Southbound To Corpus - A Co-Pilot Adventure

I was caught in traffic, which was definitely the norm, and will most likely be for the entirety of my life. I remember, shortly after getting onto the road, seeing a notification from Waze come across the screen of my truck informing me that there was an accident ahead. Delightful news that meant that I would be adding at least another 45 minutes to my already lengthy commute home. I am sure that I met that update with a giant eye-roll, though shockingly, I do recall still being in a great mood.

I also remember that I was beyond tired, and the podcast I wanted to listen to wouldn’t load, because the lovely Ford OS in my F-150 decided that it wanted to disconnect from CarPlay. Still, I was happy. Maybe, just maybe, there was an occasional one-finger salute to someone trying to merge into my lane without a blinker, but I was still okay. My positivity was actually not the result of having thrown in the towel and just embraced insanity. At least not this time, though I am sure that is on the horizon. I had simply crafted what I believed to be one heck of a great idea.

So, not wanting to just keep said brilliance to myself, I proceeded to call my wife, Sarah. I was heading northbound on I-35 at the breakneck speed of 5 MPH, so clearly, I would have plenty of time to inform her that I had something to run by her. Obviously, there was a pause on her end almost immediately, and rightfully so. Anytime I say that I have been brainstorming, there is a rather strong chance that whatever follows will involve something completely spontaneous, money she doesn’t want us to spend, travel, something photography-related, buying a bunch of land, buying emus, or some combination of all of those.

This idea, however, by all accounts felt harmless enough. At least by my admittedly questionable standards. I had another work trip to Corpus coming up, the next day, actually, and thought that I could possibly change it up a little bit. Rather than go about this trip solo, knocking out what I needed to knock out, perhaps grabbing a few photos where I could, and then heading back north, I thought maybe I could bring one, or both, of our children along for the ride. I’d be going to check in with my friend and co-worker, Lauren, to look over some of her box trucks that were at the upfitter, and her kiddos were also on break. So, in my eyes, the idea at least had some merit.

Sarah, thankfully, opted to hear me out and actually agreed that the plan I had concocted was, in fact, a good one. I’ll take a victory when I can, no matter how big or small. In all seriousness, though, I do not often get the chance to involve my children with what I do for work, largely by design, because administrative work is the epitome of awesome. So, I figured that a work outing that would allow for an out-of-office beach detour could potentially make me look like a pretty awesome dad for an afternoon, at least in the extremely judgmental eyes of my two boys.

I eventually made it home, walked into the house, and pitched my proposition to the kids. I had honestly assumed that both would be eager to come with me, but boy was I wrong. My oldest was more excited about summer camp and almost immediately turned down my offer. My youngest, who I originally didn’t think would even care, was actually giddy with excitement. Thank goodness. If both of my kids had blown me off, I do not know if I would have been able to recover, ever. The level of excitement radiating from my youngest was ridiculous, in the best possible way, and I was honestly surprised he was even able to get any sleep that night.

He was awake when I got up the next morning, so maybe he didn’t sleep after all. Normally, it is a chore to get him and his brother awake and out of bed, especially on a weekday. He was just as excited as the day prior and was the one trying to get us on the road as quickly as possible. So, after getting my coffee, making breakfast for him, and formulating a game plan, I made sure, with Sarah’s help, that all of the gear we’d need for the day was ready. Once he was done eating, I had him help me load the truck. Then, after the required but reluctant last bathroom stop, we started the drive south.

Now, I have done this particular drive, or at least some version of it, for decades. And rather frequently. It should have been a piece of cake, and it wasn’t bad by any means, but I guess my nerves and excitement got the better of me. Having my youngest along was incredible, but it also threw me off. I was so hyper-fixated on making sure that he was going to have a good time tagging along with me for work that I proceeded to take the exit to my office. It wasn’t but a few seconds later that I realized my mistake, owned up to it, and let him know that I’d just added about 15 minutes to our drive. His reaction was perfect. A simple, “okay, Dad,” and that was it. I looked back, and he was still happy. That was enough to settle me down. He was just enjoying the drive and doing something new.

We eventually made it south of San Antonio, and thanks to light traffic, I was able to make some ground and get our ETA back in line with where it needed to be. I originally planned for us to stop at the Live Oak rest stop, but hey, when nature calls, nature calls. However, it wasn’t the one in the back seat that needed to go, it was me. So, I pulled off 37, got on the access road, and made a quick little pit stop. There’s no real point in that, other than the fact that I found it hilarious that I was expecting to have to stop because my son had to pee, and not me. I remember laughing when I asked him if he had to go, and he almost immediately said, “Nope, I can wait!”

Shortly after getting back onto the road, I looked in the mirror and noticed that the little dude had managed to fall asleep. I let him continue to nap for the rest of the trip, which was tough, as I was really enjoying our conversations. Around 10, we pulled into the parking lot of the upfitter, and I waited for Lauren and her kids to arrive. Once I saw her pull up, I woke up my co-pilot and told him he was about to see some of what I do for work. He was a little skeptical, as all he could see from his vantage point was a big metal building.

Once inside said building, though, and then later seeing all of the projects being worked on, he was left in a state of awe. The kids were able to see all of the trucks being upfit, including the police vehicles that were being worked on. They even got to test out the lights, sirens, and PA system. There are few things more embarrassing than hearing your kid come across a PA system to announce that you, according to him, stink. Thanks for that, Lauren!

Honestly, it was great. Seeing him climb through the trucks and watching his level of excitement increase was one of the greatest feelings in the world for me. My kids know that I work with trucks, but that typically doesn’t mean much to them until they see what that looks like in person. He continued to go from vehicle to vehicle, asking questions, climbing around, and having a good time.

All of the truck projects were moving along, so we wrapped up everything at the upfitter and set off for a quick lunch. While driving toward downtown, my youngest caught a glimpse of the water and really got excited. Up until this point, he did not realize just how close we were to the beach, much less that he’d actually get to see it. Little did he know, though, that the best surprise was yet to come.

After our lunch and conversations wrapped up, we said our goodbyes to Lauren and her crew, got back into my truck, and moved a few blocks down the shoreline before parking again. The look on my kiddo’s face was funny. We were now closer to the beach, but still in the truck. I then told him that Mom and I had packed his board shorts and that we had some time to play at the beach before we needed to leave. To say that he was excited would be a huge understatement. He was pretty much speechless, and I cannot recall a time that I had ever seen him get changed so fast. He probably would have run straight into the water with his regular clothes on if he had been able to get his seatbelt off fast enough, and if I had let him.

We spent a little over an hour hanging out, playing in the sand and the water, and just relaxing and goofing off. He’d draw in the sand, jump over the incoming waves, and just act like a kid. The weather was great, and despite it being toward the end of July, it wasn’t extremely hot. Granted, it was still summer on the Texas coast, so I am not going to pretend it felt like a nice spring day, but it was about as pleasant, and light on humidity, as I could have reasonably hoped for.

I did have my Q2 with me, which again, I bought for moments exactly like this. That being said, I tried not to let the camera become the point of the day, which is, at times, hard for me to do. I took a few photos when it made sense, mostly of him being himself, but I also made a conscious effort to put it down and just be there with him. I wanted to document the day, sure, but I also did not want the whole thing to feel like I cared more about documenting it than participating in it. This trip was a unique one, and one that I felt was best to just live in.

I wanted to stretch out the visit a little longer, as he was having so much fun, but I had to be responsible. After roughly adding another 30 minutes to my timeline, I told him that it was time to load up, and much to my surprise, he was okay with that. No complaining at all. He was still in a great mood and was excited to tell his brother and his mother what they missed. We rinsed off, got changed, loaded up, and set off back north. I could not have asked for a better trip, and I hope it is one of those random little days that sticks with him for a long time.

I believe that I can chalk this up as one of my better, albeit still questionable, traffic-brain ideas. I mean, how could I not, when he and his brother still ask me when the next work trip will be even close to a year later.

Until next time!
-Tyler