Aack!!! The Family Truckster! One summer Mrs. Dog and I loaded up all 5 kids into
this and drove from 4am to 6pm, with luggage strapped onto the roof, to visit my brother while our mother was also visiting them. My 2 nephews dubbed me "Clark Griswold" and we had 2 Audreys and 3 Rustys with some movie-worthy adventures on that trip.
The worst was Rusty #2 woke up at night, after riding horses all day, with his face all swollen, closing his eyes and, we feared, his windpipe. Benadryl probably saved his life that night. Who knew? Horse dander is still his worst, of many, allergies.
The most cartoonish was, as we hurtled down a desert road at 80mph, a buzzard flying away from his roadkill only to gracefully glide around to come back and centerpunch the windshield! I slowed, a little, but never stopped. I opened my eyes to see his carcass in the rearview mirror drop unceremoniously onto the road near his last meal. I could still see around the huge cracks in the windshield well enough to get us home that same day. But not before the strong winds blew our luggage off the car roof onto the back of the van, straining all the ropes and bungie cords!
The next year we took another roadtrip to Disney World! The best souvenir was the video from my new small Handycam as it dangled around my neck walking thru the parking lot! Luckily I discovered my mistake at the time and switched it off before going to the bathroom!!
My own kids still call me Clark Griswold! They're just too chicken to take their own kids on such epic journeys.
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