blog923

Sunday, September 3, 2023

I was off early in the morning, hampered only by the rising sun shining through the windshield as I headed east. I've made the drive through southeast Kansas enough times that it's becoming pretty much routine. Through Cowley County and the rest to the east I knew my way and didn't have to stop very often to jog my memory, with only an occasional stop to take a picture. Unfortunately I can't show you any pictures now, because of what happened later in the trip. I hope to correct that when I'm again able to download photos from my camera and relearn how to post them on the website. Here's where my faulty memory clouds the picture. I made it across southeast Kansas with no trouble and crossed into Missouri. Missing a turn in Joplin caused an unplanned detour that cost me more than an hour of wasted miles. I reached Springfield about quitting time, gassed up, and found an out-of the-way parking lot, and bedded down for the night.

Monday, September 4, 2023

I was off for an uninterrupted drive. I had no more trouble finding my way. I left Springfield, where you catch old 66 that parallels I-40 most of the way across Missouri. A former US highway next to an interstate is often ideal for Model T travel. You can cruise along at a comfortable Model T speed of 35 to 40 mph without a lot of fear that you'll get run over, because all the big, fast trucks and most of the other traffic is over on the interstate. I passed through Marshfield, Lebanon, and points east as far as my nmext wrong turn. There is a stretch where old 66 has not survived, and you have to take a couple of back roads to get to the next town. This is where I made another navigational error, missing a turn that would have taken me east. This missed turn didn't waste as many miles as the one in Joplin, but it robbed me of nearly an hour. Making my way back, I turned onto one of those lettered Missouri back roads and made my way to Doolittle, where old 66 resumes. In Sullivan, when I stopped for gas, I met a local woman who noticed my 1915 chick magnet. As it was approaching time to stop for the night and I was wondering about a good place to park, she phoned the local undertaker and got permission for me to park in front of his establishment. So I parked in the spot where hearses stop when they bring in the customers, and while a thunderstorm with a lot of wind and rain passed over, I spent the night parked in a dry spot where I was able to sleep in the car and didn't worry about getting wet.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

This morning I headed east on a very unfamiliar leg of the journey. I followed that east into Saint Louis, crossed the Mississippi River on the Eads Bridge into East Saint Louis, IL, where I made my way to Saint Clair Avenue, Lincoln Trail, and eventually US 50. This is where my memory fails me. I have no recollection of which road I took north to US 40, or where I spent the night.

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Indiana day. I arrived in Terre Haute, went north on US 41 to Rockville, and from there it was familiar territory: Crawfordsville and IN 47 east to IN 13 and north. It was on 13 (?) that I lost my gamble on old tubes and had a flat. I ended the day at a local garage, where I slept on the owner's living room couch.

Thursday, September 7, 2023

In the morning I drove on my iffy spare to Anderson, where Model T guy Rod Barrett resorted to taking a tube from one of his cars so I would have a real spare tube. I found my way to IN 9 and went north, headed for Huntington, Fort Wayne, Auburn, and Michigan. I made it as far as Huntington. I had been to the Walmart and was headed southeast on Goshen Road, but not for long. At US 24 I was entering the intersection to turn north when I was in the wreck that put me in a series of hospitals and rehab centers for the rest of the year. I have absolutely no memory of the collision. A very brief video made by a bystander shows my car in fairly heavy traffic, when suddenly a car comes from the north and hits my Ford. At that point the video ends, and you don't see my car flipping over or me hitting the pavement. Approaching the intersection is the last thing I remember. I woke up in the Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne the next day, or in a couple of days, or whatever. At that point I wasn't able to count the days.

ALL THE ABOVE, from Sunday through Thursday, is from my sketchy memory, and I can't be sure about any of it. I remember some of it pretty clearly, but much of it may or may not be accurate. Google Maps helped me recall some of the route, but the rest is as I remember it, accurate or not. At this point I will interrupt the daily blog and jump ahead to next spring, when I am back at home and recovered enough to deal with it. What about the period from September 7, 2023 to March 31, 2024? Obviously I have forgotten a great deal, but as circumstances permit I will come back and fill in some of the gaps during those six months.

So what else happened in September? One day I awoke to find my brother visiting. He says I was clear and lucid. Obviously I had him fooled. I may have seemed pretty alert, but that early in this adventure the traumatic brain injury was still very much in effect. I think it was in September that I was taken to Northwestern in Chicago. I believe that was where a feeding tube was installed, and it was with me for the rest of the year and into 2024. One thing I do remember from Northwestern is that by then I had had more than enough of hospitals, and I tried to leave. One of the nurses wrestled me into bed, and there I remained for a few days until I was taken back to the Lutheran hospital in Fort Wayne.