Friday, December 23, 2011

RoadTrip: It's Christmastime!

It's Christmastime!  Time for the family dynamics to really kick into full force.  All bets are off for usual behavior.

This trip up north, to visit the family during Christmas, was a little longer than usual.   As soon as we pull out of the driveway the sky opens up.  It doesn't stop raining until we pull up into my parent's driveway 7 hours later.  To aide in the headache, it now gets dark around 5:15.  I do love winter solstice but I don't enjoy driving in it.  I'm  driving solo this year.  My husband had back survey almost two weeks ago and isn't supposed to be lifting anything nor is he allowed to drive.  I do not mind that part.  Since I'm in control we can make as many stops as we need to and I can pick the place we stop at.  If he were driving we would do a drive by restroom break but only after trying to get as far as we can before someone pops. Due to the rain, my husband wasn't taking his much needed breaks. He thought he was going to melt so didn't bother to get out of the car.  By the time we arrived at our destination,  he was a pretzel and we were all having issues.

At the beginning of the trip,  kids are in the back seats getting along.  Wow they are getting along so well and it helps for everyone to be plugged into some device.   As I'm driving I realize that my parents really did have a rough go of it on trips.  There wasn't an iPod or portable DVD player to plug into.  They had to listen to a lot more of  "I'm not touching you."  "Stop it!  Mom, tell him to stop it."  Mom would say,"Just ignore it!"   Little did she know how hard that was.  Dad would sound off the usual, "Don't make me turn this car around!"Little of that goes on in our car.

I do remember a time when dad bought a black and white tv that was meant for travel. It came with an adaptor of sorts that plugged into the cigarette lighter.  It had the rabbit ears too.  Yes, we would bend the ears around until we could get a glimmer of something through the snow on the screen. Eventually we just gave up and reverted back to the "I'm not touching you" game.

The station wagon we traveled in, back in the day, had the fake wood paneling on the sides.  We had a "way back" which was a metal box with a seat.  No seat belts in the way back.  If the vehicle had to stop really fast I would imagine that we would have easily been sliced in half. The bench seat right behind the front seats could be laid down flat so the entire back was a bed.  We would lay blankets down and sleep and slide around as Dad rounded corners.

These days everyone has to be strapped in tight. No roaming kids or kids in the front seats.  The only thing I remember not liking is the fact that bathrooms were few and far between and so was food.  We would get a couple hours from home and I would start the pee pee dance while sitting.  You know the dance.  You try to cross your legs as tight as you can to hold everything in until the next stop.  No sudden moves please!

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