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Insomniacs' Venthole [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-13

Please read and follow instructions before opening. Or consult your physician. This is a late-night gathering for non-serious palaver, enter at your own risk. Frivolity and silliness are highly recommended for all riders. Flamewars are expressly forbidden.

Whatado evraybody, whatado.

It was such a simple trip, to see my eldest grand-daughter’s graduation from high school in Walla Walla (WA3). It’s only 430 miles one way. Even with my arthritic hip, I figured regular stops to stay loose wouldn’t add much time to the trip. I could always get out while stopped for construction. The only downside was that my AC wasn’t working but temps wouldn’t get really hot until I got to WA3.

A day to get there, a day to recover and hang out, graduation on Friday evening, Sat. to rest and hang out and Sun. for the return home.

An expected heat sink had arrived and settled it. It was above 90 every day I was there, but it didn’t move out of the area as fast as the prediction said.

So, Sat. night I get hungry and decide to order a Dominos to my room. It would give some me added snacks for the return ride. I ate one slice and everything is fine. An hour later I puke up tomato sauce, just tomato sauce. A couple hours later a little more sauce. The rest of the slice is still down there. I know this is going to become a long evening, so I called the front desk and extended my stay. I called my sone and he brought over some 7-Up and some crackers.

Sunday goes as expected and I start feeling better. Monday I swing by house to say good-bye to the fame and head out. It’s 11 am and it already 91 degrees. By the time I get to Pomeroy I realize the cold drinks I have aren't gonna be sufficient. Pomeroy is a farming community whose main street is about 3 miles long and up to 4 blocks wide. I find a coffee hut and ask the girl for her biggest ice water and a bag of ice. The cup looks to be 14 inches tall and it’s an 8-pound bag. She charges me $2.24. I give her like $7.

From there on I’m chugging water and putting ice cubes down the front and back of my shirt. Plus I was feeding ice cubes one at a time under my hat. Happily, all the construction site stops were brief and I know a couple of shaded spots where I can get off the road and move around and reset my cooling gear. I have a couple of small towels in my car that I made ice-packs out of. I had some other snacks to munch, but when it’s that hot who gets real hungry?

And I was home by 9-10 pm. And I was starting to fade. But I had plenty of ice and sodas in the fridge plus leftovers from the trip. Bonus! The ice bag had no leaks. I’ve spent the last two days trying to re-hydrate but I keep horking up what I drink, forget eating and sleeping. My efforts got gradually better results but it was a grind. I probably gave myself some kind of heat stroke. The good news was that the weather here has been mid 70’s and even some rain, which has been helpful.

And today, I woke up feeling all sorts of better, it’s the weekend and I have no upcoming appts. So I think I will be just fine.

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