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Nothing says poignant like a father-son adventure: Dad showing Junior how to build a fire, set up a tent, or perhaps paddle a canoe. In Wells Tower鈥檚 family history, there has been plenty of that. Wells and his father, Ed Tower, a professor emeritus of economics at Duke University, embarked on their first journey together, to the Gal谩pagos Islands, in 2000, the year Ed was diagnosed with lymphoma. Eight years later, when they booked the trip to Iceland and Greenland that would provide the action for 鈥淢eltdown,鈥 what began as a once-in-a-lifetime bonding excursion had turned into an annual father-son tradition, one that typically devolved into farce, frequently surrounding Ed鈥檚 fondness for being nude. (This would come in handy a few years later when Wells took his dad to Burning Man; not so much when the two were sharing a hotel bed in France.)
When Wells鈥檚 older brother, Dan, came along, the trips could escalate into bitter feuding. The Tower boys had fought all their lives, with fists, knives, canoe paddles, and, once, scalding-hot brownie batter.
Meltdown
This 2008 story reveals the hilarious dynamics of family travel. On a trip to Greenland with his father and brother, after only a week the author was seized by a tantrum-pitching impulse and the overwhelming desire to punch himself again and again in the face.Such sibling love is also a hallmark of family travel. Thankfully, the Tower boys have outgrown their hatred, but readers benefited from it in 鈥淢别濒迟诲辞飞苍鈥 and several other Wells stories, including one in which he and Dan competed in Venice鈥檚 famed Vogalonga regatta, with predictably catastrophic results.
Wells talked to 国产吃瓜黑料 from his home in Durham, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and six-year-old son. A prolific magazine writer and an author of short stories鈥攕ome of which are collected in his first book, 鈥he鈥檚 busy these days as a screenwriter. Netflix recently bought his original screenplay for Pain Hustlers, a film about pharmaceuticals, conspiracies, and the American dream, which will star Emily Blunt.
Elizabeth Hightower Allen, who interviewed Wells for this update, asked him who should be chosen to play the Tower men if Hollywood ever makes a film of 鈥淢eltdown.鈥 鈥淥h, John Lithgow for my dad,鈥 he said. 鈥淒anny McBride for my brother. And for me, maybe Peter Sarsgaard. Unless he鈥檚 too hunky. If that鈥檚 the case, maybe Bud Cort from Harold and Maude.鈥
OUTSIDE: First, how is your dad? In 鈥淢别濒迟诲辞飞苍鈥 he was in remission from lymphoma, and when I read one of your later stories, he was going through chemo again. I got a little worried.
TOWER: He鈥檚 good. His recurring illness was kind of a gift in that way鈥攊t led us to operate under the idea that he was going to drop dead at any moment. We would take all these trips and be acutely conscious of how much we mattered to one another. Somehow he just kept on ticking. He鈥檚 going to be 80 next year. I was recently down on the North Carolina coast with him and my son, Jed, fishing together. So yeah, we鈥檙e lucky.
What was the first trip you took once he was diagnosed?
It was a pretty scary situation initially鈥攈e was given a super bad prognosis, because he had a weird kind of lymphoma. But my stepmother did an amazing job researching hospitals. He was treated at MD Anderson in Houston and went into remission pretty quickly. So when we decided to take a big trip, we chose the Gal谩pagos, which seemed far and extravagant. I think maybe we were thinking he wasn鈥檛 going to survive. Later we went to France, and Southeast Asia a few times when he was teaching in Bangkok. But the Greenland trip was the most exotic one we鈥檝e done.
Where would you place it on the continuum of awful family vacations?
Well, there was a great one, before my dad鈥檚 mortality scare, when he was teaching in New Zealand. We went out to Great Barrier Island, near Auckland, where a friend of his had built a little cabin in the woods. Before that we mostly cruised around to vineyards鈥攖he idea was to fish and hang out in the cabin and drink great wine. It was a long hike into the cabin, and we had terrible gear, duffle bags full of clanking bottles. When we finally got there, it started pouring rain. The place had been built out of whatever logs this guy had chopped down and propped into a semi-waterproof structure, and all we could do was hang out in this dank little cabin.
Our first night, we drank too much and crawled into a tiny bed we had to share. It just smelled gross; this was not a sumptuous set of digs. When I woke up in the morning, I had what looked like Concord grapes all over my body, and I thought, Oh my God, what鈥檚 the deal here? It turned out it was rodent feces. I jumped out of bed and saw, right where our heads had been, the corpse of this gigantic, bloated, decaying jungle rodent. I鈥檇 had my head on it a little, and my father had been fully using it as a pillow.
I have to ask: Was your dad naked?
Probably, yes. If he wasn鈥檛, it was because I鈥檇 always make him put on something before we shared a bed. Anyway, that experience became kind of the keynote for our trips.
Was your brother there?
Greenland was the first trip Dan joined us for. We argued so spectacularly that a few years later 国产吃瓜黑料 sent us to Venice, where we ended up in the Grand Canal, trying to beat each other up in a kayak.
In 鈥淢eltdown,鈥 your dad is adorable, chatting and dancing with people, but also totally embarrassing. Meanwhile, your brother has an epic pout.
Dad鈥檚 a great person to travel with, because he never lets anything get him down. Whatever curveballs the trip throws, he finds a way to turn it all into part of the adventure. Dan really likes to be in control, and when we landed in Iceland he had a vision for what we were going to do鈥攖hat we鈥檇 just hang out in Reykjav铆k for the next ten days and do some day trips. And I was like, Dude, we are doing the story for 国产吃瓜黑料. We promised them glaciers and hikes, and that is what鈥檚 happening. He was so irritated that I pulled rank on him. I mean, I default to my own babyish tendencies when I鈥檓 around him. But now that we both have kids, we鈥檝e grown up a bit. I tell myself that we鈥檝e both really matured and we could do a grown-up trip together.
Did it ever get to the point where your brother was like, Stop writing about me?
We had a breakthrough moment with the fact-checking for 鈥淢eltdown.鈥 That trip was so bad, and I guess my assumption had been that Dan would never read the story. I thought, I鈥檒l just get Dad to confirm everything. Then of course the fact-checker, being a scrupulous person, wanted to talk to Dan. God. OK, fine. So I had to call him up and get him on board. It was a whole thing. But after their conversation, Dan called me and said, 鈥淵ou know what? It sounds like you got it right. You were really being a jerk, and I was doing my thing, and you were being a dictatorial schmuck. You told it right.鈥
You have your own family now, and 国产吃瓜黑料 sent you camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park when your son was a newborn. What鈥檚 your travel dynamic?
None of the Tower-family travel-related psychodrama seems to be part of this next generation. Jed鈥檚 a good traveler. My wife, Erin, is a great traveler. If anything, I think that, in my wife鈥檚 perception, I鈥檓 fairly ineffectual. I cannot Tetris the station-wagon trunk to save my life. What usually happens is that I entertain Jed while my wife says, 鈥淕et outta my hair. I鈥檓 gonna pitch this tent. I can鈥檛 deal with any of your frustrations or opinions about where this needs to be.鈥 And everything seems to work very well.
During the pandemic, we had these van-life fantasies, and now we鈥檙e finally picking up the teardrop camper we ordered. It鈥檚 basically a queen-size bed on wheels, but then we put a small roof tent on top so it can accommodate everybody. There鈥檚 a little fridge and a cooktop and solar. It鈥檚 really gonna boost our game.
In order of travel partners, how would you rank these: father, brother, wife, baby?
I gotta give it to Dad. You always get an adventure with that guy. There have been trips where things went wrong. But often these are trips I am writing about, so in a reverse kind of way, it鈥檚 a gift.
How have those trips changed your relationship?
When I was a kid, I would get so embarrassed, because he was always the guy who would take his clothes off in the parking lot at the tennis court to change. He was just somebody who was unembarrassed, and now I realize it鈥檚 a fantastic quality. This trip we just took down the coast, we did a half day of fishing where there was a guy baiting the hook and casting for you. I鈥檓 such an uptight rule follower, I鈥檓 like, 鈥淭hose are the rules鈥攈e鈥檚 gonna bait and cast. I鈥檓 not gonna do anything.鈥 But my dad was like, 鈥淗ey Jed, let me show you how to cast the rod.鈥 And I鈥檓 thinking, Oh God, is he breaking the rules? But he鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 great. He鈥檚 teaching Jed how to cast.
When Jed gets old enough to write a piece about an adventure with his dad, what do you think he鈥檒l write?
I hope I鈥檓 able to be as fearless and embarrassing as my father. I hope it鈥檚 not My dad is a stick-in-the-mud who鈥檚 not gonna risk casting the reel for fear of offending a boat captain. I probably should consciously start accumulating a list of travel commandments from my dad.
What鈥檚 your advice for traveling with family?
Other than to do it with love in your heart, what more can you say?