The thing about RVs, as in Recreational Vehicle that my husband and I take camping, it’s more than just an RV to us. The progression has taken a few years, but now that our daughters are adults, my husband and I finding ourselves camping alone with time to recreate. I am not saying re-create, we’ve done that already, you know two daughters and all. I’m referring to how we can relax without worrying about whether the two humans we’ve brought into the world are having fun or not.
My husband worked like a crazy man to get the Model A back on the road after the freak car accident last August. If you’re not keeping up with my column, he unexpectedly “shielded” the Model A with his body, thus preventing it from being damaged more than it was. After a few months of recovery himself, he set to the task of fixing the car. As is with many things in life, one repair leads to another. He had to replace the front grill, the radiator, and headlights, then set to a couple cosmetic things he had wanted to do before the accident. That led to the discovery that the back axles were shot. He was anxious to get it on the road for our Fourth of July week, which is when we like to take the street rods out to test drive them before the car show season really gets on the road (no pun intended, but quite clever, if I do say so myself).
I told him it wasn’t that big of deal to leave town on the Fourth, we could cancel camping. He’s an easy-going man, so rushing isn’t in his DNA, but he was determined. And he succeeded, but was about ready to blow a gasket (again, pun not intended, but I’m proud of myself all the same). All he could think about was getting away from the shop where he felt obligated to do something. We got a slow start out of the house because he was so exhausted, but as soon as we hit the road, he began to relax. He didn’t even care that we got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic.
Once at the site, he just sat around in stunned silence for a bit. I was tired too, even if I didn’t have the task of dealing with the repairs. I had to make sure an otherwise easy-going man stopped long enough to eat every once in a while as he ran around like a crazed maniac. I was worried he wouldn’t finish with the car, which would have given him one week after we got home to get it on the road before the first car show. It’s all he would have thought about while camping. I didn’t mind being the supportive wife, but it was really good to have him destressed by the time we got to the campground. And the RV has all the comforts of home for a relaxing week.
It’s more than just a comfortable bed, it’s also a place to hide camping-type goodies I don’t normally buy for the house. There’s several boxes of Pop Tarts out there, plus Lucky Charms. They last us all summer tucked away in the RV. However, our daughters did come out with us father’s day weekend to enjoy some time on the beach. After we got home a box of Corn Pops may have gotten away. Adult children are old enough to find the keys.
That’s the thing about RVs and kids.
Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can read more of her writing on her website livingwithgleigh.com, on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh by Gretchen Leigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Life section.
