Road Trip!?

How fun did road trips used to be? I remember packing up the car in college and traveling for Spring Break or some other celebration. We had so much fun spending time together, listening to everyone's favorite CDs and laughing. Sophomore year of college, I was put in charge of navigating our way to Destin. This trip should only have taken about 4 hours from New Orleans, but I was adament that Panama City was before Destin. (It is not.) We kept driving, looking for signs to Panama City. When we finally stopped at a gas station and were told that we had passed Destin 2 hours before, I was banned to the back seat. Seriously. No one would talk to me. It took us about 8 hours to get there. Now I wonder how we could have left with no map, assured that there would be signs pointing "To Destin" for us to follow.

Even when we were growing up, my parents drove us EVERYWHERE. No plane flights for the family of five unless absolutely necessary - i.e - we were flying over an ocean. I don't remember being miserable on these trips, even though some of them were 12 hour drives to visit our extended family in Virginia. Just cramped in between my sisters in our 1985 Volvo station wagon. Whether my parents had a good time is probably another story.

This leads me to believe, that as we get older, road trips are not so much fun. Over the weekend, Mike and I drove to Atlanta to attend a funeral service for one of Mike's friend's fathers. Since we live smack dab in the middle of the country, it takes us a minimum of 7 hours to get anywhere we really want to visit. Atlanta is about 8.5 hours away. As I have gotten older, I realize that I do have some control issues, and like to be a backseat driver, as well as control the radio and anything else I can talk about from my position in the passenger seat. As the driver, Mike believes he should have full control of the radio. (I also follow this mantra when I am driving.) We brought several books on tape, because, let's face it, we can't agree on music. I love Top 40 Hits while Mike is all into Radiohead and other alternative bands. (Note - I never heard of Radiohead before we started dating.) Regardless, we had the choice of listening to Dean Koontz, who I had to stop reading when I was 12 because I was having nightmares, or Pat Conroy, a lovely writer who talks about the South, family dynamics and love. Of course, Dean Koontz played through 5 discs. When I finally became interested in who the murderer was, Mike informed me that he didn't download the last 2 discs! I still don't know who "The Freak" is in the book "Velocity." I only got one chapter of Pat Conroy in. Now this does show that Mike drove the majority of the way, and I am thankful for that.

We have a tendancy to leave late in the day regardless of where we are going. That is another good thing about flying. There is a specific time that you have to be at the airport, and if you miss it, you will not be traveling. Not the same with driving. You can leave in the middle of the night and still arrive at your destination. Once Mike and I left St. Louis at midnight. I drank two of those Energy Drinks that are more potent than Red Bull and drove the entire way. I think that may have been the easiest drive of my life.

I think the reason I no longer look forward to road trips is because they just don't tend to be as fun as I remember. If I am going to go on vacation, I would like to start the trip off right and board a plane! Let me check my luggage and enjoy a bloody mary! At least then I am in control of my own fun! I can watch my own movie or read whatever genre book I would like. Unfortunately, it appears that the days of loading up the car and heading to the beach with your girlfriends are now limited. It just might be time to invest in some heavy duty ear plugs and adapt.