When our sons were little, The Husband and I were so broke that we could not afford family vacations to the beach, to theme parks, or virtually anywhere else. The best we could do was tent camping in state parks, and we did a lot of that. In the process, we instilled in our boys a love for camping.
When the boys were teenagers, we bought a pop-up camper. It was air-conditioned, but not heated, but it was a big step up from sleeping on the ground in a tent. I remember the first time we took it out, our younger son sat on the edge of the bed, soaking up the cool air blowing in his direction at the end of a hot day, and said, "Now, THIS is camping!"
We sold the pop-up and graduated to a "regular" camper. A few years later, after the boys were grown and married, we traded campers again, but instead of selling the old camper, we gave it to the boys to share. They did some repairs, spiffed it up, outfitted it with pots, pans, dishes, and linens. Son #2 took it on the road for the first time on the same day that we took our new camper out for the first time. We'd all been on the road for about an hour, going in separate directions, when our son called. While driving down the interstate in Arkansas, one whole side of the camper sheathing peeled loose and flapped in the wind. The Husband and I, traveling down some state highway in Tennessee, both felt like crying. We'd tried to do something nice for the kids, and it had gone downhill.
Fast forward to three weeks ago. Son #2 and his wife bought a new camper. On their first trip, when they got ready to come home, the truck wouldn't start.
This weekend, Son #2 and his family headed out with the camper to Mountain View, Arkansas, one of the places we had tent camped when the boys were little. An hour or two into the trip, they texted us: they'd had a tire blow out on their van (they have so many kids that they can't get them all in the truck that pulls the camper, so they have to have a "chase car"). They were in Harrisburg, Arkansas - not much in the way of car repairs to be had there on a Sunday morning. The Son put the "donut" on the van, and they made it on to Mountain View without further incident.
We are beginning to think that Son #2 needs a different hobby. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment