…but, one of the things that happens when you get older, if you’re lucky — you lose your stupid prejudices. My wife has always been more open to stuff like RV life than me. She’s never worried about not being hip or made fun of. I want to be like her when I grow up.

This birthday-of-my-country weekend, we’ve parked our new motorhome under the cedars of the Chehalis Thousand Trails campground in Western Washington. This spring has been extra cool and wet, and everybody in the state’s complaining. The Fourth is cloudy here, and the heat is supposed to arrive Tuesday, when everybody’s gone back to work.

After two weeks here, I’m more convinced than ever that George Orwell was right: if there’s hope for us, it’s with the proles — all the folks around us here, with their tents, trailers, motorhomes and vans, roasting marshmallows, laughing with their kids. They’re especially happy today, in spite of everything going on in our bumbling country, because it’s our country, and our birthday.

Join up with me on Facebook, here.