Are we there yet? Those four little words have the ominous potential of striking car bound parents with bouts of high blood pressure and serious contemplation of jumping from moving vehicles. And I’m pretty sure that everyone reading this blog entry has been on either the receiving or giving end of that recapitulated phrase. Yep. One hundred percent sure.
Plus, I’m also pretty sure a Road Trip is not an "official" Road Trip until that phrase has been recited at least five times (ten times if you’re driving through the state of Texas). It’s in the definition. Look it up.
For us living in the great state of Texas the last part of July and early August is the season of migration. With temperatures hitting the triple digits and untapped entertainment options dwindling, parents begin to panic as they realize they still have a few weeks left to keep children occupied and off the streets. Their solution? Leave the state.
I’ve been on many Road Trips in my life. The most mind-numbing monotonous ones were the trips through the Nevada desert on the way to my grandfather’s house in southeastern Idaho. Forest green Oldsmobile, vinyl seats, AM radio and no AC. I sweat just thinking about it now.
And what made those trips even more insufferable was my mother’s compulsion to drive the entire sixteen hours and making just two stops which, if you do the math, averages out to only one stop every five hours. Basically it meant that you’d better not drink anything, even though you lacked enough saliva to swallow, or you’d be sitting crossed legged for hours. Can you say miserable?
So by the time we’d arrive in Parker, we’d fall out of the card dehydrated, severely windblown from hanging our heads out the window to cool off and desperate for the WC. One year I couldn’t make it to the next pit stop and with all the creativity a frantic mother could muster, I found relief in a frying pan.
Yeah, that image brings up a few questions ... like why were we traveling with a frying pan in the first place? And was it retired after that incident? I can only hope.
But not all our family Road Trips were that morose.
The Summer of ’73 was filled with motoring merriment.
And adventure.
My mom and I were the first to arrive over-seas that year. We spent a few weeks traveling in Switzerland on our own and then met up with my brother and aunt. The four of us headed to Amsterdam in search of a vehicle to purchase. Yep, my mom with two teenagers and a three-year old in tow bought a vehicle. In a foreign land. Just for the summer.
It was 1973. You could do things like that back then. I sweat just thinking about it now.
For $700 we scored a bluish green VW bus complete with red-checkered curtains and a maple leaf bumper sticker. It looked something like this.
Unfortunately the only picture we had of it has gone missing. But thankfully the memories of our six week journey in that bus have not disappeared. We all still belly laugh over those times.
Like how driving it was a team effort. My mom wasn’t brawny enough to clutch and shift the gears at the same time so my brother and aunt had to do that for her. It was like synchronized swimming and until they got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun to witness.
Or how whenever the bus needed to be backed up into anything, my mother would put it into neutral and my brother would get out and push it into place. No one had explained to her that in order to engage reverse you had to push down on the gear shift as you moved it. Can you imagine watching this scene play out on the streets of Oslo? High-larry-us!
They kept up this routine until my dad arrived a few weeks later and with all the strength he had to keep a straight face, showed my mom how to put it in reverse. Needless to say, he gave my mom a lot of ribbing over this for many years.
We ate in that bus. We slept in that bus. We argued over directions in that bus. We celebrated birthdays (I turned four that year) and picked goose feathers from my aunt’s hair in that bus.
But most importantly, we discovered the magnificence and history of Europe for the first time as a family in that bus. It was a time for solidifying relationships and creating lasting memories. Memories that have become all the more meaningful because of the short time we had with my dad.
You can’t get that kind of adventure and bonding in a plane. It only happens during those fatiguing and sometimes irksome hours cooped up in car. When there’s nothing else to do but sing silly songs, play seventy straight rounds of “I Spy” and find license plates from all fifty states.
Now that’s a Road Trip.
So with thoughts of Road Trips, past and future in mind, I got to thinking about how they could become more festive and have a more party-like atmosphere to them. I mean, it’s easy to be excited the first day of the trip. It’s day two and three that become the true test of one’s stamina. Those are the times when you need “to get the party started” and get everyone enthusiastic again.
You need a Party-in-the-Car.
Now to me, there are four basic elements to a party: theme, decorations, entertainment and music and, of course, food.
And as with any party you have at home, these four areas should be addressed in the car. So let’s do that. And as we go along, I’m going to show you what I came up with.
Theme
Choose a theme that’s centered on what you are traveling to do such as beach, camping, barnyard fun, family tree (for family reunions) or detective/mystery (for historic sites). Here at momsminivan.com there is a great plan laid out for a pirate themed car trip.
I thought a beach theme would be fun to explore. Plus, it helped that I found a few really cute inspiration items to use in the dollar bins at my favorite store with the big red bull’s eye.
Decorations
Now the obvious is that you can’t go overboard with decorations in a car. There is after all limited space and most importantly, the driver’s view should not in any way be obstructed. So what can you do to decorate? Here are some ideas.
• Use themed vinyl window decals from the dollar store.
• Add a rear view mirror air freshener to set the mood through sight and smell.
• Tie scenic pictures of your destination to the seat backs.
• Secure a small embellished banner to the dashboard.
• Provide travelers with small lap blankets and pillows that are made with materials that reflect the party theme. Try plaid flannel or fleece for camping or patchwork quilts for historic tours (maybe you buy an inexpensive king size quilt and cut it down to individual sizes). These items will not only be functional, but will also bring a lot of color and pop to the car’s interior.
For lap blankets, I say use beach towels and try throwing some beach mats over the floor carpets to add a touch of the tropics.
I found the flip-flop rear view mirror air freshener in the auto parts section of my favorite store with the red bull’s eye and there were plenty of other fun, themey choices to select from.
The small banner was quick to make and will certainly add some festive flair to the front seat area hanging from the dashboard.
Entertainment and Music
Challenge travelers to do something other than play video games, watch DVD’s or listen to personal music players. Try to engage them in activities that will help them interact with each other and/or require that they have a common goal.
• Print up some fun. Download some printable games and add them to clipboards with a pencil tied on. See if you can find games that relate to your theme or destination. Try this site, this one and this one for free printables.
• Gather an arsenal of verbal games. Here are two places to look at for ideas on road trip games: here is one filled with classics and this one boasts a new spin on old favorites.
• Pack a “favor bag” for each traveler. Fill it with a small journal for travel notes or scribbling. Coloring books and crayons are always a must as well as word puzzle books, small toys and books. For a camping theme, include some small craft items like pipe cleaners that can be transformed into animals and other shapes.
• Pack an “everything” bag. Here is a great list of items to bring along sure to cure any small person’s boredom blues.
• Compile a CD of songs that revolve around your theme. Beach Boys and luau music will set the tone for a beach getaway just as old cowboy tunes would create a campfire frame of mind. You could even print out songbooks for everyone. Try playlist.com to create a sample playlist before you commit to downloading anything or test drive a certain mood at stereomood.com. And for what I suspect would be an uproarious good time, try Cari-oke. Perfect for a girls trip.
• Bring along some Books on CD. Again, choose those that echo your party-in-the-car theme. Most libraries have these to lend out, or try a used book store for copies you can pick up on the cheap.
I found this straw bag on clearance for less than a dollar and after adding some die-cuts and gems, it looks like a million bucks! It’s perfect for storing individual entertainment items and snacks.
Cover an inexpensive composition book for a quick and personal notebook for each traveler to use along the way.
And give your compiled CD a cute home by decorating the cover as I did here. It really should only take you about five minutes to do and how fun will it be to still have this memento in the car well after you get home and have sucked up the last hardened french fry from under the seats.
Food
Now to me a Road Trip requires mountains of not-good-for-you snacks. It’s a requirement. I like to make-believe that anything I eat in the car is caloric free and can therefore be consumed in mass quantities. But I suppose that’s not always the best food plan to follow and could be the catalyst for less than stellar behavior from the smaller people.
Too bad.
So in an effort to avoid the sugar rush that inevitably comes from convenience store noshing, pack snacks that are fiber rich. Yawn. Oops. Sorry. Did I type that out loud?
Better foods for the road are fruits and veggies, granola, trail mix with nuts and dried fruit and cookies with quantitative amounts of soluble fiber. These chocolate chip peanut butter bars look yummy. They’d be a good happy medium. Here’s a spot for some more ideas on better road trip snacking.
Now before you start questioning my spatial recognition skills dear reader, know that I understand you may not be able to fit everything mentioned above in the car. Well, here’s what I suggest. Send it on ahead. Many hotels will hold packages for you and you could certainly send something to grandma’s for her to store.
By mailing things you lessen the space you need, reduce the chances of discovery and give the travelers something to look forward to besides the hotel pool. I would think the cost of postage would be well worth the contented smiles of happy travelers imho.
Well dear reader, I hope these ideas will help you with your next Road Trip adventure. Whether that journey takes you along the highways of Europe or the back roads of the western United States, may it be filled with sweet memories, plenty of bonding experiences and the quenched desire to repeat repeatedly, “Are we there yet?”
Happy trails!
~ Elizabeth (ekb)