Road Trip: Then and Now
Family road trip today.
For you Midwesterners out there, you know that traveling to cooler weather/and or a beach can mean a 12-16 hour drive. Today we'll only be in the car for a paltry nine hours en route to Wisconsin. Plus, since the dawn of technology, road trips no longer are as long as they used to be.
Here is a look at road trips then and now:
Then...We left at 3 a.m. in order to make it to the middle of Kansas just as the temperature reached 90 degrees (at 8 a.m.) Somehow, the wind blowing through our windows made the car even hotter--like a heater blowing on you. We faced the dilemna of rolling up the windows for a greenhouse effect, or leaving them down, for the furnace effect. It made no difference whatsoever which we chose, as both produced the hell-on-earth effect.
Now...We have air conditioning. We drive by cows and think, "Wow. They look hot and bothered. I'm glad I don't have problems."
Then...We entertained ourselves by pointing out any and all animals we saw. "Cow! Horse! Another horse! Another cow! Cow! Another cow! Llama! Llama! I swear I saw a llama!" As our technology improved, we borrowed books on tape from the library. One time, my mom borrowed Don Rickles leaving answering machine messages. You were supposed to record them onto your brand new answering machine, but we thought they were great as stand up routine, as well. When we got bored, we fought. When we got hot, we fought. When we ate too many pancakes at Sambo's and felt sick, we fought.
Now...Kids watch movies on the portable DVD player. When you watch movies all day, what's there to fight about?
Then...We laid down in the hatchback and stared at the stars out the back window. Seatbelts? What seatbelts? Did our car even have seatbelts? We never bothered to find out.
Now...If we see kids on the highway who appear not to be wearing seatbelts, we roll down our windows and yell at their parents, "I'm calling DFS, you idiots!"
Roadtrips have definitely improved, or so I hope. I'll let you know at the end of this trip.
For you Midwesterners out there, you know that traveling to cooler weather/and or a beach can mean a 12-16 hour drive. Today we'll only be in the car for a paltry nine hours en route to Wisconsin. Plus, since the dawn of technology, road trips no longer are as long as they used to be.
Here is a look at road trips then and now:
Then...We left at 3 a.m. in order to make it to the middle of Kansas just as the temperature reached 90 degrees (at 8 a.m.) Somehow, the wind blowing through our windows made the car even hotter--like a heater blowing on you. We faced the dilemna of rolling up the windows for a greenhouse effect, or leaving them down, for the furnace effect. It made no difference whatsoever which we chose, as both produced the hell-on-earth effect.
Now...We have air conditioning. We drive by cows and think, "Wow. They look hot and bothered. I'm glad I don't have problems."
Then...We entertained ourselves by pointing out any and all animals we saw. "Cow! Horse! Another horse! Another cow! Cow! Another cow! Llama! Llama! I swear I saw a llama!" As our technology improved, we borrowed books on tape from the library. One time, my mom borrowed Don Rickles leaving answering machine messages. You were supposed to record them onto your brand new answering machine, but we thought they were great as stand up routine, as well. When we got bored, we fought. When we got hot, we fought. When we ate too many pancakes at Sambo's and felt sick, we fought.
Now...Kids watch movies on the portable DVD player. When you watch movies all day, what's there to fight about?
Then...We laid down in the hatchback and stared at the stars out the back window. Seatbelts? What seatbelts? Did our car even have seatbelts? We never bothered to find out.
Now...If we see kids on the highway who appear not to be wearing seatbelts, we roll down our windows and yell at their parents, "I'm calling DFS, you idiots!"
Roadtrips have definitely improved, or so I hope. I'll let you know at the end of this trip.
posted by Midwest Mama at 6:35 AM
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