Road trips with the parents!

[Fyrefox]

Do you have memories of family vacations or road trips with your parents when a child? Were they good, horrendous, or just boring? What kind of things did you do at your destination?

I can remember when my father decided to vacation in the American south during the summer months in the early 1960’s in a car without air conditioning. It was hour after hour on the road in the oppressive heat, while you could see my mother’s mood bake to perfection! Things got so bad between them that my father sat alone outside at the motel while mother sat inside as I watched the snowy black-and-white TV in the room. Fun times, and life lessons on marriage!

 

[Jackie23]

Yes, I can remember when I was about 13, a trip to California to visit relatives....my dad had just purchased a new Ford Fairlane.
There was my mother, father. my brother, me and my best friend.
The three kids in the back seat, my best friend and I put sun tan lotion on our arms and hung them outside to get a tan, it wasn't long until the brand new car had oil all over the sides of the car, my dad was not happy... I remember dealing with the heat too....we stayed in 'tourist cabins' and I remember we were so impressed that our cousins got to live in a beautiful state close to the ocean.

 

[Aunt Bea]

My stepfather bought a pop up Skamper camper that we used for weekends and vacations. The thrill of family camping lasted about two years.

The camper eventually became my stepfathers summer home in the backyard for naps and sleeping during hot humid weather.

The vacation outings were interesting but never what I would call fun.

My stepfather always had a schedule to keep so we spent most of the time on the road.

My mother used to grumble and sulk as we sped past many interesting shops and attractions.

I tried to zone out in my happy place.

 

[bowmore]

I hated them.
Each summer we would drive from NY to Florida. I sat in the back seat with my younger sister. It was 3 days down and 3 days back, plus a week in some third date hotel. Bored???

 

[jujube]

We took lots of long, grueling road trips in an old station wagon with no air conditioning.

We girls would bicker constantly ( "she's looking out my window, she's making faces at me, she has my comic book and won't give it baaaack, I'm gonna throw up!, I gotta go to the bathroom, etc, etc.")

My mom would reach back and start flailing at whomever she could reach. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!!" got you no sympathy. If you didn't deserve it this time, you'd probably doubly deserve it next time.

Dad would pull over to the side of the road at least once every trip, get out of the car and start walking back down the road, saying "Go ahead without me, I'm walking home." We knew he'd be back in a minute, but common courtesy called for us to pour out of the car and pursue him down the road crying, "Come back, Daddy, we'll be good!!!!" We wouldn't, of course, that was a given. But it allowed for face-saving and on we'd go til the next crisis.

Somebody always stepped on a rusty nail or came down with strep throat, so every trip involved a stop at a small-town hospital ER for a shot of penicillin or anti-tetanus serum.

But, y'know, I remember those trips fondly.

 

[Feelslikefar]

While my Dad was riding his new Ship from the East coast to Hawaii, we ( mom, myself and two brothers )
left Florida in our new Chevy Impala and drove to California.

My Dad had planned our trip so they ( mom and older brother ) would only drive like 400 miles each day.
We only stayed in Holiday Inns and were in the pool each day before Supper.
Dad did his best to ease the move for us and it is always one of my favorite thoughts of him.

Best trip ever.

Remember my job was to pick the radio station that was played in the car.
I bought a post card from every place we stopped to send to my friends in Florida.
I'm sure we fought and fussed, but don't really remember any of that.

First day or so, I was still pretty sad about leaving my friends and didn't talk much.

Then, the beauty of the desert and mountains took over and I accepted my fate.

Made it to California, arranged for the car to be shipped to Hawaii ( Navy picked up the tab ) and we got on a
plane to Hawaii.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

My road trips were mostly in the 1950s+. That was before the US interstate roads were built. You went from town to town. My dad always knew a "shortcut", even if he never had been near the place in his life. So, we were on these back roads on these "shortcuts". I don't know how my dad did it, but we always wound up on a dirt road. I can hear my mom saying, "You take a right, here" , and my dad saying "no", he knew a short cut. Then, of course, soon, we were on a dirt road. When I was living in Queens, NYC, my parents drove down. My dad found a dirt road in the middle of Queens.

 

[Jackie23]

You know these long ago trips were such an adventure to us kids, especially a country kid like me that had never been anywhere.....and the memories have stayed with us....enjoyed reading every one.

 

[Fyrefox]

My father worked in NYC, so he liked to “get away from it all” on summer vacations.- - Boy, did we get away from it all! I remember one trip to an obscure lake in New Hampshire where traversing the rough dirt access road there knocked an ignition wire loose in my father’s car. The tiny cabin in which we stayed had chipped and mismatched dishes. There was no TV, and nightly entertainment consisted of swatting mosquitos and re-reading magazines. Such vacations served the purpose of making you glad to return home…

 

[fuzzybuddy]

On our road trips. my mom was the navigator, she had the map. And this was pre- Interstate. You had to drive to Dudley, the take a right to go to Thompson, at the light take a left to Webster, etc., etc., etc, My dad was driving, and said to my mom, "Let me know way before we have to turn". My mom would say, "Yes, of course". My dad would again say, ""Let me know way before we have to turn". My mom would say, "YES, YES I know", Then ten minutes later, she 'd say "you were supposed to turn back there." I can't tell you how many times that happened.