DAY 3: Mason’s First Bee Sting!
We woke up and got today’s issue of WritersWeekly out before packing up and hitting the road. Our first stop was a truck stop that had a Subway on the premises. Admittedly, I rarely run errands for the family (like going to pick up lunch) and I can’t remember the last time I stepped into a Subway sandwich shop. I guess I forgot how the sandwich assembly line works.
I took the boys inside while Richard finished pumping the gas. I ordered Mason’s “sammie” (that’s what he calls a flatbread, cheese sandwich) and Max’s usual, a “ham, salad and pickles sandwich” (salad means lettuce). I then ordered a toasted veggie for myself and the guy helping me got all bent out of shape when I told him which veggies I wanted before I told him which cheese I wanted. He made some crack about me getting ahead of myself. I was confused and said, “What?” At that moment, Richard walked up behind us.
With even more attitude, the Subway employee sighed and replied with something like, “You’re talking about something that’s down the line.
I realized he was giving me, the customer, lip so I raised my voice and said, “Look, I’m just trying to order lunch for my children. I don’t need attitude while I’m doing that.”
He didn’t say another word (and it’s a good thing he didn’t!). I looked back at Richard, who is the polar opposite of me when it comes to confrontation, and I’m pretty sure he was pretending he didn’t know me at that moment…until Mason turned around in my arms and said, “Hi, Daddy!” Heh…
We spent a few hours driving through Pennsylvania, which I love. The rolling hills and quaint farms are beautiful. If you venture onto the back roads, you’re likely to see one of these:
Whenever I see a sign like this I just wanna buy a quilt and eat some pickled beets! 
Several miles down the highway, we hit some construction. Richard was driving very slowly and I was sitting in the passenger seat, formatting an author’s book, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A nice old lady was motioning to me. I opened the window and she said, “Your steps are down.” I thanked her profusely, got up, and turned them “off”, causing them to retract. They have previously done that automatically when we turn the engine on so that’s something we’ll need to add to the maintenance list. It was very nice of that woman to take the time to alert us because those steps are brand spanking new and it would be a shame to have to replace them yet again.
We had to replace them two weeks ago because, um, I was backing the RV out of the driveway and, er, the steps didn’t retract then either and, uh, I kinda hit the railroad ties and the steps bent badly and broke, getting wedged firmly into the wood. I should have taken a picture that day of Matt and Richard using a crowbar on those steps to try to straighten the metal. Richard was not terribly pleased with me on that day. That was even worse than the day I ran the entire side of the canopy along a huge tree. Heh… (See last picture HERE.)
When we finally arrived at the campground that night, the boys were getting restless. Right next to the campground office was a lake with a dock, a sand beach, and a slide in the water. Oh boy, were the boys thrilled! We quickly put on our shorts and sandals and headed for the water.
Max contemplating whether to keep going up…or to go back down.
Mason was admiring the sand castle built by a previous lake visitor.
They played there for about an hour before they decided they wanted to go to the park. We went back to the RV to put on dry clothes and then we walked to the park.
There was a sweet little girl there, probably around 6 or 7 years old, who approached Mason and said, “Would you like to play with me? I’m playing time portals and I need help getting back home. Right now, I’m stuck with the dinosaurs!”
Mason had NO idea what she was talking about but he was very pleased to play along. About 15 minutes later, she ran up to me and said, “There was a bee in his hair. I told him not to touch it but he did and he got stung.”
I looked at Mason who was just standing there holding his thumb. He sure didn’t look stung to me! I asked him if he got stung. He said yes and I inspected his thumb. Sure enough, there was a tiny hole there. He’d never been stung by a bee before so we walked back to the RV so we could treat it and keep an eye on him. I had a bad reaction to a bee sting when I was a little girl so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to have any trouble.
On the way back to the RV, he was still holding his thumb, but not crying at all. I thought that was really odd. I know those hurt like crazy! I also noticed he was cocking his head back, as if to rub the back of his head with the top of his shoulder. I said, “It’s okay, honey. The bee isn’t in your hair anymore.”
He replied matter-of-factly, “It stung me there, too.”
I looked and, sure enough, he had an area of swelling on the back of his head, just above his haircut line. I could see a tiny puncture hole there, too. So, Mason had two bee stings and didn’t shed one tear. Wow! He was more upset about not being able to stay and play with his incredibly creative time-traveling friend than he was about the stings!
Mason’s Bee Boo Boo
I’d called Richard to tell him what happened and he was ready when we arrived with the first aid kit. We washed the stings, looked for stingers (none there) and applied medicine. I bandaged his thumb but not his head. He then chilled on the couch, watching movies for the rest of the evening. And, again, no tears at all though he continued to rub his thumb for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow, we’re be driving through more of Ohio and into Indiana. I was born in Indiana but only lived there for three months before moving to Texas. We won’t be near any family as we’ll be passing through the wrong part of the state. We are looking forward to driving through miles and miles and miles of cornfields, which can put even the most caffeinated driver to sleep. Come on along!
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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.
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