last week in the tent

It is an eclectic crowd here at Big Oaks. Across from us tonight are an tattooed guy with a shiny black Harley who raked up the leaves and started his fire with them, a lesbian couple with colored Hello Kitty lights strung around their screen tent, the Michelin Man family (the kids sucking on sodas and the grownups sucking on cigarettes), and the Russian girls who've been here all summer (one works at McDonald's and the other for the campground as bathroom cleaner and pool guard). Everywhere there are Confederate flags, declarations of good-ol-boy-ness, and exhortations to "Get 'er done". It shocked us to find that Delaware considers itself to be part of the South.

A week from now we will be sleeping in a real bed, and if we have to go to the bathroom we will not need to dress and find a flashlight. What a treat. No more changing the rug under the drippy A/C unit. No more having to close all the windows at nightfall because of the smelly fires. (One night we left the tent open, and for the next week it reeked of someone's bacon or menudo or whatever they were making) Best of all, we will have a washer and dryer and a fence around the yard. Only downsides are no pool, no free wireless up the hill, and no crowds of kids on the weekends, but I am determined we will find some friends in Lewes. We already met one boy from the town who hangs out at the toy shop. There's probably a homeschool group that meets somewhere in Sussex county.

Morocco. It's really going to happen now. I bought the tickets over the course of two days, and roughly half the price the travel agent quoted. My itinerary also includes layovers in two additional countries, so I am feeling a bit smug. So what if we arrive at midnight and will have to drag the kids through the streets to a hotel? So what if I don't know how we will haul the kids and all the gear we will need (including a car seat) from aircraft to trains and streets? At the price I found, Tom can afford to go.