The Best Laid Plans

Mt. Hood Forest Welcome Sign

A few weeks ago, my husband came up with a wonderful, horrible idea. He proposed that we drive up into the nearby mountains, find a dark, quiet place to park, and look at the stars. He got really into the idea, checking moon cycles, and downloading a star chart app on his phone.

Finally, the big day came. We loaded up Rachel, Stewart, a blanket, pillow, jackets (it was 101 degrees during the day, but cooler in the mountains), bug spray, bottles of water, granola bars, towels, emergency meds and oils.

The drive up to the site Brett had pre-scouted took about an hour and a half. It was beautiful to drive along in the dusk, seeing the bats and birds hunting for the evening bugs. Once we turned off onto the forest service highway, we saw an owl, a fat little rabbit, and tons of bugs. Seriously, you should see my windshield. It's a bug graveyard.

We found our parking spot, tumbled out of the car, let Stewie take a break, and then I promptly stepped off the edge of the highway, overcorrected, and fell on my ass. Good thing it's well-padded; I didn't even bruise. Rachel spread out her blanket, plopped down her pillow, and just took it all in. There will be no photos of the stars, because 1) I'm a crap photographer, and 2) I was enjoying myself too much to worry about it. 

Rachel sees the Milky Way for the first time

We were parked, staring at the sky, for about an hour, but it was very late, and Rachel hadn't been able to nap during the day, so we packed back up, and began our descent. We had gone maybe a mile when Rachel indicated she was feeling carsick, so Brett found a place to pull over, we got her out, and she did indeed vomit. We soothed her as best we could in pitch blackness on the side of a forest highway, with only the cabin light of the car for illumination. She heaved a few more times, and then (because, why the hell not?) a complex partial seizure started.  Of course. 

The surface we were kneeling on was very rocky, and strewn with forest debris, so I grabbed the blanket out of the car, ready to lay it down for her, but she was pretty well settled into leaning against Brett, so I swiped the VNS and waited it out. As with all of her seizures of late, there was no panic, and even though she lost consciousness, she was able to be roused enough to get back into the car. Once we were sure she was stable, we continued on down the mountain, and onto the main highway.

We'd gone about 5 miles down the main highway, when Rachel indicated she'd be sick again, so Brett managed to find a wide spot on the shoulder, and this time Rachel stayed in the car, just opening the door. I got out to support her, in case another seizure started, but this time it was just the sick, so she was able to sit back up, have some water and a mint, and then we were on our way again. The rest of the ride home was just fine, and Rachel finally felt better.

This is maybe the second time in her entire life that Rachel has actually been motion sick enough to vomit. Thank goodness it was a good 3 hours since she'd taken her meds. By the time we got home, it was after 1 a.m., so Rachel brushed her teeth, took some oil, grabbed her dog, and crashed into bed. We have tentative plans to drive up to the local hiking/camping spot, and meet up with out-of-town family, and Rachel says she's up for it, but we'll see how the morning goes.