Have you ever seen the old movie, The Long, Long Trailer? Oh my goodness! It’s a classic! So try to watch it, if you haven’t.
On their honeymoon, Lucy and Ricky go across the country with their new 40-foot house trailer.
(Their names are Tacy and Nicky in this movie, but I’ll call them Lucy and Ricky!) Here’s the “trailer.” to the movie:(If the website music is playing, you’ll want to “pause” it so you can hear the videos in this post. (Find the music adjustment on the right of laptop or tablet. Scroll to bottom of post for music adjustment on phone.)
Who wouldn’t want such a beautiful trailer as they bought. Their trailer was called the long, long trailer. In contrast, I have referred to ours as our cute little trailer. If you’ve followed my website posts, you know that Ron and I took our cute little trailer across the country for a month this summer. It made it even more fun to laugh at Lucy and Ricky in this movie.
They haul their long, long trailer up and over the mountains in Yosemite National Park. Now, to give you some background, Lucy, against Desi’s will and knowledge, has collected rocks from each place they’ve visited. Large, heavy rocks, which she has hidden in the storage places of the trailer, adding a huge amount of weight to the already heavy trailer they are pulling. In the clip below from the movie, listen to the sound of those rocks shifting in the trailer as he tries to make the ascending grade and turns those tight corners. Here’s a clip:
On our recent trip out west, Ron and I did not visit Yosemite, but we did haul our cute little trailer up and over mountains and steep inclines in and around Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and throughout mountainous areas in the states of Washington, Oregon, and South Dakota. Although laughing while watching this video, I nonetheless cringe when I see that sign Lucy and Ricky pass as they begin the ascent up the mountain:
“Notice. 20 Miles of Steep Narrow Winding Road Ahead. Difficult for Trailers.”
It brings back all those times / hours of sitting in that truck, going around hairpin curves, the wind gusts blowing our cute little trailer, as we edged the mountainside. I grabbed the support bar on the door beside me and held tightly, my body tightening, holding my breath – every time we approached certain signs . . . 
You get the idea! I wrote about the tremendous fear that increased within me after we had traveled Hwy 49 near Glacier.
But back to the movie – it’s just fun to laugh at their mishaps, especially when you “connect.” And I think most of us women “connect” to Lucy at one time or another. And I’m sure most of you men “connect” to Ricky, too. Ron and I have laughed so much at that segment where Lucy and Ricky are making small talk as they ascend the mountain while they’re both actually scared to death! Ricky asks her about a book she’s read. And Lucy starts singing to mask her uneasiness! Ron and I did the same thing! Tried to make small talk to conceal our anxiety. One time I started singing, following someone’s suggestion I’d read on a Yellowstone/Glacier Facebook page about traveling the mountains. Well, when I started singing, Ron didn’t like it because he knew I was nervous, which made him more nervous! Looking back, it’s all really funny, but at the time . . . well, there was one time I asked Ron to stop along the road so I could get out and stretch and get some fresh air. (And pray!) And another time I broke down and cried when we finally got over that mountain! Yes, we connect to Lucy and Ricky.
Many times I was too nervous to video or take pictures, but I did take this one I’ll share. On this road, Going to the Sun Road (see links below to learn more about this road), we had decided to “soak up every minute” and stop at each pull off to view the mountains around us, with drops right beside us of thousands of feet! But when we were actually up there, I changed my mind! You’ll hear our discussion:
Lucy collected rocks. I collected stones.
Once Ricky discovered Lucy’s rock collection in the trailer, he threw them all out!
My stone collection ended up in a pint jar on my kitchen counter. 
Looking back on our drives through the mountains, Ron and I laugh. Watching The Long, Long Trailer makes us laugh more. Every time. And it’s good for us to laugh. The Mayo Clinic website says laughter is good for us, both short term and long term. Laughter stimulates our organs and improves our immune system. An article in Forbes tells of research showing that laughter actually improves the heart. But then we knew it anyway, didn’t we? God told us long ago that
22 “a joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”
Living in today’s world is stressful. We all need to focus on the beauty of the journey as much as we can. To make small talk. To sing! To spend time together as much as we can. To drink of the medicine of laughter. To revive our broken spirits.
And to laugh. Yes, we need to laugh. And Lucy and Ricky help us do that!
Going to the Sun Road:
Click here to read about the road From NPS.
Bighorn Mountains:
I can relate. Great story about real life.
Glad you enjoyed it, Marcia!
Oh my Word! Just watching your video made my body tense up. EIYIYIYI! I love the Ricky and Lucy clip. Makes me want to watch the movie. Yes, we need to laugh more.
Oh I love this! You and Ron’s conversation cracks me up! Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to watch this movie!