The van stops again, and Fred hops down off the bed. I wonder if it is safe for me to crawl out as I hear the van door open again. I sit and watch as Dad puts Fred on a leash. Mom comes to open the back door. She scratches me behind my ears. That feels so good. She asks if I want to climb down. There is concrete around the van, but it doesn’t look like a road. There is also grass and a small tree. I jumped down and begin to smell the grass. Fred had told me that a dog can learn all sorts of things with the smells. I want to be as good of a dog as Fred is.

Mom connects a big black cord from the van to a post beside the concrete. Next, she takes a white cord from the van to the post. She turns the handle and water starts to drip. She goes first to the van and then back to the post, and the water stops dripping. I’m not sure I understand, but she seems to be happy. This place has another one of those tables like the one where we had the picnic. She puts a red and white plastic cover over the table. Fred and Dad come back from a walk as she sets up chairs in the grass near the tree. She unclips me from the lead out the back door, and then clips me to another at the side door. This one is long enough for me to lay next to Fred alongside Dad. Fred tells me this is called camping, and that we will be here all night long. I know I won’t be scared as long as we will all be in the van together. Best of all when they close all of the doors, Mom unclips the cord, and I can explore freely inside the van.

Early the next morning Mom puts me on that lead at the side door. She says I can play while she makes coffee. She puts the coffee pot on the stove, and then takes Fred for a walk. The big truck that is next to us starts to make awful noises. I run back into the van, and jump into bed with Dad. I am so scared, but Dad starts to pet me and says it’s okay. The big truck drives away, and it is quiet again. When Mom comes back, she pours a cup of coffee and hands another one to Dad. They talk about where we will camp the next night. Are we really going to do this again?

After they drink their coffee Dad takes Fred for another walk while Mom puts all of those cords back in the van and closes the back doors. She makes sure there is food in my bowl on the counter and Fred’s big bowl on the floor. She also adds water to our bowl on the floor. Fred jumps up on the bed. I take that as my cue to crawl under the pillows again. Dad laughs as Mom sings, “On the road again. Right back on the road again.” Fred tells me that we will do this again before we get to Illinois. I ask why we are going to Illinois, but Fred doesn’t know.

Illinois doesn’t look any different than the other places we have camped. There is gravel under the van rather than concrete. Dad swears a lot as he sprays some nasty smelling stuff on his arms and legs. Fred said Dad doesn’t like mosquitoes. I don’t like them either when one bites me on my nose. The nasty smelling stuff seems to chase them away, so maybe it isn’t as nasty as I think. The next day we drive to someone’s house where there are lots of people. Fred says this clearly is a family reunion. It must be Mom’s family, because it certainly isn’t mine. We both get lots of pets, and Fred gets some of Dad’s food from another picnic. I sit on Dad’s lap as all of the people collect around him. A lady puts a box in front of her face, and tells everyone to smile. Fred tells me that she was taking a picture like Mom often does. Later I get to see the picture of all of those people. Maybe camping and a family reunion isn’t so bad after all.