The stuff of nightmares!
During the night, about two hours into my sleep, I felt a pain in my stomach and woke up. At first I didn't feel nauseated. I rolled over a couple of times. This was like the hernia pain that I sometimes get but much sharper and higher up. It was really bad after a while. I couldn't get back to sleep, and suddenly I knew I was going to throw up.
Sitting up at the same time I unzipped the tent flap, I launched a blast out about four feet, then another, then another. Had to be the good McDonald's deal! Should have stuck with sushi! I was happy not to have soiled the tent, but still felt awful. I wiped off my face with a wet-wipe and lay back down. The sleeping bag zipper kept snagging, making a frustrating task out of trying to get back to sleep. Eventually I did, but woke up about an hour later with the same feeling. I repeated the pukey process with another hurl.
When I got zipped up again, I still felt terrible. Something told me this wasn't over yet. I've had food poisoning so many times that I knew what it was. In most cases it is a matter of one sick session, then it clears up. Not on this night. My body was protesting heavily. I thought I'd cleared out my stomach and took a few sips of Gatorade. I'm not sure if I actually slept but there was much tossing and turning, eventually leading to a split in the sleeping bag zipper. When I went to fix the zipper, the same feeling overtook me again. I sat up and did another blast out the door. Would this ever end?
Tossing and turning for the rest of the night, I don't think I really slept at all. When morning came, I just didn't have the energy to get up. The idea of disassembling the tent and going through all of that was unthinkable. So, I took the risk of just trying to go back to sleep.
The traffic had picked up considerably all around me. The sound - which doesn't usually bother me, because I'm so used to it, was like green fog in my mind. Everything I thought about made me feel sick. I half-slept until 1:00 p.m.; something I've never done out here on the road. I could have stayed there all day. I should have, in retrospect. But, I grew too nervous about being seen. There were breaks in the trees, mostly under the branches where curious passers by might catch a glimpse. And the cars coming off the highway might also see the foot end of the tent.
Taking some deep breaths--which didn't really help, I forced myself up and went through the almost unbearably onerous work of disassembling the tent and packing. I couldn't imagine the fact that now I had to go out in public. The thought alone made me gag again. But my stomach really was empty, and it was just a dry heave.
Starbucks was right up the street, maybe five hundred feet. I walked in and found the typical scene there. I felt so miserable, half-sweating and half-shivering. I must've looked like I was in heroin withdrawal. I tried to act like nothing was wrong. And, I did pretty well except for my over abundant use of the bathroom to clear out the other end of myself. It was tough too, since the place was so busy. I'd get into the bathroom and three minutes later there'd be a knock on the door. I didn't want to be "that guy," so I'd just get out without completely finishing--if you know what I mean. Maybe too much information. But hey! This is the truthful account of my Journey across America, even if it must include the mentioned unmentionables. Ha!
I pulled myself together, buying a water and bag of popcorn (the latter I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole). I just wanted to give myself an excuse to be seen there. Unbelievably - to me anyway - I published two posts while I sat, pale as an overcast sky. Around 3:00 p.m. I felt like I might get the dry heaves again, and went into the bathroom. Just as I closed the door I saw two other guys line up behind it. Damn it! I stood over the toilet, but the feeling passed. So, they didn't have to wait very long. Sick in public. As if being sick weren't bad enough!
I simply could not wait until the damn sun went down so I could get back to my Japanese Cedars and finally get some rest. The sky grew dark and I got the hell out there, going directly back to the sleep spot. I still had a bit of Gatorade left and sipped it as I set up the tent. I felt a bit better and knew I'd be fine the next day.
As soon as my head touched the pillow (I use my clothes bag under the hood of the sleeping bag as a pillow), I was off into sleepy-healing land. Except for waking once at around 1:00 a.m. to pee, I slept quite soundly.
That's the story of this day! Two good things came out of it. (1) I only spent $5.00 for the whole day, and (2) it made for an easy write-up. With this post, I am am now completely caught up.
Thanks for the update, Alex.....sounds like you had a tough time, but, you made it through with flying colors, a difficult thing to do even under the best of circumstances!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melinda! Some colors were *definitely* flying! Ha!
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