Family Road Trip

I grew up in Los Angeles, California and my cousins grew up a quick 14-hour drive north in Humboldt County, just about an hour and a half from the Oregon border. My family would make the trip every Thanksgiving to go visit them. It was our annual road trip, but not out only one of the year. Having teachers for parents allowed for awesome summer vacations, but seeing as though my parents were teachers we didn’t quite have the funds to fly everywhere. We drove to Toronto, Utah, and almost every place in between. However, the drives up north are some of my fondest memories and were kind of my introduction to most of the music I love today. We had a Ford Econoline van where the back could turn into a bed and the seats in the middle could spin all the way around. We really rode in style and more importantly in comfort.

My mom would always take the first shift and we would begin every trip the same way. First, a quick prayer even though half of us aren’t religious, and then “Off the Wall” by Michael Jackson would begin. The 45 minutes that followed were jam packed with MJ impressions and karaoke renditions. We had nearly developed a choreographed routine to the album, we listened to it that much.  The falsetto that my sister hit during the chorus to Don’t Stop till You Get Enough is hauntingly beautiful and has remained the same for the last 10 years, though the family favorite on the album is Workin’ Day and Night. After the album, would complete, we would still be in the Valley, that’s how bad the traffic would geton the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

After another couple of hours of my mom behind the wheel and some Dave Matthews and Prince albums later my dad would take over, and he loved to start with the same album to get everybody right back into the singing spirit. Talking Heads’ album Little Creatures would play us through the next hour of our journey. It was a nice change of pace to go from some of the most difficult artists to emulate to the soothing voice of David Byrne. And She Was starts of the album right, and we would all join in during the chorus acting as my dad’s backup singers. Chiming in with the (Hey Hey Heys) sometimes adding in some extra ones. This was always my favorite part of the trip because I was sitting shotgun and giving my dad directions. After finishing Little Creatures, we would move on to Graceland by Paul Simon. Again, my dad would act as the lead singer and we were his Ladysmith Black Mambazo during “I know what I know” and “Diamonds on the Sole of her Shoes”. At this point in our travels we would stop along the way to pick up some grub and use the restroom, always fast food.

Now, it was my turn to put an album on. I knew that I only had one chance so it had to be a good one. Otherwise I would get skipped on the drive home. The Blue Album by Weezer was a safe choice because I knew my family loved it and could sing along without a problem. “My Name is Jonas” started us off and now I was the lead singer. I took my opportunity and belted the whole thing out. The windows down and the music blasting, we were having our own concert. We all had our air instruments; me on the lead guitar, my dad on the bass, my mom the drums, my sister of keyboard, and my brother was the rhythm guitar. We were quite the band and our yearly drives up to visit the Gonzaga’s were without a doubt the highlight of my childhood. It’s been 4 years since I have been able to go, but the tradition lives on and my family drives up every year.