Road Trip Stories and the Next Generation

If you were to join my husband and me for dinner sometime you would see that he has a lot of stories to tell, and many about his life growing up. He has so many that he enjoys to tell that I sometimes kick him under the table to let him know to wind it up.

But I have to say I never get tired of hearing about his childhood family vacations in the station wagon with 6 kids, 2 adults, with all the luggage squished in except for that one coveted spot in the back where one kid would get to stretch out and lay till the next stop. I have had a couple of station wagon cross-country trips myself. My brother and I would hold up the peace sign while in the back facing the vehicle behind us. Or play Bingo with these cards on which you’d cover up your square if you’d see a silo, or a train. And I learned that if you were a boy you could pee in a cup if you had to go really bad.





My husband’s parents took their 6 kids up and down the East Coast many a time beginning when my husband (the youngest) was out of diapers. My husband may not remember last week’s conversations but he does remember details from these trips such as:

· For lunch they’d pull over to a rest stop and unload a cooler and two boxes for a complete lunch. Then later that night at the motel she’d cook dinner for 8 people using one pot and some type of burner and the entire motel would smell of their food.

· For breakfast who else remembers the Kellogg’s cereal in little boxes you’d open at the perforations, pull back the cardboard and wax paper and pour in your milk.

· When he was about 4 years old the family left him behind at a rest stop at the picnic table. They were five minutes down the highway before noticing. One brother knew but didn’t say anything. My hubs was still there, waiting, when they returned.

· Their highlight in New York City was throwing the tiny bars of soap from the hotel bathroom window and onto passersby below.

· Their highlight of smaller towns was ending the day at a motel pool. Their dad would pull into a motel at end of day to inquire if they had two adjoining rooms. He’d walk out of the office with a thumbs-up and they knew they’d be swimming.

· This memory is from his mom but he says it now explains why they looked like a bunch of ragamuffins in the trip photos. His mom would pack each of the kids’ oldest, worn out clothes for the trip. Each day she’d leave yesterday’s clothes behind in the motel. No dirty clothes to deal with.

· As the youngest my husband often had to ride in between his mom and dad in the front seat. He remembers his dad would sometimes sip from “a cold one” in a small, brown paper bag. There are no abuse problems here. For him it was like sipping on one Coke. We both find this amazing.

We have recently decided to create some Road Trip Memories for our boys, and for us. The most we’ve driven one way with our boys is 10 hours to our destination. They do really well and I swear we were the last family around to even buy just one portable dvd player. I heard my youngest son telling his brothers that they will REALLY be able to play the alphabet game on this trip. After the last couple years of wanting to, we are going to the Black Hills of South Dakota. And the Badlands. And Colorado. Which is a 21 hour drive. Which will be broken up by stays at a motel with pools.
I mentioned the other day that it may be near the same price if we flew and rented a car but my husband replied that it would not be a real road trip that way. And fortunately I agree.

I love hearing family road trip stories. What are yours?