“We’re off, like a herd of turtles!”
That’s what my family always used to say when we left on road trips. I don’t mean my immediate family. I mean aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Several cars, easily a dozen people. That’s how we rolled when I was a kid.
I come from a family of avid travelers. All it took was one family member to propose a trip, and next thing you know, we’d be packing up our caravan.
Those were pre-cell phone days, so we kept in touch with walkie talkies in those days. We kids thought they were the BEST thing ever! Imagine being able to talk to the kids in the next car without having to lean out the windows!
Which we used to do, too. This was pre-seatbelt days. I mean, the cars had seatbelts, but no one used them. We kids used to fight over who got to sit in the “way back” – meaning the back of the family station wagon. It was tough on the butt, since it wasn’t padded, but if you brought a blanket and laid down back there, you could spend hours at a time staring up the sky, while gently rolling back and forth.
But only if you could get that space to yourself. Someone was always crowding you out back there. As soon as you got comfortable, one of the siblings would come tumbling over the seat, shattering your serenity. After a little tussling, you’d work out a truce with that sibling, with an imaginary line drawn down the middle of the car, and each of you vowing to stay on your own side. And just about then, the other sibling would come tumbling in.
Sigh. Now that everybody was in the “way back”, the tides turned. One kid would get into the back seat, and stretch out comfortably. But just like before, the others would soon intrude. Next up: the fight for the windows. Three kids, two windows. You do the math.
On the best trips, it’d be not only the three of us in the back of that station wagon, the cousins would pile in too. It was not unusual to have six or more kids in one car. Remember, no seatbelts. You could cram in as many kids as you wanted, and our wagon was great for that. My cousins had a little Gremlin at one time, and I felt bad for them, since they couldn’t get more than 4 or 5 kids at a time in there.
My cousin, Carolyn, was the smart one, though. All the rest of us would pile into the station wagon, and she’d very quietly slip away into the Gremlin when we weren’t looking. We’d be half an hour down the road before the rest of us realized she was missing. At first, I felt bad that she was missing out on the fun. But that didn’t last long. Soon I was totally overwhelmed with the noise and chaos produced by a car full of kids, and that’s about the time I realized how smart Carolyn was. She was sitting in that nice quiet car, stretched out on the back seat, enjoying a good book. How envious I was!
Getting back to the turtles, though, it was a very appropriate expression. Whatever time we had agreed to leave at, there was no way we were leaving then. At the appointed hour, all but one person would be ready to go. While waiting for that last person, someone would inevitably decide they had to go to the bathroom, and they’d head into the house just as the first person was coming out. Now someone would realize they had forgotten to go over the route with one of the other drivers, so as person #2 was returning from the bathroom, person #3 was out of their car, chatting with those in another car. That’s about the time that we kids would have regrets about which car we’d decided to ride in, and at least one or two of us would jump out and hop in another car.
Finally, the entire group would move out, and inevitably, someone would need to stop for gas within the first 30 minutes. While that person was filling up, another would decide they need to go in the store to get a drink. And someone else would decide they should probably check their oil.
Back on the road at last, it was never long before we were making our first bathroom break. I mean, with a dozen people along, it was hard to go more than an hour between them. Then it was time for a picnic lunch. Then we’d start the whole load-up process again.
Aside from all of the bio breaks, there was nearly always a break down, too. We were a working-class family, getting along with late-model cars that were just barely road-worthy. One of the exciting things about riding in that Gremlin is that you could watch the road roll away underneath you through the holes in the floor boards, which I thought was pretty cool at the time, if also quite terrifying! So, on most trips, there’d be at least one breakdown.
If you’re judging by today’s standards, that seems like a big deal. But back then, cars were simpler, and we had plenty of mechanically included family members. We’d pull over to the side of the road, and each driver would pull out his toolbox and spare parts kit, and before long, the necessary repairs would be completed, and we’d be off again.
Looking back on these memories as an adult, I wonder how the grown-ups in our family managed to keep their sanity. What seemed like a great adventure to the kids must have been an ordeal to the adults. When I was in their position, traveling with my own kids, I relied heavily on electronic devices to get some peace and quiet during the trip. How did my parents, aunts and uncles do it? I give them a lot of credit for the happy memories I have of those trips. I don’t remember them yelling or being grouchy. I only remember there being a lot of laughter, and a dauntless sense of adventure.
Those happy memories came flooding back to me this morning, as I loaded up for another travel adventure. This one is much quieter, with just my adult son and I in the car, but just as enjoyable in many ways.
Today my son regaled me with some of his favorite music, much of which was new to me.
Today I sat back and watched the hillside farms of rural New York pass by outside my window.
Today I travelled 446 miles from home without incident.
The way that I travel has changed a lot from those good ole days when we all piled into the station wagon, but I love traveling every bit as much today as I did then. I loved watching the landscape change. I loved the cool, crisp air as we passed over the Green Mountains. I loved seeing deer and a super cute woodchuck on the road side. I loved (LOVED) checking into a comfortable hotel that has the best pillows in the universe.
And I love that tomorrow, I get to do it all again.
Life is good.
Kimba
© Kimberlee Martin, 2021. All rights reserved.
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