The Wild Bunch

Sleepless, Ice Cream Man and I decided to take a road trip to the town where Butch Cassidy and his gang, ‘the wild bunch,’ committed their first bank robbery (on record, that is) – Telluride. This isn’t because we have a fascination with bank robberies and want to become modern day Bonnie and Clyde and Blanche (Barrow, one of their sidekicks). Rather, we wanted to celebrate the birth of one of Telluride’s most famous visitors: Sleepless.

Somehow, we managed to fit all of our belongings (it takes a lot of stuff to ‘camp’ in a hotel for four days) into Ice Cream Man’s car. It is days like this and, on days when I’m craving a Nut Sundae, that I wish Ice Cream Man had a van. Once we were in the car, the road trip festivities began.

In preparation for the road trip, Ice Cream Man offered to purchase Sleepless an iPhone, “so you two can play games in the car.” ‘You two’ meant me and Sleepless. Although the three of us squeezed into the back of a Prius last year for a ride to JFK, this was really Ice Cream Man’s first road trip with the two of us and he was in for a sweet surprise. “He has no idea,” Sleepless told me after sharing the iPhone/game story.

There are all kinds of books and online articles offering advice on road trips – especially when taking road trips with kids. Though Ice Cream Man didn’t read up, he did seem to, innately, know some of the tips. He shared family stories, had a ‘go-kit’ equipped with chargers, maps, magazines, snacks (O’Doul’s for me – very nice touch), and historical information about Telluride (which is how we learned about Bonnie and Clyde).

As we traveled through an area with no cell phone service, he asked us questions about Telluride’s history and geology. “Not fair, I can’t Google the answer right now,” I advised him and added, “Had I known we wouldn’t have coverage for a while I would have packed an encyclopedia.” Sleepless concurred.

We crossed state lines without incident and without cell phone coverage or phones with games, and continued to road trip ‘old school’ – talking, observing signs, avoiding wildlife. Ice Cream Man was telling us a story about someone who may or may not be gay. “Have you asked him?” Sleepless asked. “I have, but he won’t be straight with me,” Ice Cream Man replied and Sleepless and I started giggling. “Seriously. I’m in a car with ten-year-olds,” Ice Cream Man stated and we giggled some more.

Approximately 11 hours after our intended departure, we arrived at our hotel. The bellman kindly approached the car, opened the doors and exclaimed, “Wow. You’ve got a lot of stuff in there.” Then, just like we did in New York and like clowns do daily, our wild bunch and all of our belongings exited the vehicle and began our adventure in Telluride – an old mining town that was first called ‘Columbia,’ and is now known for skiing, festivals and, after this weekend, mayhem.