The trip was mostly a daze, a very painful uncomfortable long daze. The cold is progressing nicely with a fever thrown in as well. And the heat of the sun wasn't helping keep my body temperature down. Coughing makes my skull feel like it's splitting into two. Even though I regained my hearing in the morning, I was half-deaf again in the evening. I hadn't had much sleep the previous night because of a nauseating tummy ache and diarrhea. I thought I had food poisoning, but the diarrhea went away and left the tummy ache behind. And the tummy ache got worse as the day went on. On top of that, all my muscles had a vague low-level pain, a very distinct pain in my lower back. Even my earlobes ached.
The hour and a half it took to get to Revelstoke felt like it went on forever. There were a lot of slow-moving vehicles pulling trailers. And TCH 1 was a two-lane highway for the most part, so it was difficult to overtake anybody. And then it's mostly mountainous with changing speeds around curves, so I couldn't use cruise control much. Revelstoke is actually a nice small community. I had a chicken wrap and soup at a grill, and the soup made my tummy feel a little better -- for a short while anyway. After getting gas, I stopped at what seemed like a park-and-ride at the edge of town, but it was too hot to nap with no shade in sight. And no breeze to cool down the car either.
Halfway between Revelstoke and Kamloops was a nice big body of water on the right side of the road. And there was a nice big storm cloud overhead. I wished for the rain to fall to cool down the air. (I didn't have that much bug splats on my windshield.) And, again, I got my wish and it poured -- I mean, literally poured, that even the fastest setting on my wipers couldn't clear the windshield fast enough to let me see the road. And again, cars had to pull to the side of the road. Deja vu. At least it wasn't hail.
But it was cooler after that cloud. I was still tired and feverish and in pain. And Kamloops came and went. I had the GPS turned off (I was trying to save the battery for when I got into the city) and I didn't refer back to the AAA TripTiks. So, I kept following TCH 1 when I was supposed to take Hwy 5. I was following a small car with bikes in the back and they followed TCH 1 as well, but they realized their mistake sooner and turned around, while I kept going for 17 miles until I got to Savona. Well, the views were at least nice. So, I retraced my steps and got to Hwy 5.
There was a rest area just before the toll booths and I exited. The sun was lower in the sky so there was enough shade. I lifted my legs up to the dashboard (I couldn't lean my seat back because there were bags right behind me) and napped. All I remember is half-waking up when I snorted. Twice. It felt like it was just five minutes, but when I woke up and checked the time, it had been half an hour. I got up and used the bathroom. There was a roach coach type van serving hotdogs, smokies (a kind of sausage), and samosas. I asked the vendor if he had hot tea and he did. He even asked me if I wanted milk on my tea (how British!) and I said no. I also asked for a hotdog thinking that maybe I was hungry. (It was already 7pm Mountain Time after all.) I was very uncomfortable and still so much in pain that I must have sounded rude and cranky although I tried hard to be nice and polite. Well, I'm sure the nap and the hotdog contributed, but the tea made me feel so much better. I was awake again. When I headed out, I drove by the coach. When I slowed down, the vendor had a pained look on his face. I think I must have made him feel bad. But when I waved and smiled, he waved back and his face broke into a big smile. I wish I had told him what a savior he had been for being there at that rest stop.
Hwy 5 is very deceiving. AAA Triptiks said that Hwy 5 had steep grade, but it didn't look bad. I was able to make use of my cruise control. There were two lanes (sometimes three) in each direction. In fact, most of the time, I didn't think I was going uphill until the car starts revving up to maintain my speed. About 50 km to Vancouver, the traffic started backing up. There were two minor accidents -- one little red car that was being hooked up to a tow truck, and a motorcycle that lost its cargo, which was scattered on the road.
It was after 9pm when I finally got to the hotel. I was beyond exhaustion, but room service closed at 9pm, so I had to go downstairs to the restaurant to eat. I had flash-fried calamari (which melted in your mouth but I like the chewiness of calamari) and salmon (which was mediocre). Or maybe, as I've told the server, I'm more tired than hungry.
By this time, the tummy ache was so severe that it takes all of my energy just to stand up straight. Getting ready for bed was sheer torture. And I still kept waking up almost every hour because of the pain. I woke up this morning at around 7:30am. I could hear better now, and the tummy is less severe, although I could still feel it. I thought it might be a bad case of PMS, but the pain is above the belly button. I think it's probably the phlegm that drips down from my throat. And to think I had just recovered from a cold a month ago!
Anyway, it's overcast today in Vancouver. I think I'll swing by the pharmacy downstairs and see if I can find something for this tummy ache.
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