This weekend I went on a road trip with my travel group... or at least, part of it...
To explain:
The carpools met up and got to the rendez-vous point in good time, and without incident. Starting off on the right foot there. Our rendez-vous point was the Taco Cabana in Lewisville.
After dinner we get on the road and start our journey to Oklahoma. Our destination was just outside Lawton, where there is a wildlife sanctuary reported to have buffalo and lots of other fun and interesting wildlife. The weather all week had been beautiful and on Friday the temperature was even up in the 70's. The weather report predicted a cold winter storm coming in overnight, but didn't sound too unbearable. We packed warm clothes and just expected to maybe walk through a little snow accumulation on our planned Saturday hike.
There were only 6 people on this trip (small for our group) so we fit in two cars. We, in the 2nd car noticed that the driver in the lead car seemed rather sporadic with her speed - going really fast when no one was in front of her, and then slowing WAY down as soon as there was another car. Andrew, the driver of the car I was in, was doing his best to keep up. At one point we realize they're going VERY fast - like over 90, so I try calling someone in the lead car to let them know - "hey - country highways in Texas are heavily patrolled" they didn't answer, because apparently the phone I was calling was on vibrate... but by then it was too late anyway - we saw red and blue flashing lights come on behind us. Andrew starts to pull to the side and the cop actually goes past us and after the lead car.
We didn't have a map of where we were going and didn't want to end up lost, so we pulled over behind our other caravan half and the cop. Looking back, we shouldn't have stopped - we should have just kept going and got off at some exit down the road, because they cop gave BOTH drivers tickets. About $250.00 fine EACH. Afterward the conversation in the car tended to center a lot on that. Lots of ennui.
When we got to the lodging we were going to stay in, Danielle, the group leader, goes in and finds the place completely unlocked. Upon further inspection, all the beds had been slept in, the trash hadn't been taken out, etc. Basically, they hadn't come and cleaned after the previous people had checked out.
We played a round or two of Apples to Apples, and then decided to call it a night, as most everyone was tired. The lodge was VERY drafty and cold. There was a recessed light over the bed I was sleeping in that if you felt closely, a freezing cold breeze was coming in from the outside. After lights out, I crammed a t-shirt into the fixture to at least try to prevent some freezing air from getting in.
So we all went to sleep in a freezing cold house in already-slept-in-by-some-stranger beds.
This is when it got "real" for me. I wake up at 4am with a very weird feeling. I can tell something is "off" so eventually I head down to the bathroom. Lets just say the bathroom and I became VERY well acquainted over the next 8 hours. Something I had eaten at Taco Cabana was, apparently, pure evil, and my body wanted to get it out by whatever means necessary.
I alternated between sleeping and visiting the bathroom the rest of the night and through the morning.
When everyone else woke up and decided they wanted to go to breakfast, I gave them a grocery list for a liquid diet to bring back to me, and went back to sleep. Many hours later they came back and I got the only calories in me since everything had been expelled overnight.
The snow was relentless, and the wind was blowing hard and fierce. I was in no condition to be going out in that weather, and the lodge was still freezing cold. Everyone, fully dressed in their winter clothes, STILL huddled under blankets to keep warm. It was at about that point that everyone kind of realized there was no way things were possibly going to get better from that point - so we cut our losses and came home.
While I was quite nauseated for a good majority of the car ride back, I miraculously didn't need to stop. So at least the return was fairly uneventful... except...
As we were riding back I got a "head's-up" phone call to let us know from the other car what the plans were. During that call my phone gave the "low battery" bleep sound, so after I hung up, I turned the phone off. Well, the on/off button seems to have either broken or stuck, because I have been completely unsuccessful in turning it back on. So if you're trying to call or text me and I'm not answering... I'm not ignoring you, my phone won't turn back on!
