16 - Sunday, August 10, 1986 - North Shore New:

Travel

TIPS FOR SUMMER MOTORING

Long car tri

WANT TO hear a phrase guaranteed to make a mother’s

blood run cold?

How about ‘Hey, honey! Why don’t we throw the kids
in the car and drive down to Texas this summer?

Mother instantly flashes back
to the last ‘“‘throw the kids in the
car’’ episode, complete with 18-
hour marathons on the highway,
junior kicking the back of the seat,
litte Mary whooping-up her
breakfast and the dog getting lost
in Tulsa.

by Barbura
McCreadie

‘*Togetherness’’ becomes a
four-letter-word to a family
crowded into a station wagon, at
lunchtime in the middle of the
Nevada desert.

On the other hand, a sensibly
planned family car trip can be a
great way to see North America,
pleasantly and economicaily.

And, the time to go is now, be-
fore the kids reach their mid-teens,
complete with heavy curriculums,
after school jobs and boy/girl
friends.

The trunk of the average family
car won’: close on four or five
large suitcases. Soft satchels and
kit bags pack well and fit into cor-
ners of the trunk,

It’s a good idea to pack two
empty drawstring bags for laun-
dry. The perfect laundromat has a
hamburger stand on one side and a
playground on the other. If the
stuff is pre-sorted the job’s half
done.

Include zip-lock plastic bags for
damp bathing suits and bring
along a beach towel for each per-
son. Motels never have enough
towels, for both showers and
swimming.

The Automobile Association has
an excellent supply of maps (free
to members). Major freeways such
as I-5 are speedy but boring. Can
you find an alternate route for
some of the trip?

Frequent stops make the drive
more pleasant for everyone —
study the ‘‘points of interest’ sec-
tion of the map and do a little
homework before you go.

Kids don’t have much patience
with parents ‘‘sleeping in.’’ If the
sun’s up, so are the kids. For the
best trips, families should get an
early start and quit before three in
the afternoon.

The selection of motels is better
— by dinner time all the cheapies
with swimming pools have been
grabbed and you'll be faced with a
carlead of cranky people deman-
ding that you ‘‘take the next
vacancy, no matter what it costs.”

If you’re rich, your only pro-
blem will be finding decent restau-
rants. If you aren’t rich you'll be
looking for alternatives to spen-
ding $50 a day in highway hash
houses.

We found a system that worked
beautifully and cost no more than
eating at home.

I packed a small Styrofoam
cooler, plenty °f paper cups and
plastic utensils, a small electric
kettle (or a coffeepot) and a por-
table barbecue.

Every day we stopped’ early in
the afternoon and while Dad and
the kids vent for a swim, 1 headed
for the supermarket. The secret
was buying just enough for one
barbecue, breakfast the next morn-
ing and a picnic lunch.

Some days we ate = either
breakfast or lunch in a restaurant
but the only time we skipped our
barbecue was if it rained.

There was always a public park
with picnic tables available and the
kids got a chance to run off all the
energy that they’d bottled up all
day.

We had a Frisbee and a set of
badminton racquets as well as
some inflatable balls and toys for
the pool.

Milk and juice as well as the
picnic lunch were well-packed in
the cooler with free ice. If you
haven’t room for a cooler, the
milk and juice can be stored over-
night in a plastic wastepaper
basket out you'll have to skip the
picnic lunch.

If you’ve got two kids, each gets
a window seat. If you've got three,
one has to sit in the middle and the
fight’s on. The only fair way is tc
have a regular seat rotation every
few hours.

AS parents, you've got to set
some firm rules and enforce them:

© Seatbelts are mandatory

© Any kid that kicks the back of
Dad's seat gets left behind at the
next stop.

© No food or drinks in the car.
Why? Aside from the mess invoiv-
ed, you can entice all sorts of
unwe.come crawlies — even
cockroaches. Gum is better for-
bidden — stick to Lifesavers unless
you enjoy prying lumps of food
out of hair, upholstery and
ashrays. i do keep a thermos of ice
water in the car on hot days.

If your kids are bored, they'll
fight. If they fight, the driver
should pull off the road A.S.A.P.
and get the problem sorted out.
It's hazardous to try and referee
while you're barrelling down the
road.

Keeping kids occupied in a car is
easy —- as long as you plan ahead.
I provided -ach of mine with a
small satchel with a scrapbook
(aren't all kids scavengers?),
Scotch tape, pens, pencils and
pencil crayons.

Felt pens are messy and crayons
melt. Depending on the ages of the
kids, sticker books and puzzle
books are handy.

I also kept a surpise bag — all
sorts of goodies that could distract
bored kids. One of the best sur-
prises was a book called ‘‘The
World’s Corniest Jokes’? -
“What’s red and white on the o'-
side and grey on the inside?”
Campbell’s Cream of Elephant
Soup.

Real high-class material. 1 raided
Woolworth’s for cheap prizes and
awarded them for car games.

The favorite game was a varia-
tion on car bingo. We made a list
of 10 or 15 things to look for along
the way — simple stuff like Coca
Cola signs, Motel 6, police cars

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(helped keep the driver out of
trouble, too), yellow VW beetles
— the winner was the first to

complete the list.
We had a lot of fun on those
family trips.

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