Debbie and I always enjoyed running away every chance we got, so In February of this year, we bought an old Dodge van. Kinda rickety and wobbly but nevertheless full of potential. I completely gutted the inside and built in a full size bed, storage, stereo, lights, heat, air conditioning, and reupholstered the entire inside. It was our own little home away from home and just the perfect size. Well, our first trip was to Williamsburg Virginia to see Busch Gardens, via Wilmington (of course!), and Raleigh on the way back. Eight days of me and my girl. Playing. We drove to Wilmington first and spent two days there. Naturally, we went to the arboretum. We took the coastal highway from there to Williamsburg instead of the interstate. Back roads, small towns, ferries, little mom and pop food stands. It was awesome. One of the ferry rides was almost two hours. Debbie and I went up to the top deck and just sat under the most beautiful sky. We talked and I started telling her jokes again. It was kind of chilly so we were sitting close, holding each other, and she was laughing so hard we almost fell off of the bench. It's a moment that I'll never forget. Never. We went on the Williamsburg and got there pretty late the next night. It wasn't that far away, we just weren't in any hurry. We would just drive and stop and eat or shop or whatever we chose when we wanted to. Sometimes we would just pull over to take a nap. We spent two days at Busch Gardens. Of course we toured the brewery and had beer. Fresh beer. Just made beer. But they would only let you have one. We rode every big ride they had at the theme park, some several times. They weren't very busy because the official season had not started so the crowds were small. The highlight was a small 3-D theater they had there. You had to wear the funny glasses of course. There were places to stand with little rails to hold on to so we grabbed one and got ready. Debbie was chilly when we went in so she stood in front of me, after she had unzipped my coat and snuggled inside, and I had reached around her and grabbed the rail so she didn't have to hold on. We really didn't expect much because we had never been in a 3-D theater before but the next thing you know, the show starts. Well, it's a story about a group of about four 8 to 10 year old kids that get shrunk by a witch. Small enough to fit in a small box that would fit in your pocket. Our "view" was that of one of the kids that was shrunken, so we were "in the box" so to speak. Well, the floor would drop, and tilt, and shake, and all sorts of things depending on what was happening on screen. It was awesome! Somebody would grab the box and run with it, or somebody would pick it up and throw it and a bird would catch us in mid air and fly away with us. Once we were in a guys pocket that jumped off of a cliff onto the back of a flying horse that obviously didn't want to be ridden. Debbie was screaming and laughing and jumping up and down and it was just about all I could do to hold on to the rail so we didn't go sliding across the floor. The show lasted about twenty minutes and by the time it was over, I was worn out. We had to get a drink and sit down to rest. I'll bet we sat and talked about that thing for an hour. We talked about it several times since. Needless to say, it was a small blessing we had the chance to share. We went to Raleigh on the way back south and spent three days with my sister and her family. Even though we were with family, Debbie and I continued to stay in the van. It was comfortable, it was quiet, and it was our space. By the time we got home, we had stress tested the van pretty good. We were very pleased and now that we had the van road ready and tested, it was only the first of several magic trips we took in it.