| One summer when I was about 14 or 15 my family took a 2 week road trip around a few states in a rented Winnebago. The trip included my parents, me, my little sister, my cousin (my age) and my 2 grandmothers. My dad liked to take these types of road trips and they were always fun but this one was particularly amusing.
My dad decided to rent the Winnebago to save a little money because we could sleep in it but in the first couple of days things began to deteriorate. The first full day while we were getting ready to go out we found out that my cousin forgot to pack any shorts so we had to go shopping. During the shopping trip my mom decided that fruits and veggies on clothing were fashionable (this is still a running joke to this day). My cousin on the other hand was not quite as amused but since it as her fault and mom was buying, she had no choice.
Then, we headed north to Mackinac Island, MI, while driving uphill the vehicle wouldn't accelerate, Dad had his foot to the floor and the thing just would not go past 10mph. Of course it was a Sunday and we were in a small Michigan town so we had to stay in a hotel until the repair shops opened the next day to find out what was wrong. It turns out the Winne had the wrong accelerator pedal installed so they had to get another one and install it before we could continue.
Our next stop was the island, so as we are getting ready to get on the boat my dad's mom refused to go but she wouldn't say why and just wanted to stay in the Winne but my dad persisted and she eventually gave in but we came to find out on the boat ride that she was terrified of the water since one of her sisters drowned as a child (my dad never knew this).
After our return boat ride we stopped at Sault Ste. Marie, MI and my cousin and I came across a trick shop where we bought a couple of items for later. That same grandma was always a good sport around us kids (more on this later). After the Winne's gas pedal was fixed, the air conditioner went out (so you see where this is going?)...we spent the rest of the trip staying in hotels anyway!
So, of course while traveling on the road you eat out at a lot of restaurants, my mom's mother was never as good as sport as Dad's mom and after a few dining experiences with the whole gang and all the goofing around at the table Dad decided it would be better to separate us into 2 groups, Dad with the grandmas and Mom with the kids. This turned out to be a wise decision because at one of the stops (Bob's Big Boy) we were so rowdy, Dad and the gram's pretended not to know us.
As our trip proceeded we headed to King's Island. After returning from our day at the park my cousin and I ran back to the Winne first and got our 110 camera ready and my cousin hid so when "fun gram" (Dad's mom) came in I offered Gram a gumball (Gram always chewed gum). At first everything seemed fine, then all of a sudden she made this sour face and my cousin jumped up and snapped a picture (these were trick HOT gumballs we purchased at the trick shop earlier in the trip). Like I said earlier, Gram was always a good sport and she just laughed it off but the other gram didn't think it was funny. We, on the other hand were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe- I still have that picture and treasure the memory.
We then headed for the Ford museum and Greenfield village, now for this outing, fun gram put on a nice new tan pant suit so of course you know the devils that we were, we had to cause trouble. While the Winne was moving I walked toward fun gram like I wanted to show her something I bought, then I pretended to trip and squeezed the bottle on her suit (wait, here it comes!) It was a bottle of disappearing ink! (from the same trick shop). I pretended to be shocked and kept apologizing and at first she didn't know anything was wrong until the other gram pointed out that she had blue on her suit, then she started getting upset but we were laughing so hard and neither gram knew what was so funny until I started rubbing the blue color and it just disappeared. A little while later the wet spot also disappeared and the suit was good as new.
Now you would think by this time fun gram would have had enough of us, but no, after discovering it was only a trick she thought it was funny also and wanted to try the ink herself!! What a gal! Needless to say, by the time the trip was over dad was ready to go back to work!!!
Funny thing is; this wasn't the last road trip my dad decided we'd take. Talk about a glutton for punishment! |
