A Family Roadtrip - Three Generations in a Minivan - Getting Ready

For centuries on end humans have associated the seven seas with adventure. Exploration, recreation, commerce and fighting have all taken place on or near the beautiful blue waters that cover 71% of Earth's surface. Coincidentally, those activities pretty much describe our 2012 family vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. According to Trip Advisor, the name Orange Beach has nothing to do with oil spills. Instead, the name was coined due to the large orange and citrus groves that were once prominent in the area.

Past travel experiences have taught me the wisdom of the following quote:  when preparing for a trip, lay out all the clothes and all the money you plan to take on your trip. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

Possibly the biggest innovation in history of road trips is the invention of the GPS. What I once considered unnecessary due to my innate sense of direction is now an indispensable part of any family road trip we take. This year I decided to personalize our GPS a little. Where we once had only “American Jack” and “American Jill” voices to choose from, I have now also added “Garmin Dave” and “Squirrelly”. Those voices were available for download free. I would like to have also added Yoda (“guide you, I will“) and Darth Vader (“come over to the dark side!“), but those “premium” voices cost $9.99 each.

Also available at the Garmin Garage was a veritable fleet of vehicle icons from which to choose. Our GPS selections now include a train, a four-leaf clover, a station wagon with a full luggage rack, and a classic ‘67 GTO to indicate our progress along the route chosen for us by the GPS. Those icons were all available for free.

A part of preparation for any trip is arranging for someone to keep an eye on our home and animals. This year we were fortunate to procure (at a very reasonable cost!) the services of a former mafia hit-man turned government-informant. The government needed a place for him to stay under the terms of his witness protection agreement and we needed someone to keep an eye on our home. Bingo! Though our house-sitter (I’ll just call him “Big Louie”) is prohibited from having any firearms, he says he never needed them before and he should be able to protect our home just fine with his bare hands. He is also bringing his pit bull Loco along as a sort of early-warning mechanism if any intruders should wander on to our property.

So, with all “final arrangements” in place (that’s what Big Louie called them) we were ready to hit the road.

But first . . . a good night’s sleep! Then off on the open road to partake of the inevitable wonder and surprises awaiting us.  Let our GPS and our imagination take us where they may!  As John Steinbeck said “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.

                                                         It's a big world, baby!