My child, however, wakes up WIDE AWAKE and in full color. The morning "conversation" goes something like this:
Ethan: Erin! Erin! Erin! Come play with me. Erin! Wanna play on the Wii? Erin!
Mom, did you sleep well? Dad, did you sleep well? Erin, how did you sleep? Did you sleep well? I slept okay. Mom! How much longer until we go on the plane? (in November) How many weeks is that? Will we see Reese? Who else will we see? Are we going to dress fancy to go to Murray's? What time do we have to get up? 3? 3 in the morning? I'm so excited!
Mom! What's for supper tonight? You're going to see your friends? What are daddy and Erin and me going to have for supper? Dad! Dad! What are we having for supper? Should we go to Burger King? Do you love Burger King, dad?
What do you think Reese is doing today? He has school, right? What are we doing today? I want to stay here. We did something yesterday. Are you guys going for a walk? Can Erin and I play together? Mom! Make Erin play with me. Erin! Erin! Erin! Play with me. Erin!
Whew, right? Yeah, this is all within the first 5-10 minutes of him being awake. This was a bit different in our "before RV" life. I was a floor removed from the kids. But beyond that, we got up at 6am. I set an alarm and was up before they were. I had those moments to myself, as tired as I was. Now, Ethan is always the first one up and the stream of consciousness verbal tirade begins. We can all hear it. Heck, so can our neighbors, I'm sure.
There are a number of things that have changed for us since we downsized. But mornings and bedtimes are among the most challenging. Cooking in a tiny kitchen was an adjustment, but I have managed it. Making the beds in an RV is an exercise in futility. It's only surprising when I don't pull a muscle. And subjecting your home to the equivalent of an earthquake every time you move to a new campground means not trusting any unopened cabinets once you've arrived. But these obstacles have easily been overcome.
Mornings and bedtimes, though, still try my patience and fortitude. I'm so glad we've done this for our kids. I'm reasonably sure they will look back on this time in our lives fondly. But I'm not too proud to admit that there will be things I won't miss as they get older. Certainly, I don't miss diapers and the screaming of toddlers. I won't miss mornings in the RV either.
In the realm of other challenges, we've now had only our 2nd official breakdown! We pulled up into a gas station in Texarkana and didn't get out. The truck refused to start. It actually does this a lot, something to do with it being a diesel engine. Nothing wrong with it. It just needs to cool down for awhile after working hard. This time, it just wouldn't cool down. So it got a ride on the back of a tow truck while its family and its RV got a ride to the local KoA. A few hours later, the Ford dealer called to say that the truck is now rested and happy to start up! GAH! So, yeah, basically, $360 to cool down our truck for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, though, the ants found us and invaded. Apparently, there are quite a lot of them on the Arkansas/Texas border. We've never had a bug infestation like it in the RV, though I certainly remember how many there were on the 10 acres in Shakopee, MN. I'll admit that in a tighter space, it seems like a LOT more of them. We are poisoning them as I type this. I don't even feel slightly guilty.
We'll be in Dallas for another week and then it's on to Houston and Corpus Christi. We will stop there for a month, which I suspect is going to feel like a big, fat vacation. I'm so tired of the driving part. I hated it before we started this adventure and, a year and a half in, that hasn't changed. This challenge is at least as great as mornings with Ethan.
Overall, we're still enjoying ourselves. We are seeing museums and attractions that we never would have seen if not for this craziness. Arkansas was a revelation. We spent a beautiful afternoon at the Garvan Woodland Gardens. Their chapel is one of the loveliest buildings we've seen anywhere. So far, the benefits still outweigh the challenges. Onward, ho!
