Remember family road trips?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I remember those family road trips. This was before the era of Interstates. To get to East Podunk, you had to drive through 18 small towns, each with a dozen stop signs. And your chances of remembering the routes was nil. I always remember our road trips, because my dad knew a "short cut". He had this 6th sense about them-he ALWAYS wound up on a dirt road. I mean ALWAYS. I remember going to Rocky Point Park in R.I. We'd pile into the car, which had been sitting in the sun, and we char broiled on the way, after getting stuck on a dirt road. I think there is still some of the skin from my back and thighs on the back seati of that 1953 Nash.
 

I detested the annual road trip from NYC to Florida when I was young. This was way before the interstates. Three days each way sitting next to my younger sister, and bored silly.
 

fuzzybuddy said:
I remember those family road trips. This was before the era of Interstates. To get to East Podunk, you had to drive through 18 small towns, each with a dozen stop signs. And your chances of remembering the routes was nil. I always remember our road trips, because my dad knew a "short cut". He had this 6th sense about them-he ALWAYS wound up on a dirt road. I mean ALWAYS. I remember going to Rocky Point Park in R.I. We'd pile into the car, which had been sitting in the sun, and we char broiled on the way, after getting stuck on a dirt road. I think there is still some of the skin from my back and thighs on the back seati of that 1953 Nash.
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Love this thread, Fuzzy!

We were poor so made few road trips, but I remember one road trip in particular where we all piled into the family car at the height of summer, an old green, four-door boat (as long as a city block), to go visit a great aunt and uncle some 16 hours away.

I was 12 at the time, and being the oldest, I always had to "ride the hump", meaning I sat in the middle in the backseat, with siblings on either side, and usually with mom holding onto one in the front. No air-conditioning, vinyl seats that were as hot as a stove-top element when you first got in, painfully searing ones bare legs, and mom smoking away, her cigarette smoke wafting into the back seat the whole way.

Baby brother was a tot and still in diapers, and mom refused to buy disposables, so a plastic bread bag sat under her seat full of wet and soiled diapers, and every hour or two dad would pull the car over at a roadside stop (pullover) so mom could change baby brother, and the rest of us kids could go pee and have a snack.

The trip felt like eternity, and by the time we reached our destination, between the long drive, the traffic, and the heat, we were all exhausted. Although dear auntie and uncle were so good to us kids, it was the longest, most boring week I spent away from home that summer, and couldn't wait to get back home again to see my friends, do my own thing, and settle back into my own life.
 
We used to drive from Michigan to Smithfield, Virginia every summer. We spent one week on the farm of my paternal grandparents, and another week at Buckroe Beach where there was an amusement park. It had one of those huge wooden roller coasters my brother and I rode on many times. Here's a YouTube video of someone's visit there in the 50's when we used to go there:

The drive took about 14 hours if we drove straight through. Sometimes we would stop about halfway at Breezewood, PA. and spend the night.
When we drove straight though, my mother would have some fried chicken and bread for a snack. I remember it tasted so good.

I got stung by a jellyfish at that beach once. I was 8 years old and a wave pushed it up against my arm. It felt like I was on fire and I ran out of the water screaming and kept running. A lifeguard saw me, figured what had happened, and tore out after me. My parents were sitting on a blanket watching their daughter being chased by a lifeguard who had to tackle me to get me to stop. He rubbed sand on my arm and then put some kind of purple gel on my arm to help the stinging. One of those stories my parents dragged out every now and then to tell friends who came over for dinner. 🤣

But the drive was pretty good. Lot's of beautiful scenery along the way.
 
I enjoyed going on trips with my grandmother and aunt. It was usually just the three of us. I was the navigator using a collection of maps from the gas station.

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The trips with my family were pretty awful. I remember my mother always wanting to stop at some small attraction and my stepfather flying past because we had to make time. Then there would be a period of bickering or even worse complete silence. It was the same rolling out in the morning while it was still dark so we could beat the traffic or driving into the night to find a cheaper motel, etc...

Maybe those family trips are the reason that as an adult I always preferred to rent a rustic little cottage on a quiet lake for a week or two.

Since I stopped working I'm content to stay home and go on a few little day trips in the surrounding countryside.
 
I'm still twitching 60 years later, thinking about the yearly hell-drive from Indiana to Virginia.

Old station wagon.
Lots of kids. Constant squabbling.
No air conditioning.
One kid who got car sick with predictable results.
Stinky car.

When the squabbling got too intense, my mother would reach back and start swatting anyone she could reach. "OWWWW! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" "Maybe not THIS time, but you will" was the answer. The secret was to stay out of her reach.

You could only hope that dad could stop the car in time for the carsick kid to get out. Otherwise you hoped that said kid wasn't in the front seat, didn't yark out the window while the car was moving and you weren't sitting at an open window in the back seat. Ahhh, the memories.....

My dad would always, at some point, pull the car over, get out and start walking. He'd yell "OK, THAT'S IT! I'M FINISHED AND I'M WALKING HOME. GO ON WITHOUT ME!" We'd run after him, begging him to come back. He'd get back in the car and on we'd proceed with The Trip to Hell.

Funny thing......we'd have a great time once we got there and would agree that it was THE BEST TRIP EVER. Memories can be altered with ice cream, fudge and a few tacky souvenirs.

The first year I had my drivers license, I got to drive for a while. That is.....until I slammed on the brakes and the cartop carrier flew forward and crashed down on the hood. I didn't get to drive any more that trip.
 
Family road trips! We went on a few. Twice we drove out east all the way to Prince Edward Island.
My dad drives fast. He’d take chances in the car that nobody would take so as we gripped the back seat, my mom screamed for him to slow down. Of course I was the one stuck in the middle and back then there’s was a huge lump on the floor.

Luckily we all enjoyed camping so the trips were fun. There were many difference conservation parks we went to. We’d swim, canoe, make fires for hot dogs and marshmallows.

Another road trip was driving to California for two months and back. That was an interesting road trip. I really enjoyed going from state to state. We saw the Grand Canyon; dolphins jumping, mountains, rivers, and the ocean.

Once we got to California we stayed at a hotel the entire time. We went to Disney Land; went on boat rides, swam a lot and explored while my father went to work. My mom had flown back 2 weeks into the trip. What should have been a great time truly wasn’t. When my dad drove back he’d park at places we could be entertained. One was a bar with pool tables and games to play. Once the owner saw us he chased us off so we’d have to hang out until my dad woke up.

The following years my road trips were with my school and they were awesome. We went on a week long camping trip one year and drove out to Vancouver for 3 weeks and flew back. We stayed in the nicest hotels. I’m not sure who organized this trip but it was probably the nicest trip I’ve ever been on
 
Keesha said:
Family road trips! We went on a few. Twice we drove out east all the way to Prince Edward Island.
My dad drives fast. He’d take chances in the car that nobody would take so as we gripped the back seat, my mom screamed for him to slow down. Of course I was the one stuck in the middle and back then there’s was a huge lump on the floor.

Luckily we all enjoyed camping so the trips were fun. There were many difference conservation parks we went to. We’d swim, canoe, make fires for hot dogs and marshmallows.

Another road trip was driving to California for two months and back. That was an interesting road trip. I really enjoyed going from state to state. We saw the Grand Canyon; dolphins jumping, mountains, rivers, and the ocean.

Once we got to California we stayed at a hotel the entire time. We went to Disney Land; went on boat rides, swam a lot and explored while my father went to work. My mom had flown back 2 weeks into the trip. What should have been a great time truly wasn’t. When my dad drove back he’d park at places we could be entertained. One was a bar with pool tables and games to play. Once the owner saw us he chased us off so we’d have to hang out until my dad woke up.

The following years my road trips were with my school and they were awesome. We went on a week long camping trip one year and drove out to Vancouver for 3 weeks and flew back. We stayed in the nicest hotels. I’m not sure who organized this trip but it was probably the nicest trip I’ve ever been on
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I remember the hump on the floor real well! LOL!

Not funny at the time, but my folks always felt better with big sister in the middle, so of course no window to enjoy which used to chap my rear-end something awful. :mad:
 
Aunt Marg said:
I remember the hump on the floor real well! LOL!

Not funny at the time, but my folks always felt better with big sister in the middle, so of course no window to enjoy which used to chap my rear-end something awful. :mad:
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My folks felt better with little sister in the middle. I found it hard on the tailbone since you couldn’t sit with your legs together . If I put another leg on one side I’d have one brother barking at me and if I put my leg on the other side I’d have the other brother barking at me. There was no window and when my brothers rolled theirs down, my hair would be everywhere so I’m just gonna take the time here and now to whine about it. ☺😆
 
Keesha said:
My folks felt better with little sister in the middle. I found it hard on the tailbone since you couldn’t sit with your legs together . If I put another leg on one side I’d have one brother barking at me and if I put my leg on the other side I’d have the other brother barking at me. There was no window and when my brothers rolled theirs down, my hair would be everywhere so I’m just gonna take the time here and now to whine about it. ☺😆
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I remember it all so well!

The heat is what used to get me the worst. No air, and moms cigarette smoke wafting and swirling around the car. She tried so hard to stick her cigarette out the fly window, but with all of the windows in the car opened, there was no escaping it.

Between the heat, the cigarette smoke, and the wet ammonia diapers wrapped-up in a plastic bread bag fermenting under moms seat, it's was a trip to remember! ROFLMAO!
 
Oh the car games really were fun. My parents were smart. They got us each a booklet of car road games and it was a real hit. It must have lessened the echo’s of ‘Are we almost there yet?’
 
We took a lot of road trips when I was a kid.
One that stands out was the time my dad bought me a sea horse blow up tube for swimming. I had wanted one for a very long time. We generally ended up by a lake on our day trips and the gas stations would have all the tubes blown up on a string. They knew the lake region and I guess they made extra money selling them.
My Mom was totally against me having a tube. She said I'd never learn to swim.
I was so happy when we finally got to the lake. I trotted off with my sea horse and I almost made it into the water when my Mom told me to leave it on the beach and practice swimming. After dog paddling around for what seemed like hours she finally let me have my tube. The head was losing air because it was in the hot sun but I finally made it into the water. 15 minutes later my dad was packing up the car and I was told we were going home.
I sulked in the back seat all the way home.
 
My dad wasn't big on stopping for pee-breaks, especially since none of us could coordinate our bladders. Fifteen minutes after a potty stop, someone else would start whining. "WHY DIDN'T YOU GO WHEN WE STOPPED 15 MINUTES AGO?" "I DIDN'T HAVE TO!" "WELL, HOLD IT!" WHIIIIIIINE.....

So, we had the coffee can with two inches of sand in the bottom. That was the porta-potty of our day.

There weren't any fancy-schmancy rest stops with flush toilets and sinks and drinking fountains and vending machines. There was, if you were lucky, a pull-over with a splintery picnic table and a fly-blown overflowing trash barrel that hadn't been emptied since the Roosevelt administration. Restroom facilities consisted of the afore-mentioned coffee cans or the bushes and you could count on the bushes having been well-used already.

We never stopped at restaurants to eat. My mother would pack enough food to feed an army and that's what we ate. I dreamed of some day stopping at one of the Smucker's Restaurants along the way, but noooooooooo. We might get to stop for ice cream if we had refrained from killing each other.

Remember the "glass barns"? That was one place we always stopped. My mother could not resist a glass barn to pick up a platter or a pitcher or some dishes and we always got those tiny little glass "chicken dishes" that came in various colors. If I remember correctly, they were 25 cents.

I also remember visits to emergency rooms along the way. Somebody slammed a door on a finger. Somebody stepped on a nail. Somebody came down with a sore throat and a raging fever and needed a penicillin shot. When you have that many kids in a car, somebody's going to have an emergency.

When we got to the grandparent's house, my mom would say, "Here, they're yours!" and disappear into a darkened bedroom for 24 hours. My dad would go fishing.
 
jujube said:
My dad wasn't big on stopping for pee-breaks, especially since none of us could coordinate our bladders. Fifteen minutes after a potty stop, someone else would start whining. "WHY DIDN'T YOU GO WHEN WE STOPPED 15 MINUTES AGO?" "I DIDN'T HAVE TO!" "WELL, HOLD IT!" WHIIIIIIINE.....

So, we had the coffee can with two inches of sand in the bottom. That was the porta-potty of our day.

There weren't any fancy-schmancy rest stops with flush toilets and sinks and drinking fountains and vending machines. There was, if you were lucky, a pull-over with a splintery picnic table and a fly-blown overflowing trash barrel that hadn't been emptied since the Roosevelt administration. Restroom facilities consisted of the afore-mentioned coffee cans or the bushes and you could count on the bushes having been well-used already.

We never stopped at restaurants to eat. My mother would pack enough food to feed an army and that's what we ate. I dreamed of some day stopping at one of the Smucker's Restaurants along the way, but noooooooooo. We might get to stop for ice cream if we had refrained from killing each other.

Remember the "glass barns"? That was one place we always stopped. My mother could not resist a glass barn to pick up a platter or a pitcher or some dishes and we always got those tiny little glass "chicken dishes" that came in various colors. If I remember correctly, they were 25 cents.

I also remember visits to emergency rooms along the way. Somebody slammed a door on a finger. Somebody stepped on a nail. Somebody came down with a sore throat and a raging fever and needed a penicillin shot. When you have that many kids in a car, somebody's going to have an emergency.

When we got to the grandparent's house, my mom would say, "Here, they're yours!" and disappear into a darkened bedroom for 24 hours. My dad would go fishing.
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I never heard of the "glass barn" before, but it sounds like it would have been my kind of place, and I just know my mom would have loved it.
 
Reading through all of these and there are so many of your experiences that I had in one way or another. Brought back a lot of memories. You know how they say, "Someday you'll laugh about this"? It's true. Whatever bad memories are now rather amusing. :LOL:
 
Ceege said:
Reading through all of these and there are so many of your experiences that I had in one way or another. Brought back a lot of memories. You know how they say, "Someday you'll laugh about this"? It's true. Whatever bad memories are now rather amusing. :LOL:
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Love it, Ceege! :)
 
Every summer when us kids were still teenagers (3 of us), my dad would drive us to Santa Cruz for 2 wks. We had a 4 door chevy Impala...red and white, with flame decals lol. My brother's addition to the family car.

My dad would drive up, then drive home to work during the week, and come back up on the wknd. My sister usually got to bring a gf or 2. I guess my brother liked that!

We'd bring up a big hunk of cooked roast beef and maybe a ham for sandwiches.
The beach, boardwalk...fun times!

And you hoped you didnt get sick on the ride over through pacheco pass.
 
I remember on one of our drives to Virginia, my brother and I had a stuffed Lassie dog in the backseat with us. There was a semi-truck from a dog food company ahead of us. When my father passed the truck, my brother and I ducked down, held that stuffed dog up to the rear window, and moved one of his front legs, like it was waving at the dog food truck driver.
Well, fourteen hours in a car makes just about anything fun. 😂
 
Not too many car trips for me when I was growing up but did a fair amount of travel with our six children. One very happy memory was reading some of the classics out loud to them. They especially enjoyed Tom Sawyer. They laughed at Tom’s antics, they sat in the edge of the seats when Tim and Becky were in the cave... Mark Twain is a great writer
 

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