06/10/2026
I remember riding in the "way way back" of my dadâs wood-paneled station wagon on a trip to my auntâs house in Ohio. My brother had claimed the back window, my sister had a bunch of Babysitters Club books, and I was stretched out on a scratchy blanket staring through the glass at telephone poles flashing by. The radio faded in and out between stations, the cooler rattled every time we hit a bump, and the smell of fast-food fries seemed permanently trapped inside that car. After a few hours, boredom set in so deeply that I started counting license plates, making up stories about the people in passing cars, and watching clouds turn into dragons and battleships. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep with my head against the side panel and woke up two states later. That was road-tripping in the 1980s. No headphones. No tablets. No screens hanging from the seats. Just miles of highway, a family packed into a car, and whatever entertainment we could invent in our own heads. We'd play the license plate game until someone accused another person of cheating. We argued over which radio station to listen to. We asked, âAre we there yet?â so many times that our parents threatened to turn the car around. We managed to survive entire vacations armed with little more than imagination. The funny thing is, boredom wasnât the enemy back then. It was part of the experience. Today, a kid can watch movies, play games, wear headphones, and scroll endlessly before the car even leaves town. And while technology has certainly made travel easier, I sometimes wonder if something got left behind along the way. Because those long drives weren't just about getting somewhere. They were about learning patience. They were about family stories, roadside attractions, and the simple joy of discovering ways to entertain yourself. And despite having none of the gadgets we think are essential today, we always made it there just fine. How did you and your family pass the time on long road trips back then?
