I’m back from Idaho. Long drive. We left at 4:55pm, and arrived home at 10:55pm. We stopped for a while at a McDonald’s with a Playplace to let the kids romp.
I have no idea how my parents managed roadtrips without a DVD screen in the vehicle.
–Howard
Roadkill Bingo? See how many state’s license plates you see? Volkswagen Spotting?
We always left around midnight or 2am, so mom and dad could drive in peace while my (roadsick) sister and I could sleep.
Otherwise, it was “You girls knock it off YOU ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY!” “We aren’t driving at all mom, you are!”
Books
We used to drive down to Florida each summer (I live in Massachusetts) up until about the fifth grade (when my grandfather died – he was who we were visiting). We’d just stock up on books (some from my dad’s large collection, some from the library) and we’d read the whole time (or, in the case of my brothers, sleep half the time, but I could never sleep in the car so I’d just bring *lots* of books). That seemed to work well enough. However, not all kids can read in the car (or want to). I guess my parents were lucky that we turned out to be such bookworms.
Heh. My parents handled it via Lots Of Beatings. 🙂
Loxley
New ager kids
My parents got us both gameboys for our trips. 1989 originals, I was six, geekdom comences.
Surviving trips without DVD?
Oh, it was simple- I got to spread my Legos out in the back of the station wagon and play with them.
Seat belts? IIRC, the car DID have them (early 70s), but no-one wore them. Toddler seats? Whazzat?
Sometimes, I’m truly amazed I survived to my majority. 🙂
Brian
Full Sized van with a table in the center so that we could play simple board games such as Sorry! and similar. Got us through more than one cross country trip, and as an added bonus, with just a few minutes of work, the table could be moved down and the seats collapsed to form a bed, not a comfortable bed, but still good enough to sleep in. This was obviously pre-seatbelt laws.
roaad trips
Mothers told stories and made up stories–kids had to imagine the action. Unfortunately, this limits interaction between adults since one is occupied with being an entertainer.