The current situation is not ideal.
Last night I actually dropped out of a song because my cough was so bad and I’m sick as the proverbial dog – which is not an expression I completely understand, especially since the last dog we stayed with was absurdly spritely. And orange. I’m looking at YOU Sally.
But yeah – I’m pretty fucked up. Vicious cough – and though the majority of the chest-aching congestion seems to have vanished I have a racking dry cough that really SHOULD leave me with steely abs, but instead is just leaving me shaky and achy and feeling like I need to quarantine myself.
And of course, it’s impossible to quarantine oneself when you’re traveling in a four door Hyundai for hours at a time and sleeping in close quarters, touching all the same door knobs and steering wheels and stuff.
I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever been this sick on the road before, and I’ve definitely never had it smack my singing around. I was mortified. I’ve even been coughing hard enough that it’s been hard to keep food down. Fortunately I found something easy for lunch….
And now we’re headed east – theoretically we’re on the very tail-end of the tour, but it feels like we’re going uphill AND into the wind as a surprise snowstorm has swept down on much of the east coast… and on into the country. Visibility has swiftly dropped here in Indiana and we should hit Kentucky shortly before a local snow emergency goes into effect. The snow’s not collecting on the roads yet, but it’s coming down heavy and thick and if we weren’t driving through it, the landscape is definitely getting “picturesque”.
We got through last week by the skin of our teeth, and I guess it’s not too much of a surprise that one of us got worn down and caught something. Saturday night’s show at Columbus Bar was absolutely exhausting and there was a feeling of getting out JUST in time. Playing a bar on Saint Patrick’s Day was always a gamble, and I felt like it actually WENT really well, but the moment we were done the noise of the chugging crowd filled the decibels we’d abandoned and then some.
Sunday was a wonderful day off, wandering Bloomington and just exploring this beautiful town on a stunningly beautiful day – but by the time we were done with the day the hint that I was coming down with something was… well… more than a hint. Monday found us enjoying more of Bloomington – but with a heavy lean towards our friends’ tea hosue where I downed two whole pots of ginger turmeric tea as the weather outside shifted from sunshine and seventies to grey at 60s to glowering and 50s. The show itself was awesome, playing in a small gallery right in the centre of town, but the decline of temperature had continued and the cold drizzle abated JUST long enough for us to load out before making a run for it back to our friend Steve’s house.
Yeah. So I’m sick. We lost a place to crash do to others’ illness. The snow is coming thick and we’re a couple of hours out of our next stop in Lexington, KY. The current situation is NOT ideal.
We’re two and a half hours into a three and half hour drive and look to have a little over two hours left. Snow’s taking it’s toll on our time, but at least this portion of Indiana appears to have gotten around to treating their roads. It’s gorgeous out, but it’s only pride and a desire to NOT do a 12 hour drive tomorrow that keeps us going. Plenty of people on the roads yet – I guess we’re not the only crazy ones. I think we’ll reach an interstate in the next 20 miles or so and then I’m hoping we’ll start seeing plows.
Just 20 miles or so.
Spring was caught by surprise too – daffodils and forsythia all caught in the act of getting dressed for the changing of the seasons. They’ll be dead by dawn.
This house is huge, the snow is thick, my body hurts. That pretty much sums up Wednesday morning in Lexington, KY. Somewhere my mother’s nagging my head “ACT LIKE YOU’RE USED TO IT!!!” but no – this house is huge. I legitimately wouldn’t be able to find all the nooks and crannies I was lead to during our tour, there’s at least one secret door in any case and it’s almost noon, I KNOW there are other people in the house, but I’ve seen no-one.
But the snow’s nice.
It’s that perfect snow that pisses off hardware store owners – covering lawns and trees with thick fluffy virgin white beauty while somehow leaving streets and sidewalks pristine. No need for a snow shovel, but since yesterday was the first day of spring maybe you have to go unpack your winter coats and gloves. I think it’s stunning, Heather finds it depressing, Kristen has yet to weigh in. I think the kids that we’re staying with are probably pretty put out that it didn’t affect school at all but I imagine they’ll be back out the door again the moment they get home. See above about the house, I may or may not be aware that this happens.
My cold, flu, plague, whateverthefuck is definitely subsiding – which is good because I think my body is entirely too exhausted to continue coughing. I can feel it all through my chest and belly and back, like I’ve been working out on brand new machines, torture devices designed SPECIFICALLY to hunt down any muscles I haven’t been using and give them a good hard talking to. My voice is pleasantly gravelly, but unlike most illnesses, this feels like it’s attacked my throat from the opposite end: normally when I’m sick I can just dig deeper and my growl remains untouched – this one, while singing I can flute around in my higher register no problem, though breath control’s a bit of an issue – but the growl is just… like behind a glass wall or something. It’s like I can’t quite touch that portion of my voice and it’s extremely frustrating. I’m glad I don’t have to sing for another 36 hours or so…
