New friends from up North

[aadler]

As I mentioned the other day, I still maintain a solid curiosity regarding the different types of RVs, and the different lifestyles of the various practitioners. My keenest interest is in the Class B type, the ‘camper van’. (Some of those are actual converted vans, but in general they refer to something built on a van chassis for the express purpose of being a small RV that someone can live in.) I can’t wish for one myself, because there is no way Susan and I could manage in a space that small — our current Class C, one of the less roomy of such models, is enough for us but only just barely — but I’m fascinated by the very fact of living and traveling in such compact circumstances.

Last month, I happened to be out walking when one such arrived and backed into its new slot, and I stopped long enough to make some quick inquiries. The driver and his wife were pleased to answer my questions, and even invited me (unsolicited) to look inside. I did my best to keep it brief, but promptly went back to tell Susan about my encounter. Shortly thereafter, seeing that they were setting up a screen tent so they could sit outside in the shade, I prevailed on Susan to go out for a ‘walk’ of her own, just so she could meet them.

They welcomed us. For some reason the immediate conversations were between me and the wife, and Susan and the husband. And, for some reason, the issue of politics came up between me and the wife (call her Jeanne). We had already established that the two of them were from Ottawa, and Jeanne and I skirted very delicately around the edges, both of us cautious about broaching subjects in which we might find ourselves in emphatic disagreement.

The husband (call him Jerry) got a phone call, however, and stepped around back of the van to carry it out privately; Susan joined Jeanne and me, and after a few minutes of discussion among the three of us, we managed to establish that this Canadian couple was surprisingly conservative in their outlook, in contrast to the continuing leftward tilt of those who keep remaining in charge of that country’s governance. Since they were here visiting the U.S., they were quite interested in getting our take on the political climate of this country, and we were more than happy to offer our opinions.

Keep in mind: Susan and I are SO conservative, I have met exactly one person in my entire life that I knew for a fact was more conservative than I am; it was refreshing and welcome to find ourselves in animated discussion with a couple who not only didn’t disagree with us, but avidly wanted to know what we thought. And their primary concern was to how great was the likelihood we saw of an actual civil war here.

(I told them that I was less worried about that than I used to be … but that a little vigilante action here and there wouldn’t surprise me, as voters got fed up with seeing our laws systematically violated, and Antifa types attacking Tesla dealerships began discovering that AR‑15 trumps Molotov cocktail.)

We eventually went back to our own rig, and then the entirety of the following day was taken up with … with something else that I’ll use a subsequent post to cover. The following morning, when we woke, the space of our Canadian neighbors was empty; as it turned out, however, they had just taken their vehicle to visit a nearby state park, and returned in the afternoon. And, while we were still debating whether to go call on them again — uncertain as to whether we would be imposing, even though our previous visit had been so rewarding — they came to call on us in our own space. That was perfect, we invited them in and talked happily for a few more hours, and traded email addresses when they were finally ready to leave.

We’re Facebook friends now as well, and I’m not ruling out the possibility of visiting them in Toronto next year. It was just nice overall, and VERY unusual for me of all people to voluntarily initiate social contact.

Sometimes, things just work out.