Road trips
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A recounting of road-trip mishaps and adventures.

In the proverbial photo album of one’s memory, different events stand out and road trips, like camping or true and bizarre weather stories are definitely an example of this. Camping can be fun. My older brother Tim seemed to regard camping as the epitome of worthwhile pastimes and he was very successful at dragging his brothers along. Some time later, his brothers appreciated his efforts and adventuresome ideas. In one camping trip, my older sister Caroline and my cousin Mandi frequently called on Brian and and myself to get the spiders out of their tent. And on another camping trip in Texas, everyone brought a tent and sleeping bag, yet everyone still got wet by the bizarre amounts of rain that fell in Texas at that point.  Road trips are sometimes remembered as much for the weird things that happened and the memories whether of laughter or chagrin than the fact that the people were trying to get from point A to point B. It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction. In one incident in 1999, Tim, Brian and Roy were taking turns driving in one vehicle with Mom and Dad in another. It was at that point that they were moving from Window Rock Arizona to Walton Oregon and they drove through Salt Lake City Utah the day before a number of tornadoes went through. 


In another instance, Brent, Roy and another person were driving from the bus stop where Brent and Roy had just been picked up. Brent had asked to sit next to the passenger door of the pickup since there was nothing to hold onto in the middle, but the driver who was not Roy wasn't the obliging sort of person. The driver was someone whose driving was not for faint of heart and if you were a short person in the middle with nothing to hold onto, you could get bounced around a bit between the passenger and driver. That is what happened to myself.  As the driver made a characteristic rapid swerve onto a side road from the main road, a strange thing happened. Just after they had turned onto the side road, with a telephone pole on the right and a telephone pole on the left, the truck began to spin. The driver, Brent and Roy began to look around wildly as the truck spun precariously between the two poles. Nobody said it, but everyone was thinking the same thing. "Why in tarnation is the truck spinning!" The driver had his foot on the brake this whole time and suddenly he screamed, "Get your foot on the gas!" The truck was his prized beauty and he did not want so much as a scratch on it. Well that is just what happened. Brent had had his foot on the gas by accident in an attempt to not be jostled around so much. The driver and Brent released both the brake and the gas at the same time and the truck came to a stop amide a whirlwind of dust. For about 30 seconds, nobody said anything and relief was the only thing etched into the expressions of the three guys. And before that relief turned into something else, Brent informed the driver and Roy that he would walk the rest of the way. It would be safer anyhow, and Roy and the driver did not object. Nobody was laughing at the time, but people do laugh about it now except perhaps the driver whose traffic violations had included running into gas pumps, overturning big old cars while doing 40 on old dirt roads and driving with his eyes shut. Very often, riding with some people or on the road with some drivers is not for the faint of heart. This incident was not exactly a road trip unless you count a 10 minute drive a mini-road trip. 


Around about 1983, the family had moved from Arizona to Needles California. Caroline related this story, and while not exactly a road trip, it did involve Mom and all us kids being in the Green Station wagon which at that point may have been a recent acquisition. Dad was working at his new job, and a more ideal section of real estate was needed. Mom had made arrangements to pick up a real estate agent and he was going to show her some houses. With 6 kids, a method was needed to keep them occupied. So, Mom had bought a gigantic bag of m&ms. Caroline had the bag, and sitting in the middle seat with Tim on the right and Lila on the left and Brian, Brent and Roy in the way back, she doled out the m&ms to everyone and this kept everyone occupied. Mom met the real estate agent at the time and place agreed upon. When he got in the front passenger seat, he looked behind and 6 kids all eating m&ms and all staring at him. He turned to Mom and said, "I see you have come well provisioned." 



Every once in a while in Alaska, in the summertime, the family or the ones who would all fit into the little Honda hatchback would take a road-trip. This Honda got 50 miles a gallon and it could be filled up for just 10 dollars. The family would sometimes take road trips that extended over several days. The destination was either Fairbanks, Nenana or some other destination. Sometimes the purpose was just a long scenic drive. Frequently, Dad would take audiobooks along and Mom always brought various books along also. One audiobook was the African Queen and Mom sometimes brought the little house books, or the Borrowers or some other book. In the summertime, when driving north in Alaska near sunset or in the evening, the sun would go behind one peak. And about 10 minutes later, you would see the sun again when you had driven out of the shadow of the peak in question. And this was repeated a number of time for several hours. On one occasion, Tim and Caroline stayed home. Caroline had her drivers license at that point and use of the old green station wagon. There was some sort of speculation that the food they ate that weekend may not have been the healthiest but there was also the speculation that they had a good weekend. While Caroline and Tim stayed home, the rest of the family went on a 3 day road-trip. Lila made some references on that trip relating to her relief on not having to go to school during that time and she made more references the closer to home we got on the return leg of the road trip as to what should happen to the people who invented school and math. And her sentiments would be repeated in years to come by other members of the family who equally detested math. Dad had been a trucker for years and was used to driving long distances for long periods of time. Making hot cereal on the road was not something that convenience dictated and so cold cereal was the preferred option. Cold cereal was something that was typically eaten on Sabbath and was a treat. So eating it on a road trip during a rest stop was a special treat. So Dad drove into the night and Lila, Brian Brent and Roy went to sleep. The next morning before the 4 kids woke up, Mom and Dad were awake and watching around the Honda as a rather large number of Rabbits hopped around without a care in the world. Not long after, the kids woke up and everyone walked around. The family walked up to a fir tree about 3-4 feet away, and about 5 feet up the tree on a branch was a chipmunk. He sat there eating a nut and did not seem to be afraid of us at all. For about 5 minutes it sat there eating it's nut and watching us. After that, Mom got the cooler and Dad got a table cover. There was cereal, bread, jam and peanut butter as well as goat milk from our goat Ginger. On the return trip, we knew we were close to home when we stopped at a place called Long Rifle Lodge. It was a restaurant, but could have been a museum of stuffed animals or a taxidermist's paradise. The hot chocolate and grilled cheese sandwiches were good, and the stuffed bears, wolves, hawk and about 50 others stuffed animals were quiet a diversion. Somewhere in the family's numerous photo albums are pictures of this trip. 


In another incident, God's protection was quite evident. It was a late afternoon in Wasilla Alaska around 1991. Mom was returning from nursing school and she had picked everyone else up from school too. We were all going home for the family dinner together. Mom and Caroline were in the front two seats. Lila, Tim, Brian and Roy were scrunched in the middle seat and Brent was sleeping in the way back. We were all in a little yellow Subaru and a Suburban hit us head on. Tim later said that he had looked over from talking with Lila when he saw the hood of the car come up the way it would when a car is hit or runs into something else. The driver of the suburban was a teenager who had just come from the DMV and likely his driving privileges were revoked for some time. He hit us and then hit someone else right afterwards. With such a larger vehicle hitting a smaller car, one might suppose that at the least, some serious injuries would have resulted. But, God's angels were there and nobody in the car was really injured although everyone did go to the hospital. There are distinct memories of laying on an uncomfortable wooden board for two hours and the equally uncomfortable neck braces we had to wear too. But again, nobody was injured. The next day, nobody went to school or work, but just stayed at home to recuperate. And Gloria, having heard about the incident came over with about 20 family friendly movies and it was a needed and appreciated diversion. Some people might say that our not being injured was luck, but the fact is that God is always watching over us.  


The following short stories are in some respects typical of road trips while other aspects of the following stories were unpredictable and unbelievable if you had not been there.  If anyone else has short, road trip stories they want to add, or if they remember details about the following road trips that I do not, they are welcome to add them.

The year was 1985 and the Stone family had been living in Oregon for about a year. The grand goal of moving from California to Oregon in 1984 was the eventual move to Alaska. The family made the trip from Eugene Oregon to Anchorage Alaska over the course of about 2 weeks. It was not exactly a joyride, but interesting things did happen on the way. 2 Adults and 6 kids huddled in the cab of a 1960’s wonder bread van all the way from Oregon to Alaska. In the cab was a heater that was fitted with two long dryer funnels so that the hot air could be blown onto cold faces and cold hands. In Fort St. John British Columbia, Dad went to make a call to Uncle Jim and Aunt Kathy who were in Anchorage at that time, and he noticed that a sign showed that the temperature was 87 degrees below 0. In the back of the van were various household items including a black and white 14 inch battery powered television set, but it never worked well since a television signal would never last long enough to finish any shows that could be tuned into. 

Not long after leaving Fort St. John, the cold weather began to freeze the carburetor. Between the driver and passenger seat was what was known as the doghouse because it looked like a doghouse and it covered the engine.  The top of the doghouse could be lifted up in order check on or work on the engine. When the carburetor began to freeze and the potential for locomotion was placed in jeopardy, the lid of the doghouse was lifted about 6 inches and one of the dryer funnels from the heater was directed onto the carburetor which prevented it from freezing.  One Friday night, we made a stop at a motel and the husband and wife who owned the hotel brought an enormous pot of potato soup with dumplings. 

The next day it was 40 below zero and the van would not start. So the fellow who owned the motel took a piece of stove pipe that had an elbow and directed the pipe up onto the engine of the van. Then he put a space heater in the other end and turned it on. Before too long the van engine started and we were on our way.  At another point, the van was on an icy paved road that was high up in the hills. One side was the steep embankment that dropped down hundreds if not thousands of feet and on the other side was part of the road that had not been driven on because there was an accumulation of ice.  There had been a lot of sun that day and it melted the ice on the road that went around those hills.  In the warm sunshine, the road became someone slippery and the van began to slide, but the odd thing was that it was sliding uphill rather than downhill, as momentum and the grade would have predicted. 

The van slid uphill until it stopped. There could be only one explanation and that was that an angel had caused that to happen. Needless to say there were some whose nerves were affected and whose faith was strengthened.   At one point we stopped and my siblings and I went out to play in the snow, but my brothers and I wore two pairs of pants since we did not have snowsuits then. At one point we stopped at a barbershop, which is my earliest memory of going to a barbers.  At another stop mom had bought some cheese whiz, which was considered royalty food by us kids. She made sandwiches and the event would not be forgotten. A lot of other things happened, most of which I cannot remember, but the incident is worth remembering.

About 10 years later in 1995 we were moving from Alaska to South Texas. Dad and Mom wanted my brothers and I to attend a good high school and the one in South Texas was definitely a good one. Dad, Brian and I were going to travel in a car from Wasilla Alaska to South Texas and of course Dad did all the driving.  In the month of May, Mom, Roy, Tim and Lila had flown from Anchorage Alaska to McAllen Texas. On the same day, after a rather specific phone call, Ivan came over with 4 ice-cream Sundays for Caroline, Brian, Brent and himself.  In September of that year, Dad, Brian and Brent, after preparing the double axle trailer with all our items on it (which would come several years later), and after conducting a massive cleanup of the yard and house, Dad Brian and Brent left the house on Beverly Lake road which we had called home for almost ten years.  The day before we said goodbye our neighbors who were also our relatives, Uncle Jim, Gloria, Mandi, David, Jessie, Wayne, James and Brandi.

At the start when we were at the store, Dad told Brian and I that we could pick out any snacks or food we wanted. I thought before the trip that I liked Bugles, but not long after crossing the border into Canada, I discovered that I despised bugles. We thought we had brought enough audio tapes, but by the end of the trip we were sick of listening to every tape in the car.  Dad drove straight from Anchorage to Whitehorse without sleeping and Brian and I sang, or read or listened to tapes. We went through one town that was not very big, and were wondering whether we should stop to eat. At one restaurant was a sign that read “Next restaurant, 70 miles.” So we decided to stop there.

Brian and I ordered pancakes, and the waitress was someone who seemed to enjoy watching Brian and I squirm by the sort of questions she asked. We had turned 16 recently and were characteristically uncomfortable when it came to adults asking us about anything to do with romance. I can still remember the overpowering taste of the baking soda that was in those pancakes and how we were glad to get away from that waitress. Two miles down the road we saw another couple of restaurants.

There was a lot of stuff in that car. Dad of course always sat in the drivers seat with Brian and I taking turns riding shotgun. There was a seat in the back that was lacking in room at times. At one point in Canada, Dad asked me to hold the wheel while he poured himself a cup of coffee. The 1^st time all went well. The 2^nd time Dad asked me to hold the wheel while he poured coffee, we almost went of the road as the wheel jerked around a bit and Dad ended up having hot coffee on his pants that time, but we did stay on the road.

We arrived at Whitehorse in the wee hours and Dad pulled off somewhere to sleep. He probably slept about 6 hours or so while Brian and I watched the sky go from black to a dark blue to a lighter blue. Not long after we had gone through Edmonton, Dad stopped at a motel around about 10 o’clock AM and he slept for the entire day. The clerks at the motel desk gave Dad two sets of keys. Dad gave one set to Brian and I and kept one set of keys in the room.

Brian and I were not sleepy and so we went around exploring the nearby surroundings. There was a Wal-Mart in that area and Brian and I went window-shopping for a while before going to other places. 

We were walking in a field when we heard something that sounded like a rattlesnake nearby and we both froze. This was Canada! Did rattlesnakes live this far north? Brian and I looked at each other and on a signal we bolted from the area. Later on we learned that some sort of infamous insect made a noise similar to a rattlesnake.  We did not have any money and there was not a lot to do. After an hour, Brian and I realized that we had forgotten something in the motel room. But we had a set of keys. We wanted to do anything but wake Dad up since he was so tired and had driven so far.  As quietly as possible, Brian and I went into the room and got what we needed.  When we came out of the room, we discovered that we had locked our set of keys in the room and were stuck. How would we know when Dad was going to wake up? 

We hung around the hotel lobby for a while and then we decided to explain our dilemma to the motel clerk. “Oh, well we have another set of keys here, but don’t lose them! We only have 3 sets.” Brian and I were relieved. There was yet another item we wanted to remove from the room. And as quietly as we could, we went into the room and got what we needed. Fortunately we did not wake Dad up or leave the keys in the room.  

Later in the evening when the sky was turning dark, Brian and I came back to the hotel room and discovered that Dad had woken up not long before. We got ready to go and put our things into the car. The people at the desk had asked that we leave our keys in the room. When we got to the car, Dad asked me to return his set to the room. I did, and went I came out of the room I realized that I had inadvertently locked all 3 sets of keys in that hotel room. Well, I did not panic, but I had visions the motel staff throwing a fit and threatening some sort of legal action. So, as quickly as I could I took an indirect route out of the motel and got in the car.

“Okay Dad, lets go!” 

“We need to get some gas.”

So Dad drove across the street to get gas, and I thought, “they will be able to see us here at the gas station from the motel! They will come and at the least harangue us and I will get in big trouble! If we get going soon, maybe nothing bad will happen!” And then, there at the gas station, the keys got locked in the car. “Oh no, now the hotel people will get us for sure!” Dad was not too happy about it either but not for the same reason. We were there for about 30 minutes waiting for the locksmith and the whole time I expected to see some angry folks from the motel come our way, but they never did.  I can laugh about it now, but I was not laughing then.  That was a long road trip and Brain and I slept through what seemed like most of it. One morning I woke up and wondered why I was sweating so much.

I needed water, and when I got some it tasted terrible. We had brought water from the house in Alaska, which was delicious, but Texas water was terrible. In the wintertime in Alaska, no sane person drives a car with the windows open. In the summer, whenever you rolled down the car windows it was always like being under the vent of a powerful air conditioner, but in Texas, the air that came through the car window was hot! I would resign myself to sweating everywhere and anywhere in Texas where there was no air conditioning. Later on and to a lesser degree, this would extend to some other southern states. 

Brian and I read all the signs we could, but we did not really know where we were, and Dad was not volunteering any information. Later in that day Brian and I began to notice reoccurring signs here and there.  We realized that we were seeing the same signs over and over and that we were going in circles. Two years before when Lila had graduated from the same Academy we would being going to, Mom and Dad had gone down for the occasion, and we realized that Dad was looking for a certain road that was hard to find. When we had left Alaska, Dad had not told Mom that we were coming. She was expecting us, but in another couple of months or weeks and Dad had wanted to surprise her. Dad had asked Caroline not volunteer information that would help Mom to conclude that we were on our way down. And Dad was looking for a certain road that was hard to find. So, Dad pulled into the parking lot of a large store called H.E.B (named for it’s founder Howard E. Butt). Dad went in to make a phone call so He could remember where the road he was looking for was. We had come all the way from Wasilla Alaska to Weslaco Texas and parked in the very large parking lot of H.E.B.

About 5 minutes after Dad had gone into H.E.B, Brian and I were talking about this and that when all of a sudden Brian almost went bezerk with animation. “Hey! That’s Roy over there!  Hey Roy!!  Over here!”   And sure enough, parked right across from the car was a black Ford ranger pick-up truck and Roy and Aunt Iona were getting into it. Brian and I wasted no time but went over right away. At first Mrs. H thought that some friends of Roy were calling his name, but then she saw it was Brian and I. How did such a thing happen? We had gone from Wasilla Alaska to Weslaco Texas (10 miles from the border of Mexico) and parked right across from the black truck!!! Well, after a bit, Brian and I decided to get in Mrs. H’s truck and Roy stayed in the car.  Later on someone asked Roy what Dad did when he came back to the car, and Roy replied that Dad seemed surprised in a quiet sort of way. Brian and I went straight to Valley Grande Academy but the incident was repeated again the next year. 


A year later in the fall, it was Matt and Lila’s wedding, which was in the state of Colorado. Melissa had a red Ford explorer. She and Mrs. H were in the explorer headed for the wedding.  Uncle Arsenio and Aunt Iona had moved to California and we had moved to Arkansas. We came from Arkansas to Denver Colorado and Mrs. H and Melissa had come from California.  It had been a very long trip for Tim, Brian and Roy along with our German shepherd Clara in the back of that truck. Our car pulled onto the road where Ken and Sue’s house was right behind a red Ford Explorer.  We had come from different directions but had pulled into the same street at the same time. Some might call it spooky and others would have called it fantastic, but these two incidents really happened and we laugh and joke over them from time to time.


At one point, Brain and Beth took a trip to Portland to go to the Zoo. Beth's experiences with road-trips were not the mostly positive experiences that the rest of the family had. But Brain and Beth did have a good time going to Portland and back. When they were at the Zoo at night, Brian and Beth were sitting together on a bench. Across from them were a bunch of noisy teenagers who were all talking at once. Unknown to the teenagers, the lion's cage was right behind them. As Brian and Beth were watching, right behind the teenagers, a lion roared. The teenagers jumped up and started screaming and they ran away screaming. At one point when Brent and Kathy were at the Zoo, they were standing at one place that was a pen for animals that would normally live on the African Savannah. Kathy was not looking at the signs but was looking in the large expansive pen for any kind of Safari animals. "I don't see any gazelles here." And Brent replied, "I don't see any Great Kudu's either." "Oh Brent, there are no Great Kudus." Brent was used to making up bizarre names various animals that did not exist either in the past or the present, so Kathy's response made sense. At one point, Kathy and Brent walked into a hotel lobby with nothing but a car tire. No backpack or anything else besides a wallet. The blue maxima they drove had suffered a flat tire and they had gotten a taxi to town.       

Just as a note, I will be adding more road-trip short stories to this a little later. Any input, or details I have forgotten would be appreciated:)