The Road Trip Revisited

So summer is over. Yes, technically, it's not over for a few more weeks, but basically, it's done. School's back in session and the temperature, while still nice during the day, quickly chills as the sun descends. The summer's been a busy one, with multiple road trips to the southern interior—all in our new minivan—so as the sun continues to fade away I'm looking forward to a more static autumn. Not that the road trips weren't fun—because they were. It's just that traveling with two kids under two can take a toll on a guy, and the thought of packing and re-packing the van with mountains of stuff is enough to make me want to slash my own tires.

In the process of all the driving, I've learned a few things about what it means to be a traveling dad. I was struck a couple of times along the many km I drove at how different an experience the summer road trip can be when your young family is loaded up alongside you. Here's a short list of some of my insights.

1. I no longer own the stereo. Driving by yourself, you take so much for granted. Such mundane choices, like the volume of the radio, or whether you're more into talk radio or top 40 at any given moment, are no longer yours to make. Your kids own the stereo. Which means a lot of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and generally nothing else. I made the mistake a couple of times of trying to tune in to the local CBC channel only to be admonished by my older daughter as she barked out "more music!" Of course, in her baby dialect it sounded more like "more moo-gick," but I got the message loud and clear.
   
   
2. Sometimes I am the stereo. Even kids have their limits. Sometimes, after a while, even kids think kids' music sucks and they want a little change of pace. But what to do, when the CDs are boring but there's a desire for highway entertainment? You become the jukebox. You reach way back in your memory to some long-lost favourite of your child's and see if that does the trick. Or, you reinterpret Raffi and come up with a fresh version of Baby Beluga. (This is actually a lot of fun, for everyone involved. Your kids love the tune, and they're too young to understand daddy's new lyrics.)
   
   
3. The sun is bright. I don't have sunshades on the van, partly because I don't care for the ubiquitous "Baby on Board" versions, but also because the rear windows have a fairly dark black tint. Still, this hasn't stopped my family from telling me how important an accessory these really are. My daughter tells me the sun is bright, which then fuels my wife's concern that the babies are uncomfortable. I care about my children's comfort, so I tell my daughter to simply squint—hey, it's a skill she may not yet have mastered or even considered. When my wife's head tilts incredulously at me and my insensitivity, I simply inform her of the obvious: that's why God gave us eyelids.
   
   
4. Driving at night is your friend. Since the sun is bright (see previous entry), then an alternative is to drive when there is no sun. This is actually a great find for us, as it has multiple benefits: less traffic at night; cooler temperatures; no glare; and, of course, no sun to bother the kids. Night driving also has the added bonus of overlapping with bedtime, so the kids sleep.
   
   
5. The ferries suck even worse. Finally, when you're driving on your own, or without small children, you can use the painful trip on the ferries to catch up on some sleep. With your family, though, this is impossible. So, if you're planning on driving at night (see previous entry) and using the ferry trip to the mainland as a time to snooze before a long haul of night driving, good luck. Be sure to pick up a large coffee before heading down to the vehicle deck.