Peculiar travel suggestions

In Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, which I read with relish in the 60s, a sage named Bokonon says, “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god.” So I am dancing feverishly.

Today Sue’s baby sister (now 66) was to have arrived by plane to drive down to the family beach house in Yachats with Sue, Sue’s granddaughter Eliana (now 10), and Eliana’s best friend Addie Kay (also 10). However Sue’s sister had an emergency and had to cancel. Thus I (one month short of 80) have been called upon to substitute. I am feverishly trying to pack food for the halfway-down picnic into an insulated sack; as many layers of clothing as I can stuff into a small duffel bag; plus (of course) camera and computer, pills, sunscreen, etc. 

I’m trying to pack minimally, to avoid taking up too much space in the (small) car, into which we need to fit the following: two adults and their luggage; two ten-year-olds and their luggage; food and drink for a picnic; food and drink for four days, catering to everyone’s food allergies and preferences and to the fact that in small rural towns it is difficult to find anything other than fried food, pizza with processed meat and pineapple (an abomination in my opinion), and very fatty hamburgers. We have in addition, toys for the girls (including a marvelous new jigsaw puzzle, beach toys, books, card games, and art materials); coats and boots for everyone; electronic devices that may not work, given unreliable cell phone coverage [and there is no television or radio]; poetry and other reading material for the adults; and odds and ends of tools Sue needs for maintenance jobs. 

The weather forecast says it will be cool, with temperatures from 47F/8C to 58F/14C, with rain about half the time and cloudy sky when it isn’t raining. So there’s a need for rain gear, sunscreen, clothes for the beach, dry clothes for when we take our wet stuff off, and at least one layer of fleece underwear to sleep in. 

All that said, I can’t wait. Moody sky, crashing sea, two quirky old women and two wild and quirky kids. Dancing lessons, no doubt about it.