Hot Off The Presses: Column #4

Here's the March column for Kickapoo Free Press:

Postcards from the Road



The End of the Road

My wife sometimes accuses me of being overly optimistic. She says that I too often focus on the positive and I don’t take into account the potential negative. I’d like to defend myself, but the truth is that she is more right than wrong. Here’s a prime example.

When we first started planning our cross-country RV adventure, I was excited about all of the places we would go and the things we would see. Best of all, I’d be able to share it all with my kids. I was convinced that the trip would be a great time and our shared experiences would become life-long memories.

What I didn’t think about when I was planning the trip was all of the things that could go wrong. I didn’t think about getting the RV stuck on the ice just three miles after leaving home. I didn’t consider the possibility of wrecking the tow dolly at our very first campground. It never entered my mind that we would hit not one, but two deer with our van while camping in Tennessee. I had no idea that the RV would be so hard to drive when the winds in Florida gusted to more than 30 miles per hour. And yet, each of these things (and more) happened during our road trip.

Our plan was to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in Florida with my parents before heading up the west coast of the Sunshine State and then on through New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and beyond. It was a good plan. The only problem was that no one wanted to follow it.

At first, we started making excuses for staying with my parents in Florida. We had to get our Van repaired, then my Mom’s birthday was coming up, then there was a concert we wanted to see. Our great cross-country adventure had turned into an extended Florida vacation.

Little by little we each started to make comments indicating that maybe our plans for the RV trip needed to be changed. When things started to go wrong, my wife Kim mentioned more than once about how a successful RV trip needs someone who is handy with tools or is wealthy. She didn’t have to mention the fact that I fell short on both accounts.

Our daughter Shelby said that she thought it was an omen that so many things had gone wrong in such a short time. She said it seemed like God was telling us to give up on the RV trip and to live like normal people.

Although our son, Lou didn’t seem to have a strong opinion one way or the other, he said that he’d like to go back to regular school. On the trip, I guess that Mom made him work too hard.

I didn’t want to give up on our trip. I wanted to go to all of those great places and see all of those great things. I wanted to build life-long memories with my family. Unfortunately, I had to confess that the trip had become a big pain.

Between the mechanical problems, the expense of having to fix wrecked parts, and all of the other mishaps we suffered through during our first few weeks on the road, the headaches of the trip outweighed the great experiences. We were building memories, but they were the kind we would just as soon forget.

The day we decided to end our great cross-country RV adventure was a sad day, at least for me. I think Kim and the kids were relieved. But for me, the RV trip represented more than just a long vacation. It was a goal I had set for myself. It was something I wanted to accomplish before I die.

At the moment, I’m not sure how I should approach our aborted adventure. Should I look at it as a dream postponed until another time or should I view it as no longer being a goal? It’s going to take a little time to get my head around that one.

No matter what I decide, I am glad that we gave it a shot. I think there is great value in trying, no matter the results. Plus, I have a lot of other goals to pursue in the meantime. In fact, I can’t wait to get started. I’m looking forward to having some great experiences. Of course, it could be that I’m just being overly optimistic.