Dramamine

So after recalling all of these memories of roller coaster times and hours upon hours of driving desolate highways in a hot car, I have to mention that there was often a price to pay. Fairly soon into the trip I experienced my first bout of car sickness. This probably came about as a result of a couple of factors, the first being the monotony of the scenery coupled with the subtle but constant motion outside the car. Since there was little to do but look out the window the movement and vibration most likely caused disruption to my inner ear balance, that and the extreme heat inside the car brought about intense nausea. The second factor probably was the food I was eating in the car, which consisted of baby food, cold Oscar Meyer hot dogs, (slightly wet and soggy from the ice water in the ice chests), little cocktail onions, Snap-E-Tom bloody mary mixer, Juicy Fruit gum, and all washed down with Kool Aid and Styrofoam flavored water. All this in combination made for some miserable moments during the trip. The first time I threw up it came as a complete surprise for everybody and the first vomiting event happened inside the car, the resulting mess and stench only furthered the nauseous sensation. By this time Mom and Dad were panicked by the first bout of sickness, and they were now coaching me to throw up outside the window of the car. Throwing up out of a window of a car going 60 mph is not the most elegant method of vomiting and this only resulted in an awkward mess inside and outside the car, not only did the momentum and wind splash vomit all across the side of the car, but the aerodynamic turbulence caused by the vehicle blew a good portion of the vomit in my face and back into the car itself. The whole event was a catastrophe.

Remember, we started the trips driving my Grandmother's dark blue Oldsmobile Delta 88, and when we were supposed to arrived at Estes Park she expected her car to be in the same condition that we originally started the trip in. Now, the interior had a distinct vomity smell to it, and the outside where I leaned out and threw up was now smeared with a contrasting orange-yellow viscous and textured bile resembling condensed soup. Dad avoided the mess and neglected to clean it off immediately, so along with the intense heat created by the sun against the dark blue metal of the car, and the drying effect of the wind created by the car travelling at high speeds, caked and cemented the vomit on the car for most of the duration of the trip.

Dad and Mom realized that something had to be done about my car sickness, so at the next town they found a drug store and bought me some Dramamine. The pills were little chalky yellow tablets that had a distinct aspirin-like taste. I voluntarily took what was given me and washed them down with lots of funny tasting water, but the thing we discovered about Dramamine was that it only works if it has time to absorb into the body, taking a tablet, driving to arouse nausea and then throwing up the Dramamine a few minutes later doesn't do any good. Dad, with all his medical wisdom, decided a practical approach needed to be taken when using Dramamine, that at least a half-hour was required to absorb the medicine before driving could commence. Once a suitable Dramamine routine was accomplished the drug would knock me out for a few hours and the risk of throwing up was avoided. For Dad and Mom this had a double benefit, not only did it keep me from throwing up, but it put me to sleep, essentially keeping me occupied during the tedious driving parts of the trip, so Dramamine therapy became a part of our routine. Realizing that I was consuming a considerable amount of drugs, which also became a considerable cost, Dad became concerned and began to ration out the Dramamine in half-doses, and eventually quarter-doses, which not only saved on the Dramamine supply but also lessened the narcotic effects keeping me awake a little more. From that time on Dramamine was an essential supply for the trips.

However, we still had the serious problem of the condition of Gammys car, the interior was still ripening, and the dried vomit along the side of the car was still obvious, disgusting, hard as a rock and risking damage to the paint. So the day we were supposed to arrive at Estes Park we stopped at the last major town Granby, Colorado, before hitting the Rocky Mountains. At Granby we were able to find one of those self-serve car washes with pressure hoses, and we also purchased a bottle of Lysol with a few rolls of paper towel. Dad and Mom desperately began to wash the car inside and out, and the vomit was removed with some difficulty and many quarters for the car washing machine. There was still quite a bit of work to be done on the inside of the car and Dad somehow avoided this task and got Mom to thoroughly clean the inside of the car. As Mom cleaned with Lysol, Dad entertained me by taking me through the town of Granby and buying me ice cream. Granby was a typical Colorado Tourist town that had wooden sidewalks, otherwise there wasn't much to see. The town was also next to Grand Lake and Lake Granby that Dad took me to look at and tried to interest me in. When we arrived back at the car wash, Mom seemed frustrated but resigned that the cleaning job was satisfactory for Gammy, so with a brand clean car, Mom dosed me up with Dramamine in preparation for the nauseating mountain driving we were about to do, (not risking me throwing up on the newly cleaned car), and we were off again only a few hours away from our final destination of Estes Park and Wind River Ranch.

I seem to recall Gammy wasn't exactly too pleased with the condition of her car, which I'm sure I got blamed for. I think that was one of the reasons we stopped taking her car on the trips.

(I don't really have an appropriate video or picture for this subject, but this one is suitably boring)