I didn't sleep well at all. The parking lot here at my place was scheduled to be repaved today and the warning was that if your car wasn't moved by 8a, it would be towed. I kept an eye on the clock all night, afraid that I would oversleep. My cellphone alarm hasn't been very dependable, and this was no different. It never rang! But my hourly checks worked out well even though I could never fall into a deep sleep. I got up at 7 and moved to the street but never got back to sleep. By 10:30 I was on my way to Indiana to pick up my son from a friend's house, where he'd spent the night. Next up, I had to get my sleepy self down to Springfield. The beginning of a migraine, tired, burning eyes and the anticipation of three hours of forced alertness had me less than excited. But, on we went! My son volunteered to drive, but he's only a permit driver and he has a long way to go before I let him on the expressway, especially when I just might fall asleep. The usual singing and talking kept me going for about an hour, but right after "Don't Stop Believin'" I started to droop. We'd stopped to eat, and that kept me alert for a very short time. Before we reached I-74 I was really struggling. I was shaking my arms, my head, my legs...the kids even put ice down my back. I was sleepier than I thought! We stopped at a 7-11 (or something like it) and my daughter went in to get me what I described as "whatever will wake me up!"
While I waited in the car a lady in the next car struck up a conversation. While we were talking something occurred to me. We'd stopped at Arby's before we hit the highway and I (being sensible...) ordered a turkey sandwich. It was the least I could do since I'd also ordered a milkshake. Now I don't know how much milk really goes into a fast food milkshake, but I do know that turkey is a NARCOTIC! It's full of tryptophan, which induces relaxation and sleep. And all these years everyone thought that we fell asleep after Thanksgiving dinner due to the sheer amount of food we ate. Nope, turkey can actually make you sleepy! So in my zeal to make a healthy choice to go with my decidedly unhealthy one, I took the equivalent of a sleeping pill for someone who is already sleep deprived. Not a good scenario, but I have to say that the energy drink worked. Note to self: let go of your aversion to energy drinks and order one up with your next turkey sandwich, especially if you have a 3-hour drive ahead of you. Better yet, go ahead and order the red meat.
About ten minutes after starting the drink, I could feel myself becoming more alert and the rest of the trip was easy. Back to singing...we heard some Bon Jovi and Bob Marley before the country music kicked in. Out of maybe six possible stations, six of them were country. Good thing we're not picky! Country can make for some good driving music. The rest of the drive consisted of discussing other long drives we've taken and what country songs were on the radio during each of those trips. It seems that no matter where you are in this country, if no other stations have decent reception, you can always find a country music station that comes in clear as a bell. Tons of road trips over the years mean that my kids have developed quite the country repertoire. I've been a fan since high school, when after school my brother would turn on the kitchen radio and tune in to WMAQ here in Chicago. They ran a promotion which paid you money if they randomly called your house and you answered "WMAQ's gonna make me rich!" For months, anyone calling our house got this greeting if I answered, which I always tried to make sure I did. My mother warned me to knock it off---too many callers were hanging up, thinking they'd gotten the wrong house. I kept it up for awhile, just not quite as loudly. It was kind of funny and I don't think that my mom would have minded one bit if I won that $10,000 but I never did. What I did get was a good working knowledge of country music, it's singers and songwriters, it's humor, and it's stories. Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" was beautiful, but I remember Dolly Parton singing it back in the 70's. I think a lot of people are still surprised that it's Dolly's song. BTW, I heard her once talking about the crazy amount of royalties she gets from that song because of Whitney's incredibly popular cover. Take my song, please! And with that, I guess I just aged myself again because if you aren't familiar with Henny Youngman, that last comment probably was more confusing than funny.
Would you believe that after all my efforts to not oversleep, which resulted in my malaise this morning, the parking lot wasn't done? With overcast skies, they chickened out, afraid that it would rain. It's been rescheduled to Thursday. And no, it never did rain today. I guess I'll be doing this again later in the week. I'll make sure that I have a working alarm so that I don't have to worry. I have about six or seven vintage alarm clocks. I think I'll set them all.
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