Young Adults and Roadtrips - Some things Don't Change!

We've had a fairly traumatic experience in our household this week...relatively.  Our oldest son is now without a car due to a blown gasket and an engine that would have to be rebuilt!  It has to be junked.  He got the news yesterday afternoon and has been in mourning ever since.  This is an older car with just about 100,000 miles on it but it's his and has seen him through the last 2 years of high school and 3 years of college.  This has thrown everything about our family life into a tailspin.  We've grown to depend on him having his independence and not relying on anyone to get him from point A to point B.  It sounds ridiculous but having just 2 cars is a 'drag'!  So now both sons and I are sharing 1 car while my husband is at work and juggling our needs for access to a motor vehicle!

My oldest son is almost 22 and freedom is absolutely essential at the moment.  He has 1 year of college left and then the reality of the world beyond is waiting.  This is the way things should be.  We'll figure this car thing out and as the immediacy of a financial meltdown ebbs away (these things are always most devastating in the beginning) we'll approach this with level heads and everyone will have transportation again...Freedom. 

It's funny, for young adults in the 1920's that's exactly what the availability of the motor vehicle defined for them. For this group of young people recovering from the horror of the first World War it must have meant everything to them! All of a sudden they could take off on their own for a fantastical road trip with a bunch of friends and enjoy life without the constraints of society. They would pack a picnic lunch and find some place to have a roadside picnic and pick wild flowers before heading back to the demands of work and life.  I don't think young people today are too interested in picnicking by the side of the road but they certainly know how to organize incredible road trips.

In case you would like to read about the history of automobile roadside picnics, here's the site -  http://foodtimeline.org/foodpicnics.html#autopicnics.  After my son gets 'dropped off' from work tonight I think I'll let him take the car!

Here's the commercial for my son's car that is no more.  A tribute...and a guest appearance by Tiger Woods!