Homeward Bound

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Day 29 - September 2, 2006

No sleep again. (Very little “quality” sleep the entire trip.) Scott packed some more. We took Austin to IHOP (not any in our area, but one of Austin’s favorite breakfast places). He ordered the “silver five”. He also got a balloon bow and arrow set, which we ended up leaving in the hotel room.

While Scott was taking the RV back (a couple of blocks from the hotel), the rest of us got ready to leave. We were supposed to be on the 9:30 shuttle to the airport. All of a sudden, it was 9:29, Scott wasn’t back, and we weren’t down at the shuttle. I sent Krysten and Austin down with some luggage, while Robert and I struggled to get the rest. Not doable. Went down with three bags. Sent Krysten back up. Robert and Krysten finally emerged 5 minutes later (turns out Robert had been cleaning up a leaky glo stick). Still no Scott. I checked us out of the hotel, and we left for the airport.

Checking in at Denver’s airport is a real pain. The shuttle leaves you one level below the ticketing area, so we had to go find an elevator. We could hardly maneuver (what turned out to be) 7 checked bags, 1 checked stick, and 7 carryons). What jolly fun! We finally managed to check in, get thru security (with a few banned items confiscated), and get to the gate to find Scott already there. (He claimed he hadn’t seen us, but we were extremely conspicuous at the check-in counter. All you had to do was look for the most displeased ticketing agent. We had to shift a couple of items because one bag was over 50 pounds. Good thing we had bought an extra suitcase the night before.)

Now here we are on the plane, headed for home. Scott is finally finishing up David Soubly’s Santa, CEO, a terrific book that I had read the first week.

I can’t say I would do another RV trip like this. Go bigger RV, spend more time in each place (except Vegas), only 2 weeks at a time. This trip seemed to exemplify the “American way” of vacationing. We were so focused on the destination, not only did we not always see what was directly in front of us, but there were times that none of us enjoyed the ride. I guess this is true for most of us and the way we go thru life. Our kids grow up while we look away for “just a minute”. And now that we’re ready to “play ball” or some such, they have outgrown us, and are no longer excited to just be with us. And at times, it’s the opposite. They are embarrassed. And the ultimate taboo is to discuss them with anyone else, regardless of whether it is friends, family, or even strangers.

To conclude, it is true what those older, wiser people say to us all the time: savor today because tomorrow is all buffalo fields and geyser fumes. Even more true: youth is truly wasted on the young. All I can say for now is: “I need a vacation”. Though I guess I’ll have to settle for reading Kevin Leman’s Adolescence Isn’t Terminal (who does he think he’s kidding?)

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Photos

Friendly Skies
Nearly 6,000 driven miles later, a 3 hour plan ride is nothing!

Comments

[The Security Guru]

Welcome Home!
Glad to have you all back safe and sound. Thanks so much for sharing the adventure with us. In regards to your last post I can only say one thing - well said!