I drove a Chevrolet van towing a 16-foot U-Haul trailer.
I was followed by son Scott and daughters Gayle and Caryn in Scott's converted 1950 Dodge school bus.
(Scott had painted all the interior metal surfaces black and white; had secured an old burgundy stage curtain discarded from some school which Judy made into coverings for his dining area benches and he'd also put some bright red flocked carpeting on the floor and up some walls. I called it The Rolling Bordello.)
Our first stop, for a lunch break, was somewhere in Illinois.
We were younger and thinner and had more hair back then and it wasn't gray.
Everywhere we stopped, rain fell.
The locals told us it was the first rain in many a day, week or month, so we began calling ourselves The Rainmakers.
We spent the penultimate night in cool temperatures, camped under tall pine trees at 7,000 feet in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The trip nearly over we treated ourselves to a dinner out at a nearby steakhouse.
The next day we somehow lost each other for a worrisome hour.
The first misadventure of the trip.
However we reconnected and finally got to Phoenix.
It is July 7th.
We are exhausted and it's 103 degrees.
But just before sunset it began to rain and all the locals ran outside to stand elatedly in what they tell us is the first downpour in three months.
The Rainmakers have arrived.
If Jack Kerouac had had a family on his travels; this would have been it.
ReplyDeleteIf you could have monetized that rainmaking, you would be rolling in dough.
ReplyDeleteThe good times to always remember! Great post!
ReplyDeleteWas Mert Gieger nice to you when you picked up your last check from Fairbanks?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, Jager, she hugged me and kissed my cheek as a tear ran down hers. And she whispered in my ear, "Thank God you're leaving!"
ReplyDeleteQuite a story!
ReplyDeleteVery useful superpower, rainmaking.
ReplyDeleteKids today would have no idea how worrisome it could be to lose someone for an hour, with no cell phones and no Google Maps or GPS systems!
ReplyDeleteWell done. And the Beaner and I are happy you made that trip
ReplyDeleteSee! I told you they were called Timmer and the Beaner!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! It should, however, have been accompanied by a photo of the Rolling Bordello! Although that's a great picture of you & SWMBO.
ReplyDeleteAnd thereafter you had mythical status! What a great story, and a great adventure.
ReplyDeleteWow! What power you had to be rainmakers! :D
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