There was a major snowstorm the night before we left, and had already delayed our trip by one day, so decided to brave the roads and set off on our adventure. My parents picked us up and surprised the boys with a “camping” trip instead of our car journey to Nebraska and Iowa. They were thrilled! We arrived at the RV rental, got our “how to” spiel on camping in the winter, taking a shower, using the generator (in the event there was an emergency popcorn need), draining the you know what, working the gas burners AND the DVD player. Yes, we camp in style! No tents here, no siree. We were giddy as we hit the open road with the wind blowing IN our face. (Does not make for good gas mileage when driving into the wind.) Driving a 25 foot Class C motor home for Grandpa was a piece of cake with all his bus driving experience, but a little more challenging for me as I’ve never even driven a Suburban sized vehicle or a minivan, but was able to do it surprisingly enough.
We had a successful first leg with no problems hooking up the electrical, but water wasn’t quite ready for us. We had to fill the holding tank instead of connecting to city water, which wasn’t a problem for the boys at all. Any opportunity to skip brushing teeth or showering is always a good day at our house! (They advised us to not drink any water we put into the holding tank as it was just flushed with antifreeze to avoid any freezing of the tank. Remember, we’re winter camping!) We managed very well and were at least able to use the facilities without braving the winter wind to the bathhouse (I think that’s camping talk for restroom and showers.) Day one was a success complete with a visit from a possum.
The next day of our trip is a moment that I will always remember and cherish for my dad. It was really quite unbelievable if I do say so. We used to live in Shenandoah, Iowa, when I was in elementary school and is the one place that I remember living with vivid recollection. I knew the streets, the stores, which way to turn to get to the school and surprisingly enough after 30+ years, not much had changed. I had wanted to show the boys where I lived as a little girl and show them the church, the houses we lived in and the big hill we rode our bikes down. Their excitement did not match mine however, but were very gracious to us during our tour (even though we did bribe them a bit with a promise to see “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” later that evening). After touring the sites, including a tour of the high school gym and Grandpa’s choir room (yes, I walked right in the back door and into the school on a Sunday afternoon - baseball practice in the gym - remember, it’s winter), I wanted to show them one last thing, the HUGE swimming pool. We drove right to the park and sure enough, the pool was gone. They had filled it in and moved it 100 yards to the right with a much less impressive sized pool. (Although, it was probably bigger than the one I remember as a little girl.)
Here comes the unbelievable part. By the entrance to the park was the community center where I quickly told the boys about my experience of winning a blue ribbon at the 4th of July festival for having the “smallest pet”; a four day old kitten my mom allowed me to bring in a shoebox to the event. (I think I still have the ribbon in a box somewhere.) I then went on to tell them that Grandpa had been in the musical, “Carnival” many years ago in the same building. We continued to drive through the parking lot and wondered what was going on as there were lots of cars parked by the theater. I decided to walk in and see what was going on. When I got to the doors, they were blacked out, but could see that there was an event of some sort going on and cherry punch was being served. I returned to the camper (it’s also our car) and told them I was unsuccessful in my investigation and that we should move on to the next part of the tour. As we circled back, we saw a sign that said “Use Main Doors to Theater for Tonight’s Performance”. We stopped in front of the building once again when an “actor” appeared for his smoke break. I rolled down my window and asked what time the performance began that evening and he informed me they were currently having intermission of the last performance and there wouldn’t be one in the evening. He then told us they were doing the musical “Carnival”. Our mouths dropped open. We couldn’t believe it. When Dad told him that he had starred in the same musical in the same theater 30+ years ago, he just smiled and told us to come on in.
When we walked into the lobby, the director of the musical recognized Dad and had actually starred in the same performance with him in 1977 and was now directing this year’s performance. He went on to tell us, that right before the musical started, he introduced himself and told the audience that he had starred in this musical in 1977 along with Keith, (Dad). We couldn’t believe it. We couldn’t stop smiling and shaking our heads in disbelief. Stan invited us to watch the second half of the show, which we did, (I’ll save that for another blog another day.) and when it was over had an opportunity to meet the cast and take pictures. It was truly a moment, an unbelievable moment. We couldn’t have planned it had we tried. I was so happy we were there at that very minute in time and believe it to be a God wink.
That night we slept great and knew the routine of hooking and unhooking the camper and reminisced about the day’s events and the funny parts of the movie. A good day was had by all.
The rest of our journey went well and finished with a visit to the zoo, a chat with relatives, a trip to the museum and clear roads to get home. Overall, I would say it was an experience my boys will never forget, nor will I, but for different reasons. I could probably write four more pages of our trip and include more details like Grandma wearing her grandson’s pajamas and hearing the music to “Jaws” at midnight, but I’ll close here. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, all 1318 miles of it (minus the noise inside the camper) and know the boys did too.
