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Road trip with kids and boyfriend
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<blockquote data-quote="nerfherder" data-source="post: 595069" data-attributes="member: 15907"><p>I've done 6+hour road trips a *lot.* This is where one of Kiddo's obsessive behaviors comes in handy - reading roadsigns aloud.</p><p></p><p>Years ago when Perfect Enough Child was little, on long drives to family a couple-three states away, she and DEX would do the "Beetle!" game, where you get points if you see a VW Beetle and holler it out first. One day we were waiting at a train crossing when I looked up, and hollered out "BEETLE I WIN FOREVER." It was a 20+ car train hauling VWs to a distributor in another state, apparently. Well, that killed that game! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> So I started another game for PEC and DEX - "Police Car!" And I'll tell you, that one was fun AND useful to whoever was driving!</p><p></p><p>So, yeah, the Police Car game is a good one. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>The biggest challenge was me, 11 year old PEC and 8 year old Kiddo driving from just outside Philadelphia to Orange County, CA. Ahead of time I mapped out all the Radio Disney broadcast cities, got onto the AAA website and printed out Triptic pages to each stop (and even before the World Wide Web and Google Maps and in-car GPS systems there was AAA and their Triptic service where you went to your nearest office and they gave you printed directions with maps), printed out phone numbers, lists and locations of possible touristy side trips along the way, arranged with friends and family across the US to spend the night wherever reasonable (with gifts pre-packed for those friends). Also emergency water bottles, blankets, a little shovel, an emergency medical supply kit (with a bottle of ipecac for You Know Who just in case)... I was all ready for nearly anything reasonable.</p><p></p><p>I learned that on a looong trip like that, it's good to be ready to box up and mail ahead any clothes that end up shoved to the back of the trunk 'cause nobody wants to wear 'em, that people in Morehead, KY really do drink moonshine out of mason jars (and if well made it tastes pretty darned good!) and it's possible to live on bacon and eggs three times a day (I think our Morehead visit with the folk tale historian there was the best part of the trip!), that if you drive into Texas and decide you're going to play the Beetle game variant counting cowboy hats, you're going to walk into a hotel hosting a Retired Rodeo Cowboy convention when you arrive in San Antonio and decide there's no point in continuing. And that west Texas is very, very, very, very, very, very flat. Arizona you can have sunny desert on one side of the road and a piled up thunderstorm with a rainbow on the other side. </p><p></p><p>And that kiddos who want to play chase games around the parked car WILL notice something's not right if you don't tell them "Hey, we're at 8000 feet above sea level, you might want to take it easy."</p><p></p><p>And that the Banderas Crater/Ice Cave is a very cool side trip.</p><p></p><p>And if you blink too many times, you'll miss the fact that you just drove across West Virginia.</p><p></p><p>And that in 2003, New Mexico had the only highway tourist/rest stop across the southern half of the US with free wireless. Middle of nowhere! Free wireless! I was boggled.</p><p></p><p>And that suburban shopping districts all across the US look so identical it's disturbing. Even 10 years ago. From Northeast Philly to Virginia to Memphis to Texas to Arizona to southern Nevada to California.</p><p></p><p>Sorry for the long distraction, but I was taking a break from raking out the old rabbit corral. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="nerfherder, post: 595069, member: 15907"] I've done 6+hour road trips a *lot.* This is where one of Kiddo's obsessive behaviors comes in handy - reading roadsigns aloud. Years ago when Perfect Enough Child was little, on long drives to family a couple-three states away, she and DEX would do the "Beetle!" game, where you get points if you see a VW Beetle and holler it out first. One day we were waiting at a train crossing when I looked up, and hollered out "BEETLE I WIN FOREVER." It was a 20+ car train hauling VWs to a distributor in another state, apparently. Well, that killed that game! :) So I started another game for PEC and DEX - "Police Car!" And I'll tell you, that one was fun AND useful to whoever was driving! So, yeah, the Police Car game is a good one. :) The biggest challenge was me, 11 year old PEC and 8 year old Kiddo driving from just outside Philadelphia to Orange County, CA. Ahead of time I mapped out all the Radio Disney broadcast cities, got onto the AAA website and printed out Triptic pages to each stop (and even before the World Wide Web and Google Maps and in-car GPS systems there was AAA and their Triptic service where you went to your nearest office and they gave you printed directions with maps), printed out phone numbers, lists and locations of possible touristy side trips along the way, arranged with friends and family across the US to spend the night wherever reasonable (with gifts pre-packed for those friends). Also emergency water bottles, blankets, a little shovel, an emergency medical supply kit (with a bottle of ipecac for You Know Who just in case)... I was all ready for nearly anything reasonable. I learned that on a looong trip like that, it's good to be ready to box up and mail ahead any clothes that end up shoved to the back of the trunk 'cause nobody wants to wear 'em, that people in Morehead, KY really do drink moonshine out of mason jars (and if well made it tastes pretty darned good!) and it's possible to live on bacon and eggs three times a day (I think our Morehead visit with the folk tale historian there was the best part of the trip!), that if you drive into Texas and decide you're going to play the Beetle game variant counting cowboy hats, you're going to walk into a hotel hosting a Retired Rodeo Cowboy convention when you arrive in San Antonio and decide there's no point in continuing. And that west Texas is very, very, very, very, very, very flat. Arizona you can have sunny desert on one side of the road and a piled up thunderstorm with a rainbow on the other side. And that kiddos who want to play chase games around the parked car WILL notice something's not right if you don't tell them "Hey, we're at 8000 feet above sea level, you might want to take it easy." And that the Banderas Crater/Ice Cave is a very cool side trip. And if you blink too many times, you'll miss the fact that you just drove across West Virginia. And that in 2003, New Mexico had the only highway tourist/rest stop across the southern half of the US with free wireless. Middle of nowhere! Free wireless! I was boggled. And that suburban shopping districts all across the US look so identical it's disturbing. Even 10 years ago. From Northeast Philly to Virginia to Memphis to Texas to Arizona to southern Nevada to California. Sorry for the long distraction, but I was taking a break from raking out the old rabbit corral. :) [/QUOTE]
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