Roadtrip First Wave

I am  sitting here in this amazingly beautiful place (my uncle’s back garden) thinking about how I should have been writing this whole time. Luckily, my memory is good and I think I can remember all the details of this past weeks’ journey from here in Santa Fe.

Last Monday, we took off from Kennesaw at about 8am—three hours later than planned, but still on only four or five hours of sleep. The trip started off pretty heavy-emotionally. First, I was worried about leaving Poe and Ody for such a long period of time. While I have the utmost confidence in our pet sitter, I was very concerned that they would get depressed and stop eating—or worse. They were also both diagnosed with chronic issues shortly before we left and I am still struggling to cope with the understanding that they will both be on (very expensive) medications to make their lives comfortable for the duration. How long can we sustain the extra expense? Will the meds work?  Etc. But as of now they are doing pretty well (is my understanding) and I can’t hink about it anymore until I get home.

The emotional challenges continued as we drove through the area near Birmingham, Alabama and witnessed significant tornado damage. A huge tree through a house caught my attention first and then as we reached the top of a hill we could see an entire area of what used to be homes, but are now demolished. It occurred to me to take a picture but as I got out the camera, I felt that it would be wrong to photograph this devastation. It was heart-wrenching. Awful.  And just passed the destroyed neighborhood was a wooded area that looked uninhabited—if the tornado had been on a slightly different course . . .  So it goes . . .

We stopped and ate in Tupelo, Mississippi, before driving through Memphis and witnessing flood damage. I felt as if we were touring our country’s recent catastrophes.

When we got to the Morrillton, Arkansas KOA, we were a bit surprised because it was not as nice as expected. We have stayed at many KOAs before, but this one was very different because the majority of the people staying there were actually living there and not passing through. It was like camping in someone’s neighborhood and that felt very weird. But we were very fortunate to meet an interesting man named Clay Davis. Clay is in the National Guard and also served two tours of duty in Iraq early in the war when things were really bad. His insight on the war and the army were fascinating and I will share them in a separate post. But now, after having served, he is a temporary worker in natural gas mining operation near the KOA. Others staying there (in campers or trailers) were working at the nearby paper mill. One woman who I spoke with several times had suffered a stroke recently and was recovering there in her camper rather than stay at home by herself while her husband worked a temp job in the paper mill.

There were many kids hanging around the camp, too. About half of them did not wear any shoes and they were always outside and I rarely saw an adult watching over them (actively). Den befriended one of the children who was hanging around the camp playground. His name was Nathan. When I called Den and Annika to dinner I threatened that if they did not come, they would not get dessert. Nathan said, “Y’all eat dessert?” “Yes.” “Everyday?” “Most of the time, yes.” “What kinds of things do y’all have for dessert?” “I don’t know. Candy, cookies, maybe ice cream. Nothing big. Tonight we have M&Ms.” “Wow. What are y’all eatin’ for dinner?” “Tacos.” “Wow. Y’all are lucky.” And we are. We are so fortunate and I don’t for a second take it for granted.