The road (trip) less traveled

Byline: Jennie Englund

IS THE AMERICAN FAMILY ROAD TRIP becoming a forgotten pastime? In an effort to preserve this archaic but precious mode of family travel, I packed my husband and our three kids, ages three, five, and seven, into a minivan and headed from Oregon to Mexico. I was not only excited to reach our destination, a beach in Baja California–yes, we were camping–l was also challenged by the idea of traveling more than 2,000 miles in a confined space with three short attention spans and two weeks’ worth of living items.

In an effort to save space and sanity, I left the Legos and the Polly Pockets at home. Each child was allowed one carry-on stuffed friend. They didn’t know where we were going, or how far. And unbeknownst to the three young adventurers in the back seats, some generous friends had loaned us a small, portable television set and DVD player. I had stashed this inconspicuously under a bucket of books on tape I’d spent weeks checking out from various libraries. The kids had new journals and thin marking pens. They had stacks of paperback books from second-hand stores. They had sing-along music. And they had each other.

Determined to postpone our reliance on visual technology, I was an eager entertainer, forced into resourcefulness. I let the quieter moments just be, but when our passengers grew restless, I’d point out interesting sights. The old John Steinbeck settings of miles of agriculture along California’s Highway 99 yielded blessings. I shared my thanks for the farmers who were working on Sunday.

The kids, in turn, found sights to behold. Windmills. Hawks. Swedish architecture in a sea of Spanish billboards.

Newness abounded, and contrasts were theirs for the making. I cherished their small voices as they shared scenes they knew would interest each other: John Deere plows, fields of flowers, mysteriously fenced sites.

In the dark, we thought. We sang, told stories, asked questions. One unexpected miracle was a Time magazine I’d brought along for myself: Year in Pictures 2004. Each image spawned insightful comments, one photo perceived five different ways.

Had I brought out the videos, the ride would have been so easy–effortless, as far as any actual parenting was concerned. But I was determined to preserve the tradition of the great American family road trip. Though my husband had supported my hope to outlast the desire to plug in the adapter, he could have caved in at any moment.

On our return trip, only two hours from home, I debated giving the kids a treat–an animated movie would hush their incessant giggles. But that would have been the easy way. So with newfound enthusiasm, I passed out crackers and launched a discussion about our favorite parts of the trip.

An even greater treat than seeing a live stingray for the first time–as happened on that vacation–was getting to know my own children a little bit better on the way there and back again. They knew that I found them interesting and valuable. That is something no portable entertainment system could ever have done.

Jennie Englund, MS Ed, is an educator, writer, and editor residing in Ashland, Oregon, with her husband, Dave, and their spirited children, Dominic (8), Daney (7), and Damon (5).