Tall Tales
Written by Victoria Redel
Story from the "O's Little book of Happiness"
Somewhere after Farson, Wyoming,
my sons grew restless in the backseat. Who could blame them?
We’d been traveling all day and
well into the night, driving out of Utah to Thermopolis, Wyoming, home of the
world’s largest hot spring.
“Just go to sleep,” we commanded from the
front seat, already exhausted by this vacation.
“Tell us a story,” they said-and so began the
adventures of Extravaganza and her sidekick and more or less true love, Cowboy
Pete. From that night on, they became part of all long family car trips.
Extravaganza rides her horse with
a diamond tiara shining in the light of the moon. Or, hobo-style, she jumps
trains to Detroit to win a few hands of cards while searching for the parents
of a lost boy.
Or she and Cowboy Pete crack
treasure from a sunken lobster boat-they use the gold to help the lost boy, and
the change is spent on strappy sandals. Our car rides are a means of going on
vacation, of course-but now they’ve also become a way to go on a wild
adventure, even when we’re still strapped and buckled in.
