Vacation - 1980

There was one trip when all five Craner kids piled into the back of a brown GMC cargo van. Florida was the destination - by way of Aunt Charlene's house. (Aunt Charlene lived in Virginia I think. Kids don't pay attention to details like that). Seats in the van were removed. Luggage was placed under the wooden platform that my father built from 2x4s and plywood. Matresses and kids were put on top of the platform. Seat belts and concern for road-safety were not included in the design of this particular van platform.

We did not own 8-tracks. We did not have vehicles that had 8-track players. We, as a family, always seemed to embrace the next big technology. Our brown cargo van (with the custom-built death-bench/luggage rack) was equipped with a AM/FM Radio and Cassette player. As we left our home on Crescentwood Avenue in East Detroit we owned only two cassettes: John Denver Live at the Sydney Opera House and Kenny Rogers' Ten Years of Gold.

The trip from East Detroit to Central Florida follows one road for 1,189 miles. 16 hours and 58 minutes.

I was 6. My oldest sister, Carla, who was 15 as we bounced down the highway, did not share my enthusiasm and anticipation for this trip. In 2019, a teenager disgusted with the prospect of a 17-hour van ride, would escape via a digital device. But it is 1980, my sister's only escape was Kenny Rogers on repeat. ****

I remember changing the lyrics of Lucille from You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille. With four hungry children and a crop in the field to You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille. With 400 children carppin' in the field. It still makes me chuckle.

During the course of the trip, my brother and I abandoned the topside of the platform. Like hedgehogs or prairie dogs, we burrowed through the luggage below, creating a maze of bags. From our own dens we'd periodically pop our heads up long enough to see the Welcome to Georgia sign, catch a fresh breath of air, and confirm for our parents that we were in fact still alive.

It's funny that I don't remember much of anything about what happened when we reached our destination. I don't remember smelling ocean air or seeing tourist-y sites. I don't remember seeing pictures of the trip. I only remember being in that van with my family singing along with Grandma's Featherbed - and I loved it.

My family and I are on vacation this week. We are spending a few days together in a cabin at Grandma Roxanne's campground. Things are tight in the cabin. The showers and bathrooms smell funny. Cellular data and Wi-fi are scarce. But we are together. We are making memories - swimming together, talking over campfires, lying on our backs looking at the stars.

None of this is easy for me. I like to work. Shutting down is hard. But vacation, re-charging and re-connecting with the people I love the most, will have more impact on them than completing any to-do list. It doesn't matter where we are. It doesn't even matter how we got here (or if there were seatbelts). What is important is that we do vacation - and do it well!

I wonder what details of Vacation-2019 my kids will remember?

What songs will make them think of this time?

What stories will they share with their kids about this vacation?

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How about you?

• What is your favorite childhood memory from a vacation?

• For my family: Do you remember this trip? This van?

****(I just re-read this last sentence. It occurred to me that on repeat was not a thing 1980. When the last song played on a cassette, you had to fast-forward to the end of the tape, eject the tape, flip it over, and push play to hear the second side. Looking back, nothing happened automatically in 1980.)