The Road Trip
So I guess I've been busy as I see I haven't posted in 2 months! Let's fix that right now.
Summer time always reminds me of road trip vacations. You know what I'm talking about...remember those trips, where we sat in the back seat of cars, with no air conditioning, and rode along the highway to some destination for a few days or, if we were lucky, for a week to somewhere different and interesting? Think about your trips when you were kids...if you are an only child, you were likely given a bag of "stuff" to keep you busy, and probably not expected to talk, whine, cry while driving was going on. Those of us with siblings had a different experience.
It began with seat jockeying for the window, if there were more than 2 of you. Calling it was typical, and it had to be done right before the car got loaded - no doing it the night before as that wasn't "fair". And if you had an enforcer listening (read "parent"), you would be forced to give up the window at some point to give the middle seater a shot at the window. With no air conditioning, this was a real punishment, and we all knew it! That one in the middle seat was guaranteed to whine.
I got car sick so I usually called and kept that window seat for the entire trip, leaving the 2 younger ones to duke it out for the other window seat. I was also the eldest so that was another reason to keep the window seat. Now that window seat meant that you were like a dog for much of the trip, with your head out the window, and unable to hear a word being said in the car. If it rained at all, you were in the same "boat" as the middle seater, cause that window would go right up.
If we were lucky enough to go along with another family who had a station wagon, we would get the way back, with the window down (hey, it was the 60's - we chased after mosquito sprayers!). That was cool, except for the occasional fumes of the exhaust. Our family didn't get a wagon until I was out of high school, so this experience wasn't normal for me!
After the car got all packed up, and we got in, off we'd go to the thruway entrance. I remember a few key trips...to Salem, the Poconos, to Lake George, and to Florida. These trips always took place in the summertime (read hot as hell). The car I remember was a Buick Century...off white leather seats with no air conditioning (that was probably $100 more...). It was a four door, so there was that at least, and the trunk was deep enough for a week's worth of luggage for us all. We had our pillows in the back seat, and whatever we chose to bring in the car. For me, it was a few books. Mom always had a pad and pencils for the License Plate game, which was only good for about the first hour of the trip (when most of the plates were CT!). By the time we got to the good stuff, especially on the way to Florida, we hated the game, even though Mom kept trying.
Going to Salem was an easy ride, as was the Poconos. We caravaned with other families to the Poconos and Lake George, were on our own to Salem and Florida. After all, if you didn't have an air conditioned car, why would you choose to go to Florida in July???? Lake George was far, but as with Salem and the Poconos, it was a one day trip. Florida was 3 days...
Mom didn't believe in a cooler with sandwiches, etc. and we weren't allowed drinks in what was then a pretty new vehicle. So restaurant stops were required. Dad had spots he wanted to try, as per the AAA trip books recommendations for not too expensive but sit down meals. Our first stop was on the highway in New Jersey (you know those rest areas have been there for such a long time!). Usually the one right before the Delaware Bridge so Mom could switch to drive. Dad had a fear of bridges (see my blog from last year when I drove to NC with him). We would eat some crappy fried food, use the bathrooms and beg for water to take in the car. Arguments between the 2 younger kids would get a bit louder as we got closer to getting in the car...we knew Dad was nervous about the upcoming bridge crossing so we totally teased him. Once we got on the bridge, we leaned out the windows and yelled things like, "Wow, cool, look at those boats over there". Mom joined in, even though she was driving, "Yeah, the water must be deep here, huh?". Dad had his eyes closed, and would yell, "Keep your eyes on the road, Irene!". Of course, we laughed the whole way across. I even let the middle seater lean over into my window on those bridge crossings.
Along the road (had to be I-95), we looked for Stuckey's signs, and especially Pedro from South of the Border.
Our first overnight stop was in Virginia for that trip...we got a great meal and played in the pool and on the playground, staying all in the same room, of course. The 3 girls in one bed, Mom and Dad in the other. No suitcase unpacking was ever allowed, even when we stayed places for multiple days. I still don't really know why. When I go somewhere now, I unpack immediately!
Our next day was the long ride day...from southern VA to GA. Getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Atlanta was the end of the ride for Dad and for us. No breeze, July, humid, yeah, we were done. Off the highway and into the land of hotel/motel. We all wanted to stay at a Ramada - perhaps their signs were cool? We never ended up at one...eventually Dad pulled into a Holiday Inn (a close second to Ramada, in our eyes). That's where a few family legends were born.
First, we wanted to swim in the pool, so we hustled to the room, and got our suits on, running to the pool. Got our fill of chlorine, and started back to the room. My middle sister never saw a pay phone she didn't want to check the change thingy on, so we headed back via the phone area...there we heard a guy (beard, probably a truck driver, given the amount of 18 wheelers in the lot) say, "When I get home, I'ma bite you on tha thigh". Yup...part of the family lore.
After a dinner in the motel's restaurant, we started to figure out who was sleeping where. Itchy pants kid ended up on the bed alone, until we saw our first palmetto bug, and we didn't care about itchy pants at all! Jumped right UP on that bed! Yup...part of the family lore!
Next day, we headed to Fort Walton Beach, to our cousins'. My Mom's sister (who Dad and I visited last September) lived with her Air Force husband there, and we loved our cousins, who were the same ages as us (close enough!). We stayed with them at their house, and enjoyed the beach on the freaking hottest day ever (and got the worst EVER sun burns). Another family lore piece...A picnic in their backyard included brownies. Now, my Dad never met a brownie he didn't want, so he tried to "take" a piece of the littlest cousin's...and there the whole brownie went! Right to the ground. "Uncle Kenny made me drop my brownie" in the best southern accent became part of family lore! Years later, we told that to our cousin, who remembered exactly that moment.
We then caravaned, after a few days, with them to the holy land of all children in 1972, Disney World in Orlando. The Park had only 3 hotels, no Epcot Center, no Universal Studies...we stayed at a Sheraton outside the Park. Now, in those days, it was thought that our families would have had to pay more based on how many of us there were. So our parents made us all (cousins too) sneak in and out of the room, up the back stair cases. My Aunt DID believe in coolers and sandwiches, so we had cereal for breakfast in those little individual cereal boxes (milk does leak, you know). And we brought sandwiches with us to the Park, having to go back to the parking lot when we wanted to eat lunch. We didn't care...it was DISNEYWORLD!
Some adventures in the Park included the 2 littlest ones (sister and cousin) getting lost during the Main Street Parade...we searched all over the Park for those 2, seemed like hours...later, we found them, eating ice cream cones walking down Main Street. Seems like they got in line with a big family, and were ordered cones right along with the rest of the kids, and just kept walking...lucky, all of us. Also, family lore!
I don't even remember the ride home...the 2 week trek was amazing!
So many road trips over the years...Now we have 3 kids who are grown, and they have the same sense of wanderlust. One drove long haul trucks for a few years, and travels at the drop of a hat, driving where she will (and has a Harley as well). Another treks where he likes, spending 6 weeks this past winter in South America with a backpack and a friend. And the third lives far away in Louisiana and is spending the weekend in Austin, TX, checking it out as a possible place she may want to live some day.
Road trips...
Summer time always reminds me of road trip vacations. You know what I'm talking about...remember those trips, where we sat in the back seat of cars, with no air conditioning, and rode along the highway to some destination for a few days or, if we were lucky, for a week to somewhere different and interesting? Think about your trips when you were kids...if you are an only child, you were likely given a bag of "stuff" to keep you busy, and probably not expected to talk, whine, cry while driving was going on. Those of us with siblings had a different experience.
It began with seat jockeying for the window, if there were more than 2 of you. Calling it was typical, and it had to be done right before the car got loaded - no doing it the night before as that wasn't "fair". And if you had an enforcer listening (read "parent"), you would be forced to give up the window at some point to give the middle seater a shot at the window. With no air conditioning, this was a real punishment, and we all knew it! That one in the middle seat was guaranteed to whine.
I got car sick so I usually called and kept that window seat for the entire trip, leaving the 2 younger ones to duke it out for the other window seat. I was also the eldest so that was another reason to keep the window seat. Now that window seat meant that you were like a dog for much of the trip, with your head out the window, and unable to hear a word being said in the car. If it rained at all, you were in the same "boat" as the middle seater, cause that window would go right up.
If we were lucky enough to go along with another family who had a station wagon, we would get the way back, with the window down (hey, it was the 60's - we chased after mosquito sprayers!). That was cool, except for the occasional fumes of the exhaust. Our family didn't get a wagon until I was out of high school, so this experience wasn't normal for me!
After the car got all packed up, and we got in, off we'd go to the thruway entrance. I remember a few key trips...to Salem, the Poconos, to Lake George, and to Florida. These trips always took place in the summertime (read hot as hell). The car I remember was a Buick Century...off white leather seats with no air conditioning (that was probably $100 more...). It was a four door, so there was that at least, and the trunk was deep enough for a week's worth of luggage for us all. We had our pillows in the back seat, and whatever we chose to bring in the car. For me, it was a few books. Mom always had a pad and pencils for the License Plate game, which was only good for about the first hour of the trip (when most of the plates were CT!). By the time we got to the good stuff, especially on the way to Florida, we hated the game, even though Mom kept trying.
Going to Salem was an easy ride, as was the Poconos. We caravaned with other families to the Poconos and Lake George, were on our own to Salem and Florida. After all, if you didn't have an air conditioned car, why would you choose to go to Florida in July???? Lake George was far, but as with Salem and the Poconos, it was a one day trip. Florida was 3 days...
Mom didn't believe in a cooler with sandwiches, etc. and we weren't allowed drinks in what was then a pretty new vehicle. So restaurant stops were required. Dad had spots he wanted to try, as per the AAA trip books recommendations for not too expensive but sit down meals. Our first stop was on the highway in New Jersey (you know those rest areas have been there for such a long time!). Usually the one right before the Delaware Bridge so Mom could switch to drive. Dad had a fear of bridges (see my blog from last year when I drove to NC with him). We would eat some crappy fried food, use the bathrooms and beg for water to take in the car. Arguments between the 2 younger kids would get a bit louder as we got closer to getting in the car...we knew Dad was nervous about the upcoming bridge crossing so we totally teased him. Once we got on the bridge, we leaned out the windows and yelled things like, "Wow, cool, look at those boats over there". Mom joined in, even though she was driving, "Yeah, the water must be deep here, huh?". Dad had his eyes closed, and would yell, "Keep your eyes on the road, Irene!". Of course, we laughed the whole way across. I even let the middle seater lean over into my window on those bridge crossings.
Along the road (had to be I-95), we looked for Stuckey's signs, and especially Pedro from South of the Border.
Our first overnight stop was in Virginia for that trip...we got a great meal and played in the pool and on the playground, staying all in the same room, of course. The 3 girls in one bed, Mom and Dad in the other. No suitcase unpacking was ever allowed, even when we stayed places for multiple days. I still don't really know why. When I go somewhere now, I unpack immediately!
Our next day was the long ride day...from southern VA to GA. Getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Atlanta was the end of the ride for Dad and for us. No breeze, July, humid, yeah, we were done. Off the highway and into the land of hotel/motel. We all wanted to stay at a Ramada - perhaps their signs were cool? We never ended up at one...eventually Dad pulled into a Holiday Inn (a close second to Ramada, in our eyes). That's where a few family legends were born.
First, we wanted to swim in the pool, so we hustled to the room, and got our suits on, running to the pool. Got our fill of chlorine, and started back to the room. My middle sister never saw a pay phone she didn't want to check the change thingy on, so we headed back via the phone area...there we heard a guy (beard, probably a truck driver, given the amount of 18 wheelers in the lot) say, "When I get home, I'ma bite you on tha thigh". Yup...part of the family lore.
After a dinner in the motel's restaurant, we started to figure out who was sleeping where. Itchy pants kid ended up on the bed alone, until we saw our first palmetto bug, and we didn't care about itchy pants at all! Jumped right UP on that bed! Yup...part of the family lore!
Next day, we headed to Fort Walton Beach, to our cousins'. My Mom's sister (who Dad and I visited last September) lived with her Air Force husband there, and we loved our cousins, who were the same ages as us (close enough!). We stayed with them at their house, and enjoyed the beach on the freaking hottest day ever (and got the worst EVER sun burns). Another family lore piece...A picnic in their backyard included brownies. Now, my Dad never met a brownie he didn't want, so he tried to "take" a piece of the littlest cousin's...and there the whole brownie went! Right to the ground. "Uncle Kenny made me drop my brownie" in the best southern accent became part of family lore! Years later, we told that to our cousin, who remembered exactly that moment.
We then caravaned, after a few days, with them to the holy land of all children in 1972, Disney World in Orlando. The Park had only 3 hotels, no Epcot Center, no Universal Studies...we stayed at a Sheraton outside the Park. Now, in those days, it was thought that our families would have had to pay more based on how many of us there were. So our parents made us all (cousins too) sneak in and out of the room, up the back stair cases. My Aunt DID believe in coolers and sandwiches, so we had cereal for breakfast in those little individual cereal boxes (milk does leak, you know). And we brought sandwiches with us to the Park, having to go back to the parking lot when we wanted to eat lunch. We didn't care...it was DISNEYWORLD!
Some adventures in the Park included the 2 littlest ones (sister and cousin) getting lost during the Main Street Parade...we searched all over the Park for those 2, seemed like hours...later, we found them, eating ice cream cones walking down Main Street. Seems like they got in line with a big family, and were ordered cones right along with the rest of the kids, and just kept walking...lucky, all of us. Also, family lore!
I don't even remember the ride home...the 2 week trek was amazing!
So many road trips over the years...Now we have 3 kids who are grown, and they have the same sense of wanderlust. One drove long haul trucks for a few years, and travels at the drop of a hat, driving where she will (and has a Harley as well). Another treks where he likes, spending 6 weeks this past winter in South America with a backpack and a friend. And the third lives far away in Louisiana and is spending the weekend in Austin, TX, checking it out as a possible place she may want to live some day.
Road trips...
Comments
Post a Comment