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Similar memories here. When we went on vacation, it was by car, in the station wagon. My parents would get up before dawn, load the car, and put blankets and pillows in the back for us kids. Then they would carry us to the car and lay us in the flattened rear area, still asleep. We wouldn’t wake up for 200 miles, which gave our parents 200 miles worth of peace and quiet before the whining started. Most of the driving was on two-lane highways, since this was mostly in pre-interstate days. And look, we’re both still alive! It must have been a miracle!

Too bad this generation of children, and even my own kids’ generation, never knew what normal American life is supposed to be like.

"I wanna peanut butter and jelly sandwich". LOL

Jean Shepherd wrote of the trips his family took. He wrote Christmas Story and Ollie Hopnoodles Haven of bliss. The movies were good but the written version was much more realistic for the time and place. I think his books Wanda Hickey's night of golden memories or In God we trust all others pay cash have those stories in them. LOL.

I do recall some very tense nights going from Tennessee to upstate Indiana when I was about four years old or so. The gas line froze up on our old 55 Plymouth wagon. Heck I later learned how to drive in that thing. All of our trips were in a station wagon till 1971 when dad finally could afford a new pick up. We drove the truck up to Fairbanks and back.

I share similar recollections FRiend, I recall making many a trip with my parents from our home in Maryland (before it became a Communist People's Republic) down to Florida back in the day when there was NO I-95 except for the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike in Virginia, it was U.S. 301 down to Santee South Carolina, and then there were numerous billboards urging motorists to "stay on 301" with more numerous motels, restaurants, etc., which competed with billboards promoting the "Ocean Route" which was U.S. 15 to U.S. 17 and down the coast through Savannah Georgia and on to Jacksonville Florida and the rest of the Sunshine State.

I remember clearly how it was important to pay attention to the motel "vacancy" signs lit up in neon, and when they started turning to "NO" (no vacancy), it meant that you better hurry up and find accomodations for the night OR you would end up driving all night in which case you better have an extra driver and/or lots of coffee in a thermos.

Two lane roads were the norm, and I remember how sometimes we would get backed up behind a tractor trailer running perhaps 50 mph at best, and the first car behind the trucker would pull out in a passing zone, speed ahead of the truck, and would stay in the left lane for as long as it was clear ahead, in order for the drivers behind him to likewise pull out, accelerate ahead past the truck, and then pull back into the right lane, many times the truckers would assist as best they could by running on the very edge of the pavement in order to give a better view ahead for the traffic behind them. Naturally at night, both 4-wheelers and truckers would flash their headlights to indicate they were "all clear" to pull back in if they were passing or being passed, and the truckers would flash their high beams after roaring by as a way of saying "thanks", it was a different America on the highways back then, everyone had a sense of neighborliness and helping each other even in small subtle ways.

I can recall my late Dad having a bit of fun with my Mom, who was always checking to be sure Dad was still awake when driving in the night hours, she would ask "are you ok dear?" and she had a cup of iced tea she was sipping to stay cool (it was summer, no air conditioning and temperatures in the high 80's even at night), and when she asked Dad if he was 'ok' and not getting drowsy, he answered in a fake slurred voice as if he were sound asleep, saying "huh? I don't know where you put the screwdriver, did you look in the kitchen drawer?" and that prompted Mom to yell "WAKE UP!!!" as she tossed that ice tea right at Dad, and he couldn't help but laugh, and Mom said "don't you EVER do that to me again!"

Fun memories.