Vacation!

After this hectic summer (of doing what? Swimming? Nothing?) it is time to get away. We are headed out tomorrow, early, road-tripping back to Indiana, by way of Civil War sites in Mississippi, Mammoth Cave (alas, no Graceland this trip) and Nashville. We'll visit friends in the Hoosier state, then family in Missouri. Then we'll stop at the Clinton Library in Little Rock and end up in Oklahoma for a week of UU camp. Not the most glamorous vacation ever, but fun, none the less.

Or at least we hope so. All five of us, cooped up in a car, with Alison leading the fights in the back of the van?

I have fond memories of summer travels with my family: with only AM radio, there was no music (and if there had been, it would have been chosen by my father). He drove what felt like 600 miles a day and was never wiling to look for a motel until after 8 p.m. — I guess that extra 25 miles was going to make all the difference — and more than once the six of us ended up in a room without enough beds and barely enough floor space. My dad smoked in the car, and we kids were crammed in the back. This is pre-seatbelt days, so it didn't really matter whether the car was big enough. We'd fold down the seats in the back of our Pinto wagon, lay down the sleeping bags, and hang out. Or fight. Or whatever. We saw whatever my parents had put on the itinerary (I don't recall that we were ever consulted) and frankly spent a lot of time in the car. We were sick all through Colorado, and I remember the rain and cold in Plymouth, Mass., the heat of South Dakota.

But you know what? I really enjoyed it. We went everywhere — East Coast, Midwest, Northeast. Saw Boston, Washington DC, Mount Rushmore, the Rockies, the Hermitage. Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Niagra Falls. We were very well traveled. And even if those places didn't mean anything at the time, they mean something now.

So, no regrets. I'll report on how it goes. But no matter what, it will be worth it. America in a car — it's what growing up here is all about.