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CAR TALK by Dave Nevill Road Trip I used to love taking my wife, Allison and our sons, David Jr: and Tommy on summer vacations in the van. We would plan a trip to some out-of-the-way place, like the trip we took to Texas to see as many ghost towns as we could see...or, the trip to see the major civil war battlefields between here and Gettysburg. Those trips included a lot of time spent just riding in the van while I drove, but we always took plenty of games and things for the kids to entertain themselves with. We tried to make the vacations fun and a little educational. Net result boring! After the Texas trip, the only way I could get the kids in the van was to shoot them with a tranquilizer dart. My problem is I like to drive. I mean really drive. I can drive non-stop to Texas or Pennsylvania and enjoy the trip. I love the open roads and the freedom to drive on them. The boys are older now and Allison doesn't like long trips, so we don't go blasting off across the country any more in the van. The last real vacation we took was a winter ski trip to Park City, Utah. The boys had never seen snow before, so we thought it might be educational. I was really excited about driving in the adverse weather conditions and started mapping out our non-stop trip, when I was informed by Allison, that we were absolutely NOT taking the van. I couldn't believe my ears when I was told that they wanted to FLY to Utah. In an airplane? Without the van? I was devastated and hurt by this sudden adversity to driving, but I relented and we all flew to Utah and back. (without stopping even once for a hamburger and a vanilla shake). Allison and the boys said it was the most fun they ever had on vacation. I guess it was okay. My love of driving probably stems from the trips I took when I was a child. I was an Air Force brat and we moved 22 times by the time I was 15-years-old. Dad would get orders to report to his next duty assignment, Mom would pack our belongings and along with my brother Jim and sister Mary, we all hopped into the Hudson and off we went. (Brothers John and Dan weren't born yet). We would stop for food (hamburgers and vanilla shakes) and gas. That's it. No other stops were allowed. The Hudson had a big flat area between the back seat and the rear window and it was my favorite place to ride. I saw most of America from that vantage point, even though it was always going away from me. I had to rotate with Jim and Mary for the three sleeping places, the back window, the back seat and the floor. The floor with its huge drive shaft hump and heat was the worst place to try to sleep. The road noise was awful down there. Dad would drive all night, and at daylight we would stop for breakfast -- hamburgers and vanilla shakes.Except in the winter, we always drove with all the windows down. Dad had real bad sinus problems from his early flying days and every now and then he would have to clear his nasal passages. At the first sound of a hardy inward-snort, Jim, Mary and I would dive for the floor. With that danger passed, we would mock spit out the back windows until Mother made us stop. Who needs games and things for entertainment? When we were bad, usually Mary and I, we would have to be separated by Jim. That meant that Jim never got a window seat, even though he was always the good son. The strangest thing that happened during our drives in the Hudson was I had different names. My Dad would say, "Be quiet Dammit!" or, "Dammit, leave your sister alone!, Don't make me stop this car, Mister!" It was either Mister or Dammit for me while we were in the car. Mary was always Mary, because she's the girl and Jim was always Jim because he's the good son. All in all, I recall those trips with happy memories. They are always a topic at family gatherings. Today, with seat belts, car seats, video games and all manner of electronic gadgets and toys, driving is safer and not as boring as it was when I was a kid, but I think we had more fun. |
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