You're So Vain

Have you heard about the eclipse? Been all over the news, signs on the Interstate, seems like everybody is talking about it. If you don't know about it .... well, I don't know what to tell you.

We are right in the path for best viewing. I have been booked solid for at least a month. I have a waiting list for cancellations. All the RV parks are booked. It is kind of a big deal. Talk is that Interstate 70 will close for the event. Signs are warning about delays and to plan ahead. Not only traffic on the road, but they are expecting people to arrive early to claim a space on the shoulder of the Interstate, with a cooler full of drinks and food.

I hear that some enterprising businesses are hiking their rates for the event. Motel and Hotel rooms for up to $1100 a night!! I did not raise my rates, but I do plan to enforce check-out time for all those campers who want to stick around and take advantage of my hospitality and leave sometime in the evening. I just imagine that the roads will be grid-locked anyway.

So, I now dread answering the phone. One man asked me what he was supposed to do when I told him I was booked solid. His tone was accusing, like it was my fault he had not though ahead. At least he called. I told one tent site seeker that I could put over flow tents in my open fields ..... the caller wanted to know if I would allow campfires.

I immediately said "NO". I can just imagine what my park would look like with the grass all burned up in circles. From space it would look like crop circles and there would be an investigation about who I was trying to communicate with.

But this evening as I was puttering around outside, a truck pulled in followed by a motor home. I walked reluctantly into the office to help the woman emerging from the truck. I was met with the exclamation/question "I bet you remember me!" She looked familiar, but, really, no. I remember people who endear themselves to me or annoy me with damages and complaints. I remember the kind man who held my hands and prayed softly when I started crying about my Daddy dying. I remember the family that tried to kill my bat population with rocks, and stole all our firewood.

After establishing my non-remembrance, she asked for FOUR sites for big RV's. "For tonight?" But, no she wants to stay until next Tuesday! "Oh, you have reservations?" She looked at me like I had suddenly grown a second head. She points to the area of the park nearest the pool and said that is where she would like to be. Took awhile to explain the concept of reserving a spot ahead of time. Not sure where she came from, but she did look a bit distressed, saying her husband was going to be "so mad".

She was right about that. I just wish they had taken the argument home, or anywhere else. They decided to hash things over in the exit drive. Side by side, truck and motor home, each with wheels in the grass. At one point he sprang down from the driver's and opened the passenger door on the truck to yell at her. Bet she is not having a good night, but nothing I can do about it.

That line from the Carly Simon song keeps running through my mind "and you blew your winnings up at Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun" .........