Adventures In Motherhood

You haven't lived unless you've traveled to Beatty, NV with a 32 foot RV and bike trailer! California state road 168 headed east was not the route I would've chosen jockeying for speed in Pole Position! Twisting and turning, uphill, downhill in the desert canyon between the posted 25 and 35 miles per hour left me white-knuckled. I remember mounting a hill, trusting that the invisible downhill would not be too steep, bottoming out the RV and leaving our bike rack behind. Road narrows and one-way traffic ahead? You've gotta be frickin' kidding me! I wondered should I sound the horn driving a house on wheels with no shoulder room for error? A BMW sped ahead, leaving me in the desert dust as I tried to maneuver yet another loop de loop. Wheee! Downshifting the recreational vehicle into third gear doesn't pack the same punch. He's surely in pole position now. "I think I'm going to throw up," my daughter shouted from the back of the bus, where ...

Last night I lay on the warm, rock-hard black top driveway of the RV park. The reek, reek, reek of crickets over the babbling, bubbling hot spring creek was meditative. Zipping across the sky, I saw flashes of light belonging to fading stars or comets. I felt like a 10-year-old child watching the curvature of the night sky like a planetarium sprinkled with stars. A meditative moment alone, I pretended I was on a Cancun beach listening to waves crash, minus the comfort of a lounge chair. I can't believe the kids are missing this, I thought to myself, which is how I know I am certifiably insane, and Cancun, minus children, the only place I can relax. As car lights approached from the right, I sprang to my feet and walked back to the RV with determination. I can't believe my kids have never seen stars in Portland, or laid on a blacktop staring at the sky! Opening the RV door I spied four kids fixated on electronics who refused to give me the time of day, let alone entertain an...