Dear Mom and Dad –
It is with taking our trip to South Dakota that I have come to realize the sacrifice of time, energy and finances that you endured in order to provide me with family vacation experiences in my childhood. Although the memories are hazy, I have very fond memories of the bonding that came from voyages such as the one that we are currently undertaking to Mt. Rushmore.
I am fairly confident that the summer adventures we had were trials for you…whether it was the lack of modern conveniences like dvd players to entertain me and my siblings or the hideous suicidal bugs of Nerdstram Woods. But, as a child, these trials really didn’t register as a problem for me. They were just part of the vacation experience. It is in this light that I have hope that our children will look back at the past two days as a wonderful adventure…verses the vacation experience from @#(% that Brian and I feel it has become. Let me just highlight a few of the things that I have learned since Saturday morning when we began our voyage:
- Gas stations are only “empty” of other clients as long as you don’t need to be there with your RV and trailer making a very tight turn to reach the air. This might even be a new “Murphy’s Law.” Throughout the weekend, we have found gas stations practically without cars until we turn on the turn-signal to make our turn. Then, it is as though cars/motorcycles/RVs/semis from all over the planet are drawn to the same gas station. Is this an i-pod feature that Isaac has downloaded or some type of app that I wasn’t aware?!?
- When your gut tells you a trailer won’t hold the weight of your car, trust your gut and leave the trailer at home. We made it to the edge of town before Brian’s gut finally got the best of him and he pulled over to check the car trailer one more time. In short, not good. Brian took the car off the trailer and we limped back home to leave both the trailer and car in the driveway. So much for “being prepared” if something goes wrong with the RV.
- It is good to “be prepared” in case something goes wrong with the RV. According to our GPS, we should have arrived at the RV park last night at 8:00pm. It is now 9:15 on the following day…and we are about 200 miles out. Need I say more?! The good news is that we have the money to cover the cost of the new tire, and we aren’t in a big hurry. So, putting up with a failing fuel pump as we jerk along the back roads at 35 – 50 miles to our destination.
- If an attraction is advertised on more than 20 billboards in South Dakota, it is going to be over-rated…especially if you have to spend 5 hours there. Corn palace…well, it is a building dedicated to corn. I’m from Iowa. Is it really that big of a deal? Maybe I would appreciate it more if I was from Texas…but, Brian didn’t seem all that thrilled either. 1880 Town may have been awesome if it wasn’t actually filled with memorabilia from the movie, Dances with Wolves. The good news is that we were there long enough to have Jayden and Emma actually get to drive the mule cart. They have career options now that they didn’t think about prior to today. And, Hannah got her kitten fix playing with the inhabitants of one of the building in town.
- If you are going to get stranded in an RV, be sure to have a skillet and food. Apparently, they only ate breakfast and lunch at the diner in the 1880s, so we were blessed to have food on the hoof and could make our own breakfast in the RV. Now if we can only get the smell of bacon out of here…
- Lastly…we remain grateful that there is lemonade to be made from lemons…or at least we are trying. As I said, we are still 200 miles out and limping along…the children are still smiling . They are looking forward to the next “surprise” in our adventure. Brian and I continue to smile and say things like “I love you…” and “thank you.” And, we still have some money in the “fun” envelope to spend on things like fuel pumps and windshield wipers.
So, thank you for being calm when getting my frantic texts, Mom. Your right. This is the time to keep a healthy perspective and remember the “5 rule:”
1. Will this matter in 5 minutes?
2. Will this matter in 5 days?
3. Will this matter in 5 weeks?
4. Will this matter in 5 years?
In that vain…I will mention that the cattle hauler that pulled up next to us at the last 2-hour stop did stink and may have made Hannah a vegetarian for life. But, the smell left with the bacon cooking (and Hannah is still game to eat pig). That 5 minutes passed…and so will the next.
Thank you for gifting me the memories from my childhood to enter into this insanity of vacationing with my own family. And, may I curse (...I mean) bless my own children with the passion to suffer (...i mean bond) with their family through an adventure of their own someday.
Much Love,
TR
