What did/do you do on long car rides?!?!?

[The Top Crusader]

We took our daughter on her first actual vacation trip that amounted to more than a couple hour round trip (about 6ish one way this time), and she did a good job because she could just play on a tablet and stuff.

BUT BACK IN MY DAY when I was her age I went half way across the country with nothing but a COLORING BOOK! NOT EVEN ANY CRAYONS!

The coloring book trip was when I was like 3 or 4, once I was older I eventually had a Walkman cassette player so indeed listened to lots of Odyssey and probably Michael W. Smith and DC Talk and rando John Williams musical scores. And eventually that got upgraded to a Discman and so on--but the main thing was always just listening to AIO or music.

So anyway what did you do to pass the time!? I am assuming considering the board this is, that there was some Adventures in Odyssey listening maybe. Game Boy?! Reading?! Games with other passengers!? Looking at BORING FIELDS out your window?! TIGER HANDHELD ELECTRONICS!?!?!? Making truckers honk their horn at you?! TELL ME!!!!!!

[Laurie]

To stave off boredom and arguments my brother and I would bring books, magazines, etc and read.

[Laura Ingalls]

Mainly AIO and reading here. Naps on the 15 hour trips. Then usually games like Ham, Mustard, Donut or 20 Questions with the sibs. Scavenger hunts printed out that we had to find things as we drove. Everyone claimed a color of car and we counted how many we saw. White always won, but I never wanted to pick white because it was too boring.

[Catspaw]

Lots of AIO! We listened to other kids music and Michael W. Smith and G.T. and the Halo Express and other stuff, depending on what age range us kids were in. We loved listening to Radio Theatre as well.

We played car games sometimes but I seem to recall that we got tired of those pretty quickly. I remember keeping track of license plates that we saw and trying to see every state plate on one trip.

[The Top Crusader]

Yeah my brother and I looked for Slug Bugs occasionally so we could punch each other but that only lasts so long--plus he's quite a bit older so I had a lot more trips as an "only child."

I think we'd maybe try to find license plates for every state or something but after ten minutes of pointing out the same state (whatever state we were in at the time) over and over it lost its allure.

[Steve]

I'm a bit younger than a lot of the other commenters here, but I grew up fairly low-income, so our road trips were simple. I remember reading a LOT of books from the library. Encyclopedia Brown and the Boxcar Children were my jams. When I turned 12, I got a cheap Memorex MP3 player, so that became my main source of entertainment. It was also a big deal when a family friend gave us their old portable DVD player. Pretty sure we watched Chicken Run on that little 5" screen on every single family vacation for at least 6 years.

Now I drive on the long car rides. Or make my wife drive so I can nap.

[Danadelfos]

I remember reading a lot, and playing memory games, and looking at the paper map because this was back before smartphones. I'm old.

[Dr. Watson]

Drive and sleep at the same time!

[radgeek]

I actually talked to my family a lot in those old trips and read so many books.

[Laura Ingalls]

Drive and sleep at the same time!

I can confirm this.

[Catspaw]

Drive and sleep at the same time!

I can confirm this.

Is there a story that goes with this that we should hear about?

[Dr. Watson]

Drive and sleep at the same time!

I can confirm this.

Is there a story that goes with this that we should hear about?

No!

[Laura Ingalls]

Except to say I'm glad to still be alive!

[Catspaw]

I am glad that you are both alive and that there is obviously no interesting story here at all.

One of the best parts of long car rides was snacks! I didn't think of that earlier because I was thinking of car games and listening to stuff, but eating was entertainment too. My dad would pack licorice and mini chocolate bars and stuff like that. No worries on the health side of things - my mom brought fruit.

[Danadelfos]

I'm packing for a trip now. Going to buy drinks/snacks for it! Does anyone have any favorite road trip drinks/snacks?

It seems like most of the time I typically work, sleep, or drive on long car rides. And maybe a little reading.

[Catspaw]

I associate Twizzlers with road trips. My dad loves licorice and he passed that on to me. It's great in the car because it isn't messy like chocolate can be, especially in summer. I hope your trip goes well, Danadelfos!

[Petrichor]

We used to play the license plate game, but that always got ugly because someone would spot a good license plate and then NOT TELL ANYONE until it was out of sight. Other than that, I read a lot. We listened to lots and lots of AIO and Radio Theatre. We sang Jingle Bells in the middle of summer if we really wanted to annoy other car occupants.

I'm packing for a trip now. Going to buy drinks/snacks for it! Does anyone have any favorite road trip drinks/snacks?

It seems like most of the time I typically work, sleep, or drive on long car rides. And maybe a little reading.

I used to love eating goldfish crackers on road trips! They're such a great snack. You just have to make sure you have plenty of water. Which becomes its own problem... I also like having a few apples or clementines, because sometimes it's nice to have a healthier option than pre-packaged snack foods.

[Parakeet]

"I went to the zoo and I saw", keeping track of what license plates we see, talking about random things. Odyssey, music, audiobooks, and podcasts while watching the scenery. We watch movies and play games too. I love waving at people while we pass them and counting how many people wave back.