I am a road trip afficianado. Even having children hasn't decreased my yen to hit the road, if anything it has INCREASED, because now I have a whole carful of little acolytes to proselytize to the joy that is the open road.
I would have to say, however, that the coolest road trip I ever took was in June, 2001, to a bluegrass festival known as Smilefest in western North Carolina. We loaded up our kids, hitched up the popup camper, and hit the open road.
About halfway through Indiana, we hit some serious weather. I detoured through Seymour, looking in vain for the sign used at the beginning of John Cougar's (sorry, but the "Mellencamp" thing never caught on for me...I was too much an 80's teen) "Small Town" video (if anyone knows where it is, I'd appreciate the details). We then headed out, through Louisville, with a short detour by the Louisville slugger factory. The trip didn't get really interesting until that night, however, when we pulled into a small burg in western Kentucky known as Olive Hill. As we pulled into the gas station, the lug bolts off the tires of the popup came out and the tire was wiggling back and forth inside the tire well. I got some emergency repair instructions to get away from the pump, and we spent the night in the parking lot.
The next day, I awoke, and began the drive in to get replacement parts; as I came around the bend, I saw a sign proclaiming "Olive Hill Kentucky: Hometown of singer/storyteller Tom T. Hall". Well, naturally, I was impressed, being in the birthplace of the purveyor of such hits as "Sneaky Snake", "Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine", and my personal favorite, "I Like Beer".
Long story short, but we got the tire fixed, and hit the road. Shortly after crossing the West Virginia border (an event which always entices me into singing "Country Roads" by John Denver in the most godawful, out of key voice you ever did hear, much to the amusement of my wife and children), the tire fell off the popup again. Sad to say, this time the axle was busted, so we had to leave it at the side of the West Virginia highway ("prolly gave a hillbilly a summer home", one friend later commented).
We did eventually make it to Union Grove, NC (the venue was the place where David Grisnam met Jerry Garcia), and it was a wonderful time (How wonderful it was to be at a "shoes optional" music festival). We met some friends from a chat room that I had long been a part of (gasp!), and they had set up wonderful activities for the children who were there. The trip back was anticlimactic, after a stop for some of the best lasagna I'd ever eaten at another internet friend's (same chat room) house in Winston-Salem.
If you're ever in Olive Hill Kentucky, stop in and say hi...they're some of the friendliest folks around.
signing off,
Gideon MacLeish