Rock, paper ... water

Apparently, what really doesn't survive a waterlogging is not the electronics, but the
paper products. While both my CPAP and TV are working - and while we're praying that the problem with the Playstation is about the power supply instead of the game box - my paper-based goods that sat in the water are mostly kaput.

Yesterday's photo showed the sad state of my books; here's today's photo of my now-in-the-trash games:

The damager report: Rook, Taboo and a deck of cards

The Taboo cards may look normal, but they're pretty firmly stuck together in groups of 7-30+ cards. I gave a good try at separating them, and then decided that was way too much work for a game that I could replace for about $15. At the right of the picture is the last remaining piece of the Taboo box:

The rest of the Taboo box went to the trash yesterday, in a soggy disintegrated mess that we neglected to film.

The other card games initially seem more salvageable; for instance, the Rook cards separated much more easily:


But they're still pretty soggy, slightly transparent, and covered in some sort of blue ink (the source of which I have yet to identify; it's on all the other cards too, mostly on the edges).

So it looks like I'll be making a visit to a local game store - or Amazon.com - for some replacement games in the next couple of weeks. That's alright though; I'm happy to have an excuse to go shopping!

In other news, most of my clothes are clean, and my bags are nearly repacked for the return journey to MA. I'm kind of sad, because every mile closer to my house equals a mile closer to the end of my vacation. Everyone should take multi-week vacations every once in a while; they are very awesome! But going back to work on Tuesday is going to be ... interesting, to say the least.

In recovery

Brandy's Top Ten Totally Random Things from the Trip:

10. Mr. Wigglesworth
9. Trampoline Dodgeball
8. "Poopy!"
7. Lake KOA
6. Smokin' the firewood
5. Flash Pass Gold
4. Carbon
3. 6-Hour Power
2. Supermodel Kwame
1. E-Z Pass Go!

As Becky noted, we are done with camping and resting at her home in Northern Virginia. We're taking it slow with getting back into the normal swing of things; yesterday we sat around, slept and watched movies, and today we had to call Michelle (who is back at work - sucker! Just kidding, I love you Shelly) to confirm that it was, in fact, Wednesday. Which marks the first day that I've definitively known what day it is since I started vacation.

After our day of total rest today, we did get down to some work here at the Sterling house - the exciting work of cleaning out/rinsing out/washing out everything from the trip. Apparently, the Army teaches Becky to do this every time she comes back from being in the field, so she's got the whole thing down to a science. Me, I'm lucky if I unpack within the week after I get home. But in the spirit of not bringing home clothes and luggage that smell slightly like moldy eggs, I eagerly joined in the fun, represented by this short clip:

We scrubbed out all the bags, tents, mattresses, chairs and sporting equipment we felt could stand up to it, and put the rest in the laundry. I think we're somewhere on load 3 or 4 ... I lost count a while ago. But I am pleased to say that my pink luggage is back to being more pink than brown, and that a number of potentially damaged items have been salvaged - including my CPAP! While I might have to replace the mask and tubing because I seem to have lost some of the little connector bits, that is the far less expensive and much easier to obtain section of my medical machinery. On the sad side, I still have books that look like this:

My poor babies! Mommy loves you, and she's sorry.

We're done with the trip, but there's still so much to post! I don't think we're going to be done blogging for another week at least, so check back for more material. To tantalize you, here are a few trip highlights from my camera (Michelle's camcorder is holding the rest - blog, Michelle, blog!):

A young blogger in training?

A mummy in our tent!! Kwame's mummy, that is. ;-)

Michelle chugs the 5-Hour Energy, shortly to be followed by a Rockstar energy drink.
(Seriously, it's a wonder none of us had a heart attack drinking that stuff.)

All of these things smelled SO MUCH BETTER after their morning wash