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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!

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