After a relatively idle three weeks, we are on the road again. It always fascinates me after time out of the trailer, how sweet it feels to be back in it. I miss the smells, the intimacy, the habits we have, the dances we do around each other to make life work.

All this change – the kids take it in stride – the intense days on the road, the unknowns, the abrupt changes in plans. It’s shocking what has become normal to them and what they are able to withstand. For example, we arrived at an RV park at 6:30, well after dinner time. We saw a pool, a playground, and I mentioned “egg tacos” to which everyone swooned and began to lick their lips. And only a few minutes later, we were u-turning and getting back on the road. There were no sites that could accommodate us. Not only were we back on the road, but for another hour. No complaints, no tears, no whines. A few questions and off we went. And with that remaining hour, we turned on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (with a fairly boring narrator if you ask me) and Townes immediately was enraptured by it. Bess played with tangrams, Guy drew in his journal, and Sam reminded us the whole way there that he was hungry.

We made it an hour up the road to what looked like nothing more than a stretch of mowed grass overlooking the farmland (look closer, there is an electrical plug!). It wasn’t much of an RV park (to say the least), yet the kids hopped out and were dazzled by the sun setting on the surrounding farmland. Is it the newness? The changing terrain? The exploration? Fascinated by the small things: the picnic tables were different than our last stop; what crops are those; this reminds me of Texas. So curious what a day holds.

(Pictures below are not of the mowed grass RV park, but of our next stop where we arrived at dinnertime and immediately ran into the lake.)