Old Drive Pt. 1

This is the first of potentially many (or the first of just one) recaps of old drives. This one won’t be a specific drive, or a specific moment. More than anything, it will recap snippets of recurring memories from drive to drive, but not just any drives, specifically my family drives to St. Louis. My mom and her family are from St. Louis, and for a big portion of the beginning of my life some of my dad’s family lived there too, so I’ve made that 4ish hour drive many times in my day. I don’t have many memories of entire drives there, but I do remember the cliches and consistencies that ran through each of them. The snacks we’d have, the seats we’d fight over, and the ways I’d pass the time.

The conversation (or more accurately the argument) that happened every single road trip my family of four took was who got the third row seat between my sister and me. My mom had a minivan for all of our childhood years, which meant whoever got the back row got to ride like a king. Full bench to lay out on, place to plug in our Nintendo DS, can hide from dads glare when he says “don’t lay down all the way, that’s unsafe”; basically as close to luxury living as you can get for a road trip. Being the type of person I am (and my sister being who she is) either I would back down early to avoid a fight or my mom would just yell out who got it and tell us to stop arguing (I can’t blame her, our arguments have always just gone in circles over and over). This also set the tone that usually the less talking that had to happen between me and my sister the better, after about 30 seconds it would usually devolve into fighting, with the lone exception being if we played the Alphabet Game, versus each other or together; this bonded us in unity and peace in a time where nothing else could. The only other conversation was momentary requests for snacks from the snack bag, a bag that I remember primarily consisting of twizzlers, mini pringles, and water bottles, although the water bottles were something I was usually forbidden from drinking, not out of cruelty, but for the sake of timeliness. It wasn’t until my later years (15+ maybe?) that I was able to actually hold my bladder in times of need. Even if I went to the bathroom right before we left, it was damn near guaranteed we would need one stop, and sometimes even two, in the four hour drive. I knew I was annoying in the moment too, but for me my choice was to pee my pants or make us stop at a gas station, so I feel like I was making the right decision. I also was annoying because for some reason it felt like the ultimate freedom to be able to take my shoes off for a long trip, but I always had to ask over and over ‘Can I take my shoes off now?” until I finally got permission. I know, very weird behavior by me there. 

Now for passing the time, I had many ways throughout the years. I was always a big reader, so my first choice was usually whatever book I had at the time: Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, or my personal favorite still, Ranger’s Apprentice. I was a fast reader though, so sometimes through ill prep that wasn’t enough. A fall back after that for some time was my Nintendo DS, or eventually games on a phone or tablet. A non-digital option was also the imaginary running ninja man. I have described this on the podcast before, but I would imagine a sort of super powered ninja man running and jumping and flipping from a power line to a mailbox to a car parked on the road back to a power line, basically doing whatever he needed to stay off the ground and keep up to speed with our car, even if most of those actions defied all laws of physics. This would keep me occupied for a surprising amount of time, sometimes hours at a time. I also aged into being a big napper in my teenage years, so that sapped up a lot of time too. One time me and my dad drove just us two a day after my mom and sister (I don’t remember why) to St. Louis, and he took pictures of all the curious ways I laid while napping. I did everything except a full backflip in the seat, with the combination of my weird movement and the constriction of the seatbelt contorting me like a circus act. 

As I am now, I enjoy being the driver for road trips more than a passenger now. It gives me something to focus on, allows me to be in control of things like the AC and the aux (even if that control is giving someone else the aux), and also allows others to sleep or do what they want instead of being the driver. I still eat snacks, but everything else I used to do on long road trips is probably frowned upon doing when behind the wheel. That being said, it is still nice to reminisce on days that once were.

Sincerely,

Just a guy talking to himself