This morning, EARLY this morning, my husband and I packed up suitcases, snacks, toys, and DVDs and began our long drive from New York to my sister’s house in South Carolina. Oh yeah, we also packed up our 3- and 5-year old! LOL After staying with her a few days, we’re packing her in the car too and driving to our mother’s house in Florida for a week of rest and relaxation, or something close to that.

People thought we were crazy for taking this trek. A coworker who remembered our making this voyage two years ago asked me the other day, “Don’t you guys ever think of FLYING?” Other than cost-effectiveness, this kind of trip is more about family ties and building memories. My family made this trip South over a week’s time every summer when I was a kid and we loved it. Stopping at the rest areas to pull out the red and white Coleman cooler filled with red Kool-Aid and the giant green metal cooler full of fruit, ice, water and fried chicken! We parked my Daddy’s Cadillac in front of our motel room, played with the little flat soaps and “collected” the small water glasses from the room and brought them back to NY! (Hey, nobody said we were The Brady Bunch!)

As we drove today, I wondered what memories our children would have. So the coolers are replaced by bottled water and juice boxes in an insulated bag. Fried chicken is replaced with fruit snacks, dry cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Gone is the AAA Triptik map I learned to read. Instead we now have the Triptik iPhone app and trusty GPS system on the dashboard.

I watched my daughter’s fascination with the super turbo hand driers in the restrooms. I was also amazed at how high-powered they were! Some things, however, never change; reading mileage signs, basking in the scenery of I-95 and of course, the age-old question asked in 30-minute intervals by my 5-year old son, “Are we there yet?”

Well we ARE here in South Carolina. I wish I could have written this directly from the road, while my thoughts were still fresh, but I have never recovered from my childhood issues with motion-sickness and I can neither read nor write for more than a minute or two in any moving vehicle without getting dizzy. I haven’t seen my sister in the many months since she moved down here and I am thankful that we survived the trip unscathed. But then again…it’s only Day One!

Stay tuned…