We're home again

NOTE: Since Blogger isn't taking my pictures, I've created a Flicr account here though there will be more photos to come.

Well, we have arrived back from vacation. Yesterday we returned the RV ;-(. It was really hard to let it go, but we had a Great Time.

The night we left, the low was 28⁰, (-2⁰C for those who speak Canadian), and we only had the heater on for a moment to take the chill off of the floor. Boy, are we living in the wrong place.

The “C” we rented was wonderful, though I think next time we’re going to try for something a little bigger. There’s more room in a travel trailer since you don’t need space for a motor or driver’s seat. The idea behind getting a class “C” or a class “A” was that the dogs would have more room to stretch out on the drive and Chelsea could use the facilities on board while we were driving.

Ahem. The ONLY place either dog wanted to be while we were driving was on my or Chelsea’s lap. We had to fight to keep them from curling up on the gas pedals or blocking the mirrors. The entire 30-foot RV to choose from and all they wanted was right up in front with us.

As far as the facilities – forget it. Motion is exaggerated in the rear of the RV and just getting into the room while moving is like dancing on a ship in middle of a hurricane. Being in the restroom while driving would be something akin to that shaving scene in the movie Airplane. Come to think of it, there’s a little more room in an airplane restroom than in an RV restroom.

Still, I’m sold. This was one of the best vacations I’ve had ever had and we plan to do this again next year. My sister-in-law is retiring in June and has invited us up to Minnesota for the occasion. We’ll see.

Either way, the RV lifestyle is one we both want to continue. Even the people we met at the KOA campground were friendly and helpful; many of them were from Ontario. There may be a correlation there. You could tell who the Canadians were, they ran around in shorts, T-shirts and sandals while the rest of us bundled up in anything we could find and cursed the fact that dogs can’t learn to use indoor plumbing.

I’ve mentioned the dogs twice now, and that’s the real reason for the RV. If it was just us, a hotel room would be cheaper and easier and carry less responsibility, but to have our four-legged, hirsute children with us was SO worth the extra money and hassle.

Taking them for walks several times each day, watching them explore the smells and sounds and sights of the Northern Arizona Woods was fantastic. I think we grew closer to the puppies and they to us in a way that could not have been accomplished even if we had found a hotel that would take them.

I know Chelsea and I grew closer; we had long wonderful talks into the wee hours of the morning, curled up under blankets and watching movies from a laptop perched on the edge of the dinette table.

Now that we’re back, there’s a mountain of laundry to do, unpacking to finish and a weeks worth of unkempt life that was here waiting for our return. Still, there is a certain calm and cool (meant both ways) that stayed with me on the way home from vacation and hasn’t shown any sign of dissipating soon.

This was what vacations were meant to be, and this is why we take them. I am so sorry to leave the camp and the RV. I miss it so very much I can almost smell the pine and hear the wind playing with the trees.

On the other hand, I also know that it’s still there, that there RVs and trailers I can still rent for a week when I need to and I know that we’ll be back.

So if I seem to “go away” from time to time, or my writing or speech slows and dribbles to a halt, I’m probably back there again, reliving this last week in my head, pulling pine needles out a the fur of happy dogs, breathing thin, cold air and whispering secrets with my wife that only she will ever know.

I guess I haven’t really left yet.

I may not for a very long time.

If I’m very, very lucky.