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."
Gunn: The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you grease, that last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing. You never know when you're taking it. It could be when you're duking it out with the Legion of Doom, or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it like it was up to you—the world in balance—'cause you never know when it is.
'Underneath'
The Minearverse 4: Support Group for Clumsy People
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Ginger - Apr 25, 2006 6:09:49 am PDT #9633 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
tommyrot - Apr 25, 2006 6:13:54 am PDT #9634 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
My dad would stop so we could look at the "Hysterical Markers." (My dad often thinks he's funny....)
Vortex - Apr 25, 2006 6:19:29 am PDT #9635 of 10001
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman
I just read books and got accused of being antisocial by my mother.
Lee - Apr 25, 2006 6:21:16 am PDT #9636 of 10001
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
My mother tried that once, Vortex, so I put down the book and started to sing.
She stopped after that.
sarameg - Apr 25, 2006 6:22:39 am PDT #9637 of 10001
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.
Ginger - Apr 25, 2006 6:29:04 am PDT #9638 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I read a lot, but I had to stop sometimes because it made me carsick.
Matt the Bruins fan - Apr 25, 2006 6:38:30 am PDT #9639 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I suspect being an only child made family travel much more enjoyable for me.
Vortex - Apr 25, 2006 6:46:04 am PDT #9640 of 10001
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman
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.
this was never really an issue for us, because we always carried a cooler full of drinks and snacks that we placed between us. there may have been some subtle shoving, but it never got out of hand.
Kalshane - Apr 25, 2006 6:51:58 am PDT #9641 of 10001
GS: If you had to choose between kicking evil in the head or the behind, which would you choose, and why?
Minsc: I'm not sure I understand the question. I have two feet, do I not? You do not take a small plate when the feast of evil welcomes seconds.
I've never been able to read without getting carsick, unfortunately. Though far worse was the reverse seat in the back of the station wagon. Makes me nauseated just thinking about. We did lots of the alphabet game and later travel versions of assorted board games like Sorry and Trouble.
§ ita § - Apr 25, 2006 6:54:18 am PDT #9642 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I probably harassed my sister a bit during long drives. No license plate games, because these drives were happening in Jamaica or the UK, and there aren't regional plate variations there.
Mostly I read or threw up (smells of exhaust and sugar cane combined make for nasty ita tummy, even though my father still swears it's impossible to smell a sugar cane field--so he kept the windows down despite my entreaties. I kept puking, despite his). One vacation (Lake District and souther Scotland, if memory serves) I was reading Lord of the Rings and decided to memorise all the songs. By repeated recitation.
They took it pretty well.