Many readers ask similar questions:
I am interested as to the Goldberg family’s rationale for driving vs. flying. I have two children under 4, and the family and I fly from Dallas to Seattle twice a year to visit family. Our rationale is that with gas prices, lodging and food for a three day drive along with toddler and pre-schooler attention spans, it is a wash financially and a big bonus psychologically for the parent’s peace of mind to do the trip in 4 hours. Am I overlooking some advantage to driving? I don’t recall that you were visiting someone in mid-America, rather that Seattle was the sole destination.
Know you are busy so no offense taken if you don’t respond.
Me: There are good answers and bad to this commonly posed query. One is that we are simply crazy. There is some merit here. After all, why I — of all people — should have driven across country one way or the other a half dozen times in as many years, is indeed puzzling. Anyway, the truth of it is that A) We like to have our car with us when we’re out here (and renting would throw finances for a loop), B) we like to go to weird places en route, C) we kinda like the open road, and — perhaps decisively — D) We like to have our dog with us. If we didn’t bring Cosmo, he’d have to stay in a kennel and where we stay for most of August is really doggie nirvana.
Which brings me to this promising story:
BEIJING — A woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China’s Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday.
No injuries were reported although both vehicles were slightly damaged, it said.
Me: It would indeed be great if Cosmo could share in the driving. The problem is we taught Cosmo to drive already. Everything was great — except for the sudden sharp turns toward tennis balls, squirrels, cats, deer, skateboarding slackers, and various and sundry meat products.