This past Saturday, the boys and I explored the “Touch-a-truck” event at the Seminole Towne Center. There were about a dozen different trucks, all open for kids to crawl around. Most of them were RVs, but there were also some real trucks (garbage, power, towing, etc).

Each of the real trucks had a little pavilion set up next to it, where its owners could talk to kids and hand out brochures. All in all, it was a great setup – except for the heat. just walking across the pavement would have been enough to pull the sweat out of a camel.

The boys and I didn’t get to the event until around noon, and by then the people manning the trucks looked positively exhausted.

We rode on the train and worked our way through each of the trucks. Despite the oppressive temperatures, it was a lot of fun.

The last truck we stopped by was more of a bus – a long-red school bus to be exact. The sign on its pavillion proclaimed it to be the BookMobile.

“What’s that?” my oldest asked.

“Go find out,” I said.

The two ran to the empty bus and climbed in. I smiled at the ladies sitting under the canvas tarp and walked after the boys.

It was air conditioned in the BookMobile, and its sides were lined with shelves of books. My youngest was stretched out on the floor between the selves, reading. My oldest was on one knee, peering at the titles.

“Daddy,” he shouted as I stepped in. “This is heaven!”

I left the bus. “Hey,” I said to the ladies. They looked tired and hot, and ready to leave. “Thought you might like to know that my eight-year old just told me he was in heaven.”

The two ladies’ faces broke into big open smiles. They gave me a brochure, and the BookMobile’s schedule, and explained how it all worked. We chatted for a little bit, and then I went back into the bus to gather up the kids so we could go.

Heaven is a cool BookMobile on a hot day. Hard to argue with that.