Wednesday Mostly Quiet

It is Thursday as I write this, and I have checked out of my hotel in the Detroit area. I’ve been taking care of other details, which has delayed writing this blog. Time on travel days always seems to spin fast.

On Wednesday, I woke with my eye crusted shut. Ick! Taking Deborah’s advice, I scheduled an appointment at 5:10 with the CVS Minute Clinic, a few minutes away, for a check for pink eye and to examine my ear, which is also bothering me. And while I can tell you many stories about UnitedHealthcare, it is still surprising when it is taken everywhere in the USA. I am moving to ObamaCare in November, and I will have to change to a more local choice. I will miss UnitedHealthcare, I think.

Aside: My Republican friends have told me that with the cuts, my price tag for medical coverage will skyrocket in Oregon, and I may not be able to afford coverage. They suggest that the cut funds were used to reduce costs and cover the expenses of illegal aliens. Now, without funds from the Federal government, Oregon will have to charge me a huge amount to cover the illegal aliens and other folks that should not be covered, and pay nothing in taxes. And while I could argue against that this is nonsense, I will discover this in November when I can finally apply for my own medical coverage. I am currently covered for the rest of the year by COBRA from Nike, Inc. I am leaning towards the Providence Bronze level for coverage for 2026 and purchasing my own dental coverage from Delta Dental and eye coverage. Dental and eye care are not provided in ObamaCare.

I had breakfast at the hotel and later found lunch — a fantastic Five Guys small cheeseburger with everything (raw onions) and fries that were sinfully perfectly salted and greasy. I thanked the team at Five Guys; the burger was excellent, and everything on it created a heavenly mouthfeel with the perfect mix of hot and cold and mushy and crunchy. Again, it’s hard not to wonder why we can’t replicate that in Oregon. Midwestern practicality and make-it-the-way-you-want-it for a customer thinking gives the Detroit area a special glow I sometimes miss in the over-caffeinated Pacific Northwest or the burning-fast NYC area. Deborah reminds me that it is really lovely here, but I enjoy the rains, the gray, and the waste-no-words interactions in the PNW too.

Deborah was busy at work and then had other issues to deal with, and so we knew we would reconnect late. I read and looked at details for my upcoming trip to NOLA and other bits of the US South. I read more and watched more YouTube, and found ANONYMOUSnews8 informative. But it is an acquired taste, and one has to take what one can from it.

I travel in slow traffic to CVS and wait there. The check-in station is frozen and not working, but the online services are operational. I met with the provider and soon had a prescription for an antibiotic gel for my eye and drops for my ear. All familiar. However, the order is lost due to a typo between the Minute Clinic and CVS Prescriptions. It takes another hour, and I walk to the huge wine and liquor gas station nearby just to see it (I have wondered about it when we drive by it), having already covered all of the CVS Pharmacy rows. I return, and they find the filled prescription. I met Deborah at the hotel later for dinner.

We travel in her now working Mini to the RH House for salmon for dinner and some excellent drinks. She heads home to pack and to rest for one more working day this week.

I assembled a few things and then read and fell asleep.

Thanks for reading.