Who doesn’t love a road trip and stopping at random destinations? My grandmother, Eloise Belyeu, used to once a year hitch a ride with her younger siblings of almost 20 years, my great aunts, Carol Smith and Joyce Griffin, to go on a road trip. Occasionally my Great Uncle Sam Dunn also went with them. Many times their road trips would lead them to random places because they would literally flip a coin to head east or west down I-40 and then they would stop wherever they wanted to along the way. Some trips were planned out of course. Like the ones to California to see their other two brothers, George and Cary Dunn. I used to love to hear about their grand adventures and their little treasures they would find going to their destinations. In fact, I have several places I want to see myself and have them down on my bucket list all because my grandma showed me a picture or told me about their random stop.

So as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to hear about road trips and most definitely experience road trips myself. Even when I was a little girl, my family always took road trips to random and routed destinations too. Whether it was packing up to go to Colorado to experience Yellowstone National Park or if it was just going to Branson for the week or a weekend, we loved to just hurry up and get out on that open road to see what adventure awaited. We never had lots of money growing up (not that I ever thought that we lacked anything), but my daddy sure knew how to stretch those dollars. I can even remember him buying us all a gallon of ice cream and getting five spoons so we could share it. We didn’t even have bowls; we just passed around the carton and spooned out a bite or two until it was all gone. Something I wouldn’t even consider doing today, but as a kid I thought it was a treat.

We also always packed a cooler with drinks and snacks, and when we would stop usually half way to our destination, we’d make a sandwich and have a little picnic. Of course for me this was the best part of the trip because usually I was stuck between my two brothers in the back seat and we all needed to stretch our legs. Besides, my mom was tired of hearing “He’s touching me, but she’s annoying me.” However, we would soon forget all about the cramped back seat after we ate a bite and began to explore the area. After all this was one of those random places and we wanted to make the most of it. My daddy would always take the lead, whether it was through a free museum to see all the art and history. My mama was the main artist in the house, though we all loved to draw or paint and my daddy was a walking, talking encyclopedia, always coming up with games and trivia questions to help us learn. To me, my daddy was the wisest man I ever knew and he taught us a lot in the short time he was here. He taught us all about nature and its wonders, especially the little living things like the caterpillars, ants and lightning bugs we loved to catch. I swear this man made dumb ol’ rocks fascinating to all of us kids and even today I will come back from a hike with a rock or two in my pocket. My daddy even taught us to enjoy the millions of stars that shined every night as we gazed in wonder upon them.

Though I’m getting older now and some of my memories are fading, I can still remember camping out at random parks and loving every minute of it. I can even remember a time when we had to run and get into the station wagon because a bear had wandered up to investigate our lunch. I also remember petting deer and elk through a fence as we feed them corn from our hands. My mom still can’t believe that I remember this because I was barely two. Yet I do remember it and I remember getting a little Eskimo doll dressed in authentic attire with real fur too. It was one of many items that vendors had set up at tables outside.

So to say I still love a good road trip with random destinations is an understatement. I still love to do a lot of the same things that I did as a kid, just at a slightly slower pace. Rarely do I go anywhere without an ice chest full of snacks and drinks and I prefer not to be rushed to my destination because I still like stopping at random places along the way. Whether it’s a quick road trip to Branson or weekend at Hot Springs I want to make sure that I have the time to stop and look at things along the way. Probably one of the best road trips I ever took was a 10-day road trip to Seattle with my best friend to see Adele in concert. Of course we routed a few destinations but we also made lots of random stops along the way, taking pictures and making memories that will hopefully last a lifetime. Because to me there’s still nothing better than a full tank of gas, the open road and the random destinations that wait on your next road trip to anywhere.