Duke The Spook, Who Puked In Dubuque

Continuing on with my brother…

As much as you hear people complain about Iowa, Dubuque, Iowa is one of my favorite places, for a variety of strange reasons.

The biggest reason is that when we would take our yearly family vacations, Dubuque meant we were almost leaving Iowa and entering Wisconsin and even though we still had a loooooooooong way to go, it meant we were farther away from Illinois.  It was also one of the many times we would cross the Mississippi River on our way up.  That always fascinated me when I was little, how many times we would cross it heading north.

The other reason I love Dubuque is because it means I am almost to Galena, Illinois, which is literally in my Top 5 favorite Day Trips, probably THE top actually.  I love Galena…it reminds me of a place along another river in Minnesota that I am insanely fond of, Stillwater. 

This story is about traveling to Minnesota, I know that I talk about it obsessively, I apologize, the post is about an adventure on vacation one year.

I do not recall the year.  And I try to post about “my recollection” of whatever I am writing about.  I am sure my cousins will have a different version.  Hopefully Barb, she was the oldest and has a much better memory than my sister.  Regardless we were traveling as a pack with my cousins, The Buckmans from Yates City.  Jerry, Sue, Barb, Julie, Jenny and Brenda.  Jerry and my father’s dads are brothers.   Although he and Sue are not my Aunt and Uncle, they should have been.  More so then cousins.  Somehow they always managed to fit a lot of people in a very small car…I will never know how they did it.  We either had a station wagon, a Conversion Van, one time I think we even took my grandparents RV…but for some reason we had more room than 3 small children ever should’ve had.

 

Anyway, the story is not about the vehicles we traveled in. 

I don’t remember the time of day, or what meal we were eating, breakfast, lunch or dinner…but our entourage stopped somewhere in Dubuque to eat.  And there were a lot of us, so that was not an easy thing…party of 11 please!  I think it was some off name family dining place, but I cannot even be real sure of that.   Hopefully someone will fill me in on the lost details.

I think because there were so many of us, we had to sit in back to back booths.  Or perhaps at a table across from the booths, either way, we were split up.  I don’t know what my brother ordered, but it had mashed potatoes with it.  After we received our meals, and had been eating for a bit, for reasons I do not know, my brother started vomiting.  I don’t know if he told mom he was sick, I don’t know if anyone would believe him if he had said so, he was a slim shady from a very young age.  I just remember it was towards the end of our meals, heck maybe it was the result of food poisoning, but usually that takes longer…I think mom chalked it up to him eating too fast. 

How he managed to vomit profusely…on his plate…not a drop of it spilling over on the table…only God knows.  How none of us started vomiting from watching him or the smell, only God knows.  The waitress came over and I am not kidding, asked him if he needed a doggie bag.  I think the other six of us laughed hysterically, or we did several years later, but honest to God it looked like a giant plate of mashed potatoes and gravy.  Dear God, NO we do not want a doggie bag.

His nickname at the time was Duke.  I think the old neighbor guy gave it to him and I have no idea why or where it came from.  I think Jerry is the only one who still calls him that.  I don’t know if it was Jerry or Dad or who gave him this moniker for the rest of his life, but he was officially crowned DUKE THE SPOOK, WHO PUKED IN DUBUQUE.  Our family has laughed about this for years and it is a funny story.

Hence the final reason I love Dubuque.  It will forever remind me of our family road trip to one of my favorite places on this earth and I physically cannot drive through the town without smiling and laughing out loud. 

I think the picture may have been from that actual trip, I am on the far left, front row...cute hair eh?  I love this picture.  In our cabin, ready for bed... 

P.S. Jeni, Jett looks just like you in this picture!!!!