Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for September 16, 2024

Just like for Arlo the lion’s share of the driving is mine although my Janis works pretty hard at it from her side.

Not forgetting is how she was able to compare and realize how different it is now!

Used to do 10 hours on weekends one way. No cruise control then. Sore ankle at the end of each trip.

I used to jump in the car and drive 600 miles. Now I drive 60 and want to take a nap…

Northern Montana to Yuma Arizona, a 20-hour drive that takes two days in the Fall and, in reverse, two days in the Spring.

My wife and I are driving 800+ miles this week. It’s a tuneup for next year when we have a trip planned where we’ll prolly drive over 2000.

It is a terrible change to going from being a “road warrior” to being almost sick from just a few hours on the highway. In my 30’s we’d load the kids up about 4 in the morning on a Saturday and head to Austin, get to town stop at Sweetish Hill Bakery for a bag of breakfast goodies then go to swim at Barton Springs by 9 am. Hit the bookstores, guitar stores, McBrides guns & coins, fabric and Vintage/Antique spots for the girls, and Waterloo records. Head home about five with Garrison Keilor on the radio. 8 1/2 hour drive, home by 9:30. Sometimes we’d go by way of Lockhart and have breakfast eating Brisket at Smitty’s 100 year old BBQ downtown. We would still get to church on time Sunday am. Not up for it anymore, need two recovery days after a 4 hour trip. Sigh

My Janis and I are 71. When driving to Colorado, we used to drive 24 hours in two days. That was about seven years ago. Now, I don’t quite have that old stamina. We slowed down to two and a half days.

Sounds like Arlo’s romanticizing his memories. I’m predicting Janis will bring back to Earth.

6.5 hours from home to Lake Powell. Beautiful scenery all the way, Monument Valley, Shiprock, absolutely no cities. Looking forward to lunch at the Sonic in Kayenta. I don’t mind at all.

We typically drive from 5 to 8 hours a day when we go on a trip. Of course we have an RV, so if we see something fun to do, we do it. If we get tired, we stop and rest for an evening. I drive, she navigates. I am 73 and I find the new vehicles with cruise control and comfort are amazing. Of course when you are carrying a house with you, it is easy to stop, make dinner, watch TV or go to bed early.

Sounds like an argument in favor of living closer to the beach.

At my point in life my re-memberies are hardly ever the same as my other half. Seems I always leave some unimportant part out.

She’s a real killjoy

I have an idea…. Maybe they could move to be closer to the kids and then they could avoid the drive.

Good morning y’all! When we were younger, the 4-5 hour drive to our vacation home didn’t seem like a big deal. Now that we have a waterfront home close to the kids, I don’t miss that long drive to Lake Michigan.

Why did Opelika-Auburn News drop you, as well as For Better For Worse, my two favorite funnies!

Weird things seem to always happen to me when I travel. The longer the trip, the more apt something will happen. Two days ago I was 10 hours into a road trip to visit my daughter and family in NC. However, the skies opened up and it rained so hard I got off the freeway and moseyed into a full service gas station and found a place to park. I figured I’d go in to do the potty thing, then buy my usual package of nutty donuts and a pint of chocolate milk, then back to the car for a nap. I had been driving all night since 7:30 p.m. the previous day, and now it was around 5:30 a.m. As I approached the store to open the door, I looked down and saw what appeared to be the entire contents of a guy’s wallet on the ground. There was money, plastic cards, papers and all sorts of sundry items one stuffs in a wallet….but no actual wallet. It must have just happened…none of the items were wet, and none of it blown around. I scooped the stuff up and walked into the store. There was one gent in there at this early time of day and I asked him if the stuff I had in my hands was his, and he said “no”. I took the stuff to the counter and informed the manager that someone may be coming back to the store to look for these lost items. I don’t know how you can drop that amount of material on the ground without realizing you’ve done so….but I sure hope whoever did so was able to reclaim his stuff!

My guess is Arlo and Janice haven’t even hit sixty yet, which firmly puts them in Gen X. Ten hours over two days? What a couple of wimps. I can still put in 14 hrs behind the wheel, and I’m pushing seventy.

What is Arlo forgetting?

When did Arlo retire? I don’t remember him ever working.

Ten hours in TWO days? I drive almost ten in one day to go “back home” for a couple of days, and I am officially OLD. This is not a big deal for most people, but then I was born with a steering wheel in my hands.

When I was first married we’d drive 6hrs to the in-laws in a car with no A/C, no cruise and a manual transmission — easy peasy. Now I think twice before driving 3 blocks to get Wendy’s.

My max is having driven 27 hours in a day. Is 29 is the USA record?

Arlo’s forgetting, what about saturday night and sunday morning?

My husband and I did this recently. and both of us had swollen ankles for three days afterwards, even with stopping to walk the dog a few times.

I have had two VWs and one Ford Escort that were stick shift. I love driving a stick. I wish I could have stick shift now. I have driven every vehicle that we have owned, pulling campers from Michigan to Florida. My husband and I share driving 50-50. We have sold the campers now but we still drive from Michigan to Florida in 2 days.

Ditto, Janis. We did that about a month ago. This weekend we are tacking on another day.

10 hours is still 10 hours.

When we were young, it was nothing to take off to Toronto (from DC) to go shopping, or to drive straight through from DC to Hibbing MN in February. Now, the grocery a few miles away seems too far to manage. But, a friend and I drove from Virginia to San Diego last spring for a weekend party.

Shoot, my husband and I made it from southwest Florida to Cincinnati Ohio in 16 hours, with 3 drugged cats in the car. We stopped for bathroom breaks, Red Bull, snacks and coffee. He drove the whole way. We’re both 72 years old.

My mother taught my daughter to drive an automatic, I taught her to drive my manual in my manual little Nissan truck, which was a harrowing experience for her at 16 and me at 40 BUT we did it. Came in handy when she joined the army a couple of years late, only female in her training outfit that could drive that army stakebed truck.

It’s funny. I complain about having to drive 45 minutes to the beach. On the other hand, a 5 hour drive can get me to Miami, Charleston, Atlanta, or Pensacola which doesn’t seem too bad. All in the perspective, I guess.