The Story Behind The Picture

There's a rest stop just inside the California (Oregon) border on I-5, right alongside the Klamath River. We've driven to San Diego so many times that we actually look forward to this rest stop. Like driving to your old high school or visiting the neighborhood where you grew up.

We started taking the same picture every few times we'd go down to California. Once, we went down 3 times in less than a year so we'd have to wait until the girls had actually changed enough to see a difference, but we'd get so excited about recreating it!

Then one time, the sign was gone!! We looked all over to see if maybe they had moved it to another part of the rest stop but nope! It was just gone. It was like losing an old friend.

So I asked the girls to pose one last time and they just laughed at me! 

"Awe, come on! Just one last pose for old times sake! Pleeease?!"

Sharaya looked around to make sure no one was looking. Diana and Beth looked so embarrassed! They were laughing so hard!

But they did it!! They posed for like a half a second and I got the picture! The end of an era at the Randolph-Collier Rest Area.

We have so many road trip stories but this is one of my favorites! So much laughter and a crazy picture to remind us!
 
Do you have a favorite road trip story?

Master Planner

It doesn't matter how old you are; buying snacks for a road trip should always look like an unsupervised 9 year old was given $100. lisaxy424 - Readers Digest

My husband is a master at planning for road trips. He'll map out the route, looking at all the rest stops, calculating the distance between them and comparing them to the gas mileage our vehicle gets, so he knows which ones we need to stop at so we never run out of gas. 

He lists all the local radio stations along the route so we can just keep tuning the radio to get clear signals... he is amazing at this! And he loves doing it! 

We were talking the other day about maybe going back east in 2018 and when I got home from work he had the route all planned and couldn't wait to show me what he had come up with. He's too funny.

I sometimes hear people talk about how they'd never take small kids on a road trip and I always try to get them to reconsider. Our girls have always traveled well in the car and we were thankful that none of them ever got car sick!

This picture was taken back in the late 80's when they didn't have to be in a car seat after 2 years old or something like that. It was much more relaxed back then. Beth was 4 and Sharaya was 2. Or close to that. These trays were perfect because it gave the girls a place to color or play but then you were able to fold them up and they took up very little space.

One thing we learned going on long road trips with small kids was to stop every few hours for a break. That's where rest stops come in handy! We would pack a beach ball because they'll fit anywhere, no matter how packed your car is!

We'd stop at a rest stop and because we had 3 girls, I'd take them to the bathroom while Chuck blew up the ball and got out some toys. Then we'd spend 30 minutes or so just playing. The rest stops are like small parks that are great for exploring. The kids would find sticks and pretty rocks; we'd go for a walk, take pictures and play tag. It really just allowed them to run off some energy.

Then it was back to the bathroom while Dad got the snacks ready. When they were really small it was things like dry cheerios, raisins, grapes, finger foods that they could eat without a lot of mess. 

Then we'd all get back in the car and they would eat and read or they'd color or play with small toys and before we knew it, they'd be sound asleep! We could usually go 4-5 hours before needing to stop again.

There really isn't anything about a road trip that we don't like, except maybe when it's over!