After my heart operation I discovered my reflexes were too slow to make me safe on the roads so I turned in my license. I get everywhere I want to go on public transportation now.
Good tips Steve.
I'm always getting teased about how long it takes me to get anywhere while on vacation. But I figure that I'm "ON" vacation from the moment that I DON'T get up at 4am. So I leave whenever I get around to pulling out. I stop whenever I see something that I want to stop for (even if it's only Walmart for a short walk-around).
I drive to Tenn. 3 or 4 times a year to visit my sister in law. It SHOULD take about 5 hrs. It HAS taken 12 (I stumbled across a community yard sale and street festival). But I enjoy my vacations from start to finish - not just the time I spend at the destination.
We went on a road trip when I was a kid. Took the cat.
Dad was left at home because of work and farm chores. The dogs must have been left to watch over the place when Dad wasn't at home. So, it was just Mom, my brother and me. And, the cat. My brother was given that cat as a birthday present. We had him for quite a few years. He was a nice cat but not much of a traveling companion.
This was back in the days the interstates were being built and there were none of those "superhighways" between our place in southern Oregon and up here on the ID WA border. I'm not sure what car Mom took. It probably wasn't the 1949 Olds, even tho' that had been purchased new. It could have been the used 1950 Dodge that replaced it - a much more dependable car. I am thinking it was the '58 Ford and it must have been about that time. That car took quite a beating from the cat.
How Mom had the nerve to set out for a drive of nearly 1,000 miles across the mountains and the desert with 2 half-grown boys still surprises me. It was kind of a life changing experience for us. I don't believe that it was quite all that for the cat.
We crossed the Cascades as a first part of our journey. By the time we were on the other side of the mountains everything that could possibly be done in a car and been done by that cat.
Remarkably, Mom found a place to board him in the little town of Klamath Falls. We picked "Daffy" up on the way back. It was probably a terrible surprise to him that we were back to torture him with another 80 miles over the pass - this time, secure in a cardboard box. So much for traveling with a cat.
Sreve no vacation to speak of this year. If we get away for a few days it will be close. I will save the tips for .... Someday.
Canesister, I LOVE the way you travel.
We don't go on vacation now that we have animals. We actually didn't before either. Hunting trips yes...vacation, no.
It is just too tough to find someone reliable to tend to all of the different animals and their different needs.
Great tips offered though for those who do get to go on such journeys. The road trip brings back childhood memories that's for sure! Florida, Penn, VT, Virginia ahhhh...those were the days.