Road Trips

Spring inevitably leads to the conclusion that vacation season is almost here. Growing up, that usually meant a road trip somewhere, first with a tent, then later with either a pop-up camper or a small travel trailer.

In those pre-internet days, it also meant that Mom had to get on the job to plan the trip. This wasn’t a simple matter of just deciding where to go, mind you. It meant not only planning the ultimate destination but also the route to be followed, finding appropriate campgrounds (her requirements were minimal – flush toilets, hot showers, and at least once a week laundry facilities on-site) and the activities to occur on the trip.

To this day, I’ll drive 100 miles out of my way just to see the World’s Largest Ball of String or some other local oddity.

Looking back, I realize now that the logistics involved matched those of Hannibal taking his armies across the Alps – with the Elephants – to invade Rome.

Mom shopped rates to get the best deals, looked at travel guides for ratings and amenities, and wrote ahead for reservations.  Meals were planned from the freezer and packed in ice chests to minimize purchases on the road.  Gallons of iced tea were made for the journey and, anticipating what happens afterwards, a large coffee can with a plastic lid was brought along to minimize comfort stops for the kids.

Boys simply do have a biological advantage over girls in some cases.

I can’t imagine that mom ever dialed a “1” to make a long distance telephone call for any of those things. Long distance telephone calls were reserved for birth and death notices, and were kept to the bare minimum.  Mom managed so well by mail, though, and the trips were so well planned that my grandparents could send their weekly letters ahead to the campgrounds so mail was waiting for us when we arrived.

The first of the trips that I even vaguely remember was to California, in the summer of 1964. Dad had a new Ford Econoline Van. Ours was Kaopectate green initially.  My brother and I were 2 and 4, respectively.

Now, before you go romanticizing a trip like that let’s remember that this van was little more than a shoebox with wheels. Safety equipment was virtually non-existent, and when my youngest brother came along after this trip his perch was a collapsible stadium seat bolted to the motor box, which was located between the front seats.

There was no air conditioning. We were going from Oklahoma ACROSS THE DESERT to California. In the summer. Dad still maintains this was when he confirmed the joy of driving at night.

Children's car seats were virtually unknown and the van was great from the perspective that it had lots of room for my brother and me to crawl around during the trip.

Mom had a plan of action for keeping two toddlers happy, too. We had “goodie bags” that came out at regular intervals, and included a small lunchbox with thermos (just like Dad’s) that seemed to be magically replenished with animal crackers and Kool-aid while we napped. Coloring books, crayons and an assortment of a few toys both appeared and disappeared with enough regularity to keep them novel as well.

Travel now is a bit easier, if not less complicated. There are no toddlers in our lives currently, nor are any anticipated in the foreseeable future. The internet makes the pace of planning the trip faster even if it doesn’t take less time given the need to filter the overwhelming volume of information, and the ability to climb on an airplane and be transported in hours rather than days makes the venues available for vacation more numerous.

It does make it harder to figure how who has exactly the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, though, Cawker City Kansas, (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8543) or Darwin, Minnesota (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2128), and how best to get there.