transporting veterans to out-of-town appointments | WEGGIEBOY'S BLOG by Doug Thomas

The trip to take the veteran down to the eye clinic for surgery began at 5:30. I arrived back home around 7:30, sooner than I expected. Time was, the trip to Scottsbluff was an hour down and an hour back, but the trip’s faster now, thanks to improved roads and a higher speed limit.

Scottsbluff is set in a valley, and driving down into the valley early in the morning is a treat when the sun’s up. If one has some time, there’s always a lot of Oregon Trail history, including trail landmarks like the Scott’s bluff that gave Scottsbluff the town and Scotts Bluff the county their names. This is extraneous information. The Scottbluff Chamber of Commerce owes me some freebies for all the free advertising!

It was an uneventful trip. I enjoyed the talk down, but listened to a Louis Armstrong CD of late 1920s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens works, Jazz classics, on the way back. Musical tastes are personal, so I never play music when I have a passenger. Besides, as someone who spends more time with two Persian cats than with members of his own species, practicing small talk with a human probably helps me recall which species I belong to! 🙂

Once home, I ate breakfast – Andy tried to join me for the egg and bacon, but I brushed him off…! Then I took a nap.

That is the most I accomplished yesterday, and it was all over by 8:30 AM! Later, I’d have a Mexican supper, play feather toy with Dougy (Andy didn’t want to play), watch a bit of news, and…go to bed!

Not much happening here today. Andy’s watching birds out the back window. Dougy’s trying to make me feel guilty by posting himself at my feet, dog-style: “Amuse me, human! Just a little!”

If I see this, I know Andy’s being a good boy…if you discount his secret plan to eat some birds!

It’s close to afternoon feeding time, and that should get the boys excited. I think it’s trout-salmon mix wet food today. It won’t be long before they are smacking their lips and licking their whiskers to make themselves presentable and clean for the evening.

Tomorrow, I’m driving a veteran down to an eye appointment in Scottsbluff. This is my seventh time since I started. I’ve driven people to Hot Springs, South Dakota; Ft. Collins, Colorado; Oshkosh, Nebraska; and four trips to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

It’s something I like to do, it takes little time or effort, it gets me out of town for a few hours (alternative: hibernating in front of computer!), and, most of all, it helps people without a ride of their own to get somewhere they need to be to join family or see a doctor.

When I came down with Wegener’s granulomatosis, it was family, church, and work friends who ferried me to or back from places as far away as Denver, Colorado, about four hours away from where I live.

Hot Springs South Dakota is in the Black Hills, and is a lovely place to take someone! There’s a VA hospital and clinic there.

This kindness touched my heart and gave me an appreciation of how difficult it is to survive on the Northern Plains without a car or truck.

It pleases me to help others this way, and I encourage those who want to pay me for gas, whatever, to just pay it forward. There is no end to the ways one can help others if one just responds to what others most need!