Idea for RV Short Story

An elderly couple pulls into a coastal RV park towing an Airstream trailer. It’s a brand new Silver Cloud model. It’s so new it has a DMV trip permit taped to its rear end.

They park alongside a tent camper, near two scraggly Sitka spruces. The sun is out, the breeze refreshing, and birds flit around. The ocean is two blocks away. It sends up a comforting roar through the grounds.

The tent camper watches the couple set up the trailer from inside his tent, while he simultaneously reads an Ed McBain novel. It takes the couple over an hour to decouple the hitch, balance the trailer, hook up the power and water, stake down this and that, chock the wheels. There is much starting over, trial and error. They seem highly unsure of the process, but evince no frustration in their voices.

At last the couple seem content with the set-up and take a seat outside on Airstream chairs. The tent camper leaves his tent and strikes up a conversation with the couple. He learns: this is the Airstream’s maiden voyage. They purchased it in Portland and drove west to the coast and ended up in this RV park, where they will stay for five nights. The trailer is easy to tow, the man says, but he’s a little shaky backing it up.

The RV park manager shows up to assist with hooking up the Airstream to cable television. He works on it for almost an hour, trying multiple cords, plugging in here, there, and everywhere. No signal. The Airstream is just so damn new and gleaming and high tech that it can’t talk with park’s system. The WI-Fi works fine, however.

Since there’s no cable television, the couple decide they can’t stay. The park refunds their money and the manager wishes them “happy travels.” It’s now 5:00 pm and they’ve driven all day and still have to drive and find a park where they can watch cable TV. They spend another hour hitching the trailer to their truck and getting everything squared away. They climb inside, the man starts the engine, there are some clinking and creaking noises coming from the trailer, they fall silent, and seconds later, the Airstream is gone.

The tent camper is incredibly sad.

That’s the story.

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