Spring Break 2010

I am currently sitting before a glowing pit of fire. Literally. Pete and I took the girls camping at Fort Yargo State Park for the weekend. Tomorrow we head back to Comer town. It has been an interesting few days. As usual per our camping trips, we had rain off and on. When it wasn’t raining, the sun shined and the GREAT winds blew. While roughing it here in the woods, I headed to civilization and HAD to visit the local Target. I bought the girls kites to fly in the great gusts. Naturally after making such a purchase, the GREAT WINDS weren’t so stinking great. And since Lila really believes (even at the age of 8) that we have control over things like the wind or sunshine, she began to fuss and complain that everything was just miserable for her and she seemed to blame us for her misery. Ahhhhh….another day in paradise!


Saturday we made a trip into Winder to take a gander at the offerings of the awesome Akins vehicle dealer. Driving up on the lot, you expect to hear trumpets sounding or an orchestra playing some tremendous overture to express the fantabulessness of the place! Ahhhhhhhhhhh….. They had the standard four door family rides (sedans). The ever so necessary family vans (filled with DVD players and playscapes I’m sure). Then they had the “I’m obviously a single person’s” two door, sporty rides. But what we wanted to gaze upon was the suped up, jacked up, toughened up, hard working, load totin, pick ups! For a mere 50k, a person could come away from there with the ride of a lifetime. Of course, in our case, it would take a lifetime to pay for one of those lot items. But we love to look. We actually have to carry tissues with us to wipe the drool away (and the tears when we hear the prices).

Pete having a spine of steel, test drove a Ford F250 diesel. From the moment he fired the engine up and that truck began its hypnotic rattle-rattle-rattle, Pete’s eyes got this glazed look about them. I could tell that even though he was present in body, his mind was elsewhere, realizing that all of his dreams had just come true just firing that behemoth up! And for a mere 36k for a 2 year old truck with 60 something miles on it (baby stuff for a diesel), Pete could have his heart’s desire. And how that man was able to walk away from that truck and maintain a poker face, I will never know. I imagined that I had a constipated look on my face when Pete told the seller of his dreams that he was “just looking” and walked away. It PAINED ME!

I ‘m not the kind of person that has to lots of “things”. I don’t have to have the latest and greatest gadgets, the fanciest clothes or many other things….but I wish that I could have gone in their office, plopped a price down on the table, written them a check and handed Pete the keys. Quite honestly though, our first house cost us $76, 500. It was a beautiful, cozy cottage. That truck was half the price of our first house! I bet the payment on it would have been just as much as the house, maybe more.

While we were there at that dealership, a flat bed truck came in with a delivery of a car. Seeing that car and hearing the engine roar, caused a bit of a rumbling in my inner being. I felt a rare sort of excitement that I don’t feel often. The car was a real beauty….a 2011 Ford Mustang Cobra. It had slick tires and was a true racing car! It had the racing seats with 5 point restraints and a cage. When that car came off the truck and roared, every man in ear shot of that thing came out to see what that stirrer of primitive emotions was….it was HOT! Girls, I don’t think that a half naked woman walking through the parking lot would have grabbed as much attention as that car did. Grrrrrrrrrr

Today, the Great Winds blew again. The girls got to fly their kites. Lila finally was able to come out of her misery. Her life wasn’t ruined after all. They had a good time running back and forth along the shore line of the lake. It was a good time.

Tonight we had the fire of all fires. Pete has really come into his own with fire building. When we first married, he didn’t have all of the skills that he has seemingly mastered over 10 years now. It was a nice warm fire. Lightening and clouds threatened us in the background. The fire bugs, Lila and Lyndi, had to poke and prod at the flames and coals. Iris just laid off to the side and watched over all the festivities. Lyndi spent some time sitting in my lap, asking me to sing MY song to her. I had to sing “You Are My Sunshine” only 6 times. She began to join in after the third time around. It is times like that I wouldn’t trade for a million dollars.

Tomorrow morning we pack up, a chore that has become a lot less tiresome and trying since we got our camper. We will pull out, dump the trash off and empty the black and gray water out of the holding tanks. Then we hit the road. Back to Comer Town we go. Back to our neighborhood. Back to our home. Back to where we know folks and folks know us. Back to sleep in our own beds. Back to our 3 stinky cats. Back to our house that ALWAYS needs cleaning and laundry that ALWAYS needs to be done. Ahhhhhhh, what bliss……minus a behemoth of a truck with a back seat the size of a couch. Pete is a strong, strong man.