The perils of solo traveling...

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day...the first day of the Bouse Rendezvous for the group. I had already met many of the folks here and several of us headed into Bouse for the Monday morning at the Community Center (great breakfast for $4). I ordered the Adkin's special (2 eggs, 2 sausage patties and cheese) while everyone else dug into their biscuits & gravy or the traditional eggs, sausage and pancake breakfast. After that we all headed back to our rigs and did whatever it is that we each do all day. At 4:00 we met at the campfire ring for social hour.

Early in the day I felt a little queasy so I took one of my prescription Prevacid tablets. I've been able to get away from the daily dosage that I had to take for years but depending on what I've eaten, I sometimes have to pop one to keep the acids down. Didn't think much more about it.

After the social hour I came back and fixed dinner, salvaging what was left of some tomatoes, cucumbers, baby carrots & lettuce....topped it all with some shredded chicken (canned chicken breasts). Tried my new spray salad dressing (10 sprays = 10 calories). Very good! Desert was a couple handfuls of Hanover's Sourdough Pretzel Nuggets.

Well, within an hour I was miserable...very bloated, queasy and just generally feeling bad...very bad. I took a couple sips of Coke (that often settles things down as well), then took a Mylanta Gelcap. Less than 30 minutes later, things came back up. Not good...especially since I was still very bloated and now gassy.

The evening went downhill as I worshiped the plastic toilet goddess (no porcelain in my rig) several times. I shut everything down and was in bed by 8:30. A couple more trips and suddenly the other end erupted...talk about flying out of bed. As everything inside me continued to drain out, I got quite lightheaded. I tried to put my head between my knees but that bent my abdomen over enough that I was afraid I would throw up again.

Once everything seemed to have stopped...they should make special corks....sorry...., I stood up and headed to the bed. I remember reaching out for it in the dark....I remember hearing, not feeling my head hitting something. The next thing I remember is coming to with my ear hurting. My head was resting against the wooden platform under the bed. Since my ear hurt, I figured I had hit it as I fell...assuming that it had just happened. As I said, I remember a sense of HEARING my head hit something, not a sense of feeling it happen.

Well, I slept till around 8 this morning and when I got up I still thought I had just hit my ear. I could see a little swelling but as I ruffled my hair I noticed quite a tender spot on the side. As the day progressed the headache did as well. I also discovered a sore spot on my knee and my shoulder, both on the same side. So now I suspect that I did faint, hitting my head hard in the process. I have no idea how long I was out but am pretty sure I was....might have been seconds, minutes or more.

Did make me think this morning about how vulnerable we are as solo travelers. There really is nothing I could have done differently, I know that. Okay, so I could have crawled....LOL! But it will make me think carefully about things when boondocking by myself. No good answers...now off to continue nursing my headache.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna