by Barbara FeliceHowarth

Created on: June 01, 2009

Ahh, The famous family road trips in the early 70's,there were quite a few in our family. Road trips made quite a statement growing up. It meant two important things...you had a family to travel with and your breadwinner had a decent job. My father's goal has always been to buy that at the time ultimate luxury car known as the Cadillac. When he finally saved enough money to buy that huge boat of the road of course the first thing he did was plan our family road trip. Who needs an airplane when you have air conditioning, an 8 track player and big cushy leather seats. My oldest brother was married off at a young age by then so it was only the four of us, My parents,my brother and I.

Our first real trip was from Philadelphia to Chicago. We had to move to IL in 1972 so we drove. Since it was summertime and our house wasn't ready we took our time and even had to stay at a Holiday Inn for two weeks. Back then The Holiday Inn was the place to stay if you did well. It was so exciting to stay at a hotel/motel, meeting all of those interesting people,swimming in a pool anytime you wanted and going out for meals 3 times a day. I met this kid who had this big scar on his arm, I was only 10 but inquisitive. I asked him what happened and he told me he was bitten by an ape. That was 37 years ago and I still remember and laugh about that to this day. After that first trip we drove back and fourth every year or two to visit family on holidays. Christmas time it was kind of scary because you had to drive through the mountains once you reached Pittsburgh from IL. The roads were curvy, icy and snow filled.

Our first big adventure was when I turned 13 years old. My dad planned "The Big One" We drove from IL to WY with stops at Six Flags in Missouri, A dude Ranch in Colorado, The Corn Palace in South Dakota, The Grand Titans in WY as well as Old Faithful and other smaller stops along the way. Yellowstone Park was bittersweet. We were planning on a two night stay but only stayed one night because the supposedly bragged about beautiful cabins turned out to be a dump with hole ridden bed sheets and a moldy stand up shower that included a mouse at no extra charge. My brother and I had to share a bed and every time one of us turned over the sheet would rip. It was quite hilarious and a trip we will never forget. This was also a trip that commenced by brother's adulthood. He turned 18 before we left and in KS at the time, it was legal for an18 year old to drink light beer. That was

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>