June 17, 2013

Family Car Travel Not Always Fun & Games

The other day a young family came into the library where I work seeking books and movies for a long road trip that they were about to embark upon.  That got me to thinking about the many experiences my family of six, four children (three girls, one boy) and two parents had in the years of my childhood. 

We traveled a lot and usually distances far and wide. Have Chrysler, will travel seemed to be the motto of the day for us.

Back then we didn't have cell phones, Kindles, DVD players or audio books to distract so we had to rely on social interaction to keep us pleasantly occupied (and to maintain our parents' sanity I'm sure) on the often seven or eight-hour long car captivity.

We not only perfected the art of stowing all six of us, as well as our luggage into a fairly un-roomy sedan, but we also discovered the secret to a long, happy car journey:  games.  

Well, I should say credit should be given to our mother who knew how to keep us entertained and far from bored or running the risk of irritating the driver over those miles and miles of road time.    

"I'm thinking of something round and big and red," she'd start the game out and we'd answer back with shouts of hopeful answers - after careful contemplation of course.  

Eventually one of us would hit the nail on the head and emerge the winner for that round.

And  of course there was "Zip", which carried its own set of rules.  If you were so lucky to catch a glimpse of an old man riding a white horse in a cemetery, well it was game over and a winner declared!

Then there was the alphabet game where, in fact, we'd be learning something amidst our play.  We all  knew the alphabet well. The object of that game:  to espy something along the way that began with each subsequent letter of the alphabet.     

I'll have to say here that each one of us in my family shared the identical competitive gene so these kinds of follies were usually pretty lively if you can imagine.

It was that sort of distractive folly that made the journey bearable and of course memorable.

I sometimes even created an activity book for my younger brother.  And on long treks such as the one we took up the Alaskan Highway in the early 1970s, mom would keep a log of the trip's events, recording for future generations our often harried and adventurous experiences  Those times will never be forgotten and for that I am more than grateful.

So, next time you load up the van and head out on a family excursion, don't look at it with dread and gnashing of the teeth.  Think about limiting the electronics for a change of pace.  Make it a time never to forget. 

Always remember to enjoy the miles as they slide away because those memories might possibly be the most powerful and poignant you will ever own.  And you don't need a battery charger for that kind of fun.