Vacation season seems to be in full swing now that the kids are out of school and their parents are thinking longingly of a series of days where there are no alarm clocks, no job pressures, and no telephones. With the advent of the cell phone, no phones is just a distant memory but the rest is still an achievable dream. Nothing soothes the soul and the brain like escaping from the work world into the retreat of summer vacation. Little did we realize as children how valued those summer vacation months would become when they were no longer available. Didn't we all, by early August, constantly whine that there was nothing to do during that long hiatus from school and studies? There is an old saying that youth is wasted on the young and I think it may apply in the case of summer vacation. Maybe we should have 2 weeks of vacation to use per year when we are young and the long, wonderful almost 3 months that our children get when we are old enough to appreciate and enjoy them. Somehow though, I doubt our employers would find this concept acceptable in business...ah well, one can dream.
Our family has taken many vacations in the past, some more outstanding than others. We tend to be just a bit off-beat, whether by nature or circumstance. My husband and I plan vacations with all the best of intentions, but sometimes, without warning, circumstance rears it's head and our plans are tossed and turned to the point where the original concept can be completely lost. There is one such vacation trip that defies any explanation except that it happened and tends to be repeated amidst much laughter at least once a year.
My husband, once a huge country music fan, read about this great country music festival just outside Wheeling West Virgina and immediately began planning all the details of our family attending this grand event. At the time we had 2 children, our youngest was still a gleam in her father's eye, and this seemed a perfect adventure. The only problem we had was that unless we wanted to drive from Maryland to West Virginia by car and stay in a hotel, we would need transportation more accomodating to the outdoorsy nature of this event. The concept of the 3 day event was to camp on or near the main event area so that music could be enjoyed at all hours of the day and night and one could practically walk to the main stage area when a particular favorite performer was on or retire to your camper for a nap or a meal when you weren't too interested in whoever was on stage.
After examining all the available options, my husband went to our favorite local Ford dealer with whom we and our company had done quite a bit of business over the years. This dealership has just begun renting motorhomes of various sizes and the idea of renting a vehicle of this nature was the answer to our our quandry. What could be better than a self-contained unit while traveling and camping with children. After all, it had a bathroom, a bed, a refrigerator and even a television. All we had to do was drive it to the site, park in a place of our choice and enjoy all the comforts of home. If there was no electric hookup, we had a generator, and since it was the heart of the summer, air conditioning was especially appealing. So we rented an RV, loaded up the kids and supplies, and with brochure and directions in hand, off we went to Jamboree in the Hills.
The trip to Wheeling was pretty much uneventful, traffic moving at a good pace, the children content, and thoughts of a relaxing weekend dancing in our heads. Being the co-pilot, it was my job to read the travel directions to my husband as we neared Wheeling and we followed the printed directions in the brochure to the letter. As we approached the exit we were to take, we were smugly confident that we would soon be among the thousands who had made this same pilgrammage to enjoy our favorite performers. Little did we know, the adventure had just begun.
Following the directions, we took the appropriate exit, went slowly around a curve, through a short tunnel and came out at the beginning of a bridge. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem except the sign on the bridge approach warned that the bridge was just over nine and a half feet high. As my husband hastily applied the brakes, I rechecked the brochure directions noting no mention of a low bridge and my husband hastily looked for some marking on the RV to indicate it's height. The most unfortunate part of this bridge approach was that there was no way to not continue over the bridge from this point, so amidst much honking from the cars behind us, we ventured slowly forward. Holding our breath, my husband and I tried to will this RV to pass under the first crossmember of the bridge, inch by agonizing inch. Thinking we were home free as the largest part of the RV passed through without mishap, we were totally unprepared for the squealing, scaping noise that filled the entire space of our vehicle. Mindless of the traffic behind us, my husband stopped the RV and jumped out to assess the damage. Satisfied that we had only barely scraped the top of the air conditioning unit, we again proceeded cautiously forward.
Moving at less than a snail's pace, we noticed this elderly couple walking along the pedestrian walk along the bridge pointing and trying to get our attention. Satisfied that the worst was over, my husband smiled and waved back at the couple and....Thunk, Bang, Kaboom!!!! It seems the other end of the bridge was lower yet!! As we sheared the AC unit off the top of the rented RV, the kids were happily shouting about the convertible roof that had suddenly opened up. We pulled off into a parking area just past the end of the bridge so my husband could retrieve the AC unit that had landed in the middle of the bridge. Thinking he would place it inside the RV to hopefully be reattched at some point, you can imagine my dismay when, with a mighty heave and a string of expletives that would cause any sailor to blush, he threw the AC unit off the bridge into the water below. Knowing that once he calmed down, sanity would again overtake his brain and he would realize that perhaps tossing this piece of the RV overboard wasn't quite the appropriate action, I watched as he fumed and cursed and paced for the better part of 10 minutes. Finally, his frustration spent, he entered the RV and collapsed quietly into the driver's seat. The children peeked out from behind the bedroom door and after a few tense moments, decided it was safe to come closer.
So here we were, only miles from our destination, with a newly renovated RV sitting in a parking lot quietly contemplating our next move. Deciding to continue on to the Jamboree, we poured over the map and the written directions and satisfied that there were no more obstacles in our path, we started off again. We finally arrived at the RV parking area, chose a spot and set up camp. The setting for the Jamboree included a large stage and seating area, concessions and some shaded areas. The RV lot unfortunatley had none of these amenities, especially trees and shade. With the AC unit missing in action, we were left with a rather large opening in the roof which became an open invitation to all manner of flying insect. Falling back on his boyscout training, my husband came up with what we considered a workable solution. He grabbed a large black trash bag, affixed it as firmly as possible to the roof and Voila!, problem solved. Granted we had no air conditioning but heck, we had food, water and each other. Besides, we were on vacation!
The Jamboree lived up to it's advertising as we listened and danced along to our favorite country songs. We were thrilled to be watching live performances by the likes of the Oakridge Boys, Tanya Tucker, George Jones and many other stars of the times. Surrounded by thousands of other fans, we sweltered in the hot sun, downing soda and water by the gallons. There were ways to cool off even without AC as it seemed just about everyone had large plastic sprayers like the kind used in gardening filled with water and indiscriminately sprayed anyone and everyone that they walked by. The organizers of this festival had also had the foresight to employ security guards equipped with these same sprayers as well as several fire trucks that periodically sprayed the entire crowd. Although initially annoyed by this constant onslaught of water bearers, I quickly realized that the purpose was to help keep us cooled down so we could avoid trips to the First Aid tent.
The 3 day festival went quickly, and despite the heat, we concluded that a good time was had by all. The last night of the Jamboree though, there was a large thunderstorm that dumped several inches of water quickly on both audience and participants. Already having spent several days in a constant state of wetness, the rain wasn't too much of a deterent. So we stayed until the last performer took a bow and the last notes of song had faded away. Gathering up our soggy belongings, we made our way to the RV for a good night's rest and an early start to our trip home. Deep in conversation about the great acts we had seen, my husband and I had not given any thought at all to our makeshift sunroof cover until we walked through the door and turned on the light. Hanging down through the hole in the roof was that black trashbag, exposing the RV to the elements. Needless to say, the carpet and furniture in that area were a little the worse for wear. Mopping up what water we could and reaffixing a new trash bag, doubled this time for extra strength, we checked our sleeping quarters, thankful the beds were still dry and settled in for the night.
The new cover held for the entire trip home, and without further mishap we pulled into our driveway late that evening. Thankful to be home and dry again, I unlocked the front door and just stood there enjoying the blessed cool air inside. Unloading our belongings from the rented RV, we soon had to face the reality of the condition of this vehicle. How do you explain the disappearance of an AC unit and the dampness pervading the carpeting? Lucky for me, this was left to my husband to figure out since he was the one who had to return it to the dealership the next day.
As he tells it now, he pulled nonchalantly into the Ford parking lot and went inside to return the keys to the manager. When asked how the trip went and how the RV performed, he assured the manager that the trip was good and the RV only had one small malfunction. As the manager inquired what the problem was, my husband, without skipping a beat, politely suggested that perhaps the RV should have had an AC unit on it's roof. Running outside and quickly climbing into the RV, the manager's jaw hit the floor with a resounding THUD! as he looked up at the now uncovered hole in the roof. The manager slowly exited the RV and stared speechlessly at my husband not even able to utter the beginnings of the multitude of questions forming in his mind. My husband handed him the keys and said "You wouldn't believe it so just send me a bill and keep this to yourself". Several hundred dollars later, this vacation went down into the annals of history and became just another funny story.
The Ford dealership apparently didn't quite see the humor in the situation and shortly afterwards stopped renting RV's. Guess they just didn't think a convertible RV was an idea that would catch on.