Thank You, Veterans!

To all the current and former military men, women, children, and families: Thank You.  I always feel the need to include everyone in my thanks because the military is made up of so much more than those who served and who are serving.  Spouses and children, extended family and friends… We all play our part in keeping this nation running.  Today I would like to extend special thanks to the men and women who have served and are serving our great nation…  Veteran’s Day is one of those that should be a great holiday and day of rememberance…  Celebrate our freedoms. Remember that freedoms are not free.  Celebrate the victories and cherish the memories.  Give thanks to God.  Give thanks to our Veterans.

Weekend Adventures.

Thursday:
I had started feeling like freaking crap Tuesday evening.  Wednesday was a struggle at work.  Thursday morning I got up at 5AM to get my happy, sickly self to work for 1 1/2 hours and then back to college to teach.  I managed to lecture for a little over 30 minutes before I sent people home.  I was hacking and could barely speak.  Upon arrival at home, I woke my boyfriend, we loaded the vehicle, and we headed out on the road towards the final bike rally of the season.  This rally was located approximately 6 hours from home.  Because of Sandy, we have to get crafty with the driving route.  We ended up going over huge, snow-covered, beautiful mountains on the way to our destination.  For about 2 hours of the drive there were NO gas stations, NO fast food restaurants, NO bathrooms, NO civilization… By the time we hit a tiny town on the other side of the mountains, we were both desperate for a break from the winding roads.  We took care our bodily needs, grabbed drinks, filled up my tires with air, and got back to the travels.

We arrived at our destination around 430PM.  To say the temperature outside was “cold” would be an understatement.  Sure, the temp may have been around 40 degrees, but the wind was blowing and the sky was fully covered in dense clouds.  At that time I was wearing long johns (top and bottom), long sleeve shirt, hoodie, sweat pants, socks, shoes, bra.  I pulled on gloves and a scarf as well.  That evening we set up the vendor tent and went in search of a hotel.  The original plan was to sleep in the vendor tent.  I am so very grateful that we could actually get a hotel!  The area had a surviellance team so we didn’t have to stay with the tent.

Friday:
We arrived back at the bike rally area at around 10AM.  We spent 6 hours setting up the merchandise.  I was wearing long johns (top and bottom), jeans, long sleeve shirt, hoodie, bra, scarf, gloves, socks, shoes.  Around 4pm the sun came out and the clouds cleared away.  I was able to (finally) shed my hoodie.

Saturday:
The day of the event, the Teddy Bear Run, we got to the venue at 730AM.  Mind, I had been sick and was still sick.  Each day I had felt worse than the last.  This day was no different.  I had on long johns (top and bottom), sweat pants x 2, long sleeve shirt, hoodie, scarf, gloves x 2, bra, socks x 2, shoes.  Again, around 4PM the sun appeared and the clouds dispersed.  I took off one set of sweats, socks, hoodie, and both sets of gloves.  The event could’ve been busier, but overall we did well with the amount of people that showed up.  We had a crisis moment when packing the truck due to the truck door falling apart.  We were able to do minimal repair work, but the repairs were good enough to get home.

That evening we stopped about an hour from the event site.  We ate hot food and grabbed a hotel room.  I definitely had a fever.  I slept okay that evening.

Sunday:
This was my favorite day of the weekend.

My boyfriend and I left the hotel around 930AM.  We decided to take a very indirect route home.  We took back roads most of the way.  So, what should have been a 6 hour drive turned into an 8 hour adventure.  🙂

We dropped by my boyfriend’s stomping grounds from when he was in elementary and middle school.  The home he grew up in was in less than poor shape.  Some hateful people had apparently gone ape-shit on the house.  We did manage to salvage a few items that I will treasure even if they aren’t technically “treasures”.  A little wooden bunny rack used to hold remote controls of magazines, an old wine glass with a 1936 La Salle depicted on it, an old sugar and creamer holder, and two white vases/candle holders are among said treasures.  I will have to use a lot of elbow grease to get these items into shape again, but I’m loving each and every item.

I am going back to bed now.

Good day.