When I was growing up we’d drive from Kansas City to Utah pretty much every year to see our extended family and to be reminded that driving across Kansas takes roughly 6 years one-way. This was an excellent time to engage in great conversations and bond as a family unit, so my approach, which my parents like to remind me of,
was to curl up in a ball like a hibernating grizzly bear and sleep (or pretend like I was asleep) for the duration of the trip or until we stopped for essential meals.
This seemed like a good strategy at the time. But now kids can avoid all of that family bonding in a more creative, innovative way-
watching 47 consecutive DVDs WHILE eating junk food.
This of course isn’t so great on the digestive system, which explains the buckets that we travel with. We luckily avoided any bucket usage this week as we drove from Seattle to Salt Lake, despite intense DVD watching in the backseat. This kids did the usual “are we there yet” stuff. This would be endearing if it didn’t make us want to toss them ever-so-gently through the window while driving slightly over the posted speed limit. 20 minutes after we left our house we filled up on gas, at which point my OLDEST asked if we were in Idaho yet. We could pretty much still see our house…
Somewhere while cruising though the middle of Bleaktown, Idaho (not a real name, but it should be) I did respond to the, “are we there yet” question with a provocative, “Where do you think we are?” At which point my daughter looked around thoughtfully, pondered and said,
“Daddy, . . . we’re nowhere.”
Well put. Then she followed my well developed example and went to sleep.
3 comments:
But don't you wish you'd had the movies when you were growing up? I'll never forget my dad rigging a small television to a VCR in the back of our van for our annual Summer trips to Idaho. I am still grateful that he was so ahead of his time!
Ah yes - Eastern Washington is slighly less monotonous than Western Kansas!
Why Idaho?
I always respond to "are we there yet?" with Yes, yes we are. And then they get really mad at me :) He He.
I like the bucket tip. We still do potty chair but I've wondered where we'd go next.
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