As my family is going on our 4th week living in a 28ft RV together, some interesting phenomena has been observed and reported. My children are 12 and 13. They each have their own full size bunk to escape in, and honestly get along pretty good. However, last week they couldn’t escape from each other at all due to us being trailer bound in El Paso at Fort Bliss thanks to this little weather phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone. The wind gusted to 80mph at times and my children’s patience with each other blasted apart like the plastic bin full of Tonka trucks that exploded into the side of our trailer during the storm.
One way we dealt with the kid’s frayed nerves was an ATV tour through some red dunes, another was a trip to a museum and watching Captain Marvel, but honestly the best diversion has been having them be trip engineers. My two kids can handle every part of setting up, hitching up, and getting the RV ready for the road. Watching two kids who want to choke each other hitch a travel trailer up while cooperating in complete harmony is like a balm for an exasperated parent’s soul. For, in that moment when one of them locks the hitch in while the other pins it into place, a bit of aimiable bliss emanates and I can see the future relationship they’ll both enjoy. My bro and I bickered like champions. Now we are best friends.
I also made a new friend in Roswell yesterday. We struck up a pretty close friendship in no time.
And finally, the anecdote. We had crossed into New Mexico last week and hopped off of the freeway into Deming for a bite to eat and some diesel. The only restaurant that had parking for us was an IHOP, and as we whipped around the block so we could park there, we observed a character on the street corner who we are still talking about.
A middle aged Hispanic man was standing on the sidewalk. Even before we got to him, we could see that he was swaying around. Our windows were down and suddenly singing of the howling coyote cadence kind filled our ears. The pointy toed boot clad man clutched a picture in his hand and was singing a song of longing and saddness. As we rolled by he yodeled like a mariachi singer and thrust the picture towards our view. It was a picture of a dark haired mysterious maiden. A Central American Mona Lisa. The man’s lament increased and he started spinning around. I almost wanted to buy the creature some pity pancakes.
And now I find myself sitting in the Fam Camp on Holloman AFB next to the White Sands National Monument. Tomorrow I’m going sledding on the sand dunes, something I’ve really been looking forward too. There are so, so many stories lined up that I am going to share with you when I arrive home. This roadtrip has been enlightening and awe inspiring to say the least!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author’s not abducted by aliens iPhone