Road Trip Traditions

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Usually, “long” trips last four to six hours. We always bring cans of drinks and enough snacks to last the entire Cougar clan (to the second cousins, at least) for a day, much less just me, Mom, and kid sister.

First hour: Kid sister and I zone out, read books, get yelled at for ruining our eyes, annoy each other. Listen to the only decent English radio station in Taiwan.

Second hour: Kid sister naps. I zone out, slightly carsick from reading in the car, and maybe nibble on the snacks we brought. Mom strikes up a conversation with Dad, or if Dad isn’t on the car, with me.

Third hour: Traffic jam. Always. It’s like a curse or something. I’m either staring out of the car window, lost in my thoughts, or talking with Mom. Kid sister either still sleeping or reading again.

Fourth hour: Talk slows to a stop, everyone zones out except the driver.

Fifth hour: Three out of four people get impatient with the radio station. I play DJ with my CD player and speakers. Kid sister and/or parents complain about my choice of music. I twiddle with my CDs until kid sister is satisfied, and we both start singing along with the music.

Sixth hour: Still singing along with the CD player, occasionally turning the music down so that the person riding shotgun can call on his/her cell phone to whoever we’re visiting this time and get directions to where to meet. Driver shushes kid sister and me constantly, or complains about our singing skills. We get lost at least twice along the way to the meeting site.

My family’s car trips always turn out to be like this, in general.

22

This reminds me, I picked it up at summer camp one year. Anytime you go over a ‘Texas trap’, one of those grills that are wide enough to prevent cattle etc from goin on the road and off the area, you have to lift your feet and put your hands on the roof to prevent the trolls underneath from causing problems to the car.

23

Aha!! I KNEW there had to be another one out there besides me!

I grew up in New England. Therefore, the ocean is always to the east. If you’re driving south, you turn LEFT to get to the ocean. It was that way from the day I was born up until I moved …

… to Oregon.

For the first four or five YEARS that I lived here, I kept turning left to get to the ocean, only to find myself staring at the beautiful snow-capped peaks of the Cascades…

Thanks, NoClueBoy, I feel much better now.

Oh, and another road trip tradition from my end that I just remembered - it is mandatory in any car that I’m riding in that there must be at least one “All United States” map. It doesn’t matter if the trip is only 250 miles along the east coast, that national map HAS to be in the car or it’s not a road trip!

24

Loud arguments between the driver and passenger as I lose myself in a book, attempting to drown them out with my headphones.

25

When I drive any road trip with my mom (God forbid…), we always start out singing “On the road again…” She took the last trip to NJ by herself, and I got a call at 6:45 in the morning, of her straining voice. I was less than amused.

Whenever we get to Pensacola, we always go to Hall’s Seafood before we go to visit the family.

When we used to cross the bridge on I-10 right before the time zone changes from Eastern to Central, we’d hold our breath, and when we got to the sign, we’d all go “Whooosh!!!” and lunge forward in our seats like we were changing atmospheres or something, and immediately reset our watches. It started when I was about 6…I did it by myself a few weeks ago, and I just felt silly.

Anytime I come to construction cones in the road, Sara tells me not to hit the cones. The same with traffic cops.

26

Works just great when transporting three kids (my honorary grandkids) in the 5-10yo range on a twelve-hour road trip. The youngest, who couldn’t read last summer when we did this, became adept at flagging new states and having Uncle Dave read them for him – which gave him points. Over the course of the trip we got 38 states and 8 Canadian territories and provinces, including Alaska and Hawaii (the only times I’ve ever seen those plates) and NWT – in Maryland; I figure now that it must have been Ginger! :slight_smile:

27

I must wear flip-flops (or mocassains), so I can slip them off & drive barefoot.

Led Zeppelin and Van Halen must be played at some point. Oh, and Golden Earring.

There should be a quilt in the car.

Most important:
The Alphabet Game!
I’ll even play against myself, if I’m traveling alone.

28

I love to take road trip vacations…this year I had the great luxury of time, and drove from San Diego to Key West, then to Chicago and back west via Route 66. I must always listen to either ‘Tommy’ or ‘Quadrophenia’, without interruption, at full volume, on May 19th (Pete Townshend’s birthday)

29

There must be pumpkinseeds, in-shell.

We also must play the Grandma Game. My grandmother has this thing about randomly mentioning things that she sees out the window. “Oh, a herd of Holstiens.” “There’s a sign for a Methodist church. I didn’t know there was a Methodist church in this town.” “Oh, look at the lilac bush.” None of these things are remotely noteworthy, but Grandma makes note nonetheless, and shares with the rest of the car. So the rest of the family has a little joke, where you mention something banal and uninteresting, and the other people in the car have to notice that you’re mentioning something banal and uninteresting, and say, “Thanks, Grandma.”

“Oh, look, a green mailbox.”

“Thanks, Grandma.”

This sometimes backfires, of course. You’ll see something you actually think is interesting, and say, “Oh, wow, what gorgeous tulips.” And someone will pipe up with, “Thanks, Grandma.” Then you throw something at them.

My husband thought we were all incredibly mean, until he took a car trip with Grandma. At the first rest stop he pulled me aside and hissed, “Oh my god, you were right!” “About what?” “The Grandma Game! My god!”

We love Grandma, honestly. But we couldn’t survive road trips with her unless we were mentally thinking, “Thanks, Grandma.”

30

As soon as we’re officially out of town, we play the “Hallelujah Chorus” from the “Soulful Messiah”.
If Simon & Garfunkle’s “The Boxer” comes on the radio during the trip, everyone must sing, but quacking like ducks. I have no idea how that got started; I think it must have been on a very long trip.

31

Gummi worms must be eaten for breakfast and as snacks. If we pass through a town that has a flavor or color in it (for example, Lime Lake) then we have to eat the corresponding worm (for example, a green one).

We also play the license plate game.

A log of the journey is kept, noting funny place names, road signs, etc.