Uncommon cures for the cold

It was the best cold I ever had.

Forget chicken noodle soup.

Apparently, next time I get the sniffles I need: a road trip, a box of Kleenex, two PHD student gal pals, jello shots and a Dave Mathews concert.

 In that order.

I came down with fresh cold symptoms the morning of my planned trip.

Mr. Quirky tried to convince me to stay home.

I whacked him over the head with a pillow. (Because I’m living up to my violent reputation lately.)

Are you kidding?! It’s freaking DAVE MATHEWS! No way am I going to miss this. I mean, for Pete’s sake, we are driving to Wichita to see this show. (No offense, Wichita. I had never been to your fine city. And no offense, Pete, whoever you are.)

Besides, I thought, it’s not that bad. It’s just a little bit of drainage and the sniffles. I’ll be fine.

Famous last words.

At 2 p.m., after killing a few brain cells (and not the virus) watching the monstrosity that is The Kardashians, the girls showed up.

Because I had totally invited myself along for the ride via a Facebook status exchange (Oh, you’re going to Dave? Yes please. Sign me up!), I volunteered to sit in the back of Brightside’s 2-door Honda Civic.

I instantly set up shop.

Not wanting to alarm my new car buddies about my symptoms, I gave them the same line I gave Mr. Q.

I’m just a little snotty.

At the half-way mark, my condition was rapidly disintegrating.

This.is.not.good.

I suggested we stop for some water, and I meandered over to the pill popping portion of the convenience mart.

I selected something that said “extra strength” and looked like it handled most of my symptoms.

No problem, I thought. I’ll just pop this and will feel better in no time.

In no time at all, I was hacking up a lung, sneezing on the minute and my tissue supply was quickly depleting due to the frequency of nose blows.

What was happening?!

At this point, you’d think my friends would have pulled over and left me and my Kleenex in the Flint Hills.

But this is where traveling with smart science girls came in very handy.

“Oh, it’s just the expectorant,” KRuss nonchalantly pulled out of her brain.

WhaWha?

My bio-science pals explained what was scientifically happening to my body due to the gas station pills I popped.

My PHD pals were also not the least phased by the snotty mess in the backseat. (I was apologizing in between coughs and sneezes)

As fate would have it, our *very fancy hotel was located a stone’s throw away from the local hospital. I was secretly relieved, thinking that worst case scenario, they could roll me out of the car and still make it to the Dave show.

Upon check-in, the lady in fact asked me if I was visiting for health reasons. (I’m guessing they get a lot of visitors this way.)

I responded that despite the looks of my condition (I was holding my Kleenex box and I had just sneezed), I was not planning on visiting the hospital…but let’s not get too hasty.

Dinner and a few more Kleenexes later, we were ready to take on tailgating Dave Mathews Concert style.

Only suddenly the sky looked a little like this.

So, we changed strategy.

Cooler was brought into the backseat with me, and cargating commenced.

Brightside’s console was turned into a bar for the lovely jello shots she prepared for us.

And like the true trooper I am, I soldiered on.

Taking my jello shots like a champ.

Fighting back the pain of my throat, the snot in my nose and the ringing in my head.

(Also it the jello was just really cold when this picture was taken.)

Sometimes you just have to man up.

This was one of those times.

And see? Look how much better I felt!

I mean, come on, how can you feel bad when you are here?!

The concert itself was hands down the best Dave show I’ve ever seen.

And completely worth every last tissue I stuffed into my purse to survive the show.

Unfortunately for my partners in crime, Dave won’t be performing for them on their sick beds.

I guess it’s time to make another batch of soup and start delivering…or maybe jello shots?

Concert, car and ominous sky photos courtesy of Brightside’s camera. Virus courtesy of Gencon. And selfish infliction of contagious germs courtesy of Queen of Quirky.