Years ago, when I was still in my teens, I read Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley, a documentary of he and his dog, outfitting a camper-truck and crossing the continent. That book along with other wander-writers like Kerouak, planted seeds of the wanderlust which in some way, I’m sure, contributed to our current lifestyle, that of full-time RVing.
I am joined in this adventure by my wife Susan, who along with our dog, Pippin, have been up and down and across this continent for many years.
But I am truly blessed to also share it with Charlie... Charles Dickens that is. How did he get on board, you may wonder?
Susan, in her previous life, was a thespian and besides gracing stages all over Canada, was a reader of books for broadcast on the CBC. She has a wonderful voice and a great command of various British accents.
When we began our long RV trips, we fell into passing the miles by her sitting beside me reading to me aloud. In a short while, she recommended we try Dickens.
Wow. So many rich characters, and so many engrossing moral explorations, so many pages. Our sharing Dickens has become one of my favourite parts of our travels. The miles and hours fly by. One year, as we were approaching Canada and our home town, we spent an extra night on the road in order to finish Nickelbey or Copperfield, I don’t remember. (Susan just told me it was A Tale of Two Cities.)
We have dipped into other authors but return to Dickens as the standard of pure enjoyment. We are now on Little Dorrit, and as we are reach our beach destination, it will be put back on the shelf, to be continued next spring on our way back north, when once again, Charlie will rejoin us. Wish you could too.
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