I was born in 1941, almost 1942. So my memories of road trips are vivid from the 40's
I was raised as an only, that means I had the whole back seat to myself. That sounds wonderful until you hear the rest. I was prone to motion sickness.
We lived in West Virginia, a place that gave new meaning to curvy roads, aggravating the motion sickness. So every ten minutes or so, Dad would hear me whine that I was going to throw up.
So he'd pull over (quickly), and I would open the door and get out (or lacking time to get out), throw up on the road shoulder.
There were no interstate highways or any road resembling straight.
I've given you a different perspective of "Country Roads." That John Denver song hadn't yet been sung. I don't think it would have settled my stomach any.
Thanks Amy. In the 50’s my parents had a Nash Rambler wagon with the seats that folded down. My Dad decided he and my Mom should take us three kids and camp at a campground and sleep in the car. It was horrible, no one slept and at 3 am we drove home!
This brought back memories of our family trips to Erie, PA from Long Island to visit my Mother’s brother & his family. My parents had a 1964 Chevy Impala. It was blue. It was their first brand new car & Dad opted not to get power steering. Mom cursed him out every time she had to parallel park that car! Those trips to Erie felt like they took FOREVER! My 3 older brothers & I in the back seat while Mom & Dad smoked cigarettes in the front seat with the windows closed! I don’t remember many details but I am guessing that there were threats of bodily harm & children being left off on the side of the road! I will have to ask my brothers about their memories of those trips & how we managed to survive them!
In 1961 my parents and 3 siblings drove from LA to Pittsburgh to visit relatives.The kids ages were 11,7,5 and 3. Before we even got on the freeway my youngest brother said "are we there yet". That was repeated for the whole trip. We all still remember that and laugh. That's about all I can remember from that trip. BTW it was a white station wagon and we all slept in it on the way with the seat in the back down.
In 1967 when I was 9 years old, we moved from Kansas to Maryland. There were four of us in the back seat, with Mom and Dad up front. Dad used road maps, and there were no highway rest stops that I remember. Dad decided to take four days to do the drive, so we could stop and see some friends along the way. I remember we fought a lot in the back seat, and by the third day we all got a spanking.
I'm currently reading a wonderful graphic novel by G. Neri about a road trip his family took during the Bicentennial (1976). It was a 52 day, 8,000 mile road trip in a station wagon across the US! There are family photos, and illustrations by Corban Wilkin.
For the record, I have no affiliation whatsoever with the book and its creators.
SO much of that brings back memories of my family in the 1970s. I refuse to think of summer as over in August though. It goes most of the way through September and I look forward to the kids being in school so as an adult I can continue to enjoy summer and its fun as privilege of making it this far in life! Thanks Amy, for the memories and the fun!
Ohmygosh, I laughed until I cried listening to Charlie's story. SO many memories flooding back; fights with my brother, pulling over so one of us could throw up, and the trip where my dad declared, "That's it!" when we were in northern Maine and he turned the car around and drove straight through, all the way back to Virginia. We arrived at my grandparents house in Alexandria in the middle of the night and my grandmother just sighed.
I was born in 1950. Every summer my parents would take my older brother and sister and I on a camping trip to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We lived in San Diego. It was a grueling drive through the hot desert in a car with no air conditioning. My Mom did not allow the radio to be on because the noise bothered her. The drive seemed to be endless.
My Dad liked to stay in the same campsite every year. I am not sure whether it was a special spot or just special to him. Sometimes we moved to that site if someone got there first and then they left. Once we were settled in we did have fun.
Of course, there was always the long drive home to look forward too. I do not remember fighting, but we must have.
About 8 years ago, my friend and I decided to take our toddlers to Sesame Place, which is about a 2 hour drive. On the way home, our overly tired toddlers refused to nap and instead screamed bloody murder at the top of their lungs while we sat in rush hour traffic on the Beltway. I’m pretty sure it bonded us for life 😄
I was born in 1941, almost 1942. So my memories of road trips are vivid from the 40's
I was raised as an only, that means I had the whole back seat to myself. That sounds wonderful until you hear the rest. I was prone to motion sickness.
We lived in West Virginia, a place that gave new meaning to curvy roads, aggravating the motion sickness. So every ten minutes or so, Dad would hear me whine that I was going to throw up.
So he'd pull over (quickly), and I would open the door and get out (or lacking time to get out), throw up on the road shoulder.
There were no interstate highways or any road resembling straight.
I've given you a different perspective of "Country Roads." That John Denver song hadn't yet been sung. I don't think it would have settled my stomach any.
Steve Norcross
Thanks Amy. In the 50’s my parents had a Nash Rambler wagon with the seats that folded down. My Dad decided he and my Mom should take us three kids and camp at a campground and sleep in the car. It was horrible, no one slept and at 3 am we drove home!
This brought back memories of our family trips to Erie, PA from Long Island to visit my Mother’s brother & his family. My parents had a 1964 Chevy Impala. It was blue. It was their first brand new car & Dad opted not to get power steering. Mom cursed him out every time she had to parallel park that car! Those trips to Erie felt like they took FOREVER! My 3 older brothers & I in the back seat while Mom & Dad smoked cigarettes in the front seat with the windows closed! I don’t remember many details but I am guessing that there were threats of bodily harm & children being left off on the side of the road! I will have to ask my brothers about their memories of those trips & how we managed to survive them!
In 1961 my parents and 3 siblings drove from LA to Pittsburgh to visit relatives.The kids ages were 11,7,5 and 3. Before we even got on the freeway my youngest brother said "are we there yet". That was repeated for the whole trip. We all still remember that and laugh. That's about all I can remember from that trip. BTW it was a white station wagon and we all slept in it on the way with the seat in the back down.
Erin
In 1967 when I was 9 years old, we moved from Kansas to Maryland. There were four of us in the back seat, with Mom and Dad up front. Dad used road maps, and there were no highway rest stops that I remember. Dad decided to take four days to do the drive, so we could stop and see some friends along the way. I remember we fought a lot in the back seat, and by the third day we all got a spanking.
I'm currently reading a wonderful graphic novel by G. Neri about a road trip his family took during the Bicentennial (1976). It was a 52 day, 8,000 mile road trip in a station wagon across the US! There are family photos, and illustrations by Corban Wilkin.
For the record, I have no affiliation whatsoever with the book and its creators.
SO much of that brings back memories of my family in the 1970s. I refuse to think of summer as over in August though. It goes most of the way through September and I look forward to the kids being in school so as an adult I can continue to enjoy summer and its fun as privilege of making it this far in life! Thanks Amy, for the memories and the fun!
Ohmygosh, I laughed until I cried listening to Charlie's story. SO many memories flooding back; fights with my brother, pulling over so one of us could throw up, and the trip where my dad declared, "That's it!" when we were in northern Maine and he turned the car around and drove straight through, all the way back to Virginia. We arrived at my grandparents house in Alexandria in the middle of the night and my grandmother just sighed.
Good times! :)
I was born in 1950. Every summer my parents would take my older brother and sister and I on a camping trip to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We lived in San Diego. It was a grueling drive through the hot desert in a car with no air conditioning. My Mom did not allow the radio to be on because the noise bothered her. The drive seemed to be endless.
My Dad liked to stay in the same campsite every year. I am not sure whether it was a special spot or just special to him. Sometimes we moved to that site if someone got there first and then they left. Once we were settled in we did have fun.
Of course, there was always the long drive home to look forward too. I do not remember fighting, but we must have.
I wonder ow why we didn't go anywhere else?
The blue station wagon - love it! It's about the journey, not the destination, right?
The story about the exasperated father planning to beat every one of his kids was hilarious, laugh out loud. Thanks for that.
About 8 years ago, my friend and I decided to take our toddlers to Sesame Place, which is about a 2 hour drive. On the way home, our overly tired toddlers refused to nap and instead screamed bloody murder at the top of their lungs while we sat in rush hour traffic on the Beltway. I’m pretty sure it bonded us for life 😄