What did I say about throwing all sense to the wind? Apparently I got an early jump on it. I decided to night trip last night. I had kept Tyler busy all evening, games, several long walks, brushing, everything I could think of to lavish attention on him. The result was that he got very tired (or very sick of me) and went to bed about 8:45. So I did my trick of setting up the TV for him, turned on the ocean, made sure he was settled in, and headed off to Pennsic, getting there about 10:00.
I don't know what I had in mind, if I even had anything in mind, but what happened was this: I ended up staying up all night, closing the Chalkman with Greg, and Michael, and Millie, and Connor, and some other people who elude me at the moment. Then a few of us went to Gabriel's for a bit, till dawn anyway. Then I decided it was probably time to go, and I went home about 7:00 a.m.
Bad, bad, bad mistake. I almost fell asleep about 7 or 8 times on the way home. The only time I have ever had that much trouble driving home without falling asleep was leaving Pennsic a few years ago when I got off site late, after a day of packing up, and decided to try a different route home, and got mildly lost, so went way out of my way and took far longer getting home than I should have (and it wasn't even that late, it was probably 10:00 or 11:00 at night). I've driven home from places at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning; I've driven home from places at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning after a few hours sleep. Those weren't so bad. This was a nightmare. Never, never again.
But on the good news side, I did have an awesome good time! It was one of the best nights I've ever had at Pennsic, so all in all (considering I did arrive home in one piece), it was worth it. In fact, I feel like Greg told me earlier this week about how his Pennsic was going - if that one night was all I got, I would consider it worth it. (But that doesn't mean I'm not glad I'm getting more!)
Also good news, Tyler was fine - sound asleep, as he probably had been all night and never even noticed I was gone. I actually had to wake him up to take him outside so I could get him out before I passed out. Unfortunately, then he had to endure going back to bed, because I had to get some sleep. Also unfortunately, I woke up again around 11:00 a.m., which wasn't nearly long enough, and I've been a total train wreck all day.
Meanwhile, after last night I realized there can be no more night-tripping, but I didn't want to only daytrip - I wanted to be able to be there at night at least a couple times. So I went ahead and told my dogsitter we were on, and I am going out tomorrow to stay. But she's coming in the morning instead of the evening, giving me more time tomorrow; and she agreed to an extra day at the end of the week, so I don't have to come home till Saturday. That makes it much more worthwhile.
And the more good news is, the forecast has shifted slightly - now there's only a slight chance of rain on Sunday and Tuesday, and all the rest of the days are supposed to be sunny. Yay!
The place was somewhat wet, but not unbearable yet (at least above the lake; I wasn't down there, but I heard it was worse). The roads were only sloppy in a few places, and otherwise drying out already; part of the parking lot was roped off because cars were mired in mud (they were pulling one out with a tractor on my way through). But the backside of the hill was fine, and I had no trouble parking. The place wasn't as bad as I feared from all the rain we had here ... so if the forecast doesn't change for the worse, things should be fine the rest of the week. And wonder of wonders, it won't be unbearably hot! Sunny and in the high 70s or low 80s - nothing could be more perfect.
So for all that angst, things are looking up. I have a list of about 25 things I have to do today, since I didn't do any of my last minute getting-ready stuff over the last few days, because I didn't know what was going on. I've been forcing myself through sheer willpower (at least now I know I actually have some) to work my way through everything on that list, because I have to get it done, and I can't just sit around feeling miserable all day long. (I did try to take a nap, but for some stupid reason, as exhausted as I am, I couldn't sleep; I'm like exhausted and jittery all at the same time). I'm getting through the list, and should have everything done in time to take off tomorrow morning after the dog-sitter shows up. (She's also staying for the week, not going back and forth, so someone will be at the house; that's cool).
So ... off to Pennsic tomorrow. Post-Pennsic wrap-up next weekend.
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