When it came to planning trips with the kids, Alex & Maddie were a bit more difficult. Kaitee & Will were quite easy.
I knew where I wanted to take Will for the past 4+ years. He enjoys airplanes and fishing. I was going to take him to Dayton, Ohio and then drive north to Kalamazoo, Michigan (both have air museums) and to my cousin's lake house for some fishing.
As with Maddie, Covid lockdowns & family plans stunted any trip from actually materializing during the summer months. By the time it came down to pinning down the details, things just fell apart. Not in a tragic kind of way, but a celebratory way. My cousin was getting married at the lake house the following week and things were in full-on prepping mode.
Plan B: hmmm. I had no Plan B.
Brainstorming with Becki, she thought of Southern Illinois. We had been there as a family once before in 2015 and there is SO much to see and do. Done deal.
I started Googling things to do, Becki suggested a ropes course or something along those lines -- what would I do without her? Great idea. I also found a few other points of interest and we were set.
Day 1: Thursday October 1, 2020
He headed out of town mid/late morning, after Will checked into his classes on-line. We stopped in Springfield on our trek south for a bite to eat and fuel. Our first destination was just west of the town of Murphysboro (5.5 hours south of home).
On our drive down Will noticed how beautiful the day was. Warm. Partly cloudy. We came up to a 4 way stop and Will wanted me to make my right hand turn slowly so he could grab a picture of a pond.
As I drove, Will took pictures of various things. Playing with the camera settings to get the right quality of picture. He took his Gabe's Gift bracelet off and put it on the dashboard. He thought these pictures turned out really good and wanted me to share them with the Perkin's Family.
There's an Annual 5k race held in honor of Gabe. Here's an article from the inaugural race.
Once we arrived in Murphysboro, we were captivated by a quaint town with a lot to see. We loved the old movie theater, with cool planters out front.
We passed this cool fountain and Will asked if we could turn around so he could get some better pictures of it. We turned around, I snapped the first picture and the couple after that are Will's shots.
We arrived at our first destination: Kinkaid Lake Spillway.
Not sure what I typed into the Google search bar that had this destination pop up, but I'm so glad that it did!! One article I saw had the headline: "Dunn's River Falls of Southern Illinois?" I've been to Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica several times, and I knew exactly what they meant; tiered waterfalls that you can climb up!
We arrived at the spillway, the sun already on its downward approach to the western horizon. I saw a small area where only 3-4 cars can park and I took one of the spots. We got out and started walking up hill. As my foot was coming down Will blurted out, "Dad, STOP!" I looked down with my foot inches away from this little snake. I thought he was a twig, and he never did move.
Will named him Timmy. We took pictures of Timmy before Will moved him off the pathway and into the grass, so he wouldn't get stepped on by anyone else.
Notice the pictures with Timmy, we were in the shade. As we ascended the hill towards the top of the spillway, the sun came into view.
Will was beside himself with wonder. To be honest, I don't remember ever seeing him this excited over nature. He kept commenting on how beautiful it was. How the sun was providing the perfect light. No matter what setting you had the camera set on, our pictures were turning out perfect. It was a glorious day. We took our time as we leisurely strolled up the hillside, stopping nearly every other step to take another picture.
The best part? How much Will was enjoying himself. The awe he was expressing with every photo captured. It was glorious.
In the picture below you can see our car parked in the shade. Taken from the top of the levee.
The view of Kinkaid Lake from the top of the levee.
Along the cement barriers that lined the path we were on and the lake, we found several lizards sunning themselves before the sun dipped below the hill tops.
Will tried picking a couple of them up, but they would always scurry up the wall and flip to the backside, out of reach.
The end of the trail. Where I expected to find the fantastic spillway cascading with rushing water.
Uh oh. Where's the rushing water?
Beautiful, nonetheless, we took our time. Will still exclaiming how perfect the setting was.
We began our trek back to our vehicle. This was beautiful, and Will was thoroughly enjoying himself. However, I knew that there had to be more...or I was at a completely wrong spot.
The sun was relentless in its pursuit of the horizon. We had one more stop this evening, I was already worried about time. But I didn't want our time here to end.
We got back to our car, and as soon as I backed out of our spot, I noticed a road to the left. We had passed it just before our arrival to the dinky little parking area. I turned in.
We were greeted by a large parking lot. Lots of parking spaces. A beautiful little pond with a couple of fishermen, and... the spillway I was looking for.
Albeit, the water wasn't flowing nearly to capacity. But this was what I was looking for. We could climb up as far as we wanted and still enjoy the gentle flow of water beside us.
I was still mindful of time, and the next destination we needed to get to, and had to fight myself into not rushing too fast. Slow down. Enjoy this time. Enjoy this moment. Will was still enjoying every second of this stop, I couldn't let that slip by to fast.
Words can't really describe how perfect every moment of our time at Kinkaid Lake & Spillway was.
Our time to leave was now. We had approximately a 40 minute drive to our final stop of the day; Bald Knob Cross of Peace near Alto Pass, Illinois -- and we were loosing daylight fast.
As I drove, Will and I both spotted this incredible gate/entrance. Even though we didn't have the time, we turned around anyways to get out and take a picture. We'll have to plan on visiting this area again at some point in the future. So much to see and do.
We arrived at the Bald Knob Cross of Peace with daylight to spare. Not much. But we made it.
It was a brisk evening. Very brisk. But we weren't planning on spending a lot of time here. 5-10 minutes maybe, 15 tops.
But as soon as we got there, Will had the same excitement as he did at the lake/spillway. I gave Will my coat so he had a little warmth and we proceeded to take more and more pictures. Soaking up every aspect of the evening.
Bald Knob Cross is located on the highest point of land in southern Illinois. Completed in 1963, the Cross stands 111 feet tall with the cross beam extending 63 feet across horizontally. The Cross overlooks Shawnee National Forest.
We were greeted by a festive harvest display, and a group of worshipers who arrived minutes before us.
While driving there, I had fears of getting there after dark. As we neared I had hopes of catching a sunset from the top of Bald Knob. As you can see the evening light was waning from the moment we arrived. We scurried from one side of the cross to the other trying to capture it with what remained of the evening light.
Each side offered a unique viewpoint of the cross. Each viewpoint enraptured us.
And then...the FULL moon surfaced on the eastern horizon. So full, blazing orangish-red, you would think it was the sun rising if you didn't know better.
I mentioned aloud that I wish that I had brought the large lens for the camera. Will quickly volunteered to run back to our car to get the long lens, so I could capture some close up shots of the moon.
May be a bit difficult to tell, and none of the pictures truly do justice in depicting what we saw, but the 4th picture down you can get a sense of the red glow of the moon.
While Will was running back to the car, I saw this tree. The picture looks like it was taken earlier in the evening, while the sun was up, but that's only because I kept the shutter on the camera open longer to capture what light it could. At this point, in actuality, things were pretty dark.
I went under the branches of the tree to snap some pictures of the cross.
Will returned with the long camera lens.
We both marveled at the majesty of the full moon rising. To add to the ambiance, the group of worshipers were singing. What a perfect evening.
The "light" to the bottom left of the cross is the moon rising.
The Cross closes "at dusk." The worshipers were all ushered out while Will and I were still scurrying around trying to capture as many angles as we could. We were the last ones to leave the grounds that night.
Still hyped up on the awesome afternoon we had, we drove 15 minutes east in hopes of seeing the cross from a few miles away. The next picture is from a curve in a road several miles away with the long lens.
As we headed back into town we found a little wayside to pull into and I got a couple more shots with fall leaves framing the cross.
The afternoon was absolutely incredible. Will & I were both pumped with adrenaline at the wondrous and beautiful sites we saw. The beautiful weather, sunshine, evening sky, the unexpected full moon rising.
This ended our first day. A day that neither of us will ever forget. Thank you, Lord!
Day 2: Friday October 2, 2020
During the prepping for this trip, I Googled, "ropes courses Southern Illinois." Shawnee Bluffs popped right up, and seemed our only option. After clicking through the web site, I decided it would be fun to do this with Will.
We had to put in reservations, and they allowed groupings of no more than 8 people per time slot. The afternoon tour only had two openings left, however, the morning tour had all 8 reservations still available.
I went with the morning time slot, in hopes that no one else would sign up - so it would just be the two of us and our guide(s).
We arrived about 1/2 hour early. Grabbed the obligatory photo with the sign. Filled out the forms releasing the company of liability should the worst case scenario play out. We also chatted with the "welcoming committee." I didn't get her name, but she was very sweet and helpful. Gave us some good advice (eat a snack, go to the bathroom - even if you don't think you need to, etc).
As we chatted, it soon became apparent that we would not be the only 2 on this tour. There were more...yup, all 8 openings were filled. Oh well.
Will and I both had cameras. Sweet lady informed us that we wouldn't be allowed to take anything with us, at all.
Will had thought ahead. Before we left home, he ran and charged up our old Go-Pro. He held it up to the lady and asked if he could take that. "Do you have a strap you can attach it to your helmet with?" She asked. Unfortunately we didn't. She told us that she had a few wristbands that Will could try.
After trying the wristbands, Will decided that it just wouldn't work out. No matter how much he tried, it seemed the only video he would get would be the blue sky overhead (because of the position of his hands on the zip lines).
I was a bit disappointed. I wanted some kind of pictures to document our morning. I perked up when I learned that our rear-guard would have a camera. He would be taking pictures of the group and the pictures would be uploaded to the cloud and we could access them via an Emailed link later that evening.
Will would tell me later, "I'm a little disappointed, I expected more of a ropes course." This course was incredible, don't get us wrong, but it was a zip lining course with a few rope bridges along the way.
8 zip lines and 3 suspension bridges to be exact.
There were 3 short hikes along the way. Including one that took us by the "Signature Bluff" that is used in the companies logo.
Below is the logo and Will & I standing in front of the bluff.
It's really hard to tell by the picture below; but there's a 20-30 foot drop that we are leaning back over.
Our guides told us that they weren't allowed to take any pictures of us while we were actually zipping. They explained that we may loose our concentration on what we were doing and focus on the camera instead. Makes sense.
In lieu of a picture of us flying through the air, the platform just before the last (1,000+ foot zip line), is a good spot to take pictures with the "illusion" of zipping.
I'm pretty fearless when it comes to stuff like zip lining, ropes courses, sky diving (though, I haven't sky dived yet). I trust my guides. I trust the equipment. Most of all, I trust in the Lord. I figure if my time to go is during a zip line run - then, well, at least I will be having fun until the very end.
I was thrilled to be the first one of our group to go down the 3rd zip named, "Leap of Faith." Named that because of the fact that you couldn't see the platform at the other end. A blind jump.
During the second to last zip, I decided to twist and turn my body while flying down the line. It added a kick of adrenaline.
I was the last person to go down the final zip of the day. Our rear guide and photographer told me just before I jumped, "We don't recommend you twisting around while you zip. But what are we going to do? Kick you off?"
So, my final run of the day, a 1,000+ line with speeds averaging around 42 mph (they had a speed gun that blinked out before we jumped - so no confirmation of my speed was made), I was having the time of my life. Flipping and flopping about while careening down a steel cable stretched between 2 trees over a thousand feet apart from each other. Unfortunately, I learned, if you twist a little to much, your forearm will come in contact with the cable -- and it doesn't take much to leave some skin cells along the way.
Here's a picture of the damage. Not much. Hurt less than a road rash.
We had a great time at the Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour and highly recommend going for the experience if you ever find yourself in Southern Illinois!
After flying through the tree tops, we headed south to Cairo and the southern most point of Illinois.
Fort Defiance Park sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
I love how you can actually see a "point." The Ohio River is to the left and the Mississippi is to the right.
This barge-less tow boat came skipping DOWN the Ohio only to round the bend and start UP the Mississippi. This created a cool wake (2nd picture down).
From where we stood in Illinois, we could look to the left and see Missouri and look to the right and see Kentucky. There were two bridges, one going to Missouri and this one that lead to Kentucky. Sadly, I couldn't get a single picture with both bridges in frame at the same time.
After we left Fort Defiance Park and headed back north. Our next destination is a place we've been before: Giant City State Park.
It's one of my favorite most State Parks that I've been to over the years, and well worth going again.
My favorite section of the trail is from this spot to the balanced rock. The trail seems to end with towering rock walls on either side and in front of you. The rock wall straight in front of you has a myriad of old graffiti -- writing one's name with date goes way back. The oldest date we saw was from 1840.
On the corner of the rock wall to the right is this face. If you're unaware you could walk right by him. Back in 2015 I had the kids pose with this face in the classic "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil and smell no evil."
We headed back to our car. I was debating about going to another State Park before checking into our hotel for the night. However, we were both a bit tired, and Will's interest in hiking through state parks was waning. So we decided to head to our hotel, perhaps find a letterbox or two, and have a relaxing evening.
We drove by a park that captured both of our attentions. "You want to go back?" I asked as I passed the park, "You can go back if you want to." U-TURN
This next image I stole from Google. It's basically how we saw it, with the evening sun reflecting off of it.
Welcome to the "Boo" Castle Park. Lovingly created by a man in memory of his son; who passed away at the age of 19, back in 1993.
The park has a "Dungeons and Dragons" Theme. Will and I marveled at every turn. So much love went into each and every detail of this magnificent park.
We were impressed that many of the "hallways" had high enough ceilings that we didn't have to duck down - this place was made for teens and adults to enjoy, just as much as smaller children.
There were video cameras all over, as well as lights. There were also some things that could possibly terrify smaller children; multi-eyed creature with human hand in mouth for example.
Below is the dungeon, guarded by watchmen above. Once you get close enough to peer inside motion detector lights went on so you could see the prisoners.
Will and I had gone our separate ways when we first arrived. He was exploring and I took pictures. We met back up and he told me that he wanted to show me the throne. Will told me that he thought the dragon may have been an animatronic, as it was so life like - it wasn't.
As we were leaving I spotted this sign, close to the ground. How did we mis that on our way in??? LOL
We left castle park, found a letterbox and grabbed some dinner and then checked into our hotel for the night.
Toothpaste, tooth brushes, razors, and razor blades get to be pretty expensive. Becki has done a good job of stockpiling them when they go on sale. We have a little tote that has razors and razor blades in it. Several years ago, Will saw this one razor and asked if he could have that one when we grew up.
Becki put it in a zip lock baggie, dated it, and put it back in with the rest of the shaving paraphernalia. I told Will a few months ago, "hey, when you're ready to shave let me know and I'll teach you. Let me rephrase that; when you're ready, or when I say, 'hey son, it's time.'"
I figure this trip would be our deadline. I brought all the necessities and did my fatherly duty of teaching my son how to shave.
At some point during our day I mentioned to Will that today and tomorrow were both going to be kind of busy days. However, we didn't have anything planned on Sunday other than the drive home (4 hours from our final hotel), so we would plan on going fishing on Sunday on the way home.
I don't know the least about being a fisherman. Never interested me, and the few times throughout my life I went fishing, I was never very successful at it.
Will's been fishing a couple times and has had a lot more success than I ever did. For his birthday this past January he wanted a fishing pole and supplies. We have yet to go fishing. I was looking forward to spending time with Will, doing something that he wanted to do.
I spent the evening at the hotel looking at our drive home on Google Maps; looking for a good spot to stop for this most anticipated (and elusive) fishing experience. Lake Shelbyville seemed to be the ideal spot.
I was excited and relieved to finally have this part of our trip planned.
Day 3: Saturday October 3, 2020
The next morning we made the drive to the Garden of the Gods near Herod, Illinois. We've also visited this location before as a family - but it's to wondrous a location not to visit again.
As we neared the park, we passed an old friend.
The Garden of the Gods is stunning. I recommend visiting if you're ever in the area. It's a short 1/4 loop trail that begins and ends at parking lot -- and in that 1/4 mile you are treated to incredible rock formations!
It does get crowded though, so get there early.
We took our time at Garden of the Gods even though my mind was already on our next destination; Onley, Illinois.
Onley is known for their White Squirrels. This history of the white squirrels goes back to 1902!! I had figured that the town was over run by a vast herd of albino squirrels and it would be near impossible to miss them. Every where you turn your head, you will be met with sights of white squirrels.
I knew this stop would thrill Will. The only animal he loves more than squirrels are turtles. He patiently stalks squirrels to see if they would eat out of his hands. He squats down and watches them. He gets joy out of watching them chase each other up, down, and around a tree trunk. This stop on our itinerary promised oodles of colorless floofy-tailed marmots.
In doing my research for this stop I learned a few things: 1) best time of year to find them; early October (YES!) 2) Best time to see them; in the morning. Well, we would be getting there mid-afternoon.
Also, I learned how difficult they could be to find. Every October a team of volunteers canvas the city counting the squirrel population (they also count cats - a threat to the squirrels). They take 3 weekends to count the squirrels and then average the numbers to get a fairly accurate count.
Last year (2019) they counted an abysmal (their word) 40 albinos. Oh my, only 40??
40 sounds like a large enough number, but not the plethora I had expected.
Then I read a blog post by the Quirky Travel Guy that really deflated my hopes. He had driven around town for over an hour, looking in various parks, even the town cemetery, with no luck. His advice to himself "Think like a white squirrel." And "Where would I be if I was a white squirrel?" It took him an hour to find one albino...and that was the only one he saw all day.
This blog post nearly killed all my hopes and dreams. My expectations of seeing a plethora of albinos dropped to hoping to see one...just one.
"Please Lord, let us find a white squirrel."
I hedged my bets, more like my lack of faith, by telling Will our odds weren't very good at finding an albino squirrel. He understood.
We drove straight to the City Park. There was a family gathering at the shelter near the playground area. Cars were lined along the side of the road.
I turned a corner and paralleled the shelter, as I was coming to a curve in the road I glanced to the tree line, and what did our eyes behold, one of the famous white squirrels of Olney, Illinois!!!!!!!
I slammed on the brakes. Our car screeched to a stop. "Out out out!!" I yelled at Will. Like officers jumping from a squad car, we grabbed our cameras and were in hot pursuit.
Again, my mind was locked in on the fact that this very well could be the only albino we would see all day. How fortunate we were in finding him so quickly, but we had to make the most of the short time we had before he ran up a tree never to be seen again.
We followed this little guy around for about 15-20 minutes -- taking a hundred or so pictures.
Will decided to enact his squirrel whispering skills - I love the albino peaking at Will from the base of the tree in the next photo.
Now that we found our one, and presumed only, albino, we turned our attention to finding a letterbox. The box is dedicated to the White Squirrels and has been on my radar since it was first planted -- 14 years ago!!!
The box hasn't been found for 5 1/2 years!
Will took the lead in figuring out the clues. Many of the landmarks have changed or been altered in the 14 years since the box was first planted. We weren't sure we were in the right spot...and then...Will turned to me and said, "found it."
It was basically sitting out in the open. How does that happen? How long has it been sitting exposed to the world and not been picked up as trash?
It was a wonderful find. We walked back to the car to stamp in and Will asked if he could take a picture of me with the box (no spoilers).
We returned the box to its spot and covered it back up much better than we found it. Hopefully it will have another 14, or more, years in the wild.
After returning the box, we headed back to our car to go and find something to eat...but a flash of white appeared. "Another albino!" We grabbed our cameras and once again found ourselves in hot pursuit.
I said something about hoping to see one, and now we've seen two. Will pointed out, "how do we know this is a different one than the one we saw earlier." Fair point.
We decided the only accurate way to say it was to count the sightings we had, and not the squirrels.
We would follow a squirrel until we lost track of it. If we found another one after that it would count as another sighting, not necessarily another squirrel.
I also want to point out, the next one is eating a peanut. We did not bring any food to bribe or entice the squirrels. The only things we brought were our cameras, hopes, and enthusiasm.
After a couple more sightings, we decided to go and grab some ice cream. We took our time and stopped to take pictures of some statues and signage along the way.
We had another sighting behind the library.
We stopped by Chilly Willy's for some yummy ice cream, followed by driving more laps through town.
We drove by a side street and Will said, "Squirrel!" I went around the block so we could get a picture of the albino Will saw in someone's front yard.
As I slowly rolled up to the yard, Will with the long camera lens pointed out the car window, I saw a man inside jump up and run to the door. He opened his door and yelled at us -- thank goodness he didn't have a gun -- I felt a little sheepish when I hollered back that we just wanted a picture of a white squirrel.
At least Will got the picture . . . and it's one of my favorites from the entire day.
An unexpected turn in weather, the skies opened up.
We had enough sightings to keep us looking...so we went back to the City Park, and were rewarded with a couple more sightings.
We saw plenty of "grays" as well. In 2019 the grays out numbered the albinos 19.55 to 1.
This year (2020) the first weekend of canvassing town to count the squirrels took place the day we were there. The albino count for 2020 actually went up to 93 (only 40 in 2019), and the ration of grays to albinos for 2020 is 14.62 to 1.
I didn't learn of these numbers until just now at writing this blog (11/13), certainly all of our sightings seemed to line up with the larger population of albinos.
I found it interesting how the grays and albinos behaved. The albinos hardly stood still for a moment. They were constantly moving -- as such, our camera didn't know what to focus on, and many of our pictures of the albinos were just a blur of white.
The grays did photograph better, but more interestingly, they were curious about us. They would walk up to us and stand there and stare at us. All I could figure is that they were more jealous of the white counterparts and all the attention they get due to their celebrity status.
As the rain started to pick up again, we decided to call it a day. We ended our time in Onley with about 15 different sightings of the famous albino squirrels. Such a blessing and wonderful day!!
We made the hour long drive to Effingham for the night. Our conversation went from our trip, to our day in Onley, to our hopes that our fishing tomorrow would be as prosperous as our squirrel hunting went today.
I asked Will, "What was your favorite part of our trip that we've done so far?"
I expected him to say "zip lining." He surprised me, he said, in order, his favorites were the first day, our time at Kinkaid Lake. Then our time at the cross. Third was zip lining followed by the albino squirrels.
We went to bed looking forward to what tomorrow would bring (hopefully fish!).
Day 4: Sunday October 4, 2020
I woke up at 6:00 the next morning. My wake up call was not my bladder, a phone ringing or my alarm. My wake up call was the familiar pain of a kidney stone.
The worst thought, at the moment, was that I left my pain medication at home. I've had 30-40 kidney stones over the years, and usually when I travel I will take my medication with me -- just-in-case. I haven't had a kidney stone since April 2018 -- 2 and a half years ago -- and we were going to be gone for just 4 days. So I rolled the dice and left it at home.
As the pain started escalating, I combed my memory, and then a spark . . . I put an "Emergency stash" of Vicodin in my Bible case 12-15 years ago. I had my Bible with me, I checked the pockets for my drugs. Bingo!!
My long since expired Vicodin started kicking in about 45 minutes later. Will was still sound asleep. I debated about waking him up and hitting the road; but I was still tired and just took a couple Vicodin. I decided to hang out at the hotel until Will woke up and hopefully the stone would move enough to relieve me of the pain.
Around 9:00 or so, the pain started rearing its ugly head again.
I started with breathing exercises. Soon I was standing and pacing around the room. I opted not to take any more Vicodin. I called the front desk to inquire what time checkout was: 11:00.
Will woke up around 10:00 or so with me pacing back and forth in pain. He helped out a great deal by packing up all of our toiletries and belongings into the suitcase. He took everything out to the van and loaded it up. Then we waited until checkout time.
At 11:00 we sat in the car. I was debating - head home or head to the ER.
4 hour drive; might as well have been a 4 day drive.
UGH. Emergency Room it was.
[Picture stolen from the interweb]
I turned on my GPS and saw that St Anthony's Hospital was about 2 miles away. Off we went...with an apology to Will about the likelihood of us fishing was all but thrown out the window. He graciously understood, he was more concerned about my health and well being than fishing.
We walked in together and was immediately asked, "how old is he?" I replied, "14." "He'll have to wait out in your car as he's not 18 due to Covid-19."
I was in too much pain to argue, but what the heck? Yeah, safer to hand my 14 year old the car keys and have him sitting outside in the car than to be by me inside.
I was ushered back to a room to be seen by the physician, the first person who walked in said, "you can take your mask off now." -- I don't get reactions and policies facilities put in place due to Covid-19.
The pain was escalating quickly. Soon I could no longer sit still. I had to get up and just pace back and forth at my bedside. Finally a nurse walked in to administer the morphine. Even then, the pain stuck around 10-15 minutes after the pain meds were administered.
For the first time in my life, I could honestly say the phrase, "I'd rather be fishing."
Then they wheeled me back to get a cat scan, and wheeled me back to my room.
At one point someone came in and asked me if I had anyone with me. I told her of Will out in the car. She returned a few minutes later and said, "I made the executive decision to bring your son into the waiting room."
I was gracious and thanked her. Inwardly I was still upset at the whole thing. I got even more upset when a group of 5 or 6 friends/family paraded by my door and went into the room next to me. Sure, they could come in to be with their loved one, but my one and only son had to sit in the car and then be offered a bone to sit in the lobby only because he wasn't 18 years of age.
Ok. I'm done ranting about that.
The results of my cat scan came back. I had a 5mm stone that was close to my bladder. Dang it!! If only I could've pushed through the pain it would've dropped into my bladder and I would be pain free. Drats! Now I was kicking myself for going to the ER. Well, what was done was done.
The discharge nurse came in. They prescribed a couple of medications for me to pick up at Walgreens, and told me that I couldn't drive for 4-6 hours because of the pain meds they pumped into me.
What?
What were we going to do for 4-6 hours? They wanted me to stay another night in a hotel. We arrived at the ER at 11:00am and I was there for 3 hours. It was now 2pm. The drive home was only 4 hours. Dang it, dang it, dang it.
They were forceful and persistent that I not drive. I was afraid they were going to confiscate my car keys. I relented. Fine, I wont drive for 4-6 hours.
"When was the last dose of pain meds administered to me?"
"11:30"
I walked out and met Will in the lobby. We called Becki to work out a plan. It was decided that she and the girls would start driving and we would meet at the halfway point. From there Becki would drive one vehicle and Alex would drive the other with me in the passenger seat (she still had her permit only).
"Come on, Son." We walked out...and kept walking.
We walked to the Walgreen's (.8 miles) to pick up my meds.
Then we walked another 1/3 of a mile to Niemerg's Steakhouse (I've tried to end all of my trips with a nice meal to end our time together).
[Picture stolen from the interweb]
We shared a steak lunch. I was grateful that dine-in was an option.
We then walked the 1.1 miles back to the hospital, getting there minutes before the 4 hour time limit.
True to my word, we sat in the car and waited until 4 hours exactly had passed. I turned the key and we were off to meet Becki and the girls.
Becki had been on the road for a while and she drove 2.5 hours towards me. We just had a 1.5 drive ahead of us.
As some of you may already know, perhaps all of you already know; I shouldn't have been driving.
That hour and a half was one of the most exhausting drives I'd ever made. I fought to keep my eyes open and my mind clear. I admit it; I was wrong. I shouldn't have driven.
By the grace of God we pulled into our rendezvous point - a rest area 1/2 between Bloomington/Normal and Champaign/Urbana.
I was SO grateful to slide into the passenger seat and have Alex get behind the wheel. While she was still on her permit, and I was the "responsible" adult navigator, I promptly fell asleep and snoozed the entire drive. [she had already completed more than her 50 hours of driving with me as well as her drivers ed courses. The only reason she didn't have her license already was an Illinois State Law that says on top of all the classes, courses, and windshield time you also can't get your license until after 9 months of the issuing of your permit.]
We did stop in Bartonville, to eat dinner as a family at one of our favorite restaurants before completing the journey home. Aside from dinner, I slept the entire way home.
[Picture stolen from the interweb]
The next two days I had to call into work. Something wasn't right. I went to my Doctor and I found out I had an infection. I was given antibiotics and 3 days after getting home I passed the stone. Woot!
Thus ended Will's and my trip.
I am so grateful that we had 3 full days without visiting a hospital. I'm so thankful for the wonderful weather and memories we were able to create together. I'll never forget the first afternoon/evening at Lake Kinkaid and Bald Knob Cross. The joy in Will's voice and the fun we had outside together.
I love you, Son, and am very proud of you.
