Jabberwocky for 2004 January 6 (entry 0)

(2) Tue Jan 06 2004 16:26: I am back from the hinterlands. It was a hard trip, and I felt like I was a real dud as far as companionship goes. I was feeling lousy the whole time--so punk I didn't even want to go into campaign HQ with Leonard to meet the folks.

The first day we drove to Tucson. We ate at a Taco Bell in Palm Desert and Rachel got food poisoning there, so we both spent the night retching. The next day Rachel was basically passed out. I drove to Fort Stockton. I stopped at a wayside restaurant in New Mexico to eat steak--it was good, but NOT rare. Not even medium. I saved the last of it to share with Mitch, only to find out when we arrived in SA that Mitch had been given away, so I gave it to Sadie. Rachel slept in the car while I ate. In Fort Stockton, we had a light supper at a random diner--urrrrk.

The next day, to San Antonio. We ate at a Subway. Urrrrk. I was glad to get to Anne's house, to see everyone, and to crawl into bed. I felt like a real party pooper though. For New Years Eve, Rachel and I went to see LOTR with Joseph and Dave. I enjoyed it, but I think I liked the second movie better.

We thought we had locked the car keys in the trunk, so by midnight I was waiting for the AAA locksmith to some. They say that what you do on New Years Eve sets the stage for the next year to come. I hope not! Just as the AAA guy pulled up, Rachel found the keys. Whew. That saved me $200. Rachel had lost her glasses also, and we spent our time in San Antonio looking for them. At the last minute, Dave found them. Whew! That saved me another $200. Gosh, I'm getting rich!

I would have liked to go to the zoo with Atticus and Samuel, but Anne didn't seem to have anything planned and I wasn't feeling well enough to mobilize against the inertia, so we didn't do anything. We did have cioppino for dinner on New Years, and Anne's friend Ben and also Gayla and Sarah Scoll were there. It was pretty good, and stayed down. Cioppino is a traditional Whitney family celebration meal. I have actually never made it because my mother made it when we all got together when I brought Roy up to meet the family and he about had a fit. He had a fit before he ever tasted it; in fact, I believe he never even tried it. I never met someone who had a problem with fish like he did.

Kristen and Aaron were in kind of a jam for care of their dog, Sadie, as Anne says she can't keep her any more. I told them she can come live with me and play with Gretel. So Sadie went back to Utah with the Smiths and I'm going to need to drive up to get her.

From San Antonio we drove to Houston and visited Charlie and Nancy Schile. On the way there we ate at a Dennys. Urrrk. Charlie looks good and his new kidney is working well. I took all my quilting stuff to Nancy since I don't think I have enough time left in life to do it all. I'm going to devote my life to genealogy. Nancy was acting just like it was Christmas morning. Charlie went out and got some Vietnamese chicken noodle soup for dinner, which made me feel some better.

In the morning we drove to Little Rock. We had a bowl of wonton soup at a doubtful looking place in Nacodogches. I was expecting a bowl of broth with two floating wontons, but it had all kinds of veggies, shrimp, meatballs--it was a lovely meal for $3.75. We were starting to feel as though we had spent an eternity in Texas, and boy did we whoop and holler as we crossed the state line! I never thought I'd be excited to see Arkansas! I had wanted to stop in Hope and get a picture of me by the sign of Pres. Clinton's birthplace, but it was dark by the time we got there. What an ordeal the whole trip was--this country is b-i-g! We met Leonard at our motel, went out for dinner (I had more Vietnamese soup) and then we crawled into bed. In the morning we dragged out and caught the shuttle to the airport. The flight was long and a big ordeal, and our flight out of Las Vegas was 45 minutes late in taking off so we missed the airport bus and had to take the next one home. Home! I was so glad to see it.

Click those old red shoes! There is NO PLACE like home!

Comments:

Posted by Sumana at Wed Jan 07 2004 09:29

So glad you are all right, Frances. Sorry to hear of you and Rachel's ordeals!

Campaign headquarters is mainly fun for the excitement and vibe that you yourself generate from thinking, "wow, neat!" So don't feel too bad.

Posted by Alyson at Wed Jan 07 2004 17:22

Hope my New Year's activities aren't prophetic in my case--washing bed sheets that Atticus peed on, playing Cinderella for my mom. Not much appealing in that kind of a year.