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The year was 1951. Don and I had just graduated from kindergarten. Dad, Mom and our three older sisters began our journey on “The Trip.” ~ Diver Dave

If you missed this when I posted it two years ago, it's a must-read for you today! Dave is one of our most entertaining writers, and you'll feel like you were on this trip with him. :)

Wow, what a tremendous thread!!!!! Billie, it is beautifully done.. the map matting & gold/silver accents and the great buff colored texture (yupper, gonna grab it)and the selection and use of pictures amazing. I love how you used the pledge pix of Dave's grandchildren. wonderful. We all know how much work it is to do these threads/HTML. I am so glad that you will be reposting them now & then. Lots of the old timers may have missed them & the newer folks weren't here.

Dave, I cannot remember much(if anything) from the age you are referring to . You are amazing. Prolly the videos your folks took helped to keep the things fresh. and what a wonderful trip. 2 and a half months.. and to me the most amazing thing is. I need to reread, as I quickly scanned the stops etc (funny about the first water fear..crabs and then you go on to be a diver)

Was your dad a teacher to be off in summer? wonder how much that trip cost then & the translation to today's money.

Your folks did a great thing with this trip in visiting family, sites in US & giving you all a great opportunity to bond & burn life long memories of fun/joy.

HOW DID YOU ALL FIT IN THE CAR & NOT SUFFOCATE.. No air conditioning, lots of people. Well, I guess one just made due. thank you for sharing the great tale with Billie so she could present it to us

Thanks for reposting this gem, Billie.

A wonderful collection of road trip memories, Dave. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it again. Reminded me of our family's cross country trips during that same decade....not vacations, but military transfers from one coast to another. Not several weeks of vacation, but rather a 7 day trip, one state blending into another as we snaked our way across country. No air conditioning, or Game Boys, or DVD players to entertain us kids - we made up games and songs as we went along and dealt with the Texas heat as best we could. There was no time for sightseeing, we saw America through the car windows, but it was a great time for us kids.

On another note, I've been watching films this morning on FOX of the horrible devastation throughout the Gulf states. The need there is enormous and overwhelming and my prayers go out to the people and the rescue workers.

How wonderful to read this gem a second time!
Dave, your descriptions are highly entertaining, and I can just picture
all the in between actions of you restless children..:)

All those car games were familiar, as was reading (and making up!) Burma Shave signs, and we did them with our own children when they were growing up.

Most folks here might not realize that in 1951 there were no Interstate "whizways" anywhere - major highway speed limits were 40 mph.
Growing up, going from Coral Gables (Miami area) to SC to visit my grandparents in the summers in the 40's involved spending the night on the way!
[That was taking U.S. 1 and U.S. 17 - both two lanes wide even in the 60's and 70's. It took 'forever' to get through long, long Jacksonville, with red lights at every intersection..:( ]

As for the no a/c, almost no one had it back then except in a few luxury cars of the wealthy.
That was true in houses, too, and I didn't have a/c in a house until 1966 - base housing at Myrtle Beach AFB, SC. - no auto a/c until 1974 in North Carolina.

Billie, you did such a beautiful job on the presentation and the graphics, and collage of Logan and Christian for the Pledge of Allegiance!