Chapter 132: A Trip and a Plan

Sunday, May 29, 1983

We went to church in the morning, had lunch at home, and then went to Study Group for the last official meeting of the year. Or, perhaps, the first unofficial meeting.

Pretty much we just had a big party before everyone split for the summer. Connie had a summer program at Vanderbilt aimed at aspiring medical students, and Jimmy was joining her for their engineering program. I suspected they would probably behave. Mostly.

Mike was going to Europe, and Sarah had somehow wrangled a week there at the same time. The Rileys were pretty much taking the summer off, but Emily was off to a journalism program. She’d finally picked something to get serious about, apparently.

There would be other meetings, when Mike was in town, but this was likely a preview of our coming split. The party like this one a year from now might serve as our major farewell party. We’d probably have many individual farewells after it, but even the kids without the advantage of my perspective were much more aware of the sands flowing through the hourglass.

I called Jaya after Study Group, but I got Amit, who told me she was out shopping. He said she had asked him to tell me that she had a great time and was looking forward to another outing in the fall. I thanked him, of course. I suspected he knew (or at least guessed) the broad outline of what was going on, but was okay with it. Whether that was because he knew me, or because Jaya wouldn’t have put up with him getting overprotective, or (most likely) both, I was glad there wasn’t an issue.

Monday, May 30, 1983

We decided on another double date. A big one, this time, or at least not so small. Angie, Paige, Jasmine, and I each packed an overnight bag, and the four of us headed down to Galveston. We planned to hit the beaches (likely crowded, but there were plenty of beaches to hit, and they couldn’t all be crowded), the shops (also likely crowded), eat lots of seafood, and spend a night in the historic Hotel Galvez.

It pretty much worked out that way, too. We poked around for a while before finding a decent beach, laid out in the sun and played in the surf a bit, did a fair bit of shopping, and ate seafood.

Galveston itself was weird in almost the same way Austin was, but for different reasons. I’d never lived in Galveston, nor even visited all that often, but I proposed to my ex-wife here, and we’d been here several times with our kids. That wasn’t the weirdest thing, though. The weirdest was that Angie and I had gone here before I was me. We went here in June 1980 or so. The souvenir license plates on our doors came from that trip. I could remember it, but I knew it wasn’t my memory. It was something the ... me ... that was in this body before I was did.

Memories like that were always just a bit of a challenge. It’s weird knowing that ‘you’ haven’t always been ‘you’ — that you took over from someone else along the way. Most of the time I could just ignore it, but ... sometimes I couldn’t.

That triggered something in my mind. I wasn’t sure what, but ... something. I’d have to think about it some more. Maybe Jane could help.

After shopping, we headed to Gaido’s, a Galveston landmark, for dinner. I was pretty sure we’d eaten there during that 1980 trip, and my ex-wife and I had eaten there, too, more than once. Great food, and ... less weird, overall.

I have no idea what Angie and Paige did, or didn’t do, at the hotel, but Jas and I just made out a bit, then snuggled. Wrong time of the month, plus we simply felt like sleeping together was still the point. It wouldn’t be, forever, but for now? Still relatively new, still special.

Tuesday, May 31, 1983

We had a non-seafood breakfast, then checked out of the hotel and headed to Seawolf Park. Seawolf Park is dedicated to the USS Seawolf, a submarine lost in World War II. There’s a different World War II Submarine (the Cavalla) there, along with a cruiser, the remains of a concrete tanker (yes, they really made ships out of concrete!), and some other Naval relics.

This was another place that my ex-wife and I had visited. Mom and Dad had packed a cooler with snacks and sandwiches for us and the kids. They were still trying to be good in-laws to her, even though she was long since done with returning the favor, although she was still generally polite to them in person.

The girls declared the park to be a ‘guy’ thing, but they seemed every bit as happy as I was to clamber around the ships and poke their heads into every space where they could. They would all fit on a submarine better than I would, that was for sure!

At lunch (yes, more seafood), Paige said, “So, what are we doing for our next trip? And I mean either Ang and me or all four of us. Either way! I know we’re going on the big trip in a few weeks, but...”

Jas nodded. “I’m in favor!”

Angie and I nodded our assent as well.

“So...?” Paige said.

“I had a weird idea,” Angie said. “Except maybe it’s not.”

“You do get weird ideas sometimes,” Paige said, grinning.

“You like my weird ideas,” Angie said.

“Nah. I love your weird ideas,” Paige said.

That got an unusual full-on kiss while in a restaurant. At least two diners apparently noticed, too. Neither seemed particularly offended.

“So ... anyway ... we camped for ‘Return of the Jedi’ and all did fine. I was thinking about maybe suggesting we try real camping. I’m not sure if I mean tent camping or someplace with cabins or ... well ... I don’t know. Something. Campfires and hiking and rivers and nature and all that.”

“I ... could go for that,” Paige said, shaking her head. “Which is weird, because if anyone had proposed it not that long ago, I’d have mocked them.”

“I could, too,” Jasmine said.

“I’m game,” I said.

“Ang is in charge of picking the place!” Paige said.

“I can do that,” she said. “I want someplace not too hot, and not cold. Not that I could get anyplace cold in a reasonable drive from here.”

“Maybe the Davis Mountains,” I said.

“That’s not a reasonable drive. Anyway ... I’ll check at the library. I think they’ve got a guide to state parks. As long as there’s a river and a bunch of shade, we’ll be fine.”

“Agree!” Jas said.

“I’ll figure out snacks and stuff,” I said.

“There will be s’mores,” Paige said, pretending to growl.

“Duh,” Jas said. “Mandatory!”

We spent the rest of lunch, and most of the drive back, making plans. This sounded like a lot of fun!

We drove home mid-afternoon, trying (and succeeding) to beat rush hour traffic. We dropped Paige and Jas off, with a promise to get together tomorrow and plan our camping outing.

Angie and I stopped at the library where Study Group had briefly met so long ago (and which we still visited often) and found a couple of guidebooks to state parks and campgrounds around Texas. We’d most likely go the state park route (if they had availability, anyway).

Ang joked about renting an RV, but that was a non-starter for many reasons. Cost was an obvious one, but they also wouldn’t rent to anyone under twenty-five, and the point of the thing was to camp. I’d be happy to try an RV in the future (it’d been on my to-do list for retirement, back when I thought my retirement would be me and my wife), but not this time.

We told Mom and Dad about the trip over dinner, and also talked about our camping plans. Both of them got surprisingly nostalgic, all things considered. I hadn’t known Mom had grown up sometimes camping with her brothers in the backyard (just as I’d sometimes camped with my cousins), nor that Dad had loved camping as a boy. Angie got a bit misty-eyed when it turned out that Frank was the one who loved camping the most. I’d guessed Donald, based on later life, but apparently not.

They were both in favor, especially since we’d have the resources to easily do something else if camping didn’t work out. For instance, how would we handle a late-night rainstorm? None of us really knew. Hopefully, if we opted for tent camping, our tents would be water-tight, but if not? A motel sounded like an excellent option.

I’d gone tent camping with my ex-wife and kids back in the day, and it’d stormed. Our tent had stood up to it. It was undoubtedly better than what was on the market today, but not that much better.

On the other hand, we could opt for cabins. Many state parks had them, and that might be a better option, especially since we didn’t own a set of camping supplies.

Wednesday, June 1, 1983

I drove the group to the mall, where we headed to the food court for lunch. Angie had brought along both books. She’d been through them last night, making notes and planning.

She flipped through the first book. “There are lots of options,” she said. “Does anyone have any preferences?”

Paige said, “You looked at the book. Do you have any preferences?”

Jas nodded. “Yeah.”

“I meant, like ... tent versus cabin? I’m assuming we don’t want primitive, no matter what.”