Road Trips Were Very Different When Boomers Were Young
With the holidays in the rear view mirror, I began to reflect on years past, particularly holiday travel. There was a time, when my kids were little, when we traveled every holiday as a family. My back pedaling didn’t end there however, as I started reminiscing about those classic road trips I took as a young adult.
We’ll save the family trip nostalgia for another time. Today’s Boomer Memory is all about those very first road trips we took before we had responsibility…and kids. For new visitors, a little reminder about Boomer, I’m a very late Baby Boomer, almost Gen-X, so your mileage may vary.
It Was All About Freedom
For me…and for most, I imagine, you will need to harken back to your late teens or early 20’s to relive those first road trips. It may have been trips to and from college, or perhaps a long trek to visit family for the holidays. You may have made a long spring break run to the beach, or a cross-country excursion to visit an older sibling. It didn’t matter why you went, you just knew you had to go.
It was of course, all about freedom, though I don’t really know if we knew that at the time. There was an insatiable urge to just go…anywhere…it didn’t even matter where. The logistics of our road trips didn’t necessarily even make sense. You might get up before dawn, or drive well into the night, or even overnight. It was all about leaving when you wanted, and the freedom of expressing yourself your way, on your terms.
Road trips were about the freedom to make every single choice yourself. No longer were you a passenger wondering when the next rest stop or gas station was coming up. You stopped when and where you wanted, for as long as you wanted. Road trips were one of the first true expressions of freedom we exercised as young adults.
Why Road Trips Were So Great
There are so many things that made road trips so great back in our boomer youth. We need to set the stage a bit though. Until the early 90’s, there were no cell phones or GPS units to speak of. You planned and navigated with paper maps. There was no internet, and thus no YouTube. You bought large travel guides and maps from the book store, and you planned your trip.
The Mystery
A big part of the road trip experience was the mystery. Unless you were extremely well-traveled as a kid, nearly every mile of every road trip was a new experience. There was a sheer sense of wonder as you drove along. Not only was the natural scenery new, the various pockets of culture were different as well. Stores and gas stations often had different names, the people had different accents, and of course even the weather as different.
There were larger gaps between cities and towns as well. We’re talking 40 years ago here…there were fewer people and a less connected infrastructure. Anything you knew about other states or cities you learned from books or perhaps the occasionally documentary you were forced to watch in school. Essentially, everything was a mile-by-mile journey into the unknown.
The Music
With no Apple music or satellite radio and often huge gaps between cities with a decent radio station, you had better make sure you planned your music selection well in advance. Not only was this a great way to start feeding the excitement of your road trip weeks in advance, it was your chance to impose your will on the vehicle’s occupants with your choice in music.
If you were traveling solo, which was usually the case with me, this might also be an opportunity to listen to full albums or obscure stuff you have always wanted to listen to but never had the time. I remember listening to a very early Bob Seger album on one trip that I never would have taken the time to do otherwise.
Most often, your music was in the form of cassette tapes (including mix tapes), though by the mid 80’s you may have had some CD’s. I usually switched to local radio when I got near a large city. I wanted to feel the local vibe and feel connected to the city in some way, even if I was just passing though. Local radio was the best way to do that. Once I came out the other side and the station started to fade, it was back to my curated collection.
The Miles
I’m not a huge fan of forced iteration, but it felt like a good spot to talk about traversing the miles in those road trips. There was something magical about logging miles in a road trip. It almost felt as if your were driving to adulthood. Of course we look back now and say, “hold on to 16 as long as you can“, but when you are that young, you want to feel older. The miles did that.
Each mile of new experiences and new scenery were like another mile marker in the highway of your life.
Never again could you say, “I’ve never been there”, or “I’ve never seen that”. Whether is was the majesty of the Grand Canyon, the skyscrapers of Chicago, or the vast nothingness in Kansas or Nebraska…you saw it. You drove it. You were there.
I was always fascinated with bridges over the Mississippi, or really any bridge over something interesting. Those were always a big deal for me, and over the years I hit a couple of the main ones and they always left their mark on my soul.
The Food of Road Trips
You might think I’m going to talk about all the great food that can be found in various cities across the country. As an adult boomer, that’s pretty much what we gravitate towards now, right? No…I’m talking about the mecca we could find almost anywhere. A beacon of hope, normalcy, and to a young late teen or early twenty-something kid, delicious food. It was a place where you knew exactly what you were going to get, and you knew that had clean bathrooms too. Of course I’m talking about McDonalds.
Seeing the golden arches was always a bit of a reset for me. It meant I knew I was in a safe place. There were no red dirt roads or Deliverance banjos playing…just smooth blacktop and concrete and a predictable dining experience. Even now, though I know I can’t indulge in the same way I did then and usually don’t stop, I still get that nostalgic feeling when I pass a McDonalds on the highway during a road trip.
No longer were you limited to what your parents would buy you, you could eat whatever you wanted…twice, and then still take a couple of fried apple pies for the road. In its essence, it was that same freedom we spoke of earlier, but it was also a familiar comfort in unfamiliar territory. Most young adults aren’t near as adventuresome when it comes to trying new food, so McDonalds was a safe haven against the unfamiliar. There were also significantly less choices available back in the day, and a McDonalds might be the only familiar sign in some of those smaller towns.
Road Trip Snacks
I would be remise to not talk about one of the key factors of a successful road trip; the snacks. Here again, while stocked as a necessity, road trip snacks are rooted in freedom. You weren’t limited by what you brought, or how much of it you brought. Snacks were a key and integral part of the road trip. As a cost saving measure, it meant you didn’t have to pay for every meal on the road. The right mix of sweets, nuts, and jerky could substitute for lunch or dinner in a pinch. If strawberry coconut Zingers were your confection vice…you could eat an entire box and there was nobody to tell you otherwise!
Like the music, snacks were often something planned weeks in advance. The more adverse you were to paying for a meal, the wiser your snack selection. You could also spread the cost out over a few weeks, making that road trip dent in your wallet a little easier.
Your snack repertoire took on a whole new dimension if you packed a cooler. Typically used to keep water and sodas cold (or “pop” for some), nothing says you can’t slide a dozen sticks of string cheese in that cooler. Never much of a fruit person, I still might drag along a few apples, and preferred them cold as well. The choice and selection of snacks took on real meaning when planning road trips.
Remembering Road Trips
Road trips can still be fun, and as I alluded to, were a whole new experience when I became a parent. Back in those early days though, we had time, seemingly lots of it. Today, any potential road trip over about 6 hours ends up as an airline flight…time is just to valuable. We plan ad nauseam with phones and internet, use GPS’s for navigation, and purposefully don’t leave anything to chance.
In fact, much of life is no longer a mystery. New places we travel to have already been scouted carefully with YouTube and satellite view to make sure there are no unexpected surprises. What passed for an “exciting twist” during trips back in the day are just an inconvenience now. Road trips can still be enjoyable today…short ones anyway, but they will never hold the same allure, mystery, freedom, and excitement as those early years.
