Welcome one and all to the new blog!!! As I’ve done before, I will use this venue to tell the stories that I encounter while on my clinical rotation. This adventure will take place in Homosassa, FL (for the most part…we’ll see how this thing evolves as you all give me your input). There will be a post everyday as I travel down to Florida, but after that the posts will become a little more random (probably settling in at 2-3 posts per week). Thursday (formerly “Rebuttal Thursday”) will now be “Story of the Week Thursday” where I will share a story that one of you gives me from your own clinical experiences. Other nuances to the blog will come along as this thing evolves…no sense in limiting it to rules right now. Without further adieu, today’s post:
Today’s trip had its fate sealed yesterday when, while I was getting my hair cut at SportsClips, CM and LS (BACKGROUND: CM and LS are female classmates of mine, and yes, we’re back to using initials instead of names) walked in to say good bye. The following conversation went something like this:
CM: “Would you be willing to wait a day so we could caravan?”
Me: “Sure”
CM: “YAY!!! I didn’t want to drive all by myself, and you’re probably better at navigating”
In hindsight, the last statement should have been replaced with: “Zach, are you good at navigating?” (Note: I’m not)
So we began our trip at 2 pm this afternoon, both of us excited to get on the road and neither of us aware of how to get to KC (I know what you’re thinking...and it’s not funny). But we had our navigation systems on and some makeshift directions from CM’s uncle…so we thought we were good. A little ways down the road, most of the cars on the freeway pulled off at an exit…we looked around and wondered why so many cars wanted to head to Glenwood, IA (of course we don’t stop…) Realizing we missed the boat, we took the next exit and decided we would just turn around back-track to the detour. As it turns out, there is no way to get back on the interstate once you’ve exited in the wrong spot…there is nothing left to do but take a random highway towards Plattsmouth, NE. Why Plattsmouth you ask? We headed toward Plattsmouth under this sound logic from CM: “I think we went through Plattsmouth last time I went to KC…” not promising…
We get to Plattsmouth (which is bigger than you might think by the way), but not before paying a toll (yes a toll!!) to cross a random bridge. It should be said that this bridge has no business being a toll bridge. It allows the highway to cross a stream so they can get to (you guessed it) Plattsmouth, NE. We have to have been the only suckers to cross it in the past 20 years. CM advises we find a gas station and ask for directions on how to get to KC so we drive around town for a while. Unable to find a single gas station, I stop at the next building I see…which happens to be…City Hall. I walk into Plattsmouth City Hall and speak with the “City Secretary” to ask for directions. What ensued was the most backwards conversation of my life that included her asking me: “How familiar are you with Plattsmouth?” and “I’m just really bad with directions, do you know where the school is?”…stress. So she drew me a map (on some official Plattsmouth stationary) to direct me through the town. The map included some very prominent landmarks like “the Methodist church” and “Burger King.” (You can’t make this stuff up) 15 minutes later (and a few U-turns), we found the highway that would take us South. I looked down at my odometer to see how far we’d gone in the last hour…35 miles?!! in an hour!!!!!????????!!!!!!!! What followed was an expletive laden tirade and CM insisting that she be the leader since I had failed to get us to highway 75 in a timely fashion.
5 hours after we left Omaha, we finally made it into KC (with a few more U-turns…these one’s were not my fault). It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but we got here! Tomorrow’s adventure has us leaving early in the morning for Nashville, TN! I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to talk about after that one.
Stress levels are now pretty low since CM’s family treated me to salmon and pie tonight! There can’t be stress after salmon and pie.
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