Skip to main content

Roadgeeking with Kids - An Introduction

(First of an occasional series - highlighting in a sometimes humorous way of how having kids changes how you roadgeek)

From my experience, most roadgeeks (enthusiasts if you don't like the term) are male.  Most are single. Some are in a relationship and even married.  Many of those that are married are DINKs (Dual income no kids) and a handful of us have kids - some of us - like my family - have two.  Or even more!
Myself with our youngest Nash and our oldest Colton.
Along with my wife, Maggie, the four of us are a happy family that find ourselves in one adventure or another.  Currently, that is keeping a somewhat organized home! A three year old boy and a two month old will do that!

Obviously having kids takes up a lot of time and the days of last minute, "Hey, I'm gonna go out and do a photo trip and explore for a few hours," or something similar are long gone. As is the free time to work on webpages or even this blog.  In fact, I typed most of this blog on my phone while rocking Nash to sleep.  But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy your hobby or include the family in it.

Since Colton has been born, we have done a number of road trips near and far.  Gone are the days where Maggie and I would find places to hike or something between here and Pennsylvania or on the way to Texas.  These are replaced by hey there's a children's museum, aquarium, zoo, etc on the way, etc.  But as I was saying, we have done a few trips with Colt on the past three years and he's pretty much an excellent traveler and loves the adventure.  But it does change when you go from one kid to two, and we're just beginning to start those adventures.

So what will this series entail? Oh, fun things like:

* Thank goodness for cell phone cameras
* The hunt for good playgrounds - the family version of finding that elusive sign or bridge.
* Squeezing in roadgeeking on various trips and not frustrating your wife!
* Our family county maps
* Making the hobby a family activity
* When backroads to away football games are a cause to roadgeek!
* And other things


I'm looking forward to writing and sharing these stories with you all and feel free to comment and leave ideas and suggestions.

Comments

Josh Businger said…
I think it's cool that you're sharing your travel experiences with them. They will most likely grow up & do the same thing you're doing now. My grandparents took me on road trips as a kid & they passed their love for the road to me. Jess & I don't have (or are planning to have) kids so in that aspect we're kind of missing out in a way. But I think I turned her into a road geek, which is a very good thing!

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...

New Idria Road to the New Idria ghost town

New Idria Road is an approximately 21.5-mile rural highway located in the Diablo Range of San Benito County.  From Panoche Road to approximately 20.6 miles to the south the corridor is maintained as the paved San Benito County Road 107.  The remaining 0.9 miles to the New Idria ghost town are no longer maintained and have eroded into a high clearance dirt roadway.  Upon reaching New Idria the roadway continues south as Clear Creek Road which passes through the Bureau of Land Management owned Clear Creek Management Area.   The New Idria Mercury Mine claim was staked in 1854.  Following the theme set by New Almaden the community and mine of New Idria were named after the famous Slovenian mercury mining town of Idrija.  Following a slow start the mines of New Idria would boom and the community would reach a peak population of approximately 4,000 by 1880.  New Idria Road and Panoche Road were constructed to facilitate stage travel to San Juan Bautista...

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...