Road trip

Now that I've been home for a week, I figure it's time for an update. This will probably be long, but hopefully not too long!

So we left Thursday night. I had printed out directions but since they were pretty much a straight shot, I figured I wouldn't need them until we crossed over into West Virginia, especially since the highway we were taking was the one I drove to and from school for three years. Well, we got about an hour from West Virginia and decided maybe we should turn the gps on just incase we needed it. The stupid thing took us off of the highway and onto a two lane country road that went on for miles with no stops on it. It was a good thing we had a full tank of gas or we would have been in trouble!

About 15 minutes from the West Virginia border the gps lost it altogether. It had no idea where we were and kept showing us off the road. Then, it wanted me to turn left, which would have taken me directly into the Ohio River! I figured as long as I kept going straight and the river was on my left, eventually I would run into West Virginia and sure enough I did. However, as soon as I crossed over, I ended up in some little town and had no clue where I was. The gps caught back on and started navigating to our hotel. Well, there was so much construction and it was so dark that I couldn't see where the lines were and go figure there would be a cop behind me. I'm almost positive that this cop thought I was up to no good since I had out of state plates and kept hitting my brakes to figure out where I was so he followed me for a good five miles or so before I got onto the road our hotel was on and then he went another direction. He had made me so nervous knowing he was behind me and I had no clue where I was. I'm sure he got a good laugh out of my unawareness of the area.

We finally got to the hotel and it was like something out of the Twilight Zone. I had done a search on hotels.com looking for a low cost hotel with a swimming pool that had gotten great reviews. This one was $50 for the night and had gotten great reviews on the website. The pool was an afterthought by the time we got there anyway because it was midnight and we just wanted to sleep. We found out the next day it was drained anyway! The hotel gave us the creeps but we're like, "It's only for a few hours and it's cheap we'll just deal." The creepiness just continued as Megan asked the guy when the continental breakfast was (it had been on their website) and he replied with this twangy accent "Well, our restaurant burned down in a fire eight months ago." At that point Megan and I were both thinking, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" but we just took our stuff and went to our room.

We got in and got our second wind and Megan kept repeating what the guy had said in her own version of his twang and had me cracking up. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! We had been watching a movie on Lifetime and when it was over, I turned off the tv and went to roll over to go to sleep when I felt something in my bed! I didn't want to turn on the lights so I'm still feeling around and to me it feels like a t-shirt. That did it for me! I turned on the lights and was yelling at Megan that there was someone's shirt in my bed and all I had to do was take one look at her face to know it was hers! Sure enough, I turned around and it was! Apparently she had thrown her shirt at me and I had never known it! That ended up giving us the giggles as I threw it back at her and I think we finally fell asleep at about 2:30 in the morning.

We got up Friday to make the rest of the drive and decided after driving for a couple of hours that maybe we should stop for lunch. I was starting to feel lightheaded because I hadn't eaten and we were driving curvy mountain roads so I wanted some food in my stomach. We stopped at a little travel plaza where Megan had pizza and Starbucks and I opted for Burger King. Well, about an hour further into our drive after that I looked at Megan (I was still driving) and was like, "I have to pull over." She tried to convince me to keep driving since we had just stopped an hour ago and I was like, "No you don't understand. Either I have to pull over or I'm going to get sick in the car." I stopped at a gas station and as soon as I got in the bathroom it was all over. (Sorry TMI I know). I was so sick that I couldn't stop shaking and as I got back in the car, I kept alternating between cold chills and hot flashes. Megan ended up having to drive the final three or four hours and we had to stop at least one other time so I could get sick.

We checked into the hotel and I was feeling okay because I had napped. That feeling didn't last long though. By the time we reached the room, I was lightheaded again and felt like I was going to pass out. I was in the fetal position on the bed with my eyes closed because the room kept spinning. We went to get the rest of our stuff from the car and I told myself that I would nap for an hour and then shower to get ready for the rehearsal dinner (all the out of town guests were invited) and I'd be fine. I ended up sleeping from 4 on Friday afternoon until 9 on Saturday morning. I woke up here and there through the night but I was pretty out of it until morning. When I did wake up, I'd feel horrible knowing we were supposed to have been at the dinner and then because Megan was spending the entire evening by herself when it was supposed to be our vacation.

Saturday morning I felt great. I was able to eat breakfast and shower and I made it through the wedding ceremony just fine. The reception was another story. Apparently I kept zoning and Megan had to keep calling my name to get my attention. I guess I even carried on a conversation with one of Bethany's co-workers and I don't even remember it! We made it through about two hours of the reception and then I was ready to leave. I was feeling okay and was like, "Let's go get dinner and maybe I'll feel better" only that didn't happen. I ate and was right back in bed in the fetal position because I felt like I was going to be sick.

I managed to become semi-coherent that evening to get a paper written that I had due on Monday but other than that, my weekend was a bust. I finally felt good on Sunday, the day we had to drive home. I got sick once that morning but afterwards, it was like the sickness just finally disappeared.

The only conclusion we can all come to is that I had gotten food poisoning from the Burger King I had eaten. Megan had drank after me prior to us stopping and she never once got sick but I did. I was miserable for an entire weekend and I still feel horrible for feeling as if I ruined our vacation. I know I didn't have that great of a time and I'm sure Megan didn't, even though she tells me she did. I'm still mad at myself for looking forward to it for months and then I ended up so miserable I couldn't even enjoy it.

I'm probably going to try and visit Bethany over winter break so we can actually spend some time together. She kept apologizing at the reception for not being able to spend more time with us and I kept telling her she was being silly, that it was her wedding day and she shouldn't feel bad for not being able to devote herself to us. I told her that's what our next visit was for!

All in all, the trip could have been a lot better. Next time I know not to stop at that travel plaza and you better believe I'll never forget which one it was!

For now, I'm off to work on a final project I have due on Monday. Pictures from the weekend to come later!