Road Trip!

Today in 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Murdock became the first people to travel across the US (from Los Angeles) it took them 32 days 5 hours and 25 minutes.The idea that they traveled so far together reminded me of long car trips my family/parents have taken. Some include:

• When my brother, my sister and I were young my mum took us on a road trip to see my dad's parents in Florida She drove us all the way from Michigan to Florida all by herself. (My dad couldn't get time off from work.) The things I remember about that trip was that we must have stopped at every single Waffle House between Michigan and Florida (My siblings and I liked waffles and Waffle Houses seemed to be everywhere.) Waffle Houses are fun. My mum did the trip in 2 days, stopping in Tennessee to sleep in a hotel. When we got there the guy at the hotel counter took one look at my mum's exhausted face and offered to park her car for her. I realize this is standard for hotels but it was the way he did it that was nice. 
•  On a car trip from Toronto back to Michigan I started reading this book to my parents that was written by Gerald Durrell and it was so funny that my mum had to ask me to stop reading it to her because she was laughing so hard she was afraid she'd have a car crash. The book was called Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. In any case laughter makes car trips seem shorter.
• Once my family were all going to a wedding in Poland and we got very lost trying to get to our hotel. While I knew some Spanish my mum was really the only one person in the car that spoke German and French and a little Spanish too so she became our translator by default in trying to ask for directions. That day it seemed we couldn't find a soul who spoke anything but Polish until finally, in this really rural part of Poland we found a woman who spoke a little Spanish and told us where to go and we found the hotel. It was an experience!
• My dad loves driving as he used to work for McLaren racing company so he was also a very good driver. Once when we were in Cornwall England we had to get our rental car up this very narrow hill. He managed to get the car up there with an inch to spare between the houses on either side of the road We got up the road safely but we didn't take the car out again until the day we left to go back to the airport. I never forgot it because it showed me that my dad wouldn't let anything stop him and we shouldn't either. 

 As you can see, I've learned a lot from car trips and they have largely been fun experiences. What I like most about them is that they always seemed like an adventure. They prove that the journey can be just as fun and interesting as the destination. Although it is nice to get to the destination in the end because at the end of long car trips I have to admit I ultimately can't wait to get out of the car and going back I can't wait to get home because there's no place like it.