Short Stories: Schwieterman Summer Adventure Series (Part 4 – Nevada, originally posted 8/8/22)
Nevada. Oh, Nevada, you sultry state. I wasn’t ready for you! In planning our adventure, I saw that our travels would take us directly by Las Vegas. I had never wanted to visit “sin city,” but I happened upon a beautiful RV resort a few miles off the strip, so I figured I would give it a chance. When I told my husband about the itinerary, he was so excited and encouraged me to change our reservation from one to two nights. It would mean a very long day of traveling to make it to Carmel, California to meet up with his family for the pre-wedding festivities, but I could see how enthusiastic he was, so I was onboard too.
It was a pleasant drive from Arizona to Oasis RV Resort and it only took about six hours, which was short compared to some of our other travel days. There was plenty of daylight left to enjoy the campground amenities, especially since we gained an hour during our travels.
However, a road trip wouldn’t be complete without a Griswold family moment, right? Within five minutes of parking there was a loud bang followed by the unwanted silence of the air conditioner turning off. I continued to setup our site for our short stay, while my handy husband climbed on top of the motorhome to investigate the issue. He came back down fairly quickly holding what looked to be like a metal hamster wheel. He showed me how it was broken and that he was going to start calling around for a replacement part. What a blessing that my farmer husband is also a handsome Mr. Fix-it.
The girls and I went to the pool while Daddy made his phone calls. The girls all squealed in excitement when they saw the grounds of the RV resort. There was a miniature golf course, a waterfall by the huge family pool surrounded by palm trees, and a separate adult pool and spa. It truly was a resort and not a typical campground, at least not like the ones we had stayed at.
The girls jumped in right away, while me and our trach- and vent-dependent daughter made our way to the pool steps to sit in the pleasantly warm water. I tried to make it as fun for her as possible by letting her bounce around on my legs while keeping her tracheostomy safely above water and her ventilator pack on the dry(ish) patio. Sometimes the reality of the limitations her medical condition presents gets the best of me. So I was feeling a little down because she wasn’t able to enjoy the pool like her sisters. Our family had a pool growing up and it was one of the highlights of my childhood. I loved swimming!
I think my mood was also dampened because my husband wasn’t able to join us in the pool time fun. Or maybe I was just getting hangry. We ordered food and returned to our site to catch up with my husband. He hadn’t had any luck in finding the needed part and the “24-hour” mobile RV repair businesses seemed to operate on a 9 to 5 schedule. So, we were going to have to face the hot Las Vegas night with no air conditioning.
Once it became obvious that we weren’t going to be able to sleep inside the hotbox of a motorhome, we opted to make camp outside. We were all setup for the evening and somehow our girls had managed to fall asleep despite the warm conditions. Then, at 11:30 local time, the sprinklers went off. Seriously?! We were all soaked! Griswold moment, indeed! I was half expecting “Cousin Eddie” to drive by and give us a hearty thumbs up!
We were feeling quite defeated and decided to call it quits. I exclaimed my opinion that the city was cursed, and we should get as far away as we could. But it was 2:30 a.m. EST, and we were exhausted, so we opted to book a hotel close by. I found the closest one that had availability and we headed out. Upon arriving, we discovered it was actually a casino. At this point, it was midnight local time, and there we were dragging our children through the crowded and smoke-filled casino toward the back of the impressive building where the hotel elevators were located. I imagine we were quite the spectacle, even for Vegas! I was wearing the backpack ventilator while carrying our sleeping daughter, our now wide-eyed girls were in their pajamas, and my husband was pushing the wheeled ventilator cart with the humidification chamber.
I was proud of us for trying to stay positive and make the most of the situation. The following morning, my husband received a call from one of the many individuals he reached out to. He had located a salvage part. Praise the Lord. We loaded up the girls and headed to the suburbs of Vegas. Thank goodness the guy didn’t gouge us on the price. Mr. Fix-it got up on the roof of the RV and got to work putting the air conditioner back together in the 100-degree heat. The replacement part wasn’t the same material as the original, so he wasn’t convinced it would hold up. He suggested that we not take the risk of staying in the desert heat and start heading toward the coast. So, we canceled our second night at the resort and headed west—straight into the Mojave Desert.
I told my husband that he would have to drag me kicking and screaming back to Vegas. I was never returning! He looked at me with the most serious of faces and said, “But the Superbowl is in Vegas in 2024. We should come watch the Bengals play.”
Me: rolling eyes.
Goodbye and good riddance Nevada!
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