Last summer, when we were getting the insurance for our wacky old motor home, we had a chance to see this beast through H’s eyes.

He announced, “A motor home is way cooler than a fannypack…”

So ya, a motor home is cool in ways that are almost too great to define, and thus we shall rely on H’s fannypack coolness scale. This needs to be a thing! OMG!

And then, later, when I explained that we were going to move our camping stuff from the basement and keep it in The Falcon, the realization for him was delightful to witness, “You mean we can go camping without even PLANNING!? Oh ya!!”

Here is a shot of H working to figure out the CB Radio. He quickly picked his CB name – and he was clear in pointing out that we are now not only in possession of a vehicle clearly as cool as the motor home in The Walking Dead, but also, in case of an actual Zombie Apocalypse, we are in good stead.

H stated, “When all other communication fails, because of loss of power and satellite communication, we will be in good shape and grateful for the low-tech CB radio.”

Seriously, H spend the first two days that The Beast was in the driveway, marking his territory and staking out his ownership and listening to music in the driver’s seat. I think he is in love!!! (And I’ll have to admit that I am a little bit in love as well.)

Like I already said – it isn’t pretty – and there are clearly things – potentially leaky things – that need repairs... on an ongoing basis.

Craig did a little surgery on the bottom stair that had rotted away… and I made a few curtains and collected a bit of melamine and other cool kitschy stuff to round-out our rather rustic camping supplies.

And though we were certainly not done with the repairs, off we went for a trial run. In British Columbia we are lucky; we have plenty of beautiful places to hang out and hike and camp.

We headed off for one night, on the day after I completed my summer work with the university. I hadn’t really felt like summer had begun – but 20 minutes after parking I was sitting back and relaxed.

Ahhhhhhh…

Ya… pretty luxurious compared to tenting. 

Our goal has been that we will be able to head off for a night – or the weekend – with little or no packing.

I love camping – but I hate the stress of packing and unpacking. I just don’t seem to have to spoons for it – so often the result has been that I would rather stay home.

It has taken us (well, mostly Craig and H) a bit of time (like over a year) but this November weekend we went for a glorious overnight with no real planning… and it felt just like running away. Craig and H had everything organized, so I popped home after work, threw some clothes in a bag, and we were off.

It was spectacular…

H and I sang “Moon Shadow” together by the campfire and made banana boats…

We had time to connect as a family…

I had time to wander about alone with my camera and my thoughts…

And I feel renewed…

Thank you Craig and H…
I love and appreciate you!

♥

And both of you are way cooler than a fannypack!!

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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.

©Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism (2014)