Road Trip Dad

There was nothing my dad liked better than a road trip. It wasn't about the destination, it was about the planning and the drive. He researched everything down to the last detail and travel was no exception. My dad would have loved the Internet; and GPS- he would have been among the first to buy one. I doubt he would have had much use for it, though; once my dad read a map or traveled a highway the route was retained in his brain forever. He never met a road he didn't like, and he never forgot a route.

Here he is with my sister, Barbara. Perhaps he's making vacation travel plans, or maybe a visit to one of his brothers. My mother would have chosen the vacation destination; it would have been to some place of historic significance. A visit with relatives would have been my mother's decision, as well. My dad's job was to work out the travel details and do the driving. If we didn't have someplace to go, he would just take us driving. Almost every Sunday was spent doing the "Sunday Drive". Mom and Dad in the front seat with one of my sisters in the middle; my brother and I in the back, with a big sister in between to keep us from killing each other. We would spend hours touring the countryside looking at cows. We didn't have seat belts then and we'd hang out the windows like dogs, letting the wind blow into our mouth and yelling, "Mooooo!" We didn't have air conditioning then, either so if it was warm weather the windows were all the way down and the wind roared through the car. One of my favorite drives was to O'Hare Airport. We never traveled by airplane, but O'Hare had an observation deck and we loved to stand out there with our fingers in our ears, smelling the exhaust and leaning into the wind created by the jets. My brother and I would pretend the noise deafened us and say, "What? I can't hear you," when our parents would tell us it was time to go home.

Like other dads, my dad would never stop for directions, but I don't think he needed to because he was never lost. Also like other dads, he didn't like to stop for bathroom breaks. Our family had strong bladders from all that waiting between rest stops!

I wonder what my dad would say about today's gas prices. The price of gas was never an issue when it came to the Sunday Drive. Whatever the cost, it was a small price to pay for a day of family entertainment. Weekends were family time; go for a drive and have a picnic at the Forest Preserve, or play croquet in the yard and barbecue hamburgers with the neighbors. We didn't play sports or run from activity to activity like today's kids. We didn't play soccer, we played the 'ABC' game using billboards or competed at out of state license plate spotting. I don't know if my dad's excursions did anything in the way of preparing us for life, but to this day I can remember the state slogans and color combinations on the license plates...and I'm betting my sisters and brother have taught their own children and grandchildren how to play the 'ABC' game and have even gone on a Sunday Drive now and then. Thanks Dad, for making happy memories.