Let's Sell Everything and Live in An Old VW Bus

Saturday
July 6, 2013
It's going to be HOT today.

We have been tossing the idea around of a trip of some sort.  Well, actually Ross always talks about places that he would like to see.  He teases me with stories of friends who have been around the world, traveling in planes, boats, and RV's and even by bike.   He routinely says that we should sell everything and buy an old VW bus and live where ever we park.

Ten years ago, I would have thought that perhaps, just maybe, we would do that.  But even ten years ago I knew that it was only a thought.
So much has happened in the past ten years.  One of the most dramatic changes is that we are ten years older.
Nowadays, it is an effort to get out of the house to go down the road for a sandwich.
Take for instance today.  It's Saturday.  It's Saturday at the shore.  It's Saturday at the shore when working people, who only have the weekend to go to the beach, or,  who only get two weeks of vacation a year, those are the people who are coming and going from their Saturday to Saturday weekly rentals.   It's a beautiful clear summer blue sky Saturday.  It's a hot Saturday.  It's a hot Saturday, but a much cooler on the beach Saturday.  We, us retired folks, we don't have to go to the beach on such a Saturday as this Saturday.
We talk about going out for breakfast.  But we talk about it for two hours, while we mosey along doing whatever it is that we do.
I finally say, "So what if it's Saturday.  Let's go over to the beach.  Let's just get up and go."
Get up and go means something much different today than it did ten years ago.  Now, get up and go takes 45 minutes.  Breaking that down, that would be 15 minutes to get up and 20 minutes to get ready to go, and ten minutes to finally go.

By now it is thirty minutes past noon.  That would be the hottest part of the day.  I'm hungry.  At this point we are at least in the car heading in the right direction.  The traffic is heavy, of course.  It's Saturday.

We finally make it onto the island.  I'm hungry.  We talk about where and what we would like to do for lunch.  We decide to pick up sandwiches and drinks, and eat our lunch on the beach.  But it's hot.  We stop at White's deli.  The girl making our sandwiches is slower than we are.  Twenty minutes later, we are back in the car.  It's hot.  Ross suggests we go to the lighthouse.  "There are benches along the water," he says.  "We can picnic there."
 Did I mention how hot it was?
We get to the lighthouse and pull into the parking lot.  We ride around the parking lot for three minutes discussing where in the parking lot we should park.  I should say, it was a pretty much one sided discussion, because I really wasn't participating.
We get out of the car.  We grab our lunch.  We walk down the path towards the benches by the water.  And it is hot.  We find benches under a little bit of shade.  I look down and see a swarm of flies, three of them on my leg, having their own lunch.
I say, "Forget it. Let's just eat our lunch in the parking lot, in our air conditioned car."  So that's what we did.  We watch the kids fishing while we eat our lunch.
It's now nearly two o'clock.  We have finished our lunch and are driving over to our beach.  Of course by now there is no parking in the first parking lot.  We pull up to the walkway leading to the beach and unload our stuff.  I wait with our stuff while Ross parks in the third parking lot.
We load up our bags, chairs, umbrella and trudge up to the top of the beach.  We stand at the top and peruse the scene.  Discussion ensues as to where on the beach we are going to settle.  Will we go to the left or to the right?   I pick the right and we begin our descent.   We flip open our chairs, throw down our bags and flop.
It is cool and breezy by the water.  I am cold. But it feels good! I  put on my hoodie and I take out my camera.

I look around and I realize that our world has become so very narrow.  The people on the beach are the new "just beginning their vacation week" people.   But they
look the same to me as the last week's people.  

The view doesn't change. My photos seem to be the same. The sea gull, the sailboat, the ghostly ship in the mist, the EPA helicopter, the lifeguard and the fishermen They might as well be stock photos pinched from the net.

 Okay but maybe not this one, because this one is the coolest of the bunch.

After an hour, I am bored and we begin the discussion of when we I would like to leave.
We are back home by 4:00. We step out of the car and it's hot.  We unpack and scurry to get inside into  the manufactured cool and breezy air.
Yeah, I figure if we start planning now, we might be able to get a trip together by November.  And it's probably not going to be in an old VW bus.