Capacity Is a Trip

 

I can't sleep. Ha. We're traveling and the time zone change isn't happening in my body. It's refusing to cooperate. My liver is pissed and refusing to let me eat now too. 

Your application to get with the program has been DENIED.

Not to mention all my phone calls are still coming in on my home time zone. The 8am appointment reminder is now a 3am ring. Family drama lands at 4am because of course it doesn't stop just because I'm out of town. I have my phone on silent, but I'm still somehow aware there's a call coming in. Bah.

We're having a good time though. It's been a major adventure. We got caught up in some historically bad weather at a national park and that was some hot holy shit. We survived, but it was eye opening to see how little the parks do for folks.

One of my takeaways is a lot of park infrastructure was built looooong before the US population doubled. Now you have more people than you have facilities, even when there's barely anyone there. If the weather is dangerous, there isn't enough shelter for everyone (depending on the park obv). Which is what we ran into. Half the people could fit. The rest were SOL. And it's not even peak season.

Does a national park owe you shelter? Maybe not, but then I'd argue they do owe you disclosure about current conditions and that didn't exist either. We were blind going in, assuming if it was open that meant it was safe. We had no way to know they do nothing to maintain anything, that basic things like sidewalks and stairs would be unnavigable.

Also tour companies will run come hell or high water. They run even if all the roads are closed and they can't even do the tour you paid through the nose for. Naturally, they won't tell you that up front. Then they kick you off the bus or train, lock the doors, and you're on your own until it's time to leave. There could be a tornado and those doors will still be locked. Add in there's not enough room in the park buildings for everyone, and no wonder so many people die or get hurt in the national parks every year. 

The national parks infrastructure is wholly inadequate and in dire need of updates. Failing that, start limiting the number of visitors so it's sane.

Not sure I'd do a tour again. Better to have your own car so you can compensate for shortfalls elsewhere. And check online for live cams at the parks before you go, although they may not show flooding or bad road conditions so it's not a guarantee.

But we definitely had a once in a life time experience that we'll talk about for decades. We ended up leaving early to avoid being trapped by weather related road closures. 

And if you're thinking 'Why is she bitching? She was at a national park!' Well, first, I'm not mad. I'm highly entertained even when it's all a disaster. Second, it's because that's ALL we saw lol. This is all I can tell you about; the weather and the bullshit. The actual view was all suffocating cotton fog and liquid battering rams from the heavens. It was so bad, the animals all disappeared into their hidey holes or huddled under trees looking miserable (and also kept us from huddling under the trees too lol). 

Poor hubby. This was a bucket list thing for him and...nada.

We do seem to specialize in terrible vacation weather now that I think about it lol. We had that one outdoor museum trip with ankle high flooding to the point where, after eight hours of wading, I was comparing my feet to pictures of WWI trench foot online. Then the recent cold snaps...which wasn't the worst thing we've dealt with. Shit, when we went to Europe in 2006, the weather was horrific with snow at the end of May and we had no coats and my food options were meager. I caught some horrible bug, which I assume freezing my ass off and not getting enough to eat while walking 10+ miles a day didn't help with, and was almost hospitalized.

Ha. Memories... The worst part is I was pretty skinny at the time, but still too tall and big compared to their petite baseline and I couldn't buy a coat until we were in another country where people ran bigger*. Also, I still registered as fat for Europeans. Add in some bloating from traveling and I got quizzed about being pregnant by the airlines for some reason and when I said no, I got mean nasty looks. Ah the curse of being tall with a curvy frame. How dare I not be a twee Parisienne twig! Sorry, World but I'm built more like a line backer and less like a super model.

And I should say, to be fair, we get decent weather too, but when it's epic, it's epic. This latest trip? It was beyond epic. It was actually dangerous. 

Anyway...my foot is doing remarkably well even though it's more swollen than ever. I've done better this trip so far than our last one. I did get that second cortisone injection and I did take a low dose of prednisone for at least one day so far (that was prescribed for my foot last year in anticipation of going to DC but we got covid and had to cancel). It's also warmer here which might be helpful and maybe the long, spiked tail of covid is finally done roasting my innards.

Sleep is my last demon to slay. It's just the time zone change and the beds are uncomfortable and  covid's impact on sleep is still processing through I think so... 

I do have some marijuana edibles. It's legal here and I want to know if it's even useful before I think about a medical card back home. I did 2.5mg THC, which I don't think was enough. I'll go for 5mg next. We'll see. Yes, it makes me drowsy but eh. Is it drowsy enough? If there's a high, I haven't noticed.

My other takeaway from this trip is people really don't care about covid anymore and very few were affected enough for covid to change their behavior. I knew I was a minority, but I didn't feel it like I do on this trip. I thought there were more like me, but apparently there's not enough of us to see each other in the wild.

Mathematically, covid couldn't kill or maim enough people to change us all.

It could only overwhelm our health care system (oh look! another thing where the infrastructure is wholly inadequate).

I've had a few comments about wearing a mask and a lot of looks. Apparently it's still unheard of to have health issues that require you to be more proactive about protecting yourself. People are disappointing.

The real sucky thing right now is the lack of sleep. I am running more tired to begin with, even when I do sleep. I'm not sure if that's a legacy of covid or what, but man do I hit the wall. I can't make it through a full day of activity no matter how much sleep I get. By 6pm I'm cooked. There's not much pacing right now, it's all go go go, which for me, is more go go go-to-bed.

But it's been a good trip overall. It's good to see family. It's good to be in a whole different part of the world seeing a whole different landscape. I think I might even be able to dance a little bit at the wedding...if I can stay awake.

*I mean yes, I'm sure there was Big and Tall stuff somewhere or even menswear, but fuck if we knew how to find it in that area. Just getting calories in was hard for some reason I still don't understand. Other countries, we knew the lay of the land, had a car, spoke the language, the mainstream size was the same as mine making it a plug and play 15 minute errand vs a major undertaking complicated by a language barrier and no easy retail access.