A few weeks back, Nishi, Charlie, and I drove out to the Finger Lakes to see Scott get married. Being so far from so many of the attendees, they made a weekend of it, with events from Friday night through Sunday morning. We decided to spend the weekend in a campground near the event, since we wouldn’t need to board Charlie somewhere, and it was about a quarter of the cost. We drove up Friday, and it might have been the toughest Friday of my life.
Two days prior, I started feeling really sick, complete with a fever and cough. I only get sick once or twice a year, and when I do, it hits me hard. Nishi was a wonderful caretaker, but I was really not feeling well.
The day before, I checked in on the little camping stove we were bringing along to cook. The fuel tank was not only full, it was pressurized – when I opened it I covered my hands in naptha, which apparently causes “contact dermatitis,” which I now know means causes blisters wherever it touches. The blisters are still peeling off my hands.
Friday morning, I took a shower in a tub that had been soaking clothes in OcyClean, and I didn’t rinse it. Apparently, OxyClean also causes contact dermatitis, or something similar to it.
With painful blisters on both my hands and feet, and a nasty cold, we drove the six and a half hours out to the finger lakes. Over nine hours later, we arrived at the campground, and set up camp by the headlights of the truck.
I had a great time at the wedding anyways, but damn, that was a tough day.