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Showing posts from July 13, 2014

The classic family road trip is still fun, and yes, mind-numbingly boring

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A version of this column first appeared in The Dallas Morning News and on DallasNews.com. Please check out the site . ------------ On the first day of the road trip to Arizona, we loaded the minivan with our three kids and topped off the gas tank for a 10-hour drive. My wife and I knew it would be the toughest day. The first big haul came on a stretch of U.S. Highway 287, highly regarded for its scenic views of cattle, abandoned gas stations and billboards for XXX video shops. We were just past Decatur, about 75 miles into our planned 650 miles for the day, when my 6-year-old asked a question from the middle row. No, it wasn’t the classic “Are we there yet?”   Nathan had already asked that. He was on to bigger things. “Are we still in the same country?” he asked. Obviously, Nathan isn’t quite ready for a geography bee. And I’m not sure he was ready, along with his 9-year-old and 11-year-old brothers, for our trip to see cousins, uncles, parents and grandpa