DEBORAH CROMBIE: A friend of ours who lives in Seattle is setting off this week on a cross-country/no fixed destinations road trip with his college-age daughter. I can't blame them for wanting to get out of the terrible Pacific Coast heat, and when I contemplated road trips I had a huge rush of nostalgia.
I spent a good part of my childhood summers in the backseat of a car. My dad traveled as a manufacturer's rep, and in the summers he'd find a good excuse to combine business with pleasure. Some of the trips were pure pleasure, like the year we drove from Texas to LA, then up the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Seattle, then took the ferry from there to Victoria. On the way back home we hit Yellowstone, then Utah, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Other trips took us across the southeast all the way to Florida, or up through Kentucky and Tennessee to North Carolina. If there were ever reservations on these trips I don't remember them. I do remember many funky little motels, however. One of my favorites--I wonder if it might have been the famous Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona --had separate cabins in the shape of teepees.
I'm sure this is why I have such fondness for places like the Valley Ho in Scottsdale, and the Belmont Hotel in Dallas. I somehow doubt our friend's daughter has ever stayed in a small town motel, much less one with teepee cabins. I'm not holding my breath that she will love it.
How about you, dear REDS? Did you have cross-country adventures? Do you still feel the romance of the road? And would you set out with no reservations?
RHYS BOWEN: As I child I drove across Europe with my parents , stopping at weird and wonderful B and Bs and meeting such a variety of people. The biggest road trip I remember with our kids was when we lived in Houston and drove all over Mexico, spending Christmas in Mexico City.
When John retired we drove coast to coast to promote my books, visiting small indie bookstores and once we drove coast to coast across Canada. That was fabulous. Now our biggest trip is twice yearly between our homes in CA and AZ. I’m no longer a fan of sitting for hours in a car!
DEBS: Rhys, I can't believe I left out Mexico! We made so many trips there when I was growing up, to Mexico City, Acapulco, Guadalajara (where my parents had a house for quite a few years,) Puerto Vallarta. Such wonderful adventures, although the old Pan American Highway was pretty terrifying. Here I am in San Luis Potosi, which was one of my favorite cities.
HALLIE EPHRON: I never took a road trip until I was all grown up and our Molly was nine months old. Jerry and I (who grew up in non-roadtripping Brooklyn) packed her up along with a tent and a camp stove and took off for a 6-week trip from Boston to Nashville and back. Camping, it turned out (big surprise), was not for us. But roadtripping was, and we’ve taken many since, eating our way from diner to diner.
Whenever I think of road trips I think of miniature golf. In just about every tourist town there was at least one miniature golf course and it was a great way to wile away the hours between dinner and bed. I was terrible at it and cheated.
LUCY BURDETTE: Ha Hallie, we have RoadFood also and have eaten much BBQ and fried chicken on their recommendation. My father was crazy for road trips and camping and my mother went along with it all, with four kids and a couple of German shepherds. We had these big green army boxes on top of our station wagon--instead of suitcases. On one end my mom had painted “California or Bust!” Once we made it there, the boxes were turned around so they read “Hatteras, NC, just for the fun of it!” We pulled a pop-up trailer behind us, and my dad had built a big box for the way back with all the cooking supplies. It was called the “big box” and it weighed a ton. It sure was an adventure, though I wouldn’t do it again now:).
RHYS: These memories have reminded me of several food trips we have taken: the latest all over The Maritime Provinces with the sole aim of seafood twice a day.
DEBS: Yum, Rhys. I'll sign up for that one.
JENN McKINLAY: My parents’ idea of vacation was the mighty road trip, so much so that the only state I haven’t visited in the contiguous United States is Wyoming. Not sure how we missed it. I’ve also, like Rhys, driven across Canada, which was equally spectacular.
I still love road trips and have taken many with my own family. I have found that sharing the bounty of a roadside barbecue stand, stopping at a tourist trap to see the largest ball of twine, listening to a book on tape, and marveling at the wonders found at random stops like Seven Arches in Moab make memories to last a lifetime.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My folks didn’t do road trips; I suspect the constant moving in the military scratched that itch. Ross and I didn't do too many long roadtrips with the kids, but we did have one that was splendid. One summer I was invited to speak at the library on Mackinac Island; the gig included a weekend at The Grand Hotel for the whole family. We expanded the trip into a week plus: we went north to Montreal, then crossed Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie, camping and staying in cabins, came back to the US on the International Bridge and then spent a few days in Michigan’s Wilderness State park before finishing up with an amazing stay at the Grand Hotel. My kids still remember the trip - even Youngest, who was still in diapers, recalls the swimming pool on Mackinac Island!
BTW, Canadian friends, you have the BEST campsites in North America. Bar none.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: My favorite part of our road trips was our family joke. Every time we would pack into the station wagon and head out on a journey, my father would stop at the end of our long driveway, and say: “How do you like it so far?”
