In a few days I will be hitting one of those milestone birthdays; but, basically I still feel like that ten year old kid I once was. My son and I are going on a road trip from Oregon to the Mid West looking at grad school history departments where he has been admitted . When I was ten my dad and I would plan our family vacations. My dad and I were entirely two different personality's but one thing we had in common was the love of the open road with a good map. We could look at maps for hours figuring the best route to get from here to there. When I was ten I had a cheap small card board suitcase. I would put all my maps and trip information in it for family vacations. I would get a map of our entire trip and paste it in the inside cover of the suitcase so when I opened it I could see the route as we drove across America. My folks liked to go to Yellowstone Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota. I still remember those trips. In those days I would send letters to chambers of commerce and state travel offices asking for free maps and brochures of things to do. I would have each stop planed out. One of my favorite places to stop were state capitol buildings. I was and still am a sucker for tourist traps and gift stores. "Roadside America" is a fun book on tourist attractions and now they wave a web site. For the trip my son and I are making the small suitcase has given way to a bankers box in which I have files for each of the states we will travel through and some of the cites in which we will stop. I have the motel chain catalogs, maps for each state, and the "The Next Exit" book (a guide to what is at every interstate exit in America.) I have a three ring binder with Mapquest maps for our route and even a listing of all the radio station along the route from Radio roadtrip.com. It lists the radio station formats, it's cover miles and even if it has the Rush Limbaugh show. I Went to Laura Ingraham's web site and got her radio stations as well. Isn't the internet great. Today rather than writing to chambers of commerces you can go to their web sites and order free information for the trip. It's all in my bankers box.
My son and I have wanted to go on this trip for a long time and now we have the opportunity. We will be stopping in the Black Hills of South Dakota to view Mount Rushmore "America's Shrine of Democracy" according to the South Dakota Vacation Guide. My dad worked on Mount Rushmore during the depression and he was very proud of that and since my folks are both gone now it will be special to return there and to their home town's of Webster and Waubay South Dakota. They lived in Oregon for many many years but they never left their South Dakota roots and a part of them will return never to leave again.. They were Mid w\West through and through. They never knew a stranger.
We will also stop by the Little Big Horn and check out "Custers Last Stand". Fortunately my son has picked up my love of the open road and will share the driving duties.. When he and his sister were much smaller we would go on family road trips. I once mounted a map on a piece of card board and had a small cut out of our car they would move along the route of travel to help them understand where we were going and to understand were we had been. It also cut down on "when are we going to get there?" One of my favorite movies is Chevy Chase's "Vacation". For some one who works behind a desk ,this is a chance to go searching for America.I still am that ten year old kid.
