A turn of events in our nation has dominated the attention of everyone within viewing range of a video enabled device. I don't think I need to repeat the particulars of the tragedy that occurred in Minneapolis nor report on the aftershock of people's feelings that have been effected by this. In my opinion, it is tragic that we are too weak to disregard the color of someone else's skin. A human's greatest challenge is to treat a fellow human being with respect, consideration and kindness, but we fail miserably on a daily basis. We fail to ignore the most insignificant differences in one another and, instead, we are threatened by them, judge based on them, and act out against them. Whether we need God or a crack in the back of the head by Mom, I don't know. However it sinks in, we need to be guided away from the inherent sins of humans (we're talking the seven sins here, folks) and down a path of stronger morals and values. If I were to guess, I would say the heel of Mom's shoe is going to have more impact as I suspect the majority of us are not afraid of God as much as we used to be.
As we move away from the subject of racial injustice, thoughts of my father weigh on our minds. It has been a year now since he passed away and whether tragic or expected, the death of a loved one is still a loss and we can all relate to that. I don't know who is familiar with the story of how we acquired our new home on wheels, but please bear with me as I reflect.
It was about two and a half years ago when we began tossing the idea of getting out from under our house and exploring the U.S. on a full-time basis. Of course, one of our first tasks in the planning of our future would be the procurement of a new Recreational Vehicle in which to launch our dream. After some not-so-positive attempts at acquiring our home on wheels, an idea occurred to us that requires a little more back story.
My father, an avid classic car builder and enthusiast, purchased his RV some time ago to use while he was at different car shows in the region. He liked the convenience of being able to take a nap in his own bed and the bathroom facilities were handy, too. As his eyesight began to fail, due to other health issues, his attendance at car shows declined as well and subsequently so did the use of the RV. At times, Tez and I would ask to borrow the RV for various reasons; a direct sales event at a fair ground or a trip to the Poconos for a race weekend. During the last few years of his life he would task me once or twice a year to drive the RV to Syracuse for the one car show he enjoyed or trek to SUNY Cobleskill to visit his granddaughter during home coming. As he became disenchanted with an RV he only used twice a year, at most, Tez and I came up with the idea of offering to buy the RV for ourselves and letting him borrow it for his yearly romps to the Syracuse car show. Sadly, he passed away before we could make him the offer. As a tribute to him, we made one last RV trip to Syracuse for his final show with his car buddies. It was bitter sweet and a lasting memory for me.
During the planning of our last trip to Syracuse, a discussion with my mother yielded the idea that the RV be passed on to us as the toy barn would become my sister's possession. We agreed and have been traveling with Dad since August of 2019. There are still many fixed memories of him here and we jokingly look for his approval or disappointment in the changes that happen around here.
So there you have it. Our Journey begins with Dad and our time in Florida will be coming to a close in the coming week as we make our way northward to New York. The heat and hurricanes are chasing us out and we have been patiently waiting to get back to our roots. We will be strategically working our way up through the gauntlet of Corona hot spots and protest hot spots. Adventure was on our minds when we started, but I don't think either of us were expecting this. Alabama is on our travels plans so look for us there to drop anchor and stay for a bit.
We hope Dad approves. Miss you, man.
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