How to Survive the World Cup of Softball

Now, let me preface this by saying that I've never been to Oklahoma before.

Wednesday, July 11, my fifteen-year-old daughter, Becca, and I drove the 480 miles with pop-up camper in tow and our drive down went great. When we got there, that's a whole other story.

It began six months ago, in January, when my daughter, Becca, who is in her own right a rather talented athlete and an avid sports fan, came to me telling me the only thing she wanted for her birthday in July was a trip to Oklahoma City to see Team USA play in the World Cup of Softball. Being a reasonable mother, I told her I'd take that information under advisement and look into it.

After investigating ticket prices (not wholly unreasonable...reserved seating for all sessions ran $60.00, general admission for all sessions was $30.00) and the other expenses involved, I told her sometime in February we'd go ahead and make the trip.

Now, my husband and I own a "vintage" 1978 Starcraft Starliner 8 pop-up camper, which is to say that this spring, it was a real "fixer-upper". My husband, Todd, the saint that he is, spent all his spare time refurbishing wiring, plumbing and reinforcing the roof. My job was to take a completely mildewed-through roadside canvas panel and find a replacement. I ended up making my own. I couldn't find a company that would replace just one panel of canvas without ordering all five panels to the tune of around $900.00. So, I purchased $50.00 of indoor/outdoor canvas from JoAnn Fabrics, made my own pattern and in a matter of hours had a new panel that didn't quite match the color of the rest of the canvas, but added to that "vintage" (read "piece of crap") flavor!

All this work, all this time, energy and effort directed at saving a couple of dollars because I thought my daughter and I would spend three to four times as much on hotels as we would at a campground...and we'd be using the camper again, right? This was a time, energy and effort investment. Riiiiight.