In a few weeks, I'm packing up the car and going on a road trip. Despite seeming like the quintessential American activity, the first recorded road trip was by Bertha Benz, wife of Karl Benz (yes, that Benz) in Germany in 1888. The vastness of the U.S., however, lends itself to road trips, and I've had the pleasure of embarking on many during my life.
When booking the Portland hotel the primary requirement was proximity to Powell's bookstore. What more do you need? Doughnuts, according to my friend, who says I can't miss Voodoo Doughnuts, conveniently located close to Powell's. The Dirty Old Bastard doughnut, which features chocolate frosting, Oreo cookies, and peanut butter does look enticing!
My mom and my family were my travel companions on a most memorable Thoft family road trip. When we were young, my parents found the energy (I don't know how) to take us to the national parks during summer vacations, and one year, we were driving through Yosemite National Park when the engine emitted a deep rumble. We pulled over, and the seven of us (my grandmother, Nanny, was with us) piled out of the car.
My parents checked out the situation under the hood, but the car wasn't going anywhere. Luckily, a couple of hippies pulled over in their VW bus (this was the 70's) and offered us a ride. We climbed into the bus, with it's distinctively grinding engine sound, and they deposited us at the park entrance. This was before the days of roadside service; no one was coming with a replacement car.
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| Fish Camp: Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not much! |
We couldn't find transportation back to our hotel, which was a few hours away. My parents sought alternative accommodations, but it was high season, and the pickings were slim. They finally found two rooms at Fish Camp, and yes, that's what it was. Two rooms and single bar of soap were shared among the seven of us as we prepped for dinner at a local haunt. Midway through the meal, my father left to accompany the tow truck driver to the garage to deposit our rental car. The trip would have been uneventful, but the driver was drunk and took my father on quite a ride. Apparently, the drive was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and my dad held on for dear life as they sped along and weaved through the twisty roads near Yosemite.
After a fitful night at Fish Camp, we put our pants back on—getting ready for bed had entailed a wash with the bar of soap and the removal of our pants—and claimed the repaired car. Like most road trip crises, Fish Camp made for a good story and lives on in Thoft family lore. I hope that my trip to Oregon is less eventful, but that's part of the fun of a road trip: You never know what might happen!
Have you taken a memorable road trip? Is there a road trip on your bucket list?
Your road trip sounds lovely . . . good company, a bookstore, and doughnuts. What more could you ask for?
ReplyDeleteGenerally, our road trips are between here and Norfolk, Virginia to visit our youngest daughter and her family. It’s a long trip, about seven hours of pure torture. I despise driving, so as far as I’m concerned the only pleasure in road trips is getting where we’re going and getting out of the car . . . .
Although I love driving, the East Coast is particularly awful for road trips, with crowded roads and crazy drivers. I don't blame you for not wanting to make the drive, Joan!
Deletetotally agree Joan and Karen, the east coast is not fun to drive!
DeleteAgreed. I made the trip a number of times between Boston and Princeton, N.J., and the drive is not fun!
DeleteOooo, I love the Oregon coast! I once took an overnight trip from Portland down to Lincoln City, and then back up the 101 to Astoria and Portland again. Lovely drive. I stayed at the Heathman in Portland, and still managed to spend a day at Powell's. I had a cool little rental car, the scenery was gorgeous--good times.
ReplyDeleteAs you can probably guess, I love driving and adore road trips. Deb and I took one up to Kansas City a few years back that involved many stops at bookstores, and a memorable afternoon in El Dorado, Kansas, after I locked my keys in the car. More recently I trekked across Arkansas and Tennessee to reach Burnsville, North Carolina, way up in the mountains. Friends live there, who had made me a stained glass window to go in the sidelight next to my front door. I was in a rented minivan, and I didn't have anyone riding shotgun, but it was fun, and I got to see new parts of the country. Came home with great swag.
But the mother of all my road trips came after my grandmother died. My mother, who lived in Missouri, and my aunt, who lived in San Francisco, selected all the things from Grandma Boo's stuff they wanted to keep in the family, and moved it all down to Mom's house, which was closest. There they sorted out who would get what. In the end, they were looking at a small collection of furniture that needed to go to San Francisco, and their plans for getting it there fell through. Mom decided it could all fit in my husband's truck. Our drive turned into a giant circle of the western states: Texas up to Missouri; Missouri to Lincoln, Nebraska, where we got on I-80; and then west through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California down to San Francisco. Going home we took the southern route, following I-40 (and old Route 66) most of the way back from California, through Arizona, and New Mexico to Amarillo, Texas, and then home from there via back roads. Amazing scenery, amazing history, amazing experience. I highly recommend road tripping. Except for you, sweet Joan. Clearly you should fly.
That sounds fantastic, Gigi! How long did it take you, and how did Grandma Boo come to be called that? ;)
DeleteIt took us about three weeks, with stops to visit relatives along the way. Boo was her childhood nickname, which she thought was better than LaVerne at just about every stage of her life.
DeleteI used to spend time near Cannon Beach and know Haystack well! I've had a number of memorable road trips, including driving in 1977 from southern California north to Seattle and then east to southern Indiana - in a 1960 VW convertible without a working gas gauge. One of the scariest was a few years later when I discovered that there were NO open gas stations in Wyoming at night for hundreds of miles. I literally coasted on empty into the only one with its lights on. Have a fun trip, Ingrid!
ReplyDeleteWe've driven cross country twice, Edith, and Utah is full of signs warning about the lack of gas for miles and miles. That must have been frightening. I'm very excited for my mom to see Haystack; it's so spectacular!
DeleteWhen I was growing up, my parents would take us to Vermont for a week during the summer. That's where my dad grew up and we'd visit his mother. She had 25 acres of land with a forest that had various wildlife and raspberry bushes that we'd pick (well eat mostly) clean.
ReplyDeleteVisited other relatives while we were there, ate at country kitchen/stores for breakfast, got maple syrup and fudge, cooked out nightly for dinner.
That's about the only road trip I ever really took.
As an adult, I hate long drives so there is no road trip on my bucket list. If I want to go somewhere, it is usually something I could take a plane trip for.
The trip sounds lovely, and my ears perked up at fudge! Just a few weeks ago, we were in Arizona, and I was thrilled to find peanut butter fudge at a store on a Navaho reservation of all places. Fudge is one of the treats of road trips!
DeleteEspecially if you live in MA, I understand the desire to stay put or drive, being a native myself. The driving isn't exactly relaxing!
Ingrid, my idea of a road trip is when I run around on Saturdays doing various errands or if I drive to a book signing. Just can't do much more than that.
DeleteAnd yes, you definitely know how it is here in MA trying to drive around.
I want to go back to the Basketball Hall of Fame but dread the drive. Heck, lately I've been going to concerts in Worcester but I've gone with a friend who likes to drive so I don't have to worry about that either.
Maybe I'm just extra lazy?
Oh Fish Camp! That is a crazy story— and probably way more fun in the retelling then in the actual participation!
ReplyDeleteWe had a road trip by plane one year… My famil: me, four siblings and two parents, as well as another family of two siblings and two parents, got some sort of a special deal on Frontier Airlines to hop to any city on their route for two weeks. So we toured the west, Jackson Hole and Carson City and Denver and Colorado Springs and Billings and on and on… After the 11 of us were finished, Frontier dropped the offer.
Safe travels, Thofts!
That sounds both exciting and potentially awful, Hank! That's a lot of travel in little time with a lot of people. Were the two families still friends by the end?
DeleteYes! The parents were, at least :-) Their older son, who I had a huge 14-year-old crush on, put gum in my hair, though. Seriously. Somehow they made it my fault for being unhappy about it. The joys of being 14 :-)
DeleteThat's just wrong!
DeleteIngrid, hope your trip is only fun, without drama! The Oregon coast is spectacular.
ReplyDeleteI just drove to Malice and back, nine hours, plus or minus, each way. Sue Grafton's W is for Wasted was just the right length to keep my entertained on the way home.
My three daughters live in Boulder, Virginia, and the Detroit area, and I drive to visit each of them once or twice a year, stopping at other friends' or relatives' homes on the way. The youngest daughter used to live in Miami, and I drove to visit her by myself at least twice, and I drove to Bouchercon in New Orleans, stopping to stay with one of my dearest friends in Birmingham. Last year, we were given a family member's timeshare at Breckenridge, and we decided to drive instead of fly, which turned out to be a really fun trip.
But my most epic road trip was a few years ago. I flew to Seattle, and rented a car. I wanted to spend time there with some older friends, and then drove to Brookings, Oregon to visit my former Threads editor, who now lives there. He suggested driving through the Redwoods, so I did, which was amazing; there are wild elk that live just outside the area. Then I traveled down the coast to California, stopping to hang out with friends and relatives in Point Reyes, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and San Diego.
In San Diego, after reuniting with my best friend from grade school (we had not seen one another since 1969), I met up with my husband and turned in the rental car. Steve had driven out there three weeks previous, to do some work for an assignment, so from there we planned to drive together back to Cincinnati. After spending some time with friends and family there, we headed home. We took nearly two weeks to get here, via Las Vegas (where I got to see my dear aunt for the last time), the Hoover Dam, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, then a long-awaited visit to friends in Santa Fe. From there we drove up to Boulder to cheer up our daughter for a couple days, and then finally, headed home in one day.
My husband and I are great road trip companions, luckily, as long as he doesn't insist on staying in the crummiest joints he can find. We keep road food in the car, and eat lots of peanut butter, fruit, and nuts, listen to audiobooks (we have similar reading tastes), and sometimes I sing to the radio. Together, we've been to most of the US; he's been to 50 states, I've been to 49 (Alaska, I'll get there!).
We also had a road trip in Australia, but that did not go quite as well. Steve kept forgetting to drive on the left, and it is probably the reason for at least half my grey hair. Just saying.
That drive down the coast and then home with Steve sounds amazing, Karen. Many moons ago, my husband and I drove across the country twice. We're also good driving companions, and even though it was long, it was lots of fun, too.
DeleteNeither of us are brave enough to try other side of the road places. That has "head on collision" written all over it!
He also drove in France, which was much better. Except for the roundabouts. We are just now getting them in our area, and it can be confusing to figure them out, especially when everyone else is driving twice as fast as you are!
DeleteMy parents were very big on cross-country road trips, hauling a pop-up trailer behind an old station wagon stuffed with 4 kids and a German shepherd. Every few days we'd jam into a motel to sleep on a real mattress and take a shower. John is always amazed at how many of the national parks we visited!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at all the places my parents took the four of us. Before I was born, my parents made the cross country drive with my sisters in the back of the station wagon in a porta-crib!
DeleteAnd whoo hooo, Reds! The amazing Kristopher Zgorski of BOLO Books has given a wonderful shout out to the Reds in his debut column for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine! It's called Blog Bytes--and you can see it here!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU! xoxooo . http://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/current-issue/blog-bytes/
Yes, thank you, Kristopher! What a wonderful write up!
DeleteWhen John retired we drove coast to coast so that I could visit bookstores. And then coast to coast across Canada. That was spectacular. These days I'm not so thrilled with sitting in a car for hours. We have an 800 mile drive between California and Arizona and that's quite enough road trip
ReplyDeleteAt least some of that is a pretty drive, Rhys? Eight hundred miles is long if the scenery isn't great!
DeleteTwo parents, three kids and one miniature poodle crammed into a Ford station wagon for the two day haul from Atlanta to Cape Cod to visit the grandparents. I'll never forget hitting the toll booth on the Mass Pike with Georgia plates...the local drivers swerved out of our way and gave us the stink eye.
ReplyDeleteAt least the swerved out of the way! I don't think that would happen nowadays!
DeleteWe give everyone the stink eye, you know that, right?
DeleteWe are called Massholes, after all!
DeleteWe just got back from a road trip from Rochester to Philadelphia with a great detour through the Amish country. I adore road trips, made two last year, both to Canada. One was our Three Pines tour, not to be missed, and the other to Toronto, to Bouchercon.
ReplyDeleteRhys, you have a wonderful tribute in Louise Penny's May newsletter. Congratulations on your Agatha.
My favorite road trips of all time are those we have taken in France. I think it is the only way to see the countryside, lots of unplanned stops in picturesque villages and meals in tiny bistros where the food is comparable to any three star restaurant. The last was to the sud-ouest, with my daughter, Melinda, navigating from the back seat, not a good plan, but how else would we have ended up on the top of a mountain in a nameless village that was a dead end? It definitely wasn't listed on any map. Maybe the French version of Three Pines?
That sounds like a great adventure, Ann, at least in the telling! It's very brave of you to road trip in a foreign country. I did it in Spain with my mom, and it was wonderful, but definitely added a layer of stress for the drive, me!
DeleteI love road trips. I did one last summer with my sister: Houston to LaGrange (100 miles) to Deadwood and Lead SD in the Black Hills. My car’s a/c was dying but we had books on cds to listen to the whole way. A rock cracked my windshield barely 10 miles from my sister’s place. My husband wants to journey to his family sites: Marksville, LA and Hattiesburg, MS. A sentimental pilgrimage. He still has cousins there. I would add on Oxford, MS (always wanted to visit Faulkner’s stomping grounds) and the Gulf coast in MS and Alabama. Soon, I hope. We’ve made a lot of trips together, domestic and foreign. He drives, I navigate. With a map! We’ll listen to books. I did a driving tour in Ireland with my mother-in-law years ago. Any trip with her was memorable! And being a babyboomer with four siblings I knew no other style of vacation for years than the road trip. I used to cringe at filling station stops. Mom, me, two younger sisters and baby brother would be lined up at the ladies rest room. Felt like the circus was in town. Mom managed quite well on these trips. Dad was transferred to southern California on a temporary assignment back in 1961. We all moved out there for a few months and were in the station wagon every weekend exploring. Mom would bring a loaf of bread and a package of bologna and we’d picnic. Little brother was born later that year. We drove through the sequoias and it was amazing. In recent years Mom’s trips were limited to riding with me to LaGrange but we still had the joy of the open road and heading west. She was 98 years old and died Sunday evening.
ReplyDeletePat, so sorry to hear about your mother. Our condolences.
DeletePat, I'm so sorry about your mother. I hope memories of your road trips and other shared experiences are comforting during this difficult time.
DeleteYour mom was such a good sport Pat, so sorry about your loss.
DeletePat, I'm sorry to hear about your mom.
DeleteDebRo
Lovely images of your mother. May she rest in peace.
DeleteThroughout the forty years we lived in Maryland, we drove to Cape Cod at least twice a year -- but barrelling up and down Rte. 95 is not a "road trip"!!
ReplyDeleteOne summer, I will say it was 1993, I took two daughters (one was 16 and the other 19)to England for three weeks! We spent a week in London and then we rented a car. Yes, I drove. We went first to Canterbury Cathedral -- from there we drove through Kent (we had friends who were then living in the town where Virginia Woolf ended her life) and then on the Cornwall, all the way to Lands End.
At that time Best Western had a booklet, and you could choose hotels from this book -- we stayed in the most amazing places!
Heading north, we went to Bath and to Coventry -- and back to London.
It was truly in every way the best road trip ever.
What a wonderful adventure! Do your daughters have equally fond memories of the trip? ;)
DeleteHave fun! My family road-tripped to Gettysburg one year and Boston another. My father, not the most patient of people, swore after Gettysburg that he was done with road trips.
ReplyDeleteI missed all the drama. As the eldest, I hid in the back of the station wagon with the luggage, a book, and my Walkman. =)
Mary/Liz
Were you sitting in the way back with the seat that faced backwards? I loved sitting in that in Boston traffic; it was always very exciting!
DeleteYep! We didn't put the seat down because we needed the baggage space, but I always got to carve out a little "nook" where I could travel in relative peace. =)
DeleteMary/Liz
My parents loved road trips, and because they were manufacturer's reps, there was usually a business excuse to make them. On of my favorites was the year we drove from Dallas, across the southwest to LA, up the west coast all the way to Seattle, took the ferry to Vancouver and Victoria, then drove from Seattle down through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. I crossed a lot of states off my list that trip!
ReplyDeleteOne of my least favorites was one of the years we drove the old Pan American Highway to Mexico City. My brother had just gotten his driver's license and my parents let him drive those winding mountain roads, no railing, sheer drops on one side or the other. I huddled on the floor in the back seat, a pillow over my head.
Once, I drove across England, from Exeter to Bedford, in a hurricane! That one was not the least bit fun.
Two recent trips that were fun were a quick overnight to Austin with Gigi to see our English jazz singer friend Barb Jungr do a show there, and a trip from Dallas to Brenham with my daughter and our friend from Kansas City.
Ingrid, I LOVE Portland! Allow lots of time for Powell's--it's bookstore heaven. Which hotel did you pick?
ReplyDeleteWe're in the Sentinel. I welcome all Portland recommendations!
DeleteWhen I was a kid growing up my family drove all over the Adirondacks for our vacations. But one of the most memorable was on a trip to Maine. We were driving down a very narrow, unpaved rood. Suddenly we had caught up to a moose in front of us, going at a pretty good clip the same direction. I can still hear my father saying "take the wheel, gimme the camera!" I'm sure my mother took the wheel and somehow he got the camera but I don't recall ever seeing the picture. But that moose's behind is still a clear image almost 65 years later.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious! Those animals are huge!
DeleteThe summer of 1962,I was 13... my mother, 2 of my aunts, my sister, my cousin and I drove from Maine to California and back. Took the southern route out, stayed a week with my aunt in La Mirada, and then a week coming back the northern route. Wonderful adventures and misadventures and fantastic memories!
ReplyDeleteTraveling with family can be terrific if you're compatible. Luckily, my mum and I get along quite well!
DeleteIngrid, safe travels. I have a memorable road trip. We drove from Edinburgh, Scotland up to see Balmoral Castle and Glamis Castle, the childhood home of the Queen Mother. I remember we drove up in a very small car and sometimes we travelled on one lane roads. I remember we passed someone riding a horse and they waved at us. On the way back, we stopped somewhere. There was a bee waiting for us when we got into the car and we got out fast! We waited until the bee flew out before we got in the car and drove back to Edinburgh.
ReplyDeleteDiana
Another brave soul driving on the other side of the road! I just don't think my brain could compute in a timely fashion. I'm impressed, Diana!
DeleteActually, it was my friend's husband who did the driving, Ingrid. I did not even have a US driver's license yet. Now I have a US driver's license. He is a policeman who sometimes works at the royal palace in Edinburgh and we got to see the Queen leaving the Palace. No crowds. Your comment reminded me of something. I read the other day that Prince Harry was teaching his fiancee Meghan how to drive in Britain.
DeleteYour road trips sound lovely.
Diana
My husband and I have always enjoyed road trips. We took quite a few during our eight years together before our son was born, as well as several very memorable ones with him once he was old enough to travel well. I think my favorite was the year we left Ohio and visited Mt. Rushmore, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Abraham Lincoln National Museum in Indiana. We had a lot of fun adventures that trip, but one memorable (and less fun) one was when I got pulled over for speeding in Yellowstone. When asked to show my insurance card, I did -- and we found that we had accidentally switched the two cards when we put them in our vehicles that time. So I had an insurance card for a different car, but none for the one I was driving. They wrote me the big ticket, but said if my insurance agent could fax them the real one (because it was that long ago, that faxing was in) within 24 hours, it could be destroyed. We got it done, but it certainly put a damper on about 24 hours of vacation!
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I love road trips is that communication seems to flow when you're confined in a car together. Even now, if my 24-year old son has an especially serious topic he wants to discuss, he will sometimes maneuver a time for us to be in the car together, because it just makes him more comfortable to talk in that context. Though in addition to talking, we have enjoyed a LOT of audio books over the miles, too!
Isn't that how parents have the most communication with their teenagers? In cars? There's definitely something about sitting side by side rather than face to face that opens up the channels.
DeleteIt sounds like we may suffer from the same lead foot affliction, Susan!
We took road trips for family vacations. There was one where our van that we used to tow our trailer, decided to break down every time we drove through Cedar City Utah. Fortunately, the camp ground was right across the street from the Ford dealer.
ReplyDeleteNothing quite as extreme as your story, however.
A camp ground would have been a welcome alternative to Fish Camp!
DeleteFamily vacations when I was growing up were my parents and four kids in a station wagon. I don't know why we started going to Lake Erie (when it was a lovely body of water, before pollution)and Cedar Point, but we went there regularly from our home in Kentucky and stayed in the grand old hotel there. The longest car trip as a family was when we spent the month of February in Ft. Myers, Florida, and my father brought along a friend to help with the driving. I think back now on how much work that must have been for my mother.
ReplyDeleteA favorite road trip is when my husband and I drove out to Arizona to visit his friend in the Army. We went the northern route out there and the southern route back, and the different scenery was spectacular. We were so young and had only been married a year. More recently, in 2013, I attended my first Bouchercon in Albany, NY, and my friend who lives in Virginia Beach and I drove from her home there. After the amazing experience at Bouchercon, we drove to Niagara Falls and spent a few days. We took a slight detour on that second part of the trip, to drive through some of the Adirondacks. The reason we did that is I couldn't stand being that close to where Julia's Clare and Russ series takes place and not at least dipping my toe in those waters.
Ingrid, your trip with your mother sounds wonderful. So glad you all are taking the time to do this together. Have a great time!
that's so neat that you wanted to see Julia's setting!
DeleteVery cool, Kathy! Did visiting change your experience of the books?
DeleteSeeing just the bit of the Adirondacks that I did made me appreciate more the vastness of the outdoors there. And, Lucy, you know that I do a little dance in my chair every time you mention some place in Key West I've been.
DeleteMany road trips for camping when we were kids. Dad would take a month off and we got to see the western U.S. - Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas are the states I remember. Of course I love Big Sur on the Calif coast and have been up and down the scenic Calif coastline numerous times. The drive between Flagstaff and Sedona through Oak Creek Canyon is one of my favorites. When I moved back east I enjoyed the Carolina coast drives, Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Georgia coastal drives as well. I'm taking another solo drive this summer from Colorado to the Great Lakes. Last summer Mom, my sis and some of my nieces took an epic roadtrip to Texas to the Little League Regionals Softball and visited Sante Fe, Durango, Billy the Kid grave, and other classic sites. FUN!!!
ReplyDeletePauline, we drove through Oak Creek Canyon a few weeks ago, and it was beautiful. Definitely a must-see for those who like scenic drives!
DeleteYes! A fabulous road trip about six years ago from Chicago suburbs to beautiful Watkins Glen, New York, where there is a charming place called Farm Sanctuary. They have rescued farm animals there, and it is so kind and lovely. Gorgeous views in upstate New York! Planning on repeating that one some time this summer.
ReplyDeleteHave fun, Keziah!
DeleteJust so you know, Keziah, I loved, loved, loved "The Reluctant Fortune Teller." It's the sort of book I buy as a gift for my friends because I want them to read it but I don't want to risk lending my copy out.
DeleteI love road trips! My parents had the same modus operandi - I've seen every state in the lower forty eight except for Wyoming. It's on my list! We even went across Canada once. Have a fun trip, Ingrid and most def have a donut for me - love Voodoo (the magic is in the hole) Donuts!
ReplyDelete