Intentions

Why are we doing this, you ask? Three weeks on the road with soon-to-be-9-year-old twin girls does sounds a little like a recipe for crazy camp, doesn't it? The last time Rachelle and I made a long trip together was in the summer of 1995 when we were engaged and driving cross-country from the Bay Area to Cambridge in a 1988 Ford Escort with no air conditioning. Perhaps it was driving through Death Valley at high noon in August, or camping in the pouring rain in Oshkosh, or cutting people off while speeding to a wedding on the LIE, but we got to know each other pretty well on that trip. We'll certainly never forget it.

Rachelle has been talking about taking a trip like this for as long as I can remember. She has fond memories of driving around the Pacific Northwest in a VW Microbus with her Dad. When I was a kid, my family never traveled together beyond Old Orchard Beach or Cape Cod, but I got a good taste of "car camping" from the trips I made to Wyoming and Alaska through Camp Billings. Rachelle and I told ourselves for years that it would be "fun" to rent an RV and drive cross country--when Keiko and Amaya were old enough to appreciate it and when we thought we could handle it. Well, the girls are at the perfect age (they still seem to like us) and it's pretty clear that we'd never really be ready to handle it, so we pulled the trigger this summer. I shut down my research lab and Rachelle cleared the decks and, somehow, here we are.

My intentions for this trip are twofold. I want Keiko and Amaya to have an adventure that they'll remember (fondly?) for the rest of their lives. I also want the trip to take shape organically (no, not like the chemistry). My tendency is to plan things excessively and then be militant about sticking to the plan. I'm pretty sure that this is the actual, published, recipe for crazy camp--so I'm not going to do it that way. For me, I don't want it to be so much about the destination this time, but more about the journey. I'm not sure what's in store for us, but I'm certain that it will be an adventure. I hope that Rachelle, Keiko, and Amaya will share their thoughts as it unfolds.