Travel Hat

This is another one of those silly traditions I have no idea how or when it got started, but it is here to stay forever. This would be the "Travel Hat", or sometimes called the "Guru Hat". Dad one day on the trip bought a cheap felt Hillbilly hat in a grocery store somewhere on the trip. The hat was among other silly items for sale and was meant as a joke gift or souvenir depicting the "flavor" of the region: that being "white trash". Originally the hat had a corn cob pipe and a feather stuck in it, and a few cloth patches glued around it to give an impression of poverty and cheapness, but over the years Dad added more items and found-objects to the hat to enhance it's personality and humor, he also deliberately kept the price tag of $1.39 dangling off the side (like Minnie Pearl), which Dad thought was incredibly clever and hysterically funny.

Dad would keep the hat stored in the trunk of the car only wear it on special occasions (thank God...) those time being: The first day of the trip - moments before we would get in the car and leave home, and when we would arrive at Wind River Ranch in Estes Park, often when we were unpacking the car. The hat became a symbol of happiness and frivolity and displayed some trinkets that articulated Dad's joy about being on the trip as well as expressing his quirky personality. One of the first items to be stuck on the hat was a few cloth stickers with smart-alecky sayings like "Made from 100% garbage" or "Bought on Credit". Dad thought these stickers were appropriate to the hat specifically and these probably started the whole tradition of adding to the hat every year. So each successive year of the trip an new item was added to the hat. As time progressed many of the new items were beer themed or contained parts of dead animals. Mom, as expected, wanted nothing to do with the hat shenanigans and was embarrassed by the whole juvenile affair. I think Dad sensed this and in turn made a bigger spectacle of himself wearing the hat on those occasions. Everyone came to expect Dad making a scene with the hat and politely endured the antics until Dad got it out of his system, and it was over until next year.

Over the years, the adding to the hat decorations became an official task and challenge for Dad and the kids, keeping in mind that only one item would be deemed acceptable and make it's way onto the hat, and into history.