Pulled Over

I'm a little surprised this doesn't happen more often...

Being so conspicuous on the road it's no wonder why sometimes the bright green T-Bird is a target, but I guess the law enforcement officers have better things to do most of the time.

T-Bird - part.1

This is just the start...

It is an art keeping a car running past 400 thousand miles.

El Centro

I've been to dozens and dozens of towns like this...

From my experience most of America is made up of towns like El Centro, California. The only differences being the temperature.

Kanab, Utah. Part 2. - Night

It just happened to be the 4th of July...

We decided to go explore and check out the fireworks.

Kanab, Utah. Part 1. - Day

Kanab is one of those traditional destinations we've been to at least 6 times...

I can't say there is much going on in Kanab other than it's a convenient stop before Zion National Park. Right down the street from the motel (the one we always stay at), is a pathetic tourist attraction that nobody seems to go to, except maybe to grab a beer. The place blasts creepy cowboy music that can be heard blocks away, to attract customers, but I think it has the same effect as "It's a Small World..." at Disneyland, and only succeeds in annoying you for days. As I understand it, Kanab boasts itself as "Little Hollywood" since it was the location for many old Westerns like Gunsmoke, and classic movies like Planet of the Apes. Anyway, this attraction accurately reflects Kanab as a quiet ghost town.

Typical Day

You can't travel thousands of miles without getting lost every once in a while...

Despite the volumes of road maps and decades of experience, Dad would often get confused. Funny how it's always somebody else's fault.

Passing

Dad always considered himself possibly the best driver in the world...

...now whether or not this was true was up for debate, but I do have to say nothing major ever occurred on any of the trips (See post for Sept. 9, 2009 "The Crash of 2009").

Inevitably we would encounter vehicles on the highway doing under 30 mph in a 55 zone. This would most always cause frustration with all the drivers caught behind the vehicle, be it truck, 90 year old's on vacation driving motor homes way beyond their ability, or arrogantly rude slowpokes. To this day I am surprised at the clueless behavior of some of these drivers not realizing their actions had an adverse effect on the highway. To his credit, Dad most always asserted patience, handling the situation as a challenge and treating his passing ability as an art.

Antenna Flag

The American flag on the car antenna has a long and complicated history...

(See the continuation of this video in post; "Happy Wanderer", April 29, 2008)

The whole justification for putting the flag on the antenna was so dad could find the car in a crowded parking lot. Other items stuck on top of the antenna, such as the Styrofoam 76 balls from the gas station were just as effective for identifying the car amongst vast acres of parked cars, the predominant example being the Disneyland parking lot and the time we forgot which Disney character section we parked our car, but was saved by the fact we had a 76 ball on the antenna to assist out search. Dad had... still has, a box of 76 ball in his garage somewhere, the story being that he and one of his pals got drunk one night and decided to comb the city for 76 balls, stealing them from other cars antennas, resulting in a catch of dozens of 76 balls. I found it ironic that Dad always got extremely upset when somebody would eventually steal the 76 ball off our car antenna.

But the American flag became the annual tradition for the trips, and the journey was not complete until the flag adorned the antenna. Other advantages for the flag included a proud display of patriotism, a symbol of our great country as we all traveled every corner of it, and it distinguished our car as special among the other cars on the highways.

Picnics

I've learned to hate picnics, they always turn out to be more trouble than they're worth...

Dad had a knack for picking out places sit out and eat lunch, they usually turned out to be a little inappropriate, and occasionally dangerous. While the places to picnic looked inviting on the surface, we would eventually realize that this wasn't such a good idea. A lot of the time it was circumstances out of our control, like hurricane force wind, but often things just turned out weird.

Tourist Trap.

Along the way, we've encountered many forms of roadside entertainment...

...usually with the intention of getting your money. But it's fun anyway.

To see the rest of this particular experience, check out the post for July 9, 2008 - "Caves"

Packing up

Here are some tips about packing up the car for road trips...

...notice the careful attention to prioritization. Strangely enough, all the items you see are essential, and some items, like clothes, are conspicuously left at home. Limited space is a serious issue and it took decades for Dad to perfect his "system".

The Map

This is to give you an idea about the scope of "the trip". The video shows the original map that documents every trip and every route that was taken since the trip started 42 years ago.

Note that this video was taken in 2000, and there have been nine more trips taken since, only adding to the already confusing mess of scribbles and notes.

The Map is a careful reflection of every road Dad has taken since we began these adventures many years ago. As you can see the map has the physical quality of the Dead Sea Scrolls and has been maintained by my dad through meticulous patching and stitching with Scotch tape. Each year is a color coded scribble over the highway taken, which over time has become pointless since many roads overlap and the sheer number of trips has limited the color choices. I tend to look at the map as a whole, taking it in as one big experience looking at the space covered compared to what is left to be conquered.

The Crash of 2009

It's been a while since I posted to this, and I'm deciding to jump ahead a bit. Much excitement has happened since.

For those of you new to the story, my dad takes a car trip every Summer since 1967 and has never missed a year, (you can read about some of the adventures in earlier posts)

This year he made his annual visit on his way back home. and we documented some of the strange events that occured this trip. I'm happy to report nobody is hurt, but I have doubts about the car. But surprisingly, I suspect the '78 T-Bird will be on the trip for many years to come.

Thanks to my son, Max for the videography and interview.