MDS: Traveling & Napping—It's a Challenge

Maintaining a sane sleep and activity schedule has, to date, proven vital to managing this MDS. This management, naturally, integrates one of my all-time favorite activities into the daily routine—napping.

Not that I didn't nap before MDS set in. I've long been a napper. But, the MDS now provides a ready excuse to call a time out and declare a siesta.

Self-disciplining a nap time into the day is easy at home. I mean, there's nobody around to distract or dissuade me. On the road, it's different.

• Firstly, we tend to cram in as much activity as possible when playing tourist.
• Secondly, we tend to get lost whilst doing that and, as such, self-imposed schedules often get tossed out of whack.
• Thirdly, the weather often forces activity changes.
• Fourthly, if one must daily return to the motel, lodge, B&B, hotel or resort, one can't stray very far from it.

(Especially when the B&B serves breakfast at 8, in quantities large enough, and delicious enough, that it takes an hour to eat. Forget about an early start.)

So it was Monday, a morning of intermittent rain and pervasive fog. We departed for Acadia well towards 10, spent two hours driving there and visiting the Visitors Center, and another hour-plus driving the Park Loop Road.

• We tried to hike a bit but, just at that moment, the rain arrived in earnest.
• We tried to lunch at Jordan Pond, famous for its popovers, but the wait was long—unless we wanted seating outdoors in the rain.

We then spent another hour-plus traveling to Bar Harbor and seeking the College of the Atlantic where, it was rumored we could get a unique and delicious lunch. After half an hour wandering the (admittedly tiny) campus, we finally found the lunch hall only to discover

• a) we were too late
• b) and, anyway, they don't serve the public in summer—only day campers.

By now the rain had stopped, and we were starving. We managed to find feed on the outskirts of Bar Harbor at a place called the Acadia Café, which serves only breakfast and lunch. We just made it. They locked the door behind us as we departed.

Now what? By the time we returned to the B&B, it would be too late to nap. And, besides, the sun had come out.

So? Shop.

An hour-plus was devoted fighting the downtown Bar Harbor traffic, finding parking, and wandering Main Street and the waterfront, including waiting 10 minutes on line for an ice cream (it wasn't me!), another 10 minutes lost-time trying to find a church with Tiffany windows (I remembered wrong where/when we'd passed it), and finally an two hours driving in search of, and visiting, a place called the Seal Cove Auto Museum, a remarkable gem filled with cars circa 1888-1915.

Finally, a return to the B&B was followed by leisurely pre-dinner wine sipping on the deck, and dinner.

What had happened to nap time? Gone. Vanished. Caput.

Come Tuesday (yesterday), we resolved to make nap time happen. And we did. From 2 to 3. And, we followed up that wise move with a night out at the local summer stock theater, which got us into bed 11-ish, and here I am at 6 a.m. working, which means whatever was gained yesterday at nap time has been lost over night.

To maintain honesty, since I'm a longtime, unapologetic napper, I can't completely blame MDS for screwing up my travel days. But, I can say this: it seems that the MDS allows for no more that two consecutive nap-free days. To try to do more means certain exhaustion for two or three more days.

It's a terrible burden, yes?, this demanding commitment to midday sleep. But, some rain or shine, or interesting pastimes or fascinating landscapes to explore, we must answer the call.

Today we nap.