Lazy Daze Owners' Group

See America With an RV, Not Twitter

February 08, 2021, 01:23:41 pm

For the WSJ, Feb 8, by John Kelly

I spent the first tumultuous week of 2021 disconnected from news and social me-
dia, driving from Washington state to California. Having not seen my father since the spring, my teenage son and I decided to rent an RV to go visit him safely—and along the way we rediscovered the decency that has gone missing from our national politics.
Hitting the open road in an RV was on my bucket list, but our aspiration of a self-sufficient “guy trip” quickly turned to dependence on the kindness of strangers.
We rumbled into our first stop well past closing time. The rain was pounding. I had no idea where to park, what to pay, how to hook up our generator or pump water. For a moment I was ready to gas up and go home, but then I saw a flashlight waving through the soggy darkness and rolled down my window.
“Are you Kelly?” an elderly woman shouted through the storm.
“Yes! Yes!” I sounded like a hostage being rescued.
“Welcome!” she yelled. “You made it safely! Let me show you where you can park.”
Rather than sleep in a warm bed, this grandmother was welcoming travelers after midnight, making them as comfortable as possible.
Kindnesses like this carried us across our drive. There was the casino manager near Grants Pass, Ore., who spent hours on the side of the high- way during a road closure, re-directing traffic and helping stranded travelers find their way. A friendly gas-station employee in Fairfield, Calif., went out of her way to redirect us to the closest diesel station. An auto-parts store owner near Petaluma, Calif., showed this RV rookie how to add necessary additives to our diesel engine. In Eureka, Calif., a sporting-goods store owner stayed open half an hour after closing time to help my son learn the best rigging and hot spots for catching surf perch. A mechanic in central Oregon instructed us on where to find the best doughnuts on the state’s coast, and a busy barista in Tillamook handed us our drinks with a “Stay safe and God bless!”
Unhurried conversations with locals running these parks, cafés and other establishments were another unexpected highlight. There were no rants about Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi or the government. They talked about the more enduring things in life: family, home and what brought us out their way.
With fewer interactions like these in the past year, our view of our fellow Americans has been distorted by social media and the news, which relentlessly focus on the most disruptive and negative forces in our country. But ordinary, generous people like the ones mysonandImetmakeup most of America—the populous majority that doesn’t feed on online grievances. Most of the country is too busy living.
As I handed the keys back to the owner of the RV, I told him that I felt as if I had rediscovered my country driving his vehicle and hoped to use it again. A wide, proud smile came over his face. In broken English, this Chinese software engineer, originally from Shenzhen, replied “Of course! That’s why I rent out my RV . . . so Americans can see how beautiful America is!”

Mr. Kelly is a former executive vice president of Star- bucks.

Re: See America With an RV, Not Twitter

Reply #2 – February 08, 2021, 02:57:58 pm

Yeah,,,we don't watch the news and have been living our lives as close to normal as we can. My reality is quite different than most peoples.  This year is as good as any to me.