Memphis trip Monday
I left work early for a parent teacher conference with James teacher. We had already packed and worked out that James would stay with my parents so he could get back and forth to school without putting Ellie out. With the stipulation that if my sister, Adrienne, went into labor they were off.
Ellie was keeping Thomas so I packed up all his books and assignments and explained the schedule to Ellie and made sure he had everything he would need for a few days- just in case.
My mom gave us her Tradebank card and Dad gave us his gas card! So those were two expenses we didn't have to worry about. They also let us borrow the GPS. So glad for that!
As we were about to walk out the door- 3:45 or so- the doctors office called. They were returning my call from Friday asking if the Shea clinic took our insurance. She was calling to say they did not so she canceled the appointment!!!! Needless to say we went into panic mode. My first question was WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?! "Well they didn't take your insurance." Why didn't you call us to make sure??? When did you cancel it? "Earlier this afternoon." We hung up with her and immediately called the Shea Clinic. "Yes it had been canceled, yes she would try to re-enter it so we could see him in the morning." She managed to get us back in; I guess the appointment hadn't been filled yet, so off we went. Of course we were leaving much later then planned. We didn't get on the road until 5:20, instead of 3:30 like I had intended.
I had gotten some restuarant names from tradebank so we could eat along the way. We went to a place in Cookeville called Thomas Andrews Restaurant. Not bad food, horrible service! A big group came in after us and we got ignored plus he was the only waiter in the place. That should have been a clue. It was reasonably priced but Luke, our waiter, didn't know what coffee was supposed to look like or something. He brought Tom a cup of decaf that was not even as dark as his tea. Mine was regular and way too strong. The waiter just said "that's what de-caf looks like." Not so much kid. We finally got back on the road again.
Ride was un-eventful and down right boring at times; of course Tom wasn't wild about riding in the car for that long. Very empty between Nashville and Memphis. We finally got to Memphis about 1:45 our time, found the clinic, and started looking for a hotel. No we had not made reservations. I left the list of hotels that gave clinic patient discounts on the kitchen table so we just had to guess. The first one no one was in the lobby and the door was locked. We tried calling. Another guest was in the vestibule with us because his key didn't work and he couldn't get into his room. He had called the restaurant and "someone was coming" but didn't arrive by the time we gave up and went to another hotel. Of course the hotel we picked was not on the list so about $100 for the night. As we were checking in the power went out- twice. The desk guy said in the morning it went out 5 more times during the night. We showered and headed to bed.
Checked out in the morning so we could find a different- cheaper hotel- that gave the Shea Clinic discounts
Ellie was keeping Thomas so I packed up all his books and assignments and explained the schedule to Ellie and made sure he had everything he would need for a few days- just in case.
My mom gave us her Tradebank card and Dad gave us his gas card! So those were two expenses we didn't have to worry about. They also let us borrow the GPS. So glad for that!
As we were about to walk out the door- 3:45 or so- the doctors office called. They were returning my call from Friday asking if the Shea clinic took our insurance. She was calling to say they did not so she canceled the appointment!!!! Needless to say we went into panic mode. My first question was WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?! "Well they didn't take your insurance." Why didn't you call us to make sure??? When did you cancel it? "Earlier this afternoon." We hung up with her and immediately called the Shea Clinic. "Yes it had been canceled, yes she would try to re-enter it so we could see him in the morning." She managed to get us back in; I guess the appointment hadn't been filled yet, so off we went. Of course we were leaving much later then planned. We didn't get on the road until 5:20, instead of 3:30 like I had intended.
I had gotten some restuarant names from tradebank so we could eat along the way. We went to a place in Cookeville called Thomas Andrews Restaurant. Not bad food, horrible service! A big group came in after us and we got ignored plus he was the only waiter in the place. That should have been a clue. It was reasonably priced but Luke, our waiter, didn't know what coffee was supposed to look like or something. He brought Tom a cup of decaf that was not even as dark as his tea. Mine was regular and way too strong. The waiter just said "that's what de-caf looks like." Not so much kid. We finally got back on the road again.
Ride was un-eventful and down right boring at times; of course Tom wasn't wild about riding in the car for that long. Very empty between Nashville and Memphis. We finally got to Memphis about 1:45 our time, found the clinic, and started looking for a hotel. No we had not made reservations. I left the list of hotels that gave clinic patient discounts on the kitchen table so we just had to guess. The first one no one was in the lobby and the door was locked. We tried calling. Another guest was in the vestibule with us because his key didn't work and he couldn't get into his room. He had called the restaurant and "someone was coming" but didn't arrive by the time we gave up and went to another hotel. Of course the hotel we picked was not on the list so about $100 for the night. As we were checking in the power went out- twice. The desk guy said in the morning it went out 5 more times during the night. We showered and headed to bed.
Checked out in the morning so we could find a different- cheaper hotel- that gave the Shea Clinic discounts