(the OG girls road tripping team)

the last couple of summers we have driven to california for our annual visit… first because of the corona and then because hank is no longer allowed to fly as an “emotional support” dog, which is BANANAS because if i hadn’t had him around during this pandemic and all the crazy things that have happened in the world the last few years i don’t know that i would have held onto my sanity at all. we have journeyed in different configurations… sometimes my first husband has accompanied us, sometimes it’s been me and the kids (and hank, of course!) but this is the first time it’s just been us girls, me and lu (AND hank, of course.)

i LOVE my son, but only having two people in the car, rather than three (or FOUR!) was a game changer. first of all, we were much more comfortable. i was in the driver’s seat, hank rode shotgun, his preferred location and lu had the backseat to herself. she could lounge the long way or rest her feet on the center console or just sit upright and there was no elbowing or tussling over “sides” or leaning into someone else that instigates a big shove and a howl. it was pretty peaceful.

(hank likes to squish his face into the console while he naps on the road)

we DID miss having theo because he is a terrific navigator… he pays attention to where we are and all the signs and potential pitfalls. i can get a little distracted, which is what happened on day two when i missed the sign that said “no services for a bazillion miles.” i have not figured out how to translate how much gas there is into how many more miles you can go and we ended up having to take a 25 mile detour to this TINY town called “emery” for gas. i think we were somewhere in utah. i was getting pretty nervous because when we finally found to the town i couldn’t see any gas stations… there were no big blue and red chevrons or red and yellow seashells and i was starting to think that we were fucked until i realized that the “gas station” was right across the “street” - there was a single pump that looked like it was out the 1930’s next to what appeared to be a shed, but was actually a shop. with all the gas shortages going on i had a moment of panic wondering if there was actually anything in that dilapidated pump or if we were in some sort of abandoned ghost town. PRAISE JESUS there WAS gas and i never let our tank get below 50% for the rest of the trip.

(the “gas station” in emery … you can see why we didn’t know what it was; photo: skurfanpostcards bay)

lu and i really got into a groove… we would arrive at our “dog friendly” hotels in the early afternoon (we’ve decided we are partial to hyatts), unpack the car and have a rest in the room before taking a pre dinner swim. after our swim we would order room service (when we’d exhausted the hyatt dinner menu - all hyatts have the same offerings - we REALLY recommend the parmesan fries!) we started getting food delivered. it was incredible to me that you could have food sent to a hotel, just like at home… HALLELUJAH for grubhub! and really expanded our options. then we would shower and start our spa treatments. we did sugar scrubs, we whitened our teeth, we did face masks and lu even did a “lip mask” - i’m not sure what that really accomplished. finally, we would get all lotioned and jammied and crawl into bed VERY early. we did not linger in the mornings… we would be the first ones at breakfast and hightail it out of there before it got too hot and the roads were too crowded.

(we made a beach stop in santa monica visiting dear friends)

(mermaid lu ended up going all the way in!)

(hank relaxed with his buddy, ozzie in santa monica… they both like to lounge with their legs splayed out behind them; photo: leslie robinson)

somehow the car stayed much cleaner… first husband was constantly shelling and tossing nuts into his mouth - many of which ended up in the cupholders or on the floor or lodged into the seats when he came on our road trips. lu and i only ate “neat” food like apples or bars or beef jerky. (we DID have red vines too but got an unlucky batch that was pretty stiff and stale so we didn’t eat too many of those.) generally, there was a lot less chaos in the car. but the BEST thing was lucy taught me how to make a playlist on spotify. i KNOW that most of you have been doing this for decades but i haven’t put my favorite songs together since i made mix tapes in college… even then i mostly copied over my girlfriend janine’s when we drove up and down to U.C.S.B. in the past, we have just listened to the radio (or the ONE 10,000 maniacs CD i had in the car for that first trip that i don’t think we can ever play again) but it is a pain in the popper when you can’t find something you like and have to continually find new stations. it was INCREDIBLE to listen to WHATEVER we wanted and know that we were going to like EVERY song that came on. at first i was having lucy input songs - anything that popped into my head… “rapper’s delight” from 4th grade, the bee gees and donna summer from elementary school (the heartwrenching “mac arthur park” about how “someone left the cake out in the rain”… WHO would do that? WHY can’t she get the recipe again? [i suppose this WAS before you could google everything.] WHAT kind of cake was it? WHY was the frosting green?) dolly’s “jolene” (i DID google this one - jolene was inspired both by a gorgeous little red headed girl dolly met after one of her concerts and a bank teller who was overly flirtatious with dolly’s husband … a situation dolly did NOT appreciate!) lots of abba, blondie, macklemore, E,W & F, snoop, beyonce, adele, diana, biggie, eminem, fun ones from high school like “tainted love” and campy ones like “pina colada” and “you’re so vain.” this has been revolutionary for me. i also learned that spotify will suggest songs you might like so you don’t have to remember each particular one. GENIUS! anyway, we made it safe and sound (our voices are a little hoarse from singing so much in the car) and we are so EXCITED for summer! x0x0x

(donna sings her heart out about that ill fated cake!)

(it’s hard to imagine anyone more compelling or with better hair than dolly)

(this is the ACTUAL little girl whose green eyes and strawberry hair inspired “jolene”… she really spells it “juline” but the pronunciation is the same… her updo IS pretty spectacular for a nine year old!)

to read more about our road trips click here or here or here