We tried to find license plates from states beginning with a particular letter, working our way through the alphabet.

We did that with signs, but license plates only counted when we were really desperate. And at that point we would probably switch to Password or something.

My dad and my brother spent a while during one drive in a game where they tried to spot the next mile marker first. It took my brother quite a while to realize that my dad had the odometer in front of him.

Ooo, there should be an episode of Drive that's all about travel games.

Kids these days, with their DVD players in their cars....

I would have killed as a child to be able to watch movies during trips. Instead of playing the license plate game and fighting over who had to sit on the vomit side.

Pfft. My family drove 18 hours to Canada (and back) every year, and we had no need for these new-fangled "DVDs." We had The World's Greatest Travel Game, and that was enough.

On long trips (more than 8 hours) we usually took the camper, so us kids could take naps on the top bed. Usually I had a stash of Red Hots hidden up there too....

Not sure if it's legal for people to ride in campers anymore....

Lacking DVDs, we did license plates, mile markers, animals and how many miles until we get there. We also read aloud every sign and tried to get my dad to stop for antique stores (Mom), museums (me) and bathroom breaks (all of us who were not Dad). We also got to listen as Dad did a running commentary on the cattle we passed. "Look, they've bred some Brahma into this herd. I wonder how much it helps with heat resistence."

My dad would stop so we could look at the "Hysterical Markers." (My dad often thinks he's funny....)

I just read books and got accused of being antisocial by my mother.

My mother tried that once, Vortex, so I put down the book and started to sing.

She stopped after that.

because my one sister and I were too busy hating each other furiously and guarding the invisible line down the middle of the back seat for unauthorized encroachment.

Change that to brother and add in a wall of sleeping bags, and you've described the primary activity on our family car trips. Which there were about every summer, sometimes two or three. Long trips.

Other activities included Walk a Mile Because You Didn't Stop Fighting, Whining, and Throwing Debris On Sleeping Sibling.

We also read a lot.

I read a lot, but I had to stop sometimes because it made me carsick.