Vacation of a Lifetime (Well mine anyway)

Just over a year ago Bill and I bought a C.O.W. which stands for a Condo on Wheels. To the rest of the world we bought a travel trailer. We'd always wanted one. Well, I'm going with an overstatment there. I always wanted one, Bill would have been happy with a pop-up. It is 33 feet long, we had to buy a bigger truck to pull it, and we imagined fun-filled family vacations and weekend getaways in it. My sister is the biggest cheerleader of these things. They've owned all shapes and sizes of them and have had nothing but fun, good times, and memories in their's.

Our's is made by a company called Rockwood, but I like to think of them as Rocksinthehead. Because my trailer was apparently built by a company that doesn't have any brains.

So, on to the dream vacation. We left last Saturday. It was just the two of us. You see, our family quickly learned to hate the trailer. They are weird anyway because they all hate the beach. They're bored there, it's hot, they hate sand, can't stand the ocean...well, you get the picture. So now that our older daughter is living with us, we left everyone behind and embarked on an 8 day beach vacation. We planned this like a couple of kids trying to pull one over on their parents. We bought $75.00 in steak and were eating them hot off the grill every night except when we went to our favorite restaurant. We took our favorite DVD's, lots of wine, our hammock and our pink flamingo lights. Paradise!

Our dream vacation ended on I95 when, while driving 50 miles an hour, a car pulls alongside us and yells "Your wheel is getting ready to fall off." You see, here is a culmination of all the horrors we've had in our brand new trailer made by the Rocksinthehead Company. This thing has had something go wrong everytime we've taken it out. Every trip we've had has ended with us in the service department. Airconditioner, brakes, leaks, bearings, you name it, it's been Bill's nightmare.

We were 120 miles from our destination, but after a long 16 hour day in the broiling sun, our trailer now sits in a warehouse parking lot in Wilson, N.C., waiting for the axle manufacturer to make us a new axle because they don't stock them, it's too new a trailer.

Dehydrated, stinky, and dejected, we made our way home. Bill had to cancel his vacation leave and go back to work. But at least no one was hurt, right? I hate that statement. I'm not one of those "Things could be worse, so appreciate the crap you're dealing with" people. On Tuesday my air conditioner at home broke on the hottest day this summer. My dryer died (not really, it was an electrical circuit, but I didn't have that answer till after I paid the service call fee). Plus a million other things I wouldn't have had to deal with if I'd been in Myrtle Beach like I was suppose to be.

Part of being a grown up is dealing with the things life throws at you. Roll with it, get up and try again, keep on keeping on, every dark cloud has a silver lining, sell your trailer and admit camping sucks, whoops! Didn't mean to put that one in. :)

Summer boating......fun right?

Okay, so we have a boat. We've only used it once this year. There are alot of rules to when we get to go out. Bill will not boat on the weekends. Too crowded. No Sundays allowed, it's the Lord's Day. No holidays, everyone else will be out with their boat. So, that leaves Monday, his day off. We've been going in the evenings, since it's cooler, but this year, it seems like every Monday evening there is a storm looming just over the horizon. So this week we decided to go out on Monday morning. We'd get up early, because the early bird gets the worm, perhaps in this case, the worm would be on the end of his fishing line and the bass would get it first.

So, I'm not a morning person, but I can rise to the occasion. We were on our way around 8:30am. A little late for a day that was going to hit 90 degrees, but it still felt nice outside. The water was beautiful, the sky was clear, there was a slight breeze and the sun was a FIREBALL in the sky.

By 10:00am Bill was fishing away and I was on the back of the boat on my beach chair reading a really good book. Life is good. It was a little hot, but it's August. By 10:30am I ditched the chair and spread out on the floor on the back of the boat on my stomach. That way the sun wasn't hitting me directly in the face and I could feel alittle bit cooler. The book was still really good and every once in a while I'd catch a breeze.

By 11:00am I asked Bill for a bottle of water. I proceeded to pour it over my head to put out the fire. I also poured some down my shirt and on my legs. I was sweating like the second stage of labor. I laid on my back and put a towel over my head to block the sun. Forget the good book, I can't remember the storyline anymore. All I can think about is I'm naming the boat Hellfire and Brimstone, and wonder how long it takes to drown once you go overboard. The water has bacteria in it and you are not suppose to swim in it, but that shouldn't matter if you are ending your life. I thought about all the settlers who came to the new land in the winter and how I always thought they were stupid to travel so late in the year. Now I understood the purpose. I was HOT, PEOPLE, HOTTT!

Bill was having a pretty good day fishing and at one point wanted me take a pic of his latest catch. The camera was two feet away, but all I could manage was the cellphone in my pocket. He didn't seem to notice I was near heat stroke, and could someone please call 911 or throw me overboard!

By noon we were back to shore, (Thankfully!!!!!) and on our way home. I jumped in the pool, dried off, took two valium and slept till 6:00pm.

I'll go again during sweater weather.