I’ve always held romantic notions of traveling light, and so I dissed my normal gigantic bag for a small weekend-er.

I reminded myself that if I forgot anything, I could easily buy it,
and I packed hastily: handful of underwear, swimsuit, tees, shorts, p.j.s, one dress, towel, toothbrush, done.

What I failed to consider is, if I forgot my wallet I couldn’t buy anything at all, and that’s exactly the one thing I forgot. It was hidden underneath the big bag I tossed aside for the little one, and I headed on out without it.

{This wasn’t the first time I had done this. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. The last time this happened, I was by myself in Chicago outside of the Abbey Pub. I only realized I left my wallet after reaching for it to retrieve money for the cab fare there. It’s not easy to convince a cab driver to take an I.O.U., convince a door man that you are 21 and that you prepaid for the ticket on-line and to let you into the M. Ward show only on the good faith that I was telling the honest to God truth…}

I took the wheel for half the ride and we stopped in a town called Tomahawk.  Saucer shaped clouds rode above windy tall grass
that bordered long red dust roads. Just us and the clouds, all heading to the same place, grass waving us along and red roads pointing us in the right direction.

Four hours into the ride, the trees stood taller and water peeked out from behind them. We shut off the air and rolled down the windows to let in the smell of sweet grass and pine.

Bill played Rusted Root on the stereo, and we listened to Drum Trip down through the forest roads, which I highly recommend doing on your next forest road ride.

MERMEN:

We did a lot of swimming in the river. I fear dark waters. I know there aren’t sharks in the river, but for some reason, an image of a shark coming up to eat me pops into my head whenever I’m swimming, sometimes even when I’m swimming in a pool. I guess I’ve never been the same since I saw Jaws. Bill’s dad said that being afraid of dark water is probably a natural human fear. Fortunately, the heat made this fear easy to overcome; I only flailed and screamed for about 20 seconds upon submerging, before finally calming into the cool water that felt wonderful on my skin.

Bill’s sister-in-law warned me later about fish that eat rabbits and could easily take a limb or hand off of a man. Now I will have to forget about that if I am to get in the water again.

AMERICAN PARADE:

I scanned the crowded sidewalks for someone vending Bomb Pops and there was none that I could see, so I stood in the shade and focused on the Snow Queen. Pink tulle and taffeta against the blue July sky refreshed me. Her apple face was kind to my eyes.  She was as sweet as she appeared and let me take her picture.

The party was held at the next lake over.

Don’t fireworks and mosquitos seem to go hand in hand?

We announced our engagement to Bill’s clan. They welcomed me in to their “crazy” family. I glanced sideways at Bill to see his reaction; he sideways-glanced me too.

I had no clean clothes left after the third day and have come to terms with the fact that I will never be one of those carefree travelers that packs lightly. I need what I need and I’m willing to carry it.

Looking over my schedule for the rest of the summer, I notice there’s so little left of it. As I sit here dripping pools of sweat, I wonder how I feel about that. I know I need at least one more escapade before it ends, and this time I hope to remember to bring my wallet.

I was thinking of arranging a tubing/camping trip for my next outing.

Do you have any favorite river routes you like to float down?

What about albums you make certain you bring along with on your road-trips?