No ipads or phones, no car seats or seat belt requirements, you just crawled in the back with your bag of car toys and games and beat the hell...
No ipads or phones, no car seats or seat belt requirements, you just crawled in the back with your bag of car toys and games and beat the hell out of your siblings for 14 hours eating out of the ice chest, asking to see the map, and making truckers honk their horns with universal hand signal.
1
You knew it was vacay time when your mom started getting things like this out.
2
Packing the luggage - which was "lightweight" compared to the old hard cases
3
If you were a teen, you had this exact case in red or blue
4
And if you were a kid, it was whatever character you were in to.
5
The exact car ice chest every body had in the '80s.
6
Fillihng up your caboodle with everything you would need.
7
Getting to find your special travel tooth brush.
8
It was this or listening to your dad's oldies on the car radio and having to find a new station every time you crossed into a different state because the signal got too weak. The only draw back to your walkman besides the uncomfrotable headphones was Having to rewind so you wouldn't have to listen to B side.
9
Your parents packing up the car and trying to play tetris to make everything fit. Dad complaining about losing time.
11
These contraptions were drink holders. That's right, flimsy as hell, flew off of the door if your dad hit the breaks too hard, but they came in blue and red and there were no built in cup holders in cars (read that again) so it was this or sit with the can between your knees.
12
Back in the days when you could lay in the back window, spread across the seat, put the seats down and crawl around the station wagon, anything went.
13
There were no screens, no video players or tablets. It was you and your adlibs or a pad for drawing.
14
Collecting this from RAX before your trip so your drink wouldn't spill.
15
Trading games like this around with your siblings to keep it fresh
16
And passing secret notes around the mini van to your sisters or brothers
17
Summer clothes we need to bring back rather than yoga crap
19
Sneaking gum in the car after it was banned because your stupid sister didn't throw it away right and it got stuck to the carpet.
20
Your dad pulling off and complaining about making good time but then spending five minutes noting his miles, gas usage, and the cost of gas at that station. Like get in and drive John.
22
Getting your perfect pair of car shoes
23
Finally seeing motels lining the road and knowing you were almost there
24
Every hotel room looked like this
25
Collecting toys from all of the gas stations - "free on fill up"
