Life is About the Journey — Road Trips Then and Now.

Our car trip to Utah was a memorable one this summer.  Drew was going to drive us up, and then fly back down.  He ended up having a job interview the morning we had hoped to leave early on.  That put us a few hours behind schedule — plus the kids and I stayed in the car while he interviewed {more time in the car, yay!}.  Drew ended up having a great interview and we were on our way.  I saw a sign that said 17 closed at New River.  I ignored it, I figured we’d just have to go off an off-ramp and then back on. And then we came to New River. The freeway was closed.  And we — we were in the middle of nowhere.  Meaning, there’s no other roads.  Wait, there is another road! — It’s a 3-hour detour!  But the freeway would be closed most likely until late afternoon so we decided to take the road less traveled. It was a beautiful road.  Great scenery and my husband LOVES driving windy roads {someone needs to, am I right?}.  It was an area that we had never seen of Arizona {and hopefully never will again, frankly — it made for one LONG day}.  But, we chose to take the “make the most of it” attitude and drive on down the road.

As my eyes glazed over watching the road I remembered that my parents drove across the country TWO times when I was little: once from Utah to New Jersey and once from Utah to Virginia (and back each time). Can. you. imagine? I started to wonder what it was like.  I was 2 -4 years old both times, and we had to bring everything we wanted in our little sedan, with a clamshell on top.  But I’ve seen a lot of this country.  Probably more than my parents really wanted to — but I’ve seen it.  I remember we’d have a special treat sometimes and be able to listen to a tape in the car.  My mom would have snacks in the car and she’d wrap up inexpensive little presents that she would give out every so often for me and my brother to enjoy.  One of her favorite phrases was “delayed gratification” — learning to wait for what we want.  I know we drove through all sorts of weather conditions in a small sedan.That wasn’t the only trip across the country.  We made a yearly journey to Yellowstone and a few to Canada, plenty of trips to Disneyland, and of course many rides over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s House.
I love this picture of my mom with her map.   She was the navigator, and my dad was the driver.  That particular tradition has held fast in our family.  I’m also a stewardess, but that’s a blog entry for another day. 🙂

This journey I actually had to pull out a map because of the detour.  I felt pretty fancy trying to figure out where the heck we were and where we were headed.  Mr. GPS wasn’t helping me — I was on my own for once.  My husband and me are a team.  We’ve both gotta pull our load, am I right?  It also reminded me you always need a map.  I see a church talk in that one… I know there was a time in the great state of Montana that I screamed “DAD, if you’ve seen ONE tree, you’ve seen them ALL — I JUST want to SLEEP” and dove my head into my pillow.  I knew that particular phrase would come back to haunt me the rest of my life…. We don’t have a DVD player in our car, on purpose.  I didn’t want to buy one that held such an obstacle to our family time.  Our family is so RARELY together we really try to enjoy our time together in the car.  Of course, we had an 8 year old and 5 year old when we bought that van… but the cherished ideal of us singing and looking for letters in a fight to the death in the alphabet game hang loftily in my heart.

Back to the reality of 2014 — my kids all have handheld devices… and after we reached hour 10 still in Arizona I stopped even trying to pry them out of their cold little hands.  I just knew that if we made it, it would be a miracle.  I bought a few “gifts” for my 5 year old that she enjoyed, mostly books and coloring from Goodwill. Because there are some times you just have to get through. My senior year of high school I read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (anyone else read it?).  I haven’t read it for years, but I knew that brought a light bulb into my heart about enjoying the journey.  Your bike may break down, you might encounter crazy weather, but it is NOT about the destination, it’s about the journey. And I guess I’m still trying to teach my kids that same principle.  You spend SO much time in the journey of things, with so little time at the destination; you HAVE to enjoy them both. I know my parents worked hard to have me enjoy the journey.  We always stopped at interesting places along the way and really tried to enjoy each other’s company (as long as my brother wasn’t on MY SIDE).   The truth is, it’s all journey.  No destination.  But don’t tell my kids that. 🙂

There’s no better vehicle to bring the family together than the Chevy Traverse. With seating for up to 8^1., everyone in the family can join in on the fun. A 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score for safety^2. helps keep everyone safe on your journey to find new roads, no matter where, or how far, it takes you. And best-in-class maximum cargo space makes packing for family road trips, or hauling around children’s sporting equipment, a breeze. With all these great features and more, there’s no question the Chevy Traverse is the ultimate family vehicle.

1. Standard on LS and 1LT.  Available on 2LT. LTZ seats 7.
2. Government 5-Star Safety Ratings are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s New Car Assessment Program (www.SaferCar.gov).