Whilrwind

We have made our trip to Illinois and seen the ophthalmologist. Tuesday morning we decided it would be best to board Lily and Teddi so we called Tybee Animal Care and made those arrangements. Carol referred to it as "doggie day care" and I called it puppy jail. The vet preferred the term Carol used. We left early Wednesday morning and by early I mean 4:30 a.m.  The plan was to drive straight through and get to Galesburg as early as possible. I set the GPS and it told us it was 1001 miles from the house here to the one in Illinois. The drive up was amazingly trouble free and the traffic was busy in Atlanta and Nashville but did not hold us up much. We arrived in Galesburg about 7:30 p.m. and our first stop and priority was a craft beer and pizza at Budde's. They did not disappoint. We finally got to the house about 9:30 and got some much needed sleep.

In the morning it was off to Gailey Eye Clinic to see Dr. Johnson. Carol got amused because when it wasn't in the room I referred to him as Doogie Howser. He is young but seems to be confident in his abilities and eager to explain what is wrong and what needs to be done. It turns out I did have posterior capsule opacity and a quick treatment with the YAG laser was the key to clear vision again. I was in the office about 2 hours for a procedure that took about 2 minutes. You have all the vision tests and quiz questions first and then Dr. Science shoots you in the eye with a laser about 12 times and you can see clearly again. The only explanation  I have is that it is magic.

After the doctor fixed me up we went to the Quilting Bee quilt shop so Carol could see her friends there. It was off to get an oil change for the car. When did they start making the capacity an odd number? It takes 4.3 quarts of oil for an oil change. We met John for lunch at Old Peking since so far Chinese food in Savannah has been really bad. It was then out to the farm to see Mom and both my brothers. We had a good visit with all of them. We went back home to see a couple about selling our hot tub. Time will tell if that is going to work out. Then back to Budde's for more beer and pizza.

Friday morning we picked up Carol's Mom Jackie at 6:00 a.m. for another 1000 mile drive back to Tybee Island. On the way up no traffic problems on the way back it was trouble in 4 places. The first was crossing the Ohio river. They were working on the river bridge so we wasted about an hour to go 5 miles there. The next mess was at Nashville, then Chatanooga and finally at Atlanta. Since we lost an hour due to the time zone change we didn't arrive here until almost 11 p.m. The only stops were one for a rest area, two for gas and a drive thru at McDonalds. Just wondering about McDonalds. Does it cost extra now to get a hot hamburger? The quality is really slipping at those places.

Illinois showed me those rippling rows of new corn. I saw a couple of young fellas on a hayrack behind a baler doing a job that occupied my youthful summers. It brought back a lot of good memories about farmers I had worked for. They are all dead now. Sometime in the future I will share some memories of those men. The smell of freshly turned dirt hit my nose and brought a smile to my face. One thing I didn't realize I was missing was the midwestern sunsets. They are special this time of year with all the dust in the air from farming. The reds, oranges and yellows as the sun sets are magic.