Russ’ Dream

Russ has this long standing dream. We buy a sprinter van and travel around the country with Shay. Not that we have ever camped, or that we have even slept on a bed in a motorized vehicle. The whole scheme is that Russ gets to be with Shay 24 hours a day. Of course Russ says Shay gets to see America, but she honestly only has eyes for Russ and is not interested in the Grand Canyon.
Now there are some flaws in this plan. Russ, does not have one free hour, let alone days, no weeks, to drive around the country. We do not own a sprinter van and from all the YouTube videos Russ has shown me on the subject the beds inside are not long enough for a him. We have never been camping so it is not like we are great outdoors enthusiasts.  
The major flaw is Shay. First she likes to ride on the driver’s lap when going anywhere in a car. That is unless Russ is the passenger, then she likes to ride in the passenger’s lap. We have put one of her many beds in the back seat of the car and she may go stand on it for a minute and then wiggle finiggles herself back upfront. I have no idea how she would do in a big van, but we could test it out. She might like to travel on the big bed in the back since her home base is almost always our bed.
The number one problem is we could never leave her. Shay is the biggest cry baby when we leave her anywhere. Only now at six years old will she stay home with out crying all the time, but even now sometimes after we leave I can hear her crying in the house.
Tonight we came to our friends house in Wilmington. They, being Jon and his three dogs, are not arriving until later tonight. Shay has been to this house a few times so it was not a strange place to her. Russ and I put her bed in our regular room and she acted like she was at home. Then we left to go out to dinner. Barley down the steps and we could her her pitiful wailing. We were gone hardly over an hour and when we returned she was still in full out howling.
We entered the house and she came running down the steps from our room and jumped all over us. “How could you leave me?” Only then did she go to her full dinner bowl that we left before we went out and gobbled down her food. “I was too distraught to eat,” she seemed to say when she looked back at me.
So much for Russ’ dream. We could never take Shay on a trip where she was not with us 100% of the time. She can not stay in a hotel room alone as we would certainly be kicked out. I have tried to reason with her and tell her that if she wants more Daddy time she has to learn to be quiet, but as far as she is concerned crying got us to return.
This all may be good news for me. Although I love a good road trip, I can’t imagine pulling into a camp ground, let alone staying in one. My idea of camping is taking a nice walk in some cool woods, maybe dipping my toes in a beautiful stream and then going back to the Ritz Carlton and have a shower and some iced tea with lots of lime. Thanks Shay for crying, you have saved me from becoming a KOA member.