Pooped...

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday’s story began about 10:30 p.m. Saturday night. We’d been sitting around the camp fire for a couple of hours after dinner sharing stories of camping do’s and don’ts…particularly as described and published by the ‘Leave No Trace’ organization…of which two of us were Master Educator’s. I was doing a lot of talking…nothing special there…and people were getting sleepy…nothing special there, either. We decided to call it a night and I began walking to the men’s room to brush my teeth and wash up. About half way there I began to think how I wished it was closer…the rumbling in my stomach was noisy and persistent and looking for a way out. I walked in with my cheeks squeezed tightly together and prayed one of the two stalls would be open. They both were…thankfully. I spent the next 20 minutes going through a cleansing session not unlike the ones I’d experienced prior to my colonoscopy’s, but slightly less pleasant. We’d eaten some spicy Mexican chicken thing which had burned my mouth on the way in…and was burning my butt on the way out. I cleaned up and went out for a walk knowing that I wasn’t through…returning in twenty minutes for round two.

This pattern continued until 3:30 a.m. after which time I managed to doze off for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, but was constantly awakened by grumblings that had me worried I’d soil myself…and worse…my beautiful down sleeping bag…neither of which I particularly wanted to do. I considered packing up the tent and sleeping gear and heading for home, but didn’t know if I could make the 45-minute drive without incident. I elected to stay.

By 6:30 a.m., Dave and Mike…the other trip leader were stirring. I quickly got up, packed up my gear and loaded it into the Jeep. They asked me how I’d slept…and I told them…in great detail. “I figured you’d have heard me getting up and down all night,” I said. Neither had…but I’m light on my feet and quite the church mouse. They were starting up breakfast…eggs, bacon, sausage and such…the thought of which made me want to puke. I stuck around though and talked to everyone for a couple of hours to be sure I could make the drive without incident.

On the drive home, I felt flu-like symptoms coming on. To that point, I’d figured food poisoning…I’d cut up raw chicken for dinner the night before and not washed my hands afterwards…but now? Once home, I put all my gear away and headed off to bed. I slept for 3 hours and got up to take the van to see Dan about the brakes. He determined quickly that they needed new pads and headed up to Auto Zone to make the purchase and install them then and there. I watched and tried to assist, but he could tell by my shade of green that I wasn’t doing well. He finished quickly and I returned home and hit the sack at 6 p.m. I awoke often and, with aches and chills, took some Advil around 10 p.m. after which I slept most of the remainder of the evening.

Oh…and I never worked out. I didn’t really care, either.