Road Trip Memories

I love to travel. It all started when I was young. We used to go on road trips all the time. We would go to Florida for vacations and to North Carolina to see some family friends. We would load up in the car early in the morning and just start driving.  Most of the time I would have to get dressed, although wearing my jammies sounds like it would have been more comfortable. I was always thankful when I could skip the spoonful of peanut butter with the motion sickness medicine in it. I still can’t eat a spoonful of pure peanut butter to this day. I know that my mom didn’t want me to sick, as I often did, but why peanut butter? Why not applesauce? Thankfully, we learned about the applesauce trick on one of our visits to North Carolina. I still occasionally use it to this day. I have always had problems swallowing pills. The applesauce trick is taking a spoonful of applesauce or spaghetti sauce or pudding and sticking the pill in and covering it up and swallowing it. I am sure I will use this with Noah too. Although he still gets liquids when he is sick.

One of my favorite things about going on road trips is the food.  We had fast food once a week normally, but when we would go on road trips, all the meals were fast food. We also would get an occasional snack from the gas station and a drink. We did pack a lot of our own snacks but my mom would let us get treats. Just until recently, Noah did not like any fast food really. He doesn’t eat meat so Mc Donald’s was pretty much out. He would get milk and maybe fruit. It wasn’t until I remembered that my vegetarian cousin, Susie, used to order hamburgers without the meat. So, I ordered Noah a cheeseburger kid’s meal with just bread and cheese. This kid doesn’t even like fries most of the time. He will eat them every so often, usually when I order a small fry.

My sister and I would have a lot of fun just coming up with random games and songs. I remember one time we had a small tape recorder and we recorded things while we were on a road trip. It was fun to listen to after the trip too. We also spent a lot of time arguing about who was in the front seat and who had to take care of the trash. Space was also an issue when we were both in the back seat. We fought like cats and dogs but we were there for each other whenever it counted. I remember one time I was grounded and my sister took her Kaboodle case and put a can of soup and a can opener inside. She tied it to a rope and threw the jump rope at my open window and I pulled it up. Looking back I know that I could have come out of my room but you know how kid’s imaginations’ are.

I am definitely sharing my love for travel with Noah who loves to go on trips and look out the window while we drive along. He wants to drive across country someday. We might just have to do that, maybe someday.