A Road Trip with My Grand Daughter

Is was about 4:30 PM when I finally pulled my rig off of Interstate 40 onto the highway towards my daughter’s house. I had driven all day long, starting in Colorado that morning, just after sun rise. I had pushed my 600 Cummings hard in an effort to get back to her house; I had promised her I’d try and I always try to meet my promises. As I caught a glimpse of her street, I started applying the air brakes to my 45’ diesel pusher motor coach and slowed it down a little to make the turn onto the narrow avenue. I’d park it on the street for the night because sometime tomorrow morning, I’d be heading out again. I’d parked there before, so the neighbors don’t mind. They know who I am, I’m family.

I’d received a call on my cell the day before yesterday from my daughter. She is a junior executive with a major manufacturing company located just outside of Kansas City. Her husband is an airline pilot and is gone most of the time. Kathy, my daughter, had called to see if I could babysit my grand daughter because she had been called out of town for a week, her husband was scheduled to fly and it was the middle of summer. I jumped at the chance; I don’t get to see Kristy that often so when I do, we make it an event. This time, I was planning to take her out to the Grand Teton National Park to spend a week, hiking, canoeing and sight seeing. All we had to do was rest here the night, put her things in the coach and head on out to Wyoming.

This isn’t the first time I’ve taken Kristy with me on outings. I’ve tried to include her in many trips such as this, ever since I lost my wife several years ago to breast cancer. Now she was getting to that age when she has developed other interests instead of traveling with her Gramps around the country in his coach. So, like I said, when I get a chance like this, I jump at it.

I am a retired, high school science teacher, earth science was my specialty. My wife was a teacher also. We had been retired, almost exactly one year, when we got the news that she had breast cancer. It was the kind that spreads quickly and by the time we discovered it, her time was about up. We had already bought the coach and had taken one long trip out west. That was the only trip she made in it. She passes on two months later.

I sold everything and became a full time RVer, traveling all over and being free as a bird. I lived this way for over three years now and I’ve developed quite a band of friends from all over this country. I’ll stop over with some of them, when I’m in their neck of the woods, sometimes I’ll spend a whole season with them. But I always manage to get the wonder lust and move on. This lifestyle takes me away from my only grand daughter, though, but we stay in touch by cell phone and texting. I love Kristy and she loves her Gramps; we always have and we always will.

I set the air brakes on the coach and turned the diesel off when someone was knocking on the door. I pushed the button to open it and Kristy came bounding up the steps and gave me a big hug before I could even get out of the captain’s chair.

“O hi, Sweety,” I exclaimed, giving her as big of a hug as I received. “Gramps has missed you so much. Let me take a look at you. My gracious, who took the brick off your head?” I teased. I always told her to put a brick on her head so she wouldn’t grow up so fast.

“Gramps?” she whined. “You always say that. I have to grow up sometime, you know. I’m almost fourteen now and I’ll be starting high school this fall.”

“O Sweety, don’t remind me how old I’m getting,” I said.

As I released her to get up out of the chair I had been in for over four hours, I moaned a little at the stiff joins and sore muscles from making the forced drive to her home. She backed away and I got a good look at my grand daughter. What has happened to my little girl? And who replaced her with this absolutely gorgeous beauty standing before me? It hadn’t been that long had it? My gosh, I had a beautiful young lady for a grand daughter and I didn’t even know it.

I set all of the switches to the appropriate settings while Kristy ran the extension power line to the shore outlet for electricity; I’d need the A/C and frig for the night. I could use the shored water, but I might as well take advantage of the free power.

When Kristy came back to the coach, she took my hand and we walked into the house. Kathy was in a panic, trying to pack for her trip to who knows where. She came over and gave me a warm kiss and expressed her gratitude, but she continued to race around, trying to remember where she had put this or that.