We took several long trips when our children were young. The first Road Trip was in 1977. Our son was almost three years old and our daughter was three months old. We drove our two-door Dodge Dart from Tucson to Denver for my grandmother’s 75^th birthday. We packed our trunk and roof rack with a tent, lantern, Coleman Stove, sleeping bags, ice chest, suitcases and food. I think we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies. We slept in the tent at a number of camp grounds along the way. It was a great adventure but not easy feeding a three month old daughter in the middle of the night!

In 1982 we drove our Dodge passenger van with four young children from Tucson across the country to Washington, DC. I can still tell you most of the places we stopped along the way. We saw the Alamo, Gettysburg, the Liberty Bell and Mt. Rushmore. We spent one day in DC visiting the White House, the US Capitol and several memorials. We also saw horse and buggies going down the highway in Amish country in Pennsylvania. We spent time with friends in Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota. We arrived in Colorado in time for my grandmother’s 80^th birthday.

Our next road trip was from Tucson to North Dakota in 1985, when I was invited to be the speaker at a church camp called Trail Ride. People brought their tents, pop-up trailers and motor homes for this annual gathering. We rode horses and enjoyed camp fires and family games. Our stops included the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Yellow Stone, the Grand Tetons, and Mt. Rushmore again.

Our last major road trip was in 1990. This time we drove from California to the east coast with four growing kids in our new Dodge Van. We visited family and friends along the way and spent an entire week visiting many sites in Washington, DC. We added Iowa, Nebraska and Nevada to our trip home.

I’m not sure that our children enjoyed these Road Trips as much as I did. I loved seeing so many historical sights across our great country. We did spend many days and many miles together.

We knew some friends who took one grandchild at a time on a summer road trip from Texas to Minnesota when they turned twelve. Let me encourage you to make a plan and make a memory with your children or grandchildren on a Road Trip this year. You will be glad you did and they will too.

You can read more stories and articles by the author in his book Let Me Encourage You by Mark Hopper. It contains an encouraging story or article for every day of the year. The cost is only $20 plus postage and handling. Buy a copy for yourself and one for as a gift for a friend. Order your books at markh@efreedb.org. News flash – Our pre-Christmas sale is on now. Buy two books for only $30 plus postage for a limited time.