For the Maps
Years ago I went to a locally produced play in a small venue. The characters were stranded because of car trouble.
"Here, use my AAA membership and call for a tow," one of the characters said.
"Why do you have AAA? You don't have a car and you don't drive."
"It's for the maps," said the first character in total deadpan.
I started laughing so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. I laughed so hard that the actors paused and tried to not react to my reaction. I laughed so hard that the playwright came over at the end of the play and introduced himself.
This summer I have called AAA because I locked the keys in my car and we called AAA when we hit a deer and needed a tow. And when our camping trip plans fell apart from a combination of heat advisory and thunderstorm warnings, I went to AAA for maps. Just as the play referenced, a AAA membership means that you can walk into the AAA office and get free maps to anywhere. "Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, please," I said, not knowing where we were going. On a lark we headed North to Lewis and Clark Lake in South Dakota.
"What time do you expect to arrive?" the campground manager asked when I called to reserve a camper cabin.
"Um..." I thought of myself and the four kids driving North with a loaded down car.
We meandered North to South Dakota. I taught the kids to use the AAA Guide to find fun things to do along the way. We stopped to see the John Neihardt Center in Walthill. We stopped to meet the Winnebago on the Reservation and talked about what it means to be a Sovereign Nation. We got ice cream in Fremont at the Zestos of my teen years and toured the May Museum. It was the kind of vacation where we were all happy on the beach so we stayed until dark, and then we couldn't get the campfire to start so we went to a restaurant, and when the restaurant on the lake was closed we went to one in town and found a diner that was open all night. And we were happy. When we stopped at the Winnebago Reservation on the way home and they asked us if we were there for the Jingle Dance Lessons, we said "yes," even though we didn't know about them until we showed up. Mary and Sophia learned how to dance at a pow wow. Frank and I found the Joba Chamberlain Shrine.
It was not a perfect vacation and there were small tantrums, but the success of a vacation is judged in my opinion by the pace and the memories - those, in my opinion, were a success.
We couldn't have done it without the maps.
"Here, use my AAA membership and call for a tow," one of the characters said.
"Why do you have AAA? You don't have a car and you don't drive."
"It's for the maps," said the first character in total deadpan.
I started laughing so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. I laughed so hard that the actors paused and tried to not react to my reaction. I laughed so hard that the playwright came over at the end of the play and introduced himself.
This summer I have called AAA because I locked the keys in my car and we called AAA when we hit a deer and needed a tow. And when our camping trip plans fell apart from a combination of heat advisory and thunderstorm warnings, I went to AAA for maps. Just as the play referenced, a AAA membership means that you can walk into the AAA office and get free maps to anywhere. "Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, please," I said, not knowing where we were going. On a lark we headed North to Lewis and Clark Lake in South Dakota.
"What time do you expect to arrive?" the campground manager asked when I called to reserve a camper cabin.
"Um..." I thought of myself and the four kids driving North with a loaded down car.
We meandered North to South Dakota. I taught the kids to use the AAA Guide to find fun things to do along the way. We stopped to see the John Neihardt Center in Walthill. We stopped to meet the Winnebago on the Reservation and talked about what it means to be a Sovereign Nation. We got ice cream in Fremont at the Zestos of my teen years and toured the May Museum. It was the kind of vacation where we were all happy on the beach so we stayed until dark, and then we couldn't get the campfire to start so we went to a restaurant, and when the restaurant on the lake was closed we went to one in town and found a diner that was open all night. And we were happy. When we stopped at the Winnebago Reservation on the way home and they asked us if we were there for the Jingle Dance Lessons, we said "yes," even though we didn't know about them until we showed up. Mary and Sophia learned how to dance at a pow wow. Frank and I found the Joba Chamberlain Shrine.
It was not a perfect vacation and there were small tantrums, but the success of a vacation is judged in my opinion by the pace and the memories - those, in my opinion, were a success.
We couldn't have done it without the maps.
posted by Lea at 4:23 PM
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