11 On the Road

Chapter 11 On the Road Wake up!" Dr. McDonald shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "Today is the first day of the rest of your lives!" Coke rolled over for one more minute of precious sleep. In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered the envelope he'd found under his pillow the night before. He had memorized the message that was inside it: KCAORE HTANAO EASUO HEAHT NIAUO AYTEA EMLLIAWI. But just because you're classified a genius with a photographic memory doesn't mean you're good at figuring out secret messages and codes. Coke considered himself a numbers guy, an action guy. Ace Fist. Before he'd fallen

asleep, he had slipped the envelope into his backpack so he could show it to his sister in the morning. She would be able to decipher it. She was good at that kind of stuff. "Who's ready to go coast to coast?" hollered Dr. McDonald as he bounded into the twins' room clapping his hands enthusiastically. "It's our manifest destiny!" "Not mine," Coke groaned. His dad opened the shades to let in some light and to try to wake up the kids. Then he went outside and finished packing the RV, carefully going through his checklist to make sure he didn't forget anything essential: extra water, flashlights, jumper cables, road flares, first aid kit, pens and paper, trash bags, camera, and so on. Mrs. McDonald busied herself with food, filling the little RV refrigerator and emptying the one at home. A carton of milk left in a fridge for two months would not be a pretty sight when they got back.

Coke threw his iPod, cell phone charger, and a few books into his backpack. He was ready to go. Pep was a different story. In the last few months, she had started to care—for the first time—about her personal appearance. Suddenly, she was spending hours straightening her hair in the mirror and agonizing over what she should wear. Coke teased his sister as she smeared a mysterious substance she called "foundation" on her face to cover up a few pimples that nobody would ever notice in a million years. Some days she even put on nail polish or lip gloss. "You're still ugly," Coke remarked as his sister examined herself. "It's genetic." He liked teasing her about her looks, as they looked almost

exactly alike. "Let's go!" Dr. McDonald shouted urgently. "The open road awaits us! We've got to get through California today!" Pep stuffed her hair-straightening iron into her backpack. As an afterthought, Coke grabbed the Frisbee and deck of cards that Bones had given them. There would be time to kill on the road. Even if his sister couldn't throw a Frisbee, he might meet somebody who could. Mrs. McDonald had prepared bagels for the kids to eat on the road. She didn't want to wait another half hour for them to eat a proper breakfast at home. Finally, everyone piled into the RV, grown- ups in the front seats, kids in the back. "Take a deep breath, everybody," Dr. McDonald said, closing his eyes. "Can you smell it? Can you taste it?" "Taste what, Dad?" Coke asked. "Fresh air," his father replied. "If we were taking this trip by plane, we'd be breathing stale,

recycled air." "We'd also be in Washington a few hours from now," Coke said. "I thought recycling was a good thing, Dad," Pep commented. "Not recycled air," her father replied. "You kids need to get back to nature. It used to be that children would explore, learn, and become part of their world. But now they just snap digital pictures of each other, Facebook their friends, text, and Twitter. You need to slow down, enjoy the moment. You're too impatient to get to the next thing." "Yeah, can we go now, Dad?" Coke asked. "This is boring." "You don't know how lucky you are," Dr. McDonald said. "Very few kids get to see this great country the way people used to: on the open road. It's soul lifting. You're going to see what makes America's heart beat. My family took a cross-country trip when I was a kid. Boy, those were some of the best memories of my

life. "What happened?" Pep asked. "Uh... I... don't remember, actually," Dr. McDonald admitted. "It was a long time ago." "It must have made a huge impression on you, Dad," Coke remarked. "Well, it was a great trip," his father insisted. "I remember that much." "Can we go already?" Mrs. McDonald said impatiently. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get to Kansas." "And why exactly are we going to Kansas?" Pep asked. "To see the largest ball of twine in the world!" Mrs. McDonald exclaimed. "Remember?" "Oh yeah," Coke muttered. Dr. McDonald rolled his eyes and turned the key. The RV rumbled to life. It didn't sound like a regular car. The whole thing vibrated. "Front and back doors locked?" he asked Mrs. McDonald, the copilot. "Check," Mrs. McDonald replied.