Mary Dulik is heeding the siren call of the road this spring, remembering the annual odysseys to Florida her family used to make in borrowed station wagons and camper vans during her 1970s childhood. John Denver tunes blared on the radio, sleeping children sprawled where they liked and mechani...
Mary Dulik is heeding the siren call of the road this spring, remembering the annual odysseys to
Even the worst of those experiences now seem tinged with fun as she and husband Dan map out their first motor adventure with their two young daughters. They're among the millions of Americans planning to hit the highways this year as long-range drives come back into vogue.
It's a resurgence fed by cheaper gas, childhood memories and a general reluctance to splurge by people who are fearful for their jobs, travel analysts said.
Others are fed up with air travel, preferring the grind of the road to delays and fees. The final straw for the Duliks: paying a total of $400 to redeem airline miles for a trip to
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She used to sleep on the family's luggage; her kids will be belted up. Her family amused themselves with a homemade version of Battleship; her two daughters will watch movies. Her family vehicles always seemed to break down; the Duliks already have shelled out $1,000 to tune up the family's Toyota Sienna.
"Somehow this isn't economical," Dan Dulik said. "It's so like the Brady Bunch."
Welcome to the great American road trip, 2009. From the Grand Canyon to Orlando to the
"In times like these--and we've seen this before--people tend to go back to things like national parks and heritage vacations to spend quality family time," said Bruce Bossman, director of reservations and sales for the Grand Canyon Railway, a tourist attraction that runs near the canyon's southern rim.
After losing her job, Mila Gumin has time to kill before she heads to law school in the fall. Instead of flying to Europe this summer, Gumin and two friends are cramming into Gumin's Pontiac Vibe hatchback and driving to
"When you don't know exactly what's going to happen, or when what did happen was not a good thing as in my case, it's definitely good to have people to share costs with," she said.
Motor marathons used to be an annual ritual when gas cost less than a buck per gallon and AM radio ruled. With five kids in tow, Mary Duliks' parents had to borrow larger transport from friends for their journeys. And those rides invariably broke down.
Even so, "I can't imagine my family even considered [other travel]," Mary Dulik said. "Dan's was the same way. You just drove."
Indeed, the urge to get up and go is etched in the American psyche. The boredom, scenery and travails of the trail are celebrated in American lore.
For 19th Century pioneers who settled the country in wagon trains, there was the cannibalism of the stranded Donner Party.
Mid-20th Century Americans got their kicks on Route 66. Anybody who grew up with a wood-paneled station wagon could identify with the Griswold family of the "
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But cross-country driving gradually fell out of favor as rising gas and auto prices coincided with falling airfares that followed airline industry deregulation in 1978. Increasingly, middle-class Americans confined their road trips to shorter jaunts and flew to satisfy their wanderlust.
Many people who've become accustomed to flying swear they won't go back to long-distance driving, even with the bad economy.
Patti and Brian McCumber of west suburban Montgomery say they would sacrifice spending on restaurant meals, if need be, in order to fly to Florida for a Disney vacation with their 3- and 6-year-old girls this spring. "I don't know how much it would save our family," Patti McCumber said. "And it would cost us time."
But the grind of road travel doesn't seem so bad for others who've endured epic flight delays or seen their 3-year-old children patted down by security officials, said travel writer Joe Brancatelli, founder of JoeSentMe.com.
Orlando felt the shift last year. During the first nine months of 2008, more out-of-state visitors drove to the central Florida tourist hub than flew--a reversal from previous years--Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc. said.
Airlines, meanwhile, are slashing fares and flight schedules to vacation meccas like Orlando and Honolulu. "They're competing against gas prices and for people who just don't want to give up their cash," said Tom Parsons, founder of BestFares.com.
Most Americans still spend summer vacations within a few hours' drive of home--a trend that is on the rise this year as more families tighten travel budgets. Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin is gearing up for a peak summer after breaking attendance records last August. Campsites already are booked for Memorial and
The Agnew family, originally from
Their last big family outing, four years ago, was in Myrtle Beach, S.C. But this year they chose Galena because they didn't feel like splurging, Rick Agnew said. "It was like exploring something without going too far."
Agnew plans to load the car up with essentials from his childhood trips: Twizzlers for the drive, flashlights so his two daughters can explore their vacation digs at night.
During the three-hour journey, they'll play a game invented when he was a child. Every white-topped grain silo they pass will magically become an ice cream scoop. The first to see it will cry out: "There's one for Dad, there's one for Meredith."
Tribune reporters
