I’ve always been impressed by backpackers. Off they go on multi-week excursions with everything they need on their backs.
So when my husband announced our two-week summer road trip would be a “tee shorts and shorts affair,” I was ecstatic. I imagined us as sleek as Reese Witherspoon in Wild after she offloaded her excess baggage.
“I’m going to put everything in a weekend rollerbag,” I announced. And pictured myself arriving and departing smoothly from place to place – handle in one hand, coffee in the other.
Instead, what rolled in were complications. Little by little, the tee shirts and shorts were overtaken by stuff.
First, it was a “no-brainer,” as he put it, to combine the road trip with my 50th high school reunion, which happened to be 125.2 miles to the north and directly en route.
Unfortunately, being a landmark event, the reunion was also a two-country-club affair. No jeans or shorts allowed. So add to the cargo a long dress bag full of things we didn’t really want to wear. His shirt and tie. My flowery spaghetti strap dress. His dress pants. My little black purse that holds next to nothing.
That’s to say nothing of the shoes that would be required for the things we didn’t really want to wear. I’d like to say this upped my count to two pairs. But actually, I’d already resigned myself to taking gym shoes for hotel fitness rooms, sandals to go with the shorts, a pair of nicer lace-ups to go with shorts since the forecast was rainy, hiking boots since the nicer lace-ups could get muddy hiking, and water shoes in case we went wading in a creek.
I’m not going to take the blame for my shoes putting us over the top, though. There was also the cooler so that we would not be paying $2.50 for a bottle water, $8.00 for a glass of wine and would always have fresh blueberries, spinach, yogurt, OJ and sandwiches along the way. And then, because you can never be too sure about finding a picnic table, we’d need those large folding chairs with the drink holders.
Those were especially important in case it ever stopped raining on the trip and we were able to find a spot to set up my husband’s telescope, which was also essential. We could have taken the one that fits in a backpack, but heck. For the best view, why not the one that fits in a handy rolling carry case the size of three suitcases? Of course, with the telescope must go the power tank, a little folding bench, and a special collapsing seat.
By the time we were done, there was room only for our laptops and a large umbrella, which unfortunately we needed the entire time (so much for stargazing), plus a half dozen bottles of wine to use as hostess gifts for friends who were putting us up at several places along the way.
I’d like to please simplifiers with the happy news that we had virtually no room to haul home souvenirs or “stuff” bought along the way, even though between us we have six immediate family with birthdays this month. And it is true that we drove home practically souvenir-free.
Instead, packages were waiting for us on the front porch when we got home. It’s amazing what you can do on a cell phone from the passenger seat.
Copyright 2015 Pat Snyder
