L&K Take America

Many of us have our ideas of what we would do if we suddenly were laid off, received a magical package, and did not have to work for a few months. In October of 2015, the company I was working for had a significant workforce layoff which sparked many conversations with our close colleagues about what each of us would do if we were to be let go. I had recently seen a post on Facebook about the algorithm that mapped the optimal road trip across the U.S. which provided the kindling for my “what would I do” theme, and ultimately led to this adventure I’m on.

The past couple of years had been pretty rough for me personally and professionally and one particularly low day in January, I decided to get my hair cut from a new guy in the South End. He had a pretty trendy new salon just a few blocks from my place and I thought, why not give it a try? I called, made an appointment for that afternoon. When I walked in, I should have spun on my heel and walked out. The guy had a died grey mohawk for crying out loud. Anyway, after we talked about my hair and what I wanted, he mixed up some goo, put it in to color my hair and I do what all chicks do and got to texting and googling things as I waited for the magic to happen to my locks.

In this moment of hair dye intoxication, I decided to divulge my “what would I do” idea to my father and sent him a picture of a teardrop trailer with a caption to the effect of, “I want one of these” in my best Veruca Salt font. A teardrop trailer is something like this:

Small…cute…manageable…None of those things seem to be descriptors that most people would use to describe me or things I typically buy. In line with that, my father promptly responded with “You don’t want that, you want this” and sent me a picture of an Airstream camper. The crème de la crème of campers. He was right…now I wanted THAT!

I was quickly brought back to reality when the freak show hair dresser guy came back, washed my hair, cut it, cut it some more, dried it and poof…I had an orange mullet. Traumatizing to say the least. I’m still recovering. No seriously…haven’t cut or died my hair since. May never do it again.

Back to the impending adventure…a few months later (May-ish) when I really thought I was on the brink of being fired, we went Airstream shopping. Dad, Janice, brother, niece and nephew all paraded to the Profile Stateline Superstore in Nashua, NH and found “The One”: a 2014 20 foot Flying Cloud, Bambi Airstream Travel Trailer. Woowee…words I never thought would make me happy, or thought I would know the meaning of.

But…it wasn’t time. I didn’t have the right towing vehicle, I still had a job, and I didn’t have a plan. So it was a piece in the puzzle, but not quite the time to write out a check for the sucker.

However, a few short months later (July 1, 2016), I was released from my corporate shackles. I bought myself a new Jeep (now with the V8 Hemi engine) to pull my new “shell” (hereafter; code word for my domicile vehicle; my home on wheels; like a turtle shell but different, same same).  Dad did the negotiating on the trailer. Mike did the negotiating on the Jeep.

By July 8th, I had the new Jeep. I decided to have solar panels and a back-up camera installed on the Airstream, so it wasn’t ready until July 30th. More details on the purchase of both are stories for another day.

Lesson of the day: Don’t tell dad you want an at home kit trailer. He will show you the best-of-the-best and there will be no turning back.

Oh and don’t get your hair cut by a guy with a poorly dyed mohawk. Ever.