27.) No, you cannot share in my valium.

sunbum - what a story that will always be thrown in the child &/or parents face!

Brother: we didn't even want you! We left you on the side of the road!

Child to parent: Why do you care if I stay out all night? You left me on the side of the road once - remember?

Ha ha ha!

That said - I agree with J_Correa. Just another good reason not to have kids...

This has been so entertaining and especially so, since we know that once our house is sold, we will be driving to Oregon from Florida, with Pup in the backseat.
Now Pup is a champ when it comes to the car. No fussing, quiet, hasn't farted yet, and never whines.
But how to keep the Yankee and I entertained on such a long drive without my starting to tell him Watch out for that truck! Stop, that person is about to turn! Turn right TURN RIGHT!
I think I will see if I can adjust some of these rules to our trip, and if anyone has any for our sort of Roadtrip, please add them here ...
Happy Travels~~Scarlett

Scarlett-
I suggest you sleep as much as possible. That is what I try to do when riding with my BF now. Otherwise, I arrive with stiff hands, arms, legs, etc from the built-up tension. =-O

Oh yeah... and wear a helmet. C:)

Scarlett, try books on tape, handwork, regular books...I'm even starting to be able to do these things while my 17yo with her learner's permit is driving! :-)

Lee Ann

Hi Scarlett, be careful or Yankee might put a muzzle on you rather then dear Pup, LOL! The booktapes are an excellent idea. Personally I can't read while riding in a car but I sure can listen. Might even entertain Pup. And another side benefit might be that Yankee won't hear your backseat driving, you think? Take care.

LOL, I am such a Good Back Seat Driver though :D

Books on Tape is a good idea, we will get the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxie!

If I read while riding in a car , I would be the one hanging my head out the window :-&

Rule # ? No body parts hanging out of the windows. Yes, a head IS a body part. No, it' doesn't have to be filled with brain.

LOL Faina ..

Nothing like a long car trip on I-95 to make you appreciate flying!

Very important rule in our car-
Never, Never let husband read the map.
(Of course he thinks he does a fine job-we just end up somewhere other than planned!)

Sunburn1944, a similar scenario occurred when we had a 3 family caravan trip to Brookfield Zoo many, many years ago.

My best friend Georgeen's daughter was about 14 months and in a stroller. There were about 4 or 5 strollers all told and her parents, 2 other families and all of mine present. Her mother-in-law was pushing the stroller and just forgot to continue pushing it while at a brief polar bear stop.

It was a crowded day on top of it. The mother-in-law was a young 60, and didn't seem to be able to even realize where she stopped pushing- and just started crying. I thought my friend was going to have a heart attack because she has various health problems and knee problems as well. So I got two teen agers to run with me back to all the places we were and I found Lyn wide awake and gurgling at the bear "outside habitat". It took about 20 minutes. And she had already climbed almost out of her strolle, but had gotten tangled in some goody bag straps trying to get out. This was in the days before decent strap in seats that go between the legs.

Sometimes God has to watch over us, because we sure aren't there every minute.

Also Go Travel, one more rule that no one has mentioned. Someone broke this one once and he will NEVER live to NOT regret it.

If at any time a policeman stops the driver for speeding or any other moving violation, it is NOT allowed to open one's mouth in any comment at all when the policeman is present.

My eldest as a three year old once piped up loud as can be in a period of quiet while he was holding his little book and pen at the ready "Ya mom, you were going past the 30, because I always look at the numbers from here."

He is now a CPA and - loves those numbers.

LOL JJ5....out of the mouths of babes!

Ah the joys of family togetherness.

Rule # ? - Don't encourage your father to peel out of every tollbooth on I-95.

Rule # ? - Do not encourage your father in his belief that gas station hot dogs are a perfectly decent meal.

Rule # ? - Do not point out to your father that even though he is doing 85, he just got passed by an elderly woman with a Pearl Harbor survivor license plate.

These posts are hilarious. We love long road trips. We're not as strict as some of you, but maybe our kids are young enough (7, 21/2) to be less opinionated. My only rules are no Cracker Barrel, no Kiss music, no yelling.

Also, we write down license plates we see and try to cover each state. If the car is on a transporter and not moving on its own wheels, it does Not Count unless it's Alaska or Hawaii. This rule is under constant debate, however.

We used to drive from Walkerton IN to Chicago about 9 or 10 times a year and it is about 2-1/2 hours on a good day.

We always played the alphabet game and I'll never forget when they closed a tavern somewhere right off the expressway that was called "Quack's"- they had no Q.

It was the only time there was silence for about 5 continuous minutes.

JJ5- I suppose many people wonder how you could forget a child somewhere along the road on a trip but I think it
probably happens more than we hear about.
I know another family who were on their way to Hawaii- running late- left their tickets behind and had to go back and get them- had to park in long term parking so were all frazzled by the time they got to airport check in- met grandma who was travelling with them at check in and grandma said " wheres the baby?"

well the baby was still in its carrier in the car- in long term parking- so they dashed back to get her and they actually held the plane for them. This is a very intelligent professional family- so it can happen to anyone.

Just count your kids and pets before you take off.

LOL, we always use the count system for keeping track of our luggage and carry ons. We don't move until we've counted the number of pieces. So it would seem a VERY good idea for people traveling with kids and pets!

roadtrip rule:

chuck driving idea, plan to fly. :D

sunbum - my Dad would always go move the car when we went to the bathroom. and laugh at us kids coming out and looking high and low for the car. I do understand this is not such an uncommon thing among Dads.

I like the idea to count bags of luggage. During a move from GA to NY, one of my bags accidentally did not make it into the car. We left it in the parking lot! Thankfully about 5 hours later I realized it and called the hotel. Someone turned it in, so the hotel sent it to me. The problem was it had ALL my stuff (clothing, makeup, etc). Everything else was with the movers on the van. The hotel was nice enough to overnight it to our new home for me. Whew!

To actually work well, mms, you have to count "pieces." So if you are carrying a jacket or a hat, that's another "piece." DH once left his raincoat at security and had to dash back for it before boarding the plane.

Thanks Marilyn:) That should help a lot! DS has a habit of leaving shoes places. I have never understood how you could forget shoes...but he manages to, lol!

You better count kids! Quiet ones get left at the rest stop!

I am suddenly reminded of that marvelous Italian film "Bread and Tulips" which starts with the wife and mother getting accidentally left behind at a rest stop.

In "Home Alone" the person in charge of counting kids, managed to count a neighbor kid instead of Macauly Caulkin. I hope I would notice at airport checkin that the kid was home.

Please share the Valium. It will make everyone happier. Get an extra refill or two before the trip.

This thread reminded me of an incident. Maybe everyone should check their kids luggage right before you leave the house.

We were flying to Florida, our daughter was about 9 years old. I had finished all the packing the day before.

We arrived in Florida to discover at some point our little darling had removed half of her clothes from her suitcase so she could put her teddybear in. I was not a happy camper!

I LOVE the idea of hiding the car at gas stations! He he he!

Everyone is responsible for own luggage, ya leave it, its gone for good. I hope none of my stepdaughters end up in the same outfit the entire cruise. My stepson is way too responsible to leave his luggage. My mom will chain or handcuff her handbag to herself and my sister will guard the thing.

"The quiet ones get left at the rest stop"

No kidding! My husband is the quiet one in his family and was left twice -- once at a rest stop and once at a fast food restuarant.

Of course, perhaps in his family it doesn't matter whether you're quiet or not. His older (louder) brother was left on the side of a freeway in the middle of the night during a snow storm.

They were travelling all night and stopped to quickly change drivers. Older brother got out of the car to pee unbeknownst to the sleeping passengers or driver. They took off and noticed about 100 miles later that older brother was not in the car.

Poor older brother was walking along the interstate wearing pajama bottoms and slippers while the snow came down hoping in vain that maybe this was just a joke and they'd be back for him soon!

Some of the stories are hilarious (although I am sure it was not funny at the time)!

I remember pulling over on the side of the road once, after hours and miles of listening to Mom, he's breathing on me, Mom, she touching me..I must have had flames coming out of my ears, I turned and screamed at the children to not move or speak until I gave them permssion.
They both fell asleep, without a peep ( terrified I am sure)...
Funny thing about that- I remember it so clearly and felt bad afterwards, they have no memory of it ! (perhaps when they go to one of those hypnotists, they will dredge up all the mean things I did :O )

At least we can be assured that 4 days in a car with pup will be quiet ((&))

Scarlett- well travelling with pup brings up another piece of advice- at least if its a small dog- and that is not to let it out to potty unattended- you will be travelling through areas with BIG birds- and in Alaska a couple of years ago a couple let their chihuahua out of motor home to potty-
an eagle swooped down and flew off with it - also owls are known to fly off with small pups so be careful

Thank you sunbum, Pup weighs about 60 lbs, he is a Standard Poodle so I think he will be safe from the Birds...at least I hope so! :O

We had another rule, and this one was for my dad. He hardly drove and we had a family owned (extended family) generic blue chevy- always. There was always a zillion other cars that looked exactly like ours.

We made a teasing rule for him to memorize & repeat the plate number.(IL had different plate numbers every few years then.) This way he wasn't leading us all into the wrong car. He still did it every once in awhile when we went grocery shopping when I was young.

I had a friend in high school that always did that changing positions of the car in the parking lot bit until one time his girl got sick of the joke and left with someone else. He never did that to anyone of us in the group again.

ROTFLOL...

STUMPY?....snort....giggle

You guys are so funny.

Scarlett, the 4 days in the car with dear Pup will be quiet IF you don't backseat drive, LOL. ;;)

Wagonwheel -- you are my laugh of the day. Loved #1 and 5, but #4 takes the cake.

Great thread; keep 'em coming.

ttt

Any last contributions? I am going try and compile them and come up with a top 25. I'll post it as its own topic.

No, GoT, no last minute contributions from me. I only have to say <i> may the force be with you, you crazy lady :D</i>