Breaking Camp in the Rain ... again

Happy 48th Tommy! I woke a few times during daybreak. I got up for good at 7:30am. I hustle through brushing my teeth and making coffee in hopes of beating the forecasted rain. But sadly, it was already beginning to sprinkle. I had coffee underway and started breaking down camp even before taking off on my run. Mindy was up and breaking down cap, too. She acknowledged my need/desire to run. I left for my run in the midst of a hard sprinkle. I couldn’t help but reflect back to two years ago same camp site, same symptoms – tearing down camp in the rain. To be fair, the conditions that time were far worse. It was pouring buckets and had been all night long. That time all of our gear was water logged. I ran for approximately 30 minutes. By the time I got back Mindy had the guts of the tents broken down and packed as well as most of the food stowed in the Honda. I was impressed with her progress. I jumped in and began tearing down the tents. Jacob enjoyed pulling tent stakes with the claw hammer. Both kids were a big help. Mindy helped fold the tents. They were wet enough, unfortunately, that we’d have to set them up to dry once at home and in sunshine. We had camp completely torn down and were on the road by 10am. Mindy lagged a bit behind. Jacob and I took Old State to Powell Rd. We weren’t on Rt 23 South for a mile before hitting a stand still traffic jam. And that traffic jam continued all the way to I-270 – about an hour. I phoned Mindy who I assumed was behind us. She reported passing Tuttle Mall. What? How? She took the back way through Worthington, her old stomping grounds. There was nothing Jacob and I could do but wait it out. We listened to sports talk. Finally, around 11:15 we broke free of the traffic jam and hit I-270 west. We exited Roberts Rd and headed to boat storage. It was noon by the time we arrived home. I wasted little time unloading our gear. The only thing I did was grab some hand to mouth food and pee’d. I spent the next hour unloading both vehicles, although Mindy had already unloaded some of the stuff from the Honda. Mindy made us pigs-in-a-blanket for lunch. They were delicious. The kids fought over the last one. Mindy and I made tentative plans to visit my mom in the hospital after Jimaken picked up the kids as usual late Wednesday afternoon. She had successful back surgery on Tuesday at the New Albany surgical center. Meanwhile, it rained steadily all day long. Never let up. It was dreary day, indeed. I took a shower around 330pm. Jimaken showed up around 4:30pm. Mindy asked if he could keep the kids until 8:30pm leaving us plenty of time to visit my mom and possibly stop for a quick dinner afterwards. He willingly agreed. Mindy and I left for New Albany after I walked Ykraps in the rain. It took about 45 minutes to get up to New Albany in the crappy weather. There were wrecks everywhere. Apparently the locals forgot how to drive in heavy rain. No kidding, between Alum Creek and the New Albany Surgical Center we must’ve happened upon 5 or 6 wrecks. We found the place much easier this go round. We visited my mom here tow years ago after her first back surgery. We got lost that trip. We didn’t make the same mistake. This time we followed the Google directions to a tee. J Mom was in room #204. She was conscious but in pain. Her friend Denise was there. She’s the one that drove her up and came back again Wednesday. Good friend. Mom said dad was up earlier. At one point mom had to move from a wheel chair back into bed. I saw something no son ever wants to see – her behind. AHHHH! I quipped that it was something I hadn’t seen since I was on my way out. We visited for about 1.5 hours. We left just after 7pm. I asked Denise to take my cell number in case she needed me. The rain slowed significantly but hadn’t stopped. Making good time, Mindy & I agreed on a quick stop at Barley’s. Ahhh Barley’s, we absolutely love this place. I ordered a Centennial and some Gates of Hell Wings. Mindy ordered a Crème Brule’ Stout and a quesadilla. I eventually ordered a second beer. We were fast and so was the service. We didn’t have a lot of time. We left Barley’s at 8:20pm. We were home in five minutes. Jimaken showed up with the kids shortly after us. It was still raining. We hung out for a while after the kids were home. We had plans to go to the zoo on Thursday so we got to bed at a somewhat decent hour.