Holiday Road: Our GenX Road Trips - SUPERSIZED EDITION

Kristin Nilsen 0:01

Did you know that the pop culture Preservation Society depends on support from listeners like you to keep our podcast up and running. We are an independent operation creating, producing, distributing and promoting the podcast by ourselves and paying for it out of our own pockets, because we love it and we think it's worth it to preserve the well loved cultural nuggets from our Genex youth. If you'd like to become a supporter of the PCPs go to patreon.com P a, t r e o n, and search for pop culture Preservation Society. Our Patreon supporters are like our pit crew giving us the fuel we need to keep on truckin. And as a Patreon supporter, you'll also get special thank you gifts, like video recordings of our episodes after the episode discussions, invitations to live events over zoom, and the occasional blooper delivered straight to your inbox. Thank you so much for listening and for being a part of our society. This is one of my favorite episodes of all time you guys and it is becoming an annual rerun for us, because people like to learn about road trips in the summer. And our road trips of the past as you'll find out when you listen are not the same as the road trips of today. We will never go back to the pre GPS days, we will never go back to the pre iPhone in your hand days. They will never ever be the same. And there are a lot of good stories that people have from their childhoods when they were going on summer road trips. It turns out that it is just like a goldmine of comedy. The era summer road trip. Common

Michelle Newman 1:33

relatable. There's so many things that we all did. Yeah, in the car, or we all ate or places we all stop. You'll hear all of those things in this episode. I've

Carolyn Cochrane 1:46

got to say one of my all time favorite roadtrip stories is in this episode. It's not even mine, but I tell it all the time now. It's Michels. I'm not gonna ruin it for you guys. But let's just say it's morbidly hysterical. And I know I share it all the time with my family. Remember that doing the show? Those of

Michelle Newman 2:06

you who have heard it, well give you a hint. Are you talking about why I never swim at night?

Carolyn Cochrane 2:11

This is true.

Kristin Nilsen 2:11

Oh my god.

Michelle Newman 2:13

It's a good one. There

Carolyn Cochrane 2:15

was another fun story that we actually had to cut from our original episode that I want Kristen to tell again.

Kristin Nilsen 2:22

Yeah, and we can talk for hours and hours and hours. And what ends up in coming into your ears is probably 1/3 of what we actually talked about. So this is a story that ended up on the cutting room floor. So this was on a road trip in 1975. So I was seven years old. My brother was four years old, and we were traveling from California to Minnesota. I think we were actually moving at the time, which meant that we also had a car full of pets. We had like two cats and a dog in this car with us. And remember we didn't have SUVs, then that was not a thing. You had a front seat. Yeah, backseat. And that was and then you had a giant ass trunk. You couldn't put the pets in the trunk. So that means that the cats are like walking over our thighs and things like that. Oh, and now I remember one of the cats got away. And we were at a motel. This is not. This was not the story. I intended to tell. Muffet my cat jumped out of the car when we're trying to leave in the morning. And finally, we found Moffitt and she was hiding under our car. And so all of us are on our hands and knees. Like trying to stretch our arms under the carburetor is that where the carburetor goes, I don't know. And really like eating and, and I remember thinking as I'm kneeling on the ground, and the gravel is like rubbing into my skin. I'm like, if one of our hands doesn't catch her, she's gone. And we don't have a cat anymore. Did

Michelle Newman 3:39

I tell the story in this episode are moving and my cat got away and my cat's name was mine and you had to leave. You had to be let down. I guess she's got to leave, Muffy I had already you guys also, longtime listeners know how traumatic this move. It was 40 years ago. The move from Washington State to Arizona was for me, top probably in my top three most traumatic things in my entire life. First day, my beloved cat MFI gets away at the rest stop. And my mom's like Sorry, I got to start working two days. We got to leave MFI. So let's just add on the next layer of trauma. Now that ended well, because we had my best friend, Lisa's mom, Paula, Lisa's mom went back to the rest area and called and called and called because it was only like two hours from home like two hours pass Portland or something. And they found Muffy and I'm like two days later, like two days later put MFI on a plane to Phoenix and we ended up getting my feedback.

Carolyn Cochrane 4:35

Can I just say I'm wondering now, listeners, how many of you have maybe lost a cat on a road trip because three of us have had that experience and I don't like cats or would have never happened to me because I've never owned one. But yeah, it's just a common thing.

Speaker 1 4:51

I want to know run by with Mattel in the cans.

Kristin Nilsen 5:09

Here's my actual road trip story. So 1975, we were driving from California to Minnesota. And I guess my parents thought it would be a good idea to stop at a casino in Reno, Nevada.

Michelle Newman 5:20

It's always a good idea.

Kristin Nilsen 5:21

This makes no sense to me because my parents like They're these little Lutheran people. And they're not. They're not gamblers, they don't drink. I don't think they've ever been drunk in their whole lives, honest to God. And but we're going to stop at a casino. And apparently, at that time, it's, of course, if you're under 18, you cannot go in the casino, but you can go in the diner of the casino. So we stopped at the diner having our dinner. And then my parents decide to go gamble, but we're not allowed in there. So my mom tells me she's, we're standing at the threshold of the casino, with my feet on the diner side, and my mom tells me that I have to keep my feet on that side. It's illegal if I step over into the casino. So what do I think I'm going to jail? If I put my foot over that threshold, I'm going to jail. And then Gordian, Linda promptly take off and leave the seven and the four year old casino. So I'm standing there dutifully holding my brother's hand. And we're right across from the lounge. And I can see into the lounge, I can see that there's a singer and there's a keyboard player, and they start singing love will keep us together. And I'm like, Oh, my God, it's the captain and to kneel. And so I weighed that, like the cost benefit. I'm like, I could go to jail, but it's the captain. What do I do? And so I grabbed my brother's hand, and we leap over the threshold, and we run into the lounge. And we're standing there watching them saying love will keep us together, and I am just in seventh heaven. I can't believe the luck I have. And then this old scary like janitor dude comes like grumping over to us. And he's like, you kids, you get out of here. It was just like Scooby Doo, you get out of here. Yeah, he scared the shit out of me. And we took off and we ran back to the diner. So it only occurred to me when we were prepping for this episode. And I was getting ready to to tell the story about how I saw the captain and to kneel in Reno in a casino in Reno, Nevada, and 1975 that I went, Oh, wait a minute. That wasn't the captain Antonio. I literally believed it was the captain Antonio my whole entire life until I took the time to think about how reasonable that was. The it was like a number one hit. They're not going to be sitting at a bar in Reno.

Michelle Newman 7:50

It was like Chad and Debbie Johnson. Seven. She had the captain

Kristin Nilsen 7:58

and everything. And I just assumed it was

Carolyn Cochrane 8:03

dead. And what a great little memory to hold in your heart, especially since you are moving and that wasn't fun. You probably thought I got to see Captain Antonio.

Kristin Nilsen 8:12

And I you know, I never told my parents, because we had broken the law. That's right. So my parents did not I couldn't share with them that I saw the captain and to kneel just

Carolyn Cochrane 8:21

as well, because they would have said no, that wasn't the captain. And to me, it would have been doubly broken.

Kristin Nilsen 8:26

Because I did win, you know. So I'm 55 When I make this realization and my heart did break just a little bit going. Oh, I didn't see the captain and to kneel.

Carolyn Cochrane 8:37

But that memory of thinking it was the captain into Neil, you will always have that memory. Oh,

Kristin Nilsen 8:41

it was so exciting. And my brother to like I remember we're holding hands and we're just like, oh my God

Carolyn Cochrane 8:49

is trying to picture the seven and four year old. Like, come on, you know, you bring them over the threshold and you're just like starry eyed. Not sitting anywhere probably like everyone else sitting but you're just probably mouth a gape and overcomes the mean

Kristin Nilsen 9:04

and I remember sneaking in the back like I knew that we weren't supposed to be in the casino so we sneaked in we're just like standing like hiding in the back where nobody could see us except for the mean janitor who found us Yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 9:15

that's a great story and it's a great memory

Unknown Speaker 9:28

sweet talking girl

Speaker 1 9:32

sang in a song. No messing around. I'm going to share

Carolyn Cochrane 9:36

some fun road trip scoop with you guys because if you remember in the episode, we talked a little bit about stuck ease. And I shared with you guys we were always allowed to stop at stuffies often that's the only place we would stop on our road trips because they sold Texaco gas. And honestly you guys I thought if we if you didn't put Texaco gas in your car Your car wouldn't go anywhere or at least had my case like, I don't know, my dad would lose his job. So I'm like, but he was watching and they're like, that's not Texaco gas. So it had to be Texaco gas. And luckily, that's what at least every studies we stopped at Carey, Texaco gas, so we always got to stop and we always got to see all the fun souvenirs and of course, the pecan rolls and all that good stuff. And we kind of lamented in this episode that the stickies are kind of going away and where are the stickies? I've got some fun news for you guys. It's very exciting. Okay. stickies is making a comeback. And we have Stephanie Stuckey to thank for that. Okay. Oh, Stephanie. Stassi. This is gonna be in that a great name. Yes. That is awesome. Yes. So she was actually a politician for in Georgia for a while she's like a state representative and put in 2019, the company that then owned stomaches was putting it up for sale. And she decided she needed to buy it back. Wow, she bought it for $500,000. That's all that it costs. And she became the third generation CEO of the family business. Okay, so she's left politics. She is going on this road trip adventure to make stuck. He's a household name again. And she stated that the motivating factors for this were an emotional attachment to the family brand, along with the desire to make studies both profitable and a household name again. Oh,

Kristin Nilsen 11:25

you love that bring back the road trip? Yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 11:28

And she has a wonderful, fun Instagram account where she takes us on road trips with her and gives us little background stories on the places she goes. And we will share that Instagram account in the Weekly Reader. And here's what I really thought was cool. She is our people. She is Gen X through and through. Born in 1965. Shout out. Okay, so she buys it $500,000 in 2019. Within six months, she's restored stickies to profitability, and now expanded their classical line of candies. And now these are going out not just to stickies but to grocery stores and places like that. So Stuckey is the brand is back. It's in the community people are seeing Oh, and she's written a fun memoir called unstuck. I love about about her journey with taking over the family brand and what she's brought to it and what what her hopes are.

Kristin Nilsen 12:25

I love Stephanie Stuckey I want to be friends with her. Yeah, well, let's maybe see

Carolyn Cochrane 12:29

if we can get him on the podcast. Yeah, because remember, this is going to become an annual tradition. The next summer's Yeah, there you go. So until then, listeners, please enjoy this encore episode of road trips and I don't know the name of it. Holiday

Michelle Newman 12:46

Road, holiday road or Gen X road

Carolyn Cochrane 12:49

trips. So enjoy this episode of holiday road trips now.

road trips

Michelle Newman 13:08

so enjoy this episode of road trips

Kristin Nilsen 13:22

so this holiday home in Elkhart, Indiana was like four stars and we were like a one star family. Right. So this was like this was the vacation. It was the halfway point on our drive. But it was like enjoy a kids because it cost 1795

Speaker 1 13:40

is a sound like we're saying. Come on again.

Unknown Speaker 13:49

We're gonna be breaking. We'll make you

Carolyn Cochrane 13:54

welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society. The podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who know to let the hot water run out of the hose before drinking from it. We

Kristin Nilsen 14:04

believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images. And if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition. And

Michelle Newman 14:15

today we'll be saving all the wonderful memories from our iconic childhood road trips. From the creative car games to our fascination with the vibrating bed and the roadside motel, buckle up, but don't really because most of us didn't wear seatbelts. And let's hit the road.

Kristin Nilsen 14:33

I'm Carolyn. I'm Kristen. And

Michelle Newman 14:35

I'm Michelle and we are your pop culture preservationists.

Unknown Speaker 14:38

Hello again,

Michelle Newman 14:46

welcome to season six

Unknown Speaker 14:47

season six.

Carolyn Cochrane 14:50

Episode 77

Kristin Nilsen 14:53

says little experiment just keeps on going.

Michelle Newman 14:58

We just keep adding more aren't, you know, things to the Bunsen burner and a little liquid here, light a flame there,

Kristin Nilsen 15:05

watch what catches on fire. I love a new season I Love You know, I haven't seen you guys for a while in this space and, and I get to just, I just, I can't even say

Michelle Newman 15:18

Christians so overwhelmed with love and appreciation.

Kristin Nilsen 15:24

I get to share all of the things, just all of the things and we're finding out that that's what the three of us are really kind of thriving on because the research and the gathering of information is sort of an obsession for us. But it's the sharing of the information that is so fun. So it's like I can't wait to see you guys.

Unknown Speaker 15:41

Yes,

Michelle Newman 15:42

I know. It's good to see you guys too. And I love I love our season. We have ahead, we have some really, really fun conversations coming up. And I really love today's episode, road trip memories. It's just another one of our shared experiences. And I know a lot of people might argue why don't people still take road trips today these days, and I don't care. It's not the same thing. This generation has some shared memories. It is the same that all the kids the boomers have some shared experiences and the millennials. But since Generation X is the best generation, our shared experiences rule. Well, our followers on Instagram and Facebook also had a lot to share about their own roadtrip memories. So should we get on the road?

Kristin Nilsen 16:30

Let's do it.

Carolyn Cochrane 16:30

Let's do it.

Michelle Newman 16:41

Guys, honestly, is there a better road trip movie than vacation?

Kristin Nilsen 16:45

I know right shot at the driving with my whole family like we road trip to the drive into Oh, it's

Michelle Newman 16:51

so good. So good. And it's one that I can still crack up at watching it now. Did you guys know that? That and that's a big summer movie July 29. So this week, in 1983 was when vacation was released? Well, it was so much fun to read all the comments on our recent Instagram and Facebook posts, asking our followers to share their roadtrip memories. I felt like a lot of us were crammed into the same car together. Because one of the many things people shared that struck me and actually, it made me feel a lot better about my own childhood. Is that hardly anyone wear seatbelts? Oh, God,

Carolyn Cochrane 17:29

no, gosh, no, we had him in the back. I was so buried.

Michelle Newman 17:33

I felt so validated about my childhood. When I read that. I mean, we were free to roam around the car, like I remember crawling to the front, then from the front to the back. And I also remember, when we were in a car, we had lots of different cars, but like cramming myself up on that ledge where the rear windshield meets the back seats, you know, it's almost like a little wedge and crammed myself with condoms pushed up in the window in the in the corner and I would just stare at the clouds as we would drive. Or I would just shut up there. Yeah, or I just lay down in the back and sleep on the back bench. If there was room or you know, when you went on a car trip you took you took pillows and if you weren't crammed in a little Ford. Yeah. Although I

Kristin Nilsen 18:15

will say we didn't use seatbelts until we did. And it always felt completely arbitrary. Like, apropos of nothing after we're like three days into our journey. And suddenly we'd be my parents be like seatbelts. Everybody put on your seatbelt. And we'd be like, why why now we've been totally hanging out back here for three days of partying

Michelle Newman 18:37

back here.

Kristin Nilsen 18:39

And it wasn't the biggest travesty, that

Carolyn Cochrane 18:42

thing where the people in the front seat would wear a seatbelt but nobody in the back had to wear so yeah, you're safe in the back. Yeah, first. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 18:51

you know, what else we we did not use in our car is the air conditioning. I

Carolyn Cochrane 18:57

don't even think we had air conditioning at it. I think there

Kristin Nilsen 19:01

was this myth, which has now been disproved that when you use the air conditioning, it would ruin your gas mileage. So there was no air conditioning until like, you know, your legs are sticking to the vinyl and you're just a sweaty mess back there. And and my I remember my mom would turn around and she'd be like Dad said yes. And then once she said that we'd all like frantically roll up our windows. We were going to turn on the air.

Michelle Newman 19:24

The temperature 16 Dad said yes. Well, one of our Instagram followers of pumpkins, mom 69 said her baby brother wrote in the front passenger's footwell at mother's feet now 69 Yeah, well, that's the question. Is the baby just down there like you know, wiggling around like a roach on its back or something like, you know, just this baby. Or is it in like the little plastic remember the lake in car seats were like a little flat hard plastic Ben?

Carolyn Cochrane 19:53

Well, we hung out in the footwell of the backseat of the car and my sister and I fight over who got to sit on the hump.

Kristin Nilsen 20:02

That's what you want it. Well we did until

Carolyn Cochrane 20:05

it burnt you like because one the transmission was going right under those parts so the motor is kind of there and then the hot pavement and it would get so, so hot. And I have distinct memories of the carpeting in our car. It was really grizzly or grill guy. It was just a scruffy Yes, but I have I think my sister at one point in time, I don't think on a road trip necessarily but she had spilled some milk in our car. And it had never quite smelled rain. It smelled really bad when it was summery time. But it also got extra crunchy in that part of the of the carpeting on the floor. So I when I describe that carpeting or think about it, I want to say crunchy it was like it could break in in parts but we don't know why we thought astroturf

Kristin Nilsen 20:55

almost Yes, it hurt. You're blowing my

Michelle Newman 20:59

mind though now with the memory of wanting to sit on the hump and I would sit there and want to like go and use the seat. You know, behind you. It's like a little desk but you're blowing my mind. Yeah, how hot it got. I would have never thought of that again, Carolyn. Yes. I can almost feel it right now on my butt cheeks.

Carolyn Cochrane 21:16

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Michelle Newman 21:19

Well, so we're all crammed in the car, often literally packed in, and we hit the road. Now. There are no DVD screens. There are no iPads. There is no Nintendo there no Gameboy switches or even Walkmans for crying out loud. So what did we do?

Carolyn Cochrane 21:39

Well, you guys, I think one of the things I enjoy most about this podcast is when our followers and society members share their road trip experiences or whatever any experience they had during the 70s and 80s. And I had the same exact one. It was like, Oh, my gosh, I'm not the only person. Yeah, so there were several of those that came up. When we asked our followers kind of what they did, how did they pass the time in the car. So some of the activities that I think probably a lot of us experienced were things like playing the license plate game where you tried to collect the license plates from all the different states. There was the alphabet game, of course, and as one of our follow followers reminded us, crossing your fingers so hard when you got to cue that you would see a billboard for an antique store. There were very few you in them, and I thought I remember that.

Kristin Nilsen 22:32

Uh huh. Or how many xylophone streets can there be? There aren't that many xylophone streets?

Carolyn Cochrane 22:39

Well, one of our followers also mentioned playing the initial game, where you'd give initials of a famous person, and then you get to ask some yes or no questions until you've guessed the answer. Oh, that's

Kristin Nilsen 22:49

a good one.

Michelle Newman 22:50

It was fun. I want to play that now. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 22:52

let me tell you, I thought my mom invented it. So this other follow were shared. I thought, Oh, I mean, it was nice to know someone else was playing the initial game, but also my guess my mom didn't invent it. And what I'm thinking did a lot was were there like articles in women's day and good housekeeping, like how to entertain your child on a road trip? And they probably they probably yes, I think gave us some suggestions because card games, yes, card games, and obviously, so many people read those people that didn't barf. We're the ones who who read and they were was everything from comic books. I was allowed to have comic books on our road trips, which were never anything else that I ever my we ever purchased. But road trips were comic books, Tiger Beat Mad Magazine, Little House books, Nancy Drew books, somebody mentioned dynamite. So definitely reading. Several followers also mentioned that their mothers put together activity bags. Oh, did your mother do that

Kristin Nilsen 23:54

either? Yep. With dot two dots and things like that. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 23:58

I want to read to you from a book that I found which was so good called. Don't make me pull over an informal history of the family road trip. And this was bought yes by Richard Rattay or Rhett are at a why such a fun book. Oh, it's just fun. The Weekly Reader this week. Yeah. Lots of fun facts about the American Road Trip and lots of he shares a lot of details about his family's road trips, which were definitely seven days in our vibe. Time. So he wrote a great description about his activity bag, and they called it the game bag. The game bag was a paper grocery bag filled with every novelty travel puzzle and cheap toy my mother could buy at the local dime store. For starters, there were those handheld games in which the object was to navigate a tiny ball bearing through a maze into the hole. Yeah, I holes of a cartoon face. Yes. Then I'd move on to the magic slate drawing pad. Next there was Willie Willie. Personal Favorite,

Kristin Nilsen 25:00

Willie Willie was that one

Carolyn Cochrane 25:02

I know me too, was the cartoon face of a nerdy looking white guy covered with a canopy of clear plastic holding black metal shavings. You use the magnet pen to pick up the shavings and drop them over Willie's faced create amusing beards, mustaches.

Kristin Nilsen 25:17

And boogers.

Michelle Newman 25:19

Can I just have can I just ask you guys so when you were doing wild Willy and you're in the car, you're having to hold it perfectly flat. And so still? Do you remember the frustration of like getting the sideburns exactly right, and getting maybe a nicer handlebar mustache? And then you go over a bump or the car turns and all those shavings just go sliding.

Carolyn Cochrane 25:42

Frustrating, like there were those few that wouldn't fall off. Yeah. Like the dingleberries.

Michelle Newman 25:48

The dingleberries of wild wooly.

Carolyn Cochrane 25:52

Oh, gosh, yes. And then he said, they also had several invisible ink books produced by a company called yes and no, which I several of our followers mentioned. And they ran on to say that their family favorite game, and still to this day is one of my favorite games is Mad Libs, which I guess is a games. Give me a good madlib any day and so far, I'm all there. Yeah. But as much as we shared in some of our activities and games and things we played in the car, there were a few activities and things people did, that I had never heard of and thought were very creative. So one of our society members, Kathy Horton described a game that at least to me, I'd never heard of where you would count people outside on your side of the car. And then when you saw a cemetery, you had to bury all your people. And then you had to start from zero again. Oh, yeah.

Kristin Nilsen 26:47

My friend Tony did that one too, but they did it with farm animals. And then other farm animals died. And that

Carolyn Cochrane 26:53

sounds a little more fun than the people and I thought this one was really nice. Amy Brown said her mother made songbooks for the trip, and made their way from California to North Carolina.

Kristin Nilsen 27:05

I want to know what songs is Amy's last name von Trapp. I

Michelle Newman 27:12

just have this image of the whole family just happily singing with their song but

Kristin Nilsen 27:18

now I'm like frantically trying to think of any song that I know got four wheels in a run and we're aiming for if

Michelle Newman 27:25

you're listening, please, please, please tell us just for our own sanity, that there had to have been at least one family member who was like I'm not singing this stupid song. So you like the cameras panning across Amy's family, Dad singing mom singing in the back little Amy's got her songbook open. She's singing maybe little brothers singing and then we get to like the teenage angsty brother who's just like staring out the window like doing any of this famous shit. So Amy, please

Kristin Nilsen 27:50

tell me there was a tin that's what it's got this great big hunk of tin. Nobody knows what shape it's in. You guys are staring it Yeah, I'm thinking of songs I used to run in board. It's a photo it's far more of like

Michelle Newman 28:02

campfire songs like my role your bonus show? Yeah.

Speaker 2 28:05

Yeah, or

Michelle Newman 28:10

are that just a boy? Yeah. And a girl and a little kitten. You could win the moonshine and Allah round. Those little girl

Carolyn Cochrane 28:19

scout songs. So I think our fire girl might not know that but yeah.

Michelle Newman 28:24

Oh, that's right. Get out of this podcast camp.

Kristin Nilsen 28:28

Because my bluebirds at breed. You

Carolyn Cochrane 28:30

mentioned we didn't have Walkman. And obviously iPods and all that stuff went to several of our followers mentioned how they hated having to listen to whatever their parents wanted to listen to on the radio. Oh my god. Yeah, yes. Yes.

Michelle Newman 28:43

Yes. Yes. Seemed

Carolyn Cochrane 28:44

like Roger Whitaker. Do you guys oh my god. No, my parents love Roger Whitaker and Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond.

Michelle Newman 28:51

Oh, sorry. Following. Carolyn. I

Kristin Nilsen 28:54

don't feel love Neil Diamond. Oh, but that's me because my parents weren't that into it.

Carolyn Cochrane 28:58

That's yeah, yeah. So I listen.

Michelle Newman 29:02

Well, I am one of those people. I was a reader in the car and you guys now that makes me nauseous even thinking about and like, could never I can't even read two sentences without telling my husband like, I am so dumb. It's like rookie mistake. I do it. And I'm always like,

Kristin Nilsen 29:17

I think you're gonna have to pull over and look at my phone.

Michelle Newman 29:21

I read all the time. I mean, it was Beverly Cleary it was Judy Blume. As I got older, I would take stacks of Sweet Dreams, romance books, and I would take as many as I was allowed to fit. Like, I would be like, I can fit one more. I can have one more. And I would sit on the and like behind the seat if there was room and I would read and read and then I would reread them and that's what I would do. I would just read and read by birth. No, I know why. And this was in the backseat and also Wait, not just the backseat. My stepfather smoked a pipe in the car in the car. Now I do. Did you guys get carsick ever, because I did get carsick. I remember Number twice, but I don't feel like it was from reading one time we were in the California redwoods. So the car was, you know, winding on the road. And we had just had brunch at like a hotel and I had strawberry waffles. And my stepfather had the windows rolled up with his pipe, but the car is going like hairpin back and forth. And I kept saying, I'm gonna throw up I'm gonna throw up, thankfully pulled over and I threw up strawberry waffles in the pine needles of the of the redwoods that

Kristin Nilsen 30:28

was very specific. But yes, you're welcome.

Michelle Newman 30:31

But reading didn't do it. But my favorite other than reading those yes and no invisible ebooks, I could and then I would buy more at gift shops like I couldn't get enough of those. I love that little battleship game. I loved hanging man on those. And then do you guys remember this game, you would make a grid of dots. And then you take turns making a line connecting a dot and you want to be the one to make it in a square. And then you put your initial and the square and you can't retrace? No. And any trace of time someone has set it up so that someone can just go square square square squares, you know, with just one, one little line. So my sister and I would play that. What about you, Kristen, I

Kristin Nilsen 31:09

had a little transistor radio that theoretically could get TV stations. And so I spent the whole time just trying to tune in TV. And sometimes I remember just one time I got a little bit of all my children. I'm like, Oh my God. Is that Erica?

Michelle Newman 31:28

Way? Is it just like yeah, yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 31:30

But you're

Kristin Nilsen 31:33

probably, yes.

Unknown Speaker 31:34

We keep you occupied.

Kristin Nilsen 31:35

Yes. It was like, even though I wasn't actually getting any content at all, because you you're constantly moving and you catch the TV station and then it's gone in five minutes. But right continue I wouldn't let up was the thrill of the hunt. It was the thrill of the hunt. And then sometimes you just have to make up your own fun, right. And once on a road trip with our neighbors in their Chevy caprice classic woody station wagon. We kids all got to sit in the backpack. Did you guys what did you guys call it everybody has a different name called it the way back. There's the way back. We didn't have that and wagon. And that and we called it the backpack. So we were all lined up on the bench seat. I swear to God, there were like six children back there. I didn't know how

Carolyn Cochrane 32:18

to go on a road trip with another family.

Kristin Nilsen 32:20

It was really great. It was really great. Especially because it's like, it's like, nobody knows what's happening back there. It's like Russia. Is that the one that faces backwards? Yeah, just basically it was in a square. It's just like in Charlie Brown when they're going to his grandma's house for Thanksgiving. And they're all sitting in a little square. That's exactly what it was. And in what we discovered was that there was a little trapdoor in the floor. It was like a loose panel or something. And if you pried it up, if you Jimmy didn't lose my guide it up, you could look straight down to the ask to the road to the road, which is hurtling by at 70 miles an hour. Like if you put your hand down there, you lose your hand.

Michelle Newman 32:57

Oh my god, I would ask I would have been terrified. Oh, we thought it was the best

Kristin Nilsen 33:01

thing ever. Don't just throw stuff up. Yeah, we gathered up all of the McDonald hand puppets which are basically like sandwich bags, you know, Hamburglar on it or mayor MC cheese on it. You just put your hand in the little sandwich bag, and we would crunch up the hand puppets and we would poke it through the hole and then we'd pop up and look out the back to watch it crash into the car behind us. So I just told this to my mom now and she was like what? I had no idea and I don't know how they didn't know because basically it looked like this

Michelle Newman 33:32

Christian's bending down everyone now she's popping up like she's looking behind her bending down popping up, Ben. You guys were such litter bugs. Litter bag. Do you remember how that was such a slight was like such a slur. Oh, someone had a little bug?

Kristin Nilsen 33:48

Yes, it was as an adult. Now I know that some of those games that we played in the backseat were huge deceptions. Because they were actually ruses by our parents to keep the peace in the backseat. Because it was like the wild wild west back there. Like a quiet game. Yeah, I had one game that this is so bad. My dad had a game called Abraham Lincoln. And we what you did in Abraham Lincoln is you put your feet on the floor, and then you put your hands on your legs so that you're basically imitating the statue in the Lincoln Memorial. And the first person to move is the loser.

Michelle Newman 34:27

And that's it. You're just gonna it's not like the game. Yeah, and then carried over because it was never like, Well, what do you lose? That was enough back then. Oh, you're a loser.

Kristin Nilsen 34:37

Yeah, and I remember it would just be like this proclamation out of the blue my dad be like, okay, okay, it's time to play. Abraham Lincoln. I'm sitting there with my hands on my legs going What are we doing? I don't I don't know. I don't know exactly know what but I'm gonna when I'm doing Oh yeah, I'm gonna when there was a lot of need for discipline in the back seat because you know you Your mom could only reach your hand back there like your mom's back or she's sliding back and forth. You guys can see Chris

Michelle Newman 35:05

don't it's the perfect impression. I've done that with Liam, you must have done that once or twice.

Carolyn Cochrane 35:13

And I share a funny story about that. Well, I guess it wasn't funny at the time. But a legendary story and Andy's family is that exact scenario except is it's his dad. So his dad's driving plus. Oh, gotcha. And he dislocated his shoulder. Yes. And he is in a great deal of pain to do this and find the diner and it's like a Saturday or a Sunday or something ridiculous. But somehow it's it's old townie enough that they knock on some door where like, it's a doctor sign outside, but it's also his house. So they go in and the story as his dad would tell it is the guy's got a cigarette.

Unknown Speaker 35:55

Just popped shoulder back in

Carolyn Cochrane 35:58

and they get back on the road.

Kristin Nilsen 36:00

They say how did you injure yourself? Mr. Cochran? I

Carolyn Cochrane 36:03

mean, maybe my kids were being assholes or

Michelle Newman 36:07

the kids were real good. After though you better believe it was

Carolyn Cochrane 36:10

my brother in LA Doug, who had done something smart. alkie I don't know what and he did not. And he said he didn't. Doug didn't say one word. The rest of the trip. The whole okay. Yeah, just like zip

Kristin Nilsen 36:24

in any threats because we, I would love to hear what other people's threats were that we didn't get too much of that in the comments. And I know that there were good threads out there. And one of my mom's was always that she was going to pull over just like in the in the book that you just said, Carolyn, and she'd be like, do you want me to pull over? I will. And I'd be like, Well, no, but what is that? Where's the threat? She never did pull over. We never did. But the funniest you guys this is the best. This comes from my friend Tony. Again. His mom affectionately known as grandma K would take all the kids the day before their road trip began to the candy store where they each got to fill one of those white bags. Yeah, full of the little square cellophane wrapped Brock's candies, they could fill up a whole bag, all three kids that each got their own. And then grandma Kay would keep all those bags of candy in the front seat with her. And then if they started fighting, Grandma Kay would reach her hand into bags of candy randomly. Any one of the bags? She did not look it doesn't matter who started it. She's gonna reach your hand into randomly one of those bags and then throw it out the window.

Michelle Newman 37:37

Bugs all of them. Okay, yeah, I wish. See what I think grandma case should have done. And if I was Grant McKay, I would randomly reach my hand and one of those bags and then I would just start eating it. And just and just chewing it real loud. Like thanks to this new good.

Kristin Nilsen 37:55

I just love the image of her like roll for you roll down the window. It there's no button you gotta roll. Grab that candy throughout the window. While

Michelle Newman 38:03

many of our listeners and followers had to brown bag it, for instance. Very Herndon said her dad would always fried chicken the night before they left and they'd stop at a roadside park for lunch. She remembers it the best chicken ever. She also brought up roadside parks, they don't really have those anymore. They have rest areas. But do you remember they would just almost have like picnic tables on the side of the highway that you could just let you go over and stop. Yeah, cars are whizzing past you. My

Kristin Nilsen 38:32

mom would sleep at some of those places. Like when she was a kid. They didn't. They would not stay in motels or anything. They would camp but they didn't go to a campground. They just pulled over and pre bed rolls out. It was probably at these little roadsides probably was Yeah.

Michelle Newman 38:46

Diana M Williams also remembers great picnics at roadside picnic tables. Amy Hansen 2017 says she remembers salami sandwiches that were warmed by the engine of the car in the brown bag. That's ingenious.

Kristin Nilsen 39:00

That is so retro. That is that can be from the depression. Grapes of Wrath, my corn poan and my, my honey biscuits. We always had either bologna or Budig meats, but we couldn't have mayo on them because it was perishable. So there would always be mustard and I don't like mustard. Well, there was no air conditioner and your cars don't have the air conditioning. That's right. And they were always wrapped in waxed paper. And my mom would pack this giant Coleman cooler for days the packing of the cooler the planning I mean no mayo that's part of the plan. Right? But you don't we did not have was water. There was no you didn't drink anything in the world. No, you just if you were thirsty, you just had to wait till you pulled over and get the cooler out. We

Carolyn Cochrane 39:52

had soda. We were allowed. That we froze ahead of time, you know in the freezer And then sometimes it would explode

Michelle Newman 40:01

and then you would wrap it in foil foil. Yeah, like during my trips. Yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 40:05

me too. But we also did it for road trips.

Kristin Nilsen 40:09

So you couldn't I mean, there were no bottles of water the idea of buying water.

Michelle Newman 40:13

Right? you'd buy water could you even buy it?

Kristin Nilsen 40:19

I don't even think no, it couldn't and so if you wanted water you had to go to the drinking fountain at the rest stop and slurp

Michelle Newman 40:25

or you brought a thermos and old school thermos? thermos with your wine

Kristin Nilsen 40:29

it was probably not water in your thermos is probably like country time. Lemonade was just about, like half the sugar. If we

Michelle Newman 40:36

were thinking of having a beverage I doubt it was ever water. It was always probably like lemonade,

Kristin Nilsen 40:40

and we had the big the big pick Coleman picnic jug with the little spigot. Right? Yeah, of

Michelle Newman 40:45

course. Was it plaid? We didn't have a plan. It's just a red and white. Oh, dark green and then like that tan, dark green as well. So so like I said, many of many people did brown bag it but something many of our followers and listeners have very vivid memories of are the places that stopped to eat along the way, especially that one with the iconic orange steepled roof.

Kristin Nilsen 41:12

Yeah,

Michelle Newman 41:13

I don't know what we're talking

Kristin Nilsen 41:14

about. Rip to the Howard Johnson's. You guys. Their very last Howard Johnson's closed three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, the very last one. It was in Lake George New York. Can you believe the timing of that? Weird? Yeah, crazy. We almost never almost never ate at a restaurant. Never. It was always the cooler at the rest up. So when we saw the orange roof of the Howard Johnson's along the highway, we would start crying like, please. The love of God, please.

Michelle Newman 41:48

And your dad's like Abraham Lincoln. Yeah.

Kristin Nilsen 41:51

100 more miles. 100 more miles. That orange roof was on purpose. And their visibility from the highway was on purpose to make kids like me see it from the highway and go please, please. I mean, no joke that was part of their business plan was to catch our eye and make us go Hmm, maybe I don't want a bologna sandwich with mustard. Maybe I want something else. But when my grandma was with us, we were more likely to stop probably because she was smashed in the backseat. But those kids wouldn't feed on the hump and she was like, Oh my God, I'll pay I'll pay me out of here. So when we had the great privilege of stopping it was often at a hoe Joe's and I always got the clam strips, which sounds like that was the case for a lot of people.

Michelle Newman 42:33

What was it about those clam strips? I don't know what you guys were talking about? Because I didn't have them. Well, I didn't I was I was picky eater and we would stop at Howard Howard Johnsons, but I was ordering probably cheeseburger and french fries. So or grilled cheese. Anything that sounded fishy or that it came from the ocean I'm staying away from so tell me what's so special about that. Turns out

Kristin Nilsen 42:53

that clam strips were popularized by Howard Johnson's because there are tons of people who served fried clams but they serve the whole clam with the Gooshie belly and Howard Johnson knew that you know The average American is not going to take a big bite into a clam belly. So he would fry up just the the foot which invite when they say foot I don't do they really mean foot I mean I really hope it's not an actual foot. It is

Carolyn Cochrane 43:22

parts that comes out and help them kind of move. Yeah, so I guess that's the

Kristin Nilsen 43:27

the least offensive part and you fry up pretty much anything if you fry it, it's gonna be good because it's really about the tartar sauce. It's all about getting the tartar sauce to your mouth. So that's what most people talked about. He also added when I say he there was literally a guy named Howard Johnson's he added extra butter fat to the 28 flavors of ice cream at Howard Johnson's and that was what everybody talked about. It was the clam strips in the ice cream the clam strips in the ice cream but I also remember the menus at Howard Johnson's the menus were really special for children the children's menu it might be a map of the United States with fun facts on it but I remember these menus that had elastic strings on them and you could poke out eyes and make it to a mass

Michelle Newman 44:11

I got Kristen oh my god that just did I just

Kristin Nilsen 44:17

dude me huh? Yep. The other pitstop that people mentioned a lot with stuck ease and stuck ease was a truckstop and I thought truckstop meant Gift Shop oh I didn't see it and bakery walks around and yeah, I just thought it was like oh gift shop on the highway that's what a truckstop is right? And stuck is is famous for its its pecan log roll which is appropriate because stuck is actually started as a roadside stand selling pecans are frequently

Carolyn Cochrane 44:45

because you can't

Kristin Nilsen 44:47

or wherever you wherever you live

Michelle Newman 44:49

in the United States,

Kristin Nilsen 44:50

everyone your pronunciation. The other one that people mentioned a lot was Nickerson farms, which I had never heard of before. It makes sense if we never if we never stopped e And there was no orange roof. How would I know about it right? And not coincidentally, Nickerson farms was actually started by a former stomaches employee who was like, screw you stalking us. I'll give you Nickerson farms. And Gail D 88. says this about Nickerson farms. The payoff for leaving before the crack of dawn was getting to stop and have breakfast at some place along the highway. In the Midwest. There were these utopias called Nickerson farms. They had the best breakfasts and we could order in all caps, chocolate milk, or French dough sassed the best, right? They also had these little pegboard games that were on every table to help wile away the time while you waited for your order to arrive. And the games all had a sticker on them that let you know you could purchase one of these sweet games in the gift shop. Be still my heart. Isn't that right? So

Michelle Newman 45:49

true. That memory of the triangle pegboards with the little golf tees on the restaurant tables, I always always played them. I always wanted to buy one in the gift store. I'm almost positive I did at one point, you know, we always had like our allowance to go with us. And those are some big decisions you had to make. But the restaurants and the truckstops with the gift, the gift shops were the best. I was all about buying postcards, pressed pennies. A lot of our followers commented that they still collect pressed pennies because it's a great thing to still collect that doesn't take up a lot of space. I love that. And you still see those press Penny things. It's so funny. Put in $1 Get out a penny. And of course I collected anything. Anything with my name on it. I don't care what it was if I saw that it said Michelle with two L's it was mine. Yeah. And I loved loved getting Mexican jumping beans, which I don't guess are very PC today. Like no, right, like, but I'm quite certain there are many, many tiny acrylic boxes of little beans with dead worms in them. Oh, my Anna box in my mom's garage. So I never

Kristin Nilsen 46:54

understood what it was. So I wasn't going to risk it. So I was like, What do you mean? Like, yeah, I would hold them

Michelle Newman 46:59

so carefully in my hand, and I'd be so mad if I got one that was jumping, jumping, jumping when I bought it. You know, you're just probably like 50 cents, 75 cents. And then when I get in the car, I pick the one with the most active beans. And always when I'd get in the car that just lay there silent. Nothing my dad goes. What about you guys? What did you love to get?

Carolyn Cochrane 47:22

Well, if I ever saw my name on one of those license plates, or anything, I'd have to grab it. Oh, anything. I never saw my name on those. there'd always be Caroline. No offense to the Caroline's out there, please, for Carol but there was never Carolyn, I was so sad. So much so that I believe when I mean I'm telling the truth. When I named my children, it had to go through the filter of the baby able to find their names on a license plate in the souvenir store

Kristin Nilsen 47:55

because that's that impacts you. It's true. You walk away from that little turning the thing,

Michelle Newman 48:01

people. Well, Beth,

Carolyn Cochrane 48:03

and then right,

Michelle Newman 48:04

Amy, Jessica. Lisa, Jennifer. Well, there was always a Michelle but there was a lot of times with one l really wrong.

Carolyn Cochrane 48:14

Oh yeah. Oh, it seems like the Double L is the right way to spell it.

Kristin Nilsen 48:18

I mean, did they have any idea when they're stocking those things when they're creating all those those license plates? They had no idea that they were actually causing trauma?

Carolyn Cochrane 48:26

It's true. I would be so sad. I would run to those every time. Yeah, anything personalized brushes or any of those things? Yes.

Kristin Nilsen 48:35

And my brother was Eric with a K and there was at Eric with a C right So Kristin and Eric but both of us the wrong spelling. You walk away bereft What am I gonna put on the back of my banana seat bike? I always the big pencil for me was really big. excuse the pun. Yes, it was obviously really big. It was like a foot long and it was like the girth of a quarter. You couldn't write with it. You could but I tried. I try Of course. And then back scratchers loved when everybody's back got so itchy, but we all needed back scratches. And sometimes I could con my dad into buying a little box of Ludens cough drops share like candy like candy. Yeah, like dead. Oh Kandra you want

Michelle Newman 49:23

me to be quiet in the backseat? I'm going to be coughing the next six hours you speaking of big pencil Did you guys have the pen? Like the big pencils it was vinyl and up at the top where the eraser at the zipper that you can put your pencils in it yes it was I learned those yeah

Carolyn Cochrane 49:41

pencil bad. Yeah, you know what else they had so much and it didn't even matter where you were stuck ease was a big one on this. So the souvenir novelty aisle and had a lot of Native American things. Oh god, I totally didn't No matter if you were in Georgia or whatever and like I remember like crying marry colors. Yes. And I remember having this the drum like there wasn't really pulled tight. Why they let us get a cow skin? Sure.

Kristin Nilsen 50:10

You don't want you don't want a drum. You guys it's like it's horrifying. And my horror is testament to how far we've come as society because we begged, I remember my brother and I begged for these headdresses. And I pray to God, that there were no native people watching us cruise down the highway with our yellow God. dresses on it's horrifying is the very definition of cultural appropriation. And it came from no traditional it came from exactly no tribal nation 100%

Michelle Newman 50:42

But it's also the very definition of our 70s childhoods because not only did you get stuff like that at gift stores, no matter what state you were in, when you were on a road trip, you were running around in your front yard with him on Yes, a little playing. It's just

Kristin Nilsen 50:59

it's so cringy and there were like I had there a rabbit feet that hung down in front of my ears from the headdress. It's just and they were probably blue. They're like dyed purple, poor rabbits.

Michelle Newman 51:11

Rabbits feet. Thank you. That was another thing I always bought. And you could feel the little claws. Yes, yes.

Kristin Nilsen 51:17

I know. I didn't know why people like that. I didn't know why. Why do we want this? I couldn't figure that out. They were lucky supposedly not

Michelle Newman 51:29

for the rabbit. Do you remember? Do you remember the souvenir Naugahyde wiener dogs with the state names printed on the sides?

Speaker 3 51:40

They're not a wiener dog things in the 70s there were

Carolyn Cochrane 51:43

I remember the autograph one.

Unknown Speaker 51:47

Dog. A little place for the pin. Oh,

Michelle Newman 51:48

no. Yes, I know what you're talking about. No, these are souvenirs with with the states you're going to collect them from and they're Naugahyde. They're kind of like a shiny leather. On your dog's our Instagram follower shoes. Dugard writes, remembers having a pale blue one with Kentucky on it. And I asked her to DM us a picture and she did and when I saw it, I was completely who's reduced so I'm going to post it in stories this week. Because I bet when you see it YouTube will go oh, I don't know that. I need a reminder. Yeah, well, and how about this? How about this one? Sarah Schneider Smith remembers getting Hagen Rennaker porcelain animal glued to the paper backing. Every road trip the little tiny porcelain animals and their little feet had like little dots of almost like hot glue and it was an a little square of paper. This was my husband's souvenir of choice always all the little ceramic animals and then you would you would peel them off. You could peel them off the paper but

Kristin Nilsen 52:49

make a little display on your waist. I had no idea of ducks.

Michelle Newman 52:54

Yeah. So it's I think it's either Haagen Rennaker or Hagen Rennaker. But I'll post both in stories this week, because I think I think it'll come back to you when you see them. Yeah. But I would argue that the piece de resistance. Did I do that right, Kristen, I have to check with my French tutor.

Kristin Nilsen 53:09

PS deal, resist, resist.

Michelle Newman 53:14

And I have to do my hands. Your hands of the road trip was at the end of that long day, pulling up to the motel. And if it had a pool, and if that pool was indoor, I don't know about you guys, but like my entire body would just explode like to this day. I remember that the holiday and holiday home and Boise Idaho had the greatest indoor pool of my life now. Do I remember why we went to Boise, Idaho went through Boise, Idaho multiple times? No. Was that Hala dome indoor pool most likely just a large oval in a room that smells very strongly of chlorine. Yes, but my memory of that holiday home pool. It's like frickin Typhoon Lagoon at Disneyworld. It is huge in my mind. And if the pool the motel pool had a slide or a diving board, my best trip ever. That's

Kristin Nilsen 54:14

vacation. I remember my mom breaking the news to us that she had just made a reservation. At the holiday home in Elkhart, Indiana. She had ordered the hotel motel guide from AAA and you'd page through the book you get your big map and then you'd look at where you could stop and then you'd page through the book and they have a list of every hotel and motel along the interstate highway interstate highway system with a star rating stars with the star

Unknown Speaker 54:43

What's he going to do today?

Unknown Speaker 54:44

Girl going to get some time to drop off with a deaf OG

Kristin Nilsen 54:54

so this holiday home in Elkhart, Indiana was like four stars and we were like a one star family Right. So this was like, this was the vacation. It was the halfway point on our drive, but it was like enjoy kids because it costs 1795. So you better enjoy it. And you could

Michelle Newman 55:11

it had an arcade said I was gonna ask you that. What else did the holidays have in it?

Kristin Nilsen 55:15

All I remember is arcade and Okay,

Carolyn Cochrane 55:17

well, well, one of the things I remember about the pools was making friends, like from other states. Yeah, like sometimes, you know, they'd have the cool ball or toy and you know, you'd be like, what's your name? Oh, Mina, Billy or Mary? Oh, okay, then you throw the balls and or whatever you're gonna play with and I would make little

Michelle Newman 55:36

friends or you'd get up a rousing game of Marco Polo with some of the other vacation. And as you got

Carolyn Cochrane 55:42

older, you know, there was like the elementary school road trips when you were, you know, kindergarten through fifth. Then there were the middle school road trips where you're a little more like, Oh, I'll play Cikgu let's play chicken. Well,

Michelle Newman 55:55

many of our listeners commented on the joy of the motel pool and the holiday home and especially loved swimming at night. Do you guys remember it was magic?

Kristin Nilsen 56:06

Because you're playing after a long day's drive right so it was most likely nighttime especially if you went 100 more miles

Michelle Newman 56:12

Well, it's just what that light it just gave that water just as cool glow. I loved it too so much until we were on a road trip or moving road trip one time and we went out to swim with our towels and everything in the whole pool was shut down and there was an ambulance and there was stretchers going away and everything and they said pools closed and we said why like when we checked in the pool wasn't closed what just happened the light like short circuited and it electrocuted a man that was in the pool. A couple of things one, and mine and my sister's story like that night he's dead like he's just no one ever we don't know if he died or not. But in my mind might this whole my whole life he's he died he fried in the pool. And too I've never swam at night. Again without know I have but without being a little bit scared thinking am I about to get electric looking? Where where are the outlets I imagined myself as like the eel and in the Little Mermaid you know when the eels. And like, it's like an animated eel that like lights up. I imagine the man was just like doing some laps. And then all of a sudden his whole body. Yeah, but what some we do have some other great hotel motel memories from our society members. And I'm sure that Christina Carolyn, you guys have some as well. But what about the ice machines?

Kristin Nilsen 57:32

Oh, we always fought over who got to get it was like the kid who got to run the movie projector in your classroom. And we would like knock down drag out fights who gets to go get ice

Michelle Newman 57:43

and I loved the the plastic cups that had the saran wrap cover and you knew you were staying at like a fancy hotel if they were glass if the glass glass with a little paper cover on top. Like that was just different. That was next level. I

Carolyn Cochrane 57:59

remember. We'd always go and my mom we get the phone book out. This was every hotel motel in your hotel. Yes, in the in the drawer. There's usually next to the Bible, their Bible, right. And we would have to look up our last name to see if there were any other because our last name was spelled re ich see if there any other riches and then her maiden name was was Barsky. And so we'd look that up. Every once in a blue moon. We'd find a rose Barsky and she'd contemplate calling them Oh my God.

Michelle Newman 58:32

Are you related to me?

Carolyn Cochrane 58:35

She was convinced that be related somehow. I just always remember and even then when my kids were little and we'd go now there are no more phone books and I think early on when I would we would roadtrip with the kids would be like let's go see if there any other conference with an E in the phonebook

Kristin Nilsen 58:50

your who's doing me a little bit No, we've used who screwed you like 10 times in this episode because now I remembering my dad getting the phone book out and he would just look for funny names. He wasn't looking for our names. And if you feel if he found a rhyming name, it was like Bonanza I remember he found Gordon Gordon one time and he was so excited for Gordon boarding isn't

Michelle Newman 59:10

it a weird concept to think back that there was a giant book where all names addresses and phone numbers were listed for the whole world? It's just seems like such an invasion of privacy am I as as I'm sitting here on a computer where you can find out anything about anybody or anything you want? Well, what about speaking of going back speaking of the bathrooms What about the toilet seats that had that sanitized for your protection paper strip over them? What a memory that's from society member Marvel and and says that Russian to break them with a pretend karate chop, chop. I am fighting over the ice bucket is like who's gonna get in there first. And then I wonder how many how many times and or her siblings his hand just went right now. out into that water.

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:02

Yep. Well, was sanitized for your protection.

Michelle Newman 1:00:05

My favorite. I feel like memory that was shared on Instagram that I had totally forgotten about also comes from Marvel. And so and thank you for this one. She reminded us of the vibrating

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:22

right? Yeah, it was like a carnival ride.

Michelle Newman 1:00:26

She just blew my mind and said, I mean magical, magical creation and and said this, we would always hope to stay in a roadside motel with the vibrating massage beds. We begged for quarters, then we three kids would like crosswise over the bed and giggle and try to talk like robots as we shook. We did that too. Did you guys do that? Yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:00:51

My name is.

Michelle Newman 1:00:55

She's says these motels didn't look disreputable. So I assumed the beds were intended for weary travelers or traveling salesman, and kids. I think a nice thought and but I'm guessing you are incorrect.

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:08

Is that funny, but we had no idea. And I remember, we would beg my dad, we weren't going to ask my mom, we begged my dad and he would do the quarters, and my mom would always be pissed. And she'd be like, Oh,

Michelle Newman 1:01:20

already? What are you doing?

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:22

Like? How would she? How would my mom think that we would have any idea that per se?

Michelle Newman 1:01:27

I think I remember in my memory I should say. I was told when I asked what it was to make for your muscle like a massage like like a truly massage about like, Oh, you're so tired. It's going to have your back feel better after a long day. That could have been a good marketing ad to

Carolyn Cochrane 1:01:47

I loved we were allowed to jump on the bed. Like we never jump on the beds at home. From

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:52

one bed to the other. Yes.

Michelle Newman 1:01:53

There was.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:01:57

in between. Jump in. I could do like the jump on my butt like was

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:03

totally and you didn't get in trouble. No, we were allowed

Carolyn Cochrane 1:02:06

to guess they figured we'd been sitting in a car for so long. They wanted us to be tired when it was time to jump away. Sure the people below us if we weren't a two story, motel would have been thrilled. But

Michelle Newman 1:02:19

well, one of the last memories we're going to share is one that I love. A lot of you listening a lot of our social media followers mentioned collecting the brochures and the guidebooks. Did you guys do that? Like I would grab a ton of brochures from the big, you know, easel thing of the rack of brochures, and then I would play travel agent in the backseat. I would be like, Oh, you would like to go to see this, you know, these dinosaur statues? Oh, hang on just a second. And I'll see if that time is available. You know, or, or the you know, the waterslide Oh, sure. Yeah. So I love that. Well, I

Carolyn Cochrane 1:02:55

have distinct memories of art triptych. So the triple eight triptych, which was in that so in addition to the books, you were talking about Justin, where, you know, they'd also list the historical places you could stop and that kind of thing. But then the trip ticket was your specific route that you were taking. And I remember going to AAA, this was an experience and you'd sit down with one of the reps and they'd have the highlighter and they'd go through and they'd be like okay, and they would tell you what you're going to be doing and then they highlighted it as they spoke to you with a real highlighter so that when you had it you

Unknown Speaker 1:03:31

you follow their trail. Yeah, trail.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:03:32

Yeah. And that great book I was referring to earlier about the history of the family road trip. I read that it was in 1911 at a AAA in New York, a. an adventurous motorist said I want to go from New York to Florida. And of course, there was no one map that had a New York Florida route on it. So the worker the employee at triple eight, cut a map cut maps apart and put it together for the day. venturous motorist Ventry motorists, and that is how the triptych was triptych was born 1911 Wow, it's

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:09

really interesting

Michelle Newman 1:04:10

lovin to get from New York to Florida, literally. That's isn't that like the car you have to wind up at the front?

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:21

you max out at 24 miles per hour. Yes. Wow. Anyway,

Michelle Newman 1:04:25

fun. Yeah, so fun. We have love traveling down this highway of memories with all of you. And it's been really nice to do it without our dads all yelling at us to put dough back there or hold it until the next restaurant but at three miles. I actually can't right now. So we're gonna wrap this up. But we want to end with a couple of really great memories from some Instagram comments that just gave us all the feels. We're gonna start it with Sonic glow candles, who says I have the best memories of road trips when I was young, two weeks summer vacations to the east coast or Canada, camping with my parents and sisters. Remember those heavy canvas tents? Ugh, when it rained, we all got soaked. Fortunately, my parents purchased a pop up camper in the mid 70s. And that made camping far more enjoyable. I remember each of us getting a couple packs of new comic books as well as mad or cracked magazines. Plus, I was always into horror movies. So I'd grab a copy of Fangoria or similar would bring our dawn or Barbie dolls and I remember looking forward to stopping for a banana split or ice cream sundae because of those blue plastic boats that the sundaes were served in. After finishing our ice cream with rents and save the boats. Then once at our campsite, we'd find the nearest Creek, place our Dawn dolls in the boats and watch them float downstream. Totally free range, we'd run off into the woods as soon as my parents set up camp, picking wild blueberries and exploring the areas around the campgrounds. I loved all of it. I just think that's just such retro it's so pure. That is pure, pure fun. That's just that's just pure joy pure fun. I wanted to I wanted to be her with that blue plastic boat, putting my Barbie in it and just sailing it down that to me just just personifies the the road trip vacation. It's

Kristin Nilsen 1:06:20

freedom. It's total freedom so

Unknown Speaker 1:06:22

great.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:06:25

And another one of our followers Julie Smollett, she shared this story with us. My mom remarried when I was 10. And I got to go on the honeymoon. We traveled in a Chevy van with all the passenger seats removed. To make room for our camping gear. My mom made curtains for all the windows out of fabric that looked like canyons. I sat in a Platt I sat in a plan arm share with my dog.

Michelle Newman 1:06:49

I know but this is vision you guys

Unknown Speaker 1:06:53

so great. We drove

Carolyn Cochrane 1:06:54

straight across Texas and Arizona to the Grand Canyon and around to Colorado. This was 1977 and shorts for men were truly short. Oh, I have some classic pictures with my new dad in short shorts, right knee socks with hiking boots. I had my little Cadet camera around my neck and my dog and my arms and every picture. Thank you all for bringing back the memories. Well I can picture

Michelle Newman 1:07:21

they cleared out the inside out van and they put an arm Chairman there

Kristin Nilsen 1:07:28

I had one

Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:30

we talked about freedom, you know too many rules and everything but still.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:41

Yeah, that's right.

Kristin Nilsen 1:07:42

You guys. I'm afraid yield road trip as we know it from our childhoods is a thing of the past. I agree. Right? With you've got Airbnbs and McDonald's and personal entertainment devices for each and every person and bottles of water for God's sake. I just don't think there's any going back. But maybe we should try. What if we could plan a road trip like our parents did, with no reservations, a map, a cooler in the back and A Fistful of Dollars for souvenirs? Can might be kind of fun. But I'll let you use the air conditioning. Okay, let's

Michelle Newman 1:08:18

do it. By doing it.

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:19

Thank you for listening. Everybody have a happy summer. And

Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:24

if you're a new listener and enjoy our conversations, remember that we have a back catalogue of over 70 episodes on so many of our shared Jennex memories. Like after school specials Schoolhouse Rock, que tal records, the Brady Bunch and TV shows and movies and music we loved and so much more. We sure hope that you'll listen. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 1:08:45

and now. Now right now is the most important part of this episode. Honestly, don't turn us off yet, because this is where we get to thank you for listening and for sharing our podcast with everyone you know. And if you really want to help clicking those stars where you listen or writing a nice review would mean so much to us, right girls? That Oh, yes, it does. And if you really want to take your support to the next level and help keep this podcast truckin. Consider becoming a Patreon supporter. Our patrons get such fun and exclusive bonus content each month. You can check it all out by clicking the link in our show notes. Clicking the link in our Instagram bio, or just go to patreon.com That's pa t ar e o n.com and type our name in the search box. And today we are giving a special thank you shout out to patrons Margaret, Stacy Tracy, Christina Stella and Jennifer. Your support is what is keeping us talking. And that's actually a really good thing. Despite what our fourth grade teachers thought. Our husbands

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:51

and our children

Michelle Newman 1:09:53

are so grateful to you that you're providing this outlet for us.

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:58

In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast, courtesy of Jack and Janet and Chrissy hanging out on the Venice boardwalk to good times

Speaker 4 1:10:06

to Happy Days to Little House on the Prairie chairs.

Kristin Nilsen 1:10:12

The information opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn chronologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we're always right, there's always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional W JM studios and our beloved Mary Richards, men and men who keep on truckin and may the Force be with you.

Speaker 1 1:10:37

travel together, the spread of love and something always happens we're never we're together. We get