If there’s anything more American than loading the whole family into the station wagon and heading west, I’m not sure what that would be.
Sure, we might be doing it in a 2012 Honda Odyssey — an Odyssey that’s already seen its best days — not Clark Griswold’s 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire, but it’s all the same.
Over the last three summers, the Wrights have decided to raise the ante each consecutive year when it comes to road-trippin’, camping, and toddlers. In 2021, it was Colorado Springs and the San Juan National Forest . . . with one kid. In 2022, it was Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Outer Banks . . . with two kids. Now, in 2023, it’s the Grand Canyon, Southern California, Sequoia National Park, Zion National Park, the Rockies in Colorado, and Kansas City . . . with three kids.
That’s three little boys — Becket (four), Jackie (two), Patches (he’ll turn one year old on the road) — a road-warrior, can’t-believe-she-tolerates-this, All-American-knockout wife, a tent, five bottles of bug spray, two bottles of bear spray, one minivan, and three weeks on the road.
The route will be Tulsa, Okla. –> Grand Canyon National Park –> Yucca Valley, Calif. –> Alta Loma, Calif. –> Sequoia National Park –> Zion National Park –> Grand Junction, Colo. –> Colorado Springs –> Hays, Kan. –> Kansas City, Mo. — > Tulsa, Okla.
Follow along over the next three weeks for updates. If we’ve gone missing, it’s probably Sasquatch . . . or maybe we murdered each other in a dispute over the last s’more.
Wish us luck, and may God have mercy on our souls.
