i was just wondering some of your guys earliest memories of road trips and what they were like, also, when you figured out you liked to drive more than the average person and actually enjoyed a 24 hour car ride like i do. :D
I remember going to Jefferson City, Missouri, where my parents went to school (Lincoln University). I remember seeing a deer in the rural areas of Tennessee or Kentucky -- it might've been Illinois, near Metropolis. I can't remember, it was awhile ago. The deer ran out in front of the car that my dad, my mother and I were riding in.
Be well,
Bryant
Going to the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. My mom and sister surprised me and as we went through the tunnel, it was foggy on the other side, so I didn't see the bridge until we were almost at it. Then I saw it and yelled "The Golden Gate Bridge!" because I had always wanted to see it and I have always loved the bridge so much.
My earliest long road trip memories were riding from Chicago Illinois to my Grandpa's farm in Greenfield, Ohio several times a year for the first 10 years of my life.
I realized I definitely didn't mind this long, mostly boring drive (interesting from a scenery point of view only from Xenia to Greenfield) as much as other folks seemed to.
I'd say I really realized I loved roads and I loved road trips when I was 12 years old and my older sister graduated from college, bought her own car, and my Dad and I flew out to pick the car we had let her use up (which would become my car through high school and my first year of college and still sits in my Dad's garage).
We drove from Charlotte, NC to Boise, ID (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=charlotte+nc&daddr=I-90+W+to:44.056012,-107.62207+to:boise+id&hl=en&geocode=%3BFQzZmgIdGFQh-g%3B%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=2&sz=5&via=1,2&sll=39.41849,-98.525725&sspn=15.536456,39.550781&ie=UTF8&z=5%20We%20drove%20from%20Charlotte,%20NC%20to%20Boise,%20ID) in the middle of July in a soft-top Jeep Wrangler with no air conditioning. It was brutally hot. I'll never forget how miserable I-70 across Missouri was- about 85 degrees, humid, with semi-trucks everywhere while in a little 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler that could barely keep up with the semis. We put bags of ice on our laps to keep cool. But it was the most awesome time I've ever had in my life. At that time I started taking a really serious interest in roads and I've been "broken" ever since.
My earliest road memories including remembering many of the Eagle signals posted around Newark, Delaware. I also remember a red "FUTURE USE" overhead posted ahead of the future ramp to Interstate 495 north from Interstate 95 north. I also remember the original circle-interchange between U.S. 15 and New York 17 as well.
One of my earliest road memories was of a trip I took with my parents from North Fort Myers, FL to Kerrville, TX back when I was 5. I actually remember using the 1980 Rand McNally road atlas while my dad drove and I remembered the exact route we took to get there and back!!. Some of my memories included seeing some of the construction on the then unfinished Interstate 75 south of Tampa (I remember going on US 301 and seeing the silhouettes of the support structures for the overpass over 301 and over the Manatee River). I remember riding along Interstate 10 in Mobile and going through the George Wallace tunnel and exiting onto US 90 at the Alabama/Mississippi border when Interstate 10 was not finished. I remember staying at a Days Inn that had a burned down restaurant in the front in Baton Rouge near the 10 bridge over the Mississippi. I was fascinated by that bridge because it reminded me of the old Sunshine Skyway (before the May 9, 1980 accident). I remembered going through Houston and San Antonio along I-10 when the route had less lanes through both cities. I could go on and on...
Because it's been so long, I don't remember my first memories. But I do remember telling my mother which way to go in Syracuse and Corning, when I was about 8 years old! She didn't listen to me, and ended up going the wrong way both times!
I was around 10, took a road trip with my family to Grand Forks, ND to visit my sister.
I've done many trips since then. Niagara Falls numerous times. Went to the Atlantic Ocean once (when I was 17). And in '07, did a 10,473 mile trip around the U.S.
Sykotyk
Quote from: flaroadgeek on February 09, 2009, 11:39:19 PM
I remember staying at a Days Inn that had a burned down restaurant in the front in Baton Rouge near the 10 bridge over the Mississippi.
Was this place on the east side of the river? If so, that place is certainly long gone. I wonder if this is the same hotel as the Prince Murat Hotel on Nicholson Drive which was later left abandoned and was then razed in 2007 or whereabouts.
My first roadtrip memory is of a childhood trip to Florida to visit (you guessed it) D*sn*y W*rld around 1986. I remember the George Wallace Tunnel in Mobile and the I-10 bridge over Mobile Bay, signage for "Tampa" on I-75, and an interchange which was apparently some sort of U-turn on the freeway. I also remember seeing signs for I-4, and the commercial strip on (presumably) US 192 in Kissimmee which, at the time, was under some sort of construction (widening?). That's about the extent of it.
I also remember a 1991 trip to north La. where I-49 was still incomplete in Shreveport and Alexandria. I also remember thinking that Shreveport's street name signs heavily resembled Houston's.
I remember when I was 3 or 4 we were on a road trip to Toronto and I was following where we were on a map and I drew a black permanent line where we drove and where ever the black line touched that area was destroyed. :-P
My earliest recollection is from the mid-1970's traveling between Lancaster PA (home) and Fort Lauderdale FL (grandparents), mostly along I-95. I recall the sections where the highway was not complete and we were diverted onto the parallel U.S. routes, such as U.S. 301 in Emporia, VA, and again in Rocky Mount, NC, and again in Fayetteville, NC; U.S. 15 at I-26 in SC, U.S. 17 in SC and GA (Savannah area and Brunswick), and Florida's Turnpike froom Vero to West Palm. I recall being excited when I-95 was completed in Broward County.
First long trip behind the wheel was roughly the same trip during the overnight hours. Fell asleep behind the wheel briefly in SC, and the shoulder rumble strips did their job and woke me up, saving me from a much worse fate.
The most vivid memory from my younger days is the cutout U.S. 98 shield along its old route in my town. When I was twelve or thirteen, it just disappeared. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it, but because it had been there since long before I was born, I never did :banghead:.
If only talking about road trips, my mum drove us across the U.S. 80 bridge over the Mississippi when I was six or seven, before it was closed to automobiles. Unfortunately, I vaguely remember it.
I also remember when it didn't take half an hour to take U.S. 98 from the I-59 and U.S. 98 West exit to Miss. 589, a distance of about seven miles. These days there seems to be a traffic light at every other block, and they are not timed signals.
I knew I liked road trips whilst riding a school bus when I noticed everyone else listening to music, talking, reading, etc., while I was paying attention to the road and where we were.
you all have some really nice memories, thanks for sharing folks! keep it coming, i enjoy the reading material and makes remember some of my own memories!
My earliest memories are of I-77 from Canton to north of Akron going to the old Coliseum in Richfield to see the circus...heh :party:
I-75 through downriver Detroit..and I-94 between the Southfield freeway and Ypsi
I remember the Chevy ad on 94 East just past telegraph, with the slogan 'Like a Rock' in the song I thought it said 'logarog'
And I remember riding on 94W at the airport exit seeing planes fly above me. I mustve be 4 or so.
Quote from: CityBoy1986 on February 10, 2009, 11:41:24 PM
I knew I liked road trips whilst riding a school bus when I noticed everyone else listening to music, talking, reading, etc., while I was paying attention to the road and where we were.
Me too! Even to this day, I have to be towards the front of a vehicle so I can see where I'm going!
Quote from: Michael on February 12, 2009, 10:36:48 AM
Quote from: CityBoy1986 on February 10, 2009, 11:41:24 PM
I knew I liked road trips whilst riding a school bus when I noticed everyone else listening to music, talking, reading, etc., while I was paying attention to the road and where we were.
Me too! Even to this day, I have to be towards the front of a vehicle so I can see where I'm going!
Im the exact same way. you just cant get a clear view of the road ahead thru the back seats.
Quote from: Urban Prairie Schooner on February 10, 2009, 10:44:13 PM
Quote from: flaroadgeek on February 09, 2009, 11:39:19 PM
I remember staying at a Days Inn that had a burned down restaurant in the front in Baton Rouge near the 10 bridge over the Mississippi.
Was this place on the east side of the river? If so, that place is certainly long gone. I wonder if this is the same hotel as the Prince Murat Hotel on Nicholson Drive which was later left abandoned and was then razed in 2007 or whereabouts.
Yes, it was located on the east side of the Mississippi and on the north side of Interstate 10. I don't remember the exact interchange, but I do remember that much.
I'm not sure what rode it was but we traveled to Orlando Florida from PA a fews times in the mid-sixties when I was around 10 years old. I remember all of these South of the Border places--must've been souvenir shops or something.
South of the Border, on the border of NC/SC :) On I-95
favorite part of 95 in the south right there
One of my earliest memories when I was a youngster of about 5 or 6 was traveling from my parents' home in Greenville, Texas to my grandparents' house in Little Rock along I-30.
Two things I distinctly remember was that I-30 wasn't completed between Mt. Pleasant (Exit 162) and New Boston (Exit 198) in Texas and between Emmet (Exit 36) and Prescott (Exit 46) in Arkansas. Both times, we'd have to jump over to US 67, which parallels I-30.
Living in Jackson, MS for the first eight years of my life and having virtually all my family in Memphis, TN, I became quite familiar with the stretch of I-55 in between the two cities. It's not a bad drive. Very light traffic and only about three hours long. But there's nothing in between the two cities that's worth mentioning.
I also remember driving up to Bowling Green, KY for an uncle's 50th birthday party. I was probably only four of five, so a barely remember it at all. However, that was the first time I had been through Nashville. It was the biggest city I had ever been in at that time. I remember being amazed at the skyline.
First time on the Alaskan Way Viaduct in 2005...on my way to the fireworks show at Myrtle Edward Park on July 4.
Definitely I-95 on the NJTP and at the George Washington Bridge and I-87 between I-95 and Exit 7A on the Thruway on the way to see my parents' friends in Westchester County north of New York City
I remember the old, yellow-backed traffic lights along US 92 in Daytona Beach before it was widened, and the now-defunct four vertical lens lights at the Volusia Mall entrance. How I wish I had the knowledge to use a camera back then. I caught the movie "Illegally Yours" on tv this morning and they showed some of the older signals in St. Augustine like I remembered. It's a shame Florida is aggressive in replacing these lights.
Hmm, I grew up in the Fort Worth area, so things have changed a great deal since the early 80's when we went from first to third generation freeways here. I remember the when the new interchange between I-35W and I-20 was rebuilt from a cloverleaf to a 5-level stack. My cousin and I called the ramp from 20 west to 35w north "the rollercoaster" because it seemed so high up. I remember when 20 was just a four lane freeway with red pavement. I guess my most memorable stretches of rural interstate would be I-45 between Dallas and Houston and its endless construction; I guess when I was younger it was being reconstructed from Sheperd to the Beltway then from the Beltway to 1960, but the stretch from the Woodlands to the Hardy Toll Road had been reconstructed because of the Hardy Toll Road. Most recently the stretch from the Woodlands to Conroe opened up. I would also say that CA 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz was very memorable as a boy from the grasslands of Texas.
my trip to Iowa for my Uncle's Wedding
My earliest memories have to be along the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I was 3 to visit my family. I remember I had my Matchbox cars with me, and I pretended something road-related about them. That was when I realized I love roads.
I remember getting strapped into the carseat so that my mother could drop me off at my grandmother's house for the day while she went to work, and I was quite aware of features along the road the way we went. That was when I was three years old.
The dating aspect here: this carseat was in the front passenger seat, where I loved to sit so I could see out the windsheild and watch the road go by. The car we had at the time didn't have airbags, so putting the carseat in the front wasn't a problem. Today, you couldn't do that anymore.
As for the earliest "road trip" I have any memory of, that would have to be when we went to Sesame Place and subsequently to Strasburg, PA. I would have been six, maybe seven at that point. This was the first driving vacation my family ever went on.
The vivid memory of this trip which is most amusing today is of my father pulling into a gas station (it was a Hess station) and subsequently pulling right back out, complaining that the prices were ridiculously high. I want to say they were charging maybe $1.60 a gallon.