I'm going on a trip and in my bag

I'm going on a trip and in my bag.... This was the game I played as a kid when my mother, my sister and I were traveling for our vacations. It's a memory game. The first player says "I'm going on a trip and in my bag I have a(n) ..." They then insert whatever item they want. The next person must repeat the phrase, including the previous items(s) and then add their own. It doesn't even have to be something that you would normally take on a trip.  My mother always had an 8x10 glossy of  someone, Elvis, Bobby Goldsboro, Burt Reynolds (it was during the period when Burt posed for Cosmopolitan). Obviously the best way to win was to add an item that was hard to remember like "a giant purple people eater with eight toes". It really helped past the time away. I think the longest game was over one hundred items.



I taught this game to my family. Some are good at it, others are not, but we won't mention names. As we prepare for our road trip on Monday, I need to teach this game to my granddaughter Kady. Of course she's only two but I'm sure she will grasp the concept of adding a new item after we help her remember what's already in the bag.

I love traveling. I love it so much I over plan the trip. I don't really plan what's going to happen on the trip. I like to leave that as spontaneous as possible, but the travel portion is detailed. I know what time we need to leave, when we will stop, when we will eat and sleep. It drives Trudy crazy! Especially since I always ask her to read the map to know where the next rest stop is located. You see Trudy has problems reading maps. We've been engaged in a 27 year training program but I don't think she will ever pass. This time we are using Tom Tom and the GPS on the phones. They are great tools but they still don't list the rest stops. So Trudy, practice your map folding skills, it's a long trip to Oregon and back.

I must admit on our last two trips, St. Louis to Las Vegas and St. Louis to Chicago, she did pretty well as a passenger. Her left seat skills were not up to par.  This trip she has been designated to be the Backseat Nagger, I mean Nana. All the driving will be done by Steven and myself. It'll be a battle for control of the wheel. If we didn't have Kady with us we would make the trip without hotel stays. Wouldn't Trudy just love that. We would make her use a soda bottle or a roadside bush for her stops. Food would be chips and cookies grabbed only when we stopped for gas. It wouldn't be necessary to do this, just fun to mess with her.

So keep thinking of poor Trudy during this trip. Text her often to help her regain her sanity. Ask her to post pictures on Facebook and update her status. Her job as the Backseat Nana is a tough one.