First days are always a bit of a tease, whether with the lusted other or hurdling down a Virginia highway on the first day of a 30 day road trip. We were flirting with all kinds of things. We decided to leave an afternoon early, put in 3 ½ hours on the road, testing our mobile habitat, and then working on systems while ensconced in a friendly KOA.

All went well except the nerves are frayed, for all of us. I’m barking, Silvia’s glaring, and the kids are burrowed into their screens. Not quite the idyl. After carefully weighing every last morsel that went into the Cricket (our abode), I was still super worried about the dreaded highway sway where the trailer can rock back and forth, gain momentum, and, as most described to me, end in quite a smash up at 60 miles per hour. This worry of sway amped me up—”We’ll get through this alive, Baby!” Silvia shuddered at the ridiculousness of it all beside me. All for naught; it went fine.

The KOA is pleasant; tucked in the trees and rolling hills characteristic of southern Virginia. It is also the land of the camping behemoths: the 50-foot long mobile apartments, trimmed in brown formica and plastic fixtures, equipped with TVs, stereos, air conditioners, indoor showers and fully functioning commodes. I’m jealous of the last, I must admit. Several families have walked by, asking us how we can all sleep in something so small. They are friendly and have that swingy Virginian accent that mixes north and south along with the tones from all the surrounding civil war battlegrounds.

The kids have wandered off. That’s the best part of the KOA. They explore and meet, even if masked and at a distance, a new level of teen ritual.

Tomorrow off to the Smoky Mountains . . .