic merges and confusion for another 20 left my mind twisted and drained... like a dishrag.

Two nights in Biloxi, followed by the final leg and we'll stick the proverbial fork in this turkey.