On the road again

Tomorrow after lunch I will be heading back to my hometown to be with my dad. To say that I'm dreading the drive is an understatement. Really, it's only 2.5 hours from our house, but it feels like driving straight to the end of the universe. I would say there's a good 1.5 hour stretch of the trip with no stops - no gas stations, no little stores, nowhere to go grab a drink or get a bathroom break. I don't know what it is about going on a road trip where there's plenty of restrooms on the route and you don't have to go for like 3 days, or when you have a 20-minute stretch of road with no restrooms and you are practically dying when you finally get to the next restroom. What's that all about?

My parents actually live outside of a good-sized town. It used to be that there were only a few restaurants to eat at, no well-known chains and nowhere you could go for a nice "fancy" dinner. Now the place has been overtaken by chains like Applebee's, Lone Star, and Outback. I still prefer to go to the little local places instead, though, like the little chain of restaurants I worked for back in 1990. It's a really odd concept - they specialize in biscuits. Big, fluffy, buttermilk biscuits. And lots of other stuff to go with them like bacon, ham, sausage, eggs, and all sorts of other American Heart Association-approved foods. Not to mention the best iced tea you will ever drink. The other odd part of the puzzle is that they are only open from 6 AM until 2 PM every day...I guess they discovered that the biscuit market seriously dries up after lunchtime so it made no sense to stay open after 2 PM. I would argue with that, as I found last week that I was really craving a good ham biscuit around 4 PM to take the edge off my hunger. Not to mention, what if you have the munchies? Biscuits, mmmmm.

It's kind of funny - when I left there in 1991, I always thought I'd be back. Over the next few years, I found that I never really missed it other than missing my parents. Considering that I only spent one year of high school there and then two years working and going to night school (a long story for another time), it's probably not that surprising that I didn't feel a connection there. Now, 15 years later, I find myself reacquainting myself with the streets and the culture of the town and seeing people that I haven't seen forever. It's been nice. Nicer than I thought it would be. And I find myself kind of longing for that small-town atmosphere, and for my extended family.

My dad had a better day today. Physical therapy came and got him up and walking, but still no food or liquids and we're hoping he'll get some this weekend. He also was getting a blood transfusion today to help stabilize him a little more. I talked to him on the phone twice and he mentioned both times that he's sick of being there and ready to bust out. So maybe the fact that he's too weak isn't necessarily a bad thing, otherwise he would be breaking out of the hospital like he did 20 years ago after his leg operation. Yeah, he's kind of crazy that way.

So...I may be posting pretty sporadically this weekend due to hospital duty, but I'm hoping to come back with my dad in better shape and with more madness next week....