April 13, 2012

By cell phone

Right after Easter, my husband and youngest son flew west for a father-son adventure. While I’ve been home here, teaching my classes and going to meetings, they’ve been hiking in a national park famous for great views and lovely waterfalls.

I figured I might hear from them once they were out of the park and driving to the next part of their trip. Sure enough, the other night while I was grading papers, a text message chimed in from With-a-Why:

“The hotel Dad and I were supposed to stay at is under construction. They directed us to another hotel but the rate there was unacceptable, apparently. Now we’re driving around town trying to steal internet to reserve another hotel. Dad wrests prospective spots from tellers at local stores and I keep the car running while he checks for security weaknesses with the iPad. Once he gets in, it’s a race against the clock. Who might be watching our attempts to steal access? We know the cost of a slip-up but would gladly take the risk for a roof over our heads, an almost impossible fantasy for us drifters. Will the new dawn find us fast asleep in an idyllic bed of blankets, or will an over-looked security trap end our great adventure forever? There’s no way to tell. The only thing I know is that when I feel that rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins as clever programming combats our efforts, I feel more alive than ever before. And I know that it’s worth the risk …”

I guess that means they’re having fun.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hilarious!

Lilian said...

ahahahahaha... that's sooo hilarious! But that's NOT a text message, that's basically a short-story right there ;)

They are definitely having WAY too much fun!

Magpie said...

laughing. wonderful commentary you're getting there.

Jodie said...

Storytelling...

Nope. The fruit does not fall far.

kathy a. said...

what everybody said, especially jodie.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

LOL!!!! What a riot.

Yes, what everybody said especially Jodie! FUN-eee!

(with a small YIKES in there.)

BrightenedBoy said...

This is awesome. And through my laughter I had to wonder...were they not aware that they could make a reservation by phone?

I absolutely want to make a fan club for your family.

jo(e) said...

BB: Ah, but to make a reservation by phone, you need the phone number or at least the name of the hotel. Since they were in a small town in the middle of nowhere, they were using the internet to find motels they could call. And it's possible that my youngest son quite exaggerated how difficult this was.