The majority of RV owners responded to a survey indicating that families bonds were increased and children who travel in an RV showed higher levels of confidence and responsibility. I can tell you first hand that all of that is true. But what is interesting is how convoluted a process that can actually be as I learned recently from my son Nic.
This summer we took a trip in a motorhome to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western NC. While there we decided to visit Sliding Rock, a large natural rock formation in a river where people can walk up a rock slope in the river, walk out to the middle and slide down into a deep basin at the bottom. Very cool idea but with a 7 and a 4 year old I was not too sure how well they would handle this as the rock looks a little intimidating from the bottom, more so from the top looking down before you slide.
Upon arrival we learned that the water was extremely cold that day as it was early in the season but that did not deter the kids from wanting to check it out anyway. Walking down the stone path to the bottom you get glimpses of the climb and the descent and the views were enough to put off my 4 year old. Upon reaching the bottom my 7 yr old Nic was a little unsure at first then something clicked and off he went, faster than we could even say, wait, be careful!
He climbed out to the middle of the river and looked a little unsure of himself. Then with a big push, off he went breaking into a huge grin halfway down and plunging into the pool at the bottom with a big shout of joy and probably triumph too. That was enough to convince my youngest son he wanted to go too. It was a great day of triumphs and confidence building, but it didn’t stop there…
Nic is fortunate to have landed in a 2nd grade class with a teacher who challenges her students to expand their horizons and one opportunity came in the form of a story contest. Nic recently has become a voracious reader often needing us to turn off his lights at night because it’s too late to be up reading still, is not necessarily so energetic when it comes to writing or story-telling. But he decided to have a go at the contest which had to be based on a NC Treasure. He picked the RV trip to base his story on and in particular his jaunt to Sliding Rock.
He worked hard on the story and submitted it and then it kind of left our minds. A month later we were overjoyed to learn that his story had been among the finalists from his school to move on in the competition. This week we were ecstatic to learn that his story won countywide and is being submitted against other stories in the state level competition. Nic has grown more confident in his writing abilities and perhaps more importantly learned that it pays to put in some effort on a project and that sometimes you need to refine things a few times to achieve the results you hope for. And topping it all off, our 4 year old Alex also learned to tackle challenges like Sliding Rock. On that trip he also learned to fish and cast with a “big boy” fishing rod, that he can hike for miles and that he can help build and cook out over a campfire.
One RV trip with so many memories shared, lessons learned and little lives being launched the right way. Imagine what lives can be like with regular RV travel added to the mix…. Write to us and tell us your stories, maybe we can all learn a little and grow a little closer.
