That sucks! True story - my eyes actually got sunburned one summer when my day consisted of am water polo -> lifeguarding -> surfing -> afternoon / evening water polo. Turns out 12 hours of sunlight reflecting off the water directly into your eyes isn’t good for you. Who knew?

Basically this the the exact experience.  I have done my best to recreate it for my kids.  If you can’t drive at least 800 miles per day you aren’t really trying.

He would have hated me. My eyes are so sensitive to bright lights that the eye doctor in the Navy wrote me a chit, completely unprompted, authorizing me to wear sunglasses basically anytime, anywhere, including in formation. (I’m also the guy who pulled out the regs on flight-line safety glasses and proved that Oakley…

Rand McNally state and national road atlases. A pack of parliaments on the dash to calm the ex greaser dad who defined road rage two decades before the news reported it.  A metal igloo cooler with hard boiled eggs, water and maybe some sandwiches sustaining a bunch of kids in a 1971 VW bus arguing, stinking it up with…

As a lifelong South Dakotan I can say with no shame: Fuck Wall Drug. Fun fact about SD is that should you choose/need to drive anywhere it’s likely a 150-300 mile affair (which incidentally is part of the appeal of living here as there is room to breathe) and you can be guaranteed that either on the outgoing or return…

This still works.  When she was 7, I drove my kid to see Mount Rushmore and we hit Wall Drug and the Corn Palace on the way there.  We also hit Carhenge and the Ball of Twine on the way home.  Very good stuff.  Don’t forget the World’s Largest Prairie Dog on I-70 in western Kansas.

until two hours after Sunset stopping only when your Mother demanded a clean restroom and not the bushes on the side of the road

I was raised in a time before family summer vacation, all trips with family were to see other members of the family or to escape the law. But I more or less did like Dave describe except I was into stop at random ass stuff. Less driving like a bat out of hell and more like “yeah, there a historical marker for a thing…

Mine was mostly composed of my parents getting into arguments because my dad would always get lost and my mom would get angry and get out of the car and stomp away. Good times.

PECAN LOGS! YES. I’m getting all kinds of misty water-colored road trip memories now.

Wall Drug

I used to play them all the time and learned how to beat then. Then I assigned the game to my programming class so everyone could enjoy them.

Every word of this is spot fucking on

Look at Mr. Fancy pants hotel stayer over here. My version involves dad driving around for 3 extra hours trying to find a vacant camp site.

That’s basically how I do vacations, just supplement Google Maps

Don’t forget the AM radio. Once dad had locked into a clear channel station, that’s all you heard for the next 400 miles. Farm reports, Paul Harvey and novelty hits of the 70s for the next six hours. Dad wasn’t messing around with the FM and needing to change stations every 30 minutes.

And if your parents were in an especially good mood they’d buy you one of those “Yes and Know” game books with the special ink pen that would reveal the invisible ink-printed answers. Those would keep you busy for at least an hour, or at least until your cousin decided he was going to lean over into your seat and…

We were driving from Boston to Quebec City.  So we would have taken 93 to 91, which cuts straight through the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  It is nothing but jaw-dropping scenery on both sides of the road.  I spent a week on vacation there a few years ago just slowly taking in everything.  It was awesome.  I…

When I was a kid I would beg my dad to take me on his annual fishing trip. When he finally gave in we drove up 395 along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range past volcano craters, massive signs advertising beef jerky, small dirt roads that lead up to what looked like enchanted canyons, an Ancient Bristlecone…

I once told my secretary that the word document she had sent me had been formatted with a carriage return at the end of every line, so it was displaying funny.