It Goes On And On

Today is my first day back from vacation. At least that is what I'm calling my trip. I don't know if spending most of two of your four days in a car travelling from one place to the next and then spending most of the time you weren't travelling either doing service or getting what little sleep you could a vacation, but whatever.

The trip started at 5:45am on Thursday. Yay for that. We get in the car, drive to Cinci to meet with my uncle and his gf, then get back on the road. Once we're in Kentucky, we stop for Krispy Kreme donuts. I don't mind eating a donut every now and then, but I really don't like eating something like that for breakfast. I should have taken this as a sign of the way I'd be eating the rest of the trip. Because of these two stops early on, I was not able to sleep the way I usually would in the car. So instead of making up for the sleep I missed getting up early, I just was awake. We got to Memphis around 2pm their time (they are an hour behind us) and sat and relaxed at my uncle's house for awhile. Then it was time to go eat with my grandpa, his wife, and another uncle of mine. Papa's favorite place to eat is this little greasy hole-in-the-wall type diner, and that's where we ate dinner (oh, btw, I did get to eat subway for lunch so that was at least a little healthy). I had a big greasy burger and a plate of fries (I opted not to order any collard greens-ick). Then we went back to Papa's house and my dad and I played guitar and mandolin (we switched back and forth between the instruments now that I can play some chords on the mandolin). Then we went back to the uncle's house where we were staying, and tried to get some sleep (my cousin was nice enough to fall asleep on the floor next to where I was sleeping and leave the light and TV on, and start snoring in the middle of the night-the couch was also uncomfortable, so I got very little sleep).

Next morning we got up early, and it was time to start setting up for the Rummage sale. Every year my grandparents (on the other side of the family) help organize a rummage sale through their church's chapter of the St. Vincent De Paul Society. So we go and we're making sure things are organized properly and priced as they come out of boxes. Everyone who helps set up has their pick of items on this day, since the sale is the next morning. This is when I fell in love with a table. Its a kitchen table, total throwback to the 60's/70's, and it and the four chairs that go with it are only $20. So my aunt and my uncle each chipped in $10 and bought it for me as a birthday gift.

Then it was time to go, and my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to her house to visit with my cousin. So I did. Its always a little weird going to her house. Her husband is an infectious diseases doctor and makes a buttload of money. Their house has like, 6 1/2 bathrooms or something crazy like that. Total, they have 13 sinks in the house (one of those being in the wetbar room that they, being the squares they are, will never utilize...its a shame). Anyway, you never feel like you should touch anything or like you should even sit on the furniture when you're there. But I had a good visit with my cousin-she's a senior this year and trying to decide where to go to become an engineer (YAY!). She's put in apps at about 5 different places-heard back about one (she got in) and has to wait until 01 April to find out about the others. After that it was dinner time. (Oh, for lunch this day we had greasy cheese pizza-yay for Lent-I don't know why I keep forgetting about lunch.) So for dinner we go to this place called Jason's Deli. There were 11 of us, and only one of us was not catholic, but we went to eat at a place that only had like, 4 options that didn't have meat besides going to the not-so-impressive salad bar. Anyway, I got this primo pasta stuff that had a tomato basil sauce on it-it was pretty good.

Then we went to Beale St. When I say we, I mean my mom, my aunt, her husband, my uncle and his gf. This was an interesting trip. I kept trying to meet up with a cousin of mine (his parents were with me) but that didn't happen. Anyway, I got to have a drink on St. Patty's Day on Beale St. with my relatives. Not many people I know can say that. By the time we got home and to bed, it was almost 1am. My dad was staying at his friend's house because they were getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to go fishing, so I shared a bed with my mom. It was a water bed. We are both light sleepers. Neither of us slept well.

Next day is the rummage sale. We went about an hour before it ended (11am-ish) found a couple more treasures (I got a white baseball tee with green sleeves for 5 cents-my aunt had brought it to sell and I knew it was brand new, and I got a deck of Jack Daniels playing cards for 5 cents as well), and then it was time to tear things down and box up what didn't sell. At around 1:30pm we were done with cleanup and 5 of us went to IHOP for lunch (see I remembered lunch this time). I thought IHOP was a weird place to eat lunch, but whatever. Ate some chicken fingers and some more greasy fries, and then we went to Mema and Papa's house to hang out. Went to church and then went back to Mema and Papa's. Stayed there kinda late, and then headed back to the uncle's house. On the way I realized I hadn't eaten dinner, and if I go without dinner I'll be sick the whole next day (which is the day we are travelling home, and sick in the car is no fun). So we stop at MickeyD's (ie. more greasy burgers and fries). We get back, and I kinda get a decent night's sleep (if you ignore the fact that the boy cousin came home from dancing at a club at 3am and the girl cousin's alarm was blaring at 5:45am).

We get up, and its time to load the truck. In the cold rain. Trying to keep my table from getting wet. My dad organized the bed of the truck. Ten minutes down the road we had to stop and fix it. That lasted maybe an hour, then we stopped again, did a little more fixing. About 2hrs later, we stopped again, and this time I intervened. I suggested a better way to configure the tie-downs, and the rest of the trip not one thing in the bed of that truck moved a centimeter. The way home I maybe slept 5-6 hours, so that was good. Got back to the 'rents' place around 6:30pm, and stayed for close to an hour unloading the table and chairs and visiting with my kitty.

:::I'd like to add this side note. The guys at work talked me into doing one of those march madness brackets for $5. I know nothing about college basketball. As of the end of the second round, I am tied for first place in points. Booyah!:::

So that's my trip.

Now I just have to wait for a letter to get here, and I'll feel a little more settled, hopefully...