Profile of a Road Trip Family

Family road trippers enjoy scenic drives and National parks. They don't sweat the gas prices, they prefer road atlases to GPS devices (although many like both), and they have a sense of humor.

We've been studiously collecting data from familyroadtripper.com visitors since our site launch three years ago and have recently compiled the date into this interesting blog post. While these data in no way represent a scientific analysis of the real world, they do provide a good topic for a blog post.

We've run single-question polls in the left rail of the blog and also a multi-question survey at surveymonkey.com. The highest response rates came from the poll questions right on the page:

Favorite road trip destinations:
Scenic drives: 30%
National Parks/ Monuments: 23%
Mountain cities and towns: 23%
Coastal cities and towns: 7%
Ski resort mountains: 15%
Big cities: 0%

How will higher gas prices affect your summer road trip plans?
Not at all: 19%
Stay closer to home: 11%
Buy a Prius: 11%
Fewer days on the road: 5%
Cheaper hotels: 4%

GPS or Road Atlas?
Road Atlas: 50%
Both: 36%
GPS: 13%

Why don't you answer polls?
My choice never wins: 37%
Don't trust polls: 25%
Too much work: 25%
Hate you: 12%

We're a little surprised that 12% of our readers hate us, but we suspect it may simply be that they have a warped sense of humor. Perhaps we won't include that choice in future polls.

The online survey told us that most of our readers (79%) have one or two kids and they take three or more road trip each year. They stay mostly in the 100 mile - 300 mile range, but quite a few (20%) go for the 300 - 600 mile range, and the same amount exceed 600 miles on a road trip. They typically stay in motels, although brand loyalty isn't the top priority, safe, clean, and convenient is.

We also learned how to word questions poorly
'Do you travel with pets?'
10% travel with a dog, 5% with more than one cat, and 85% probably would have answered 'No' had I provided that as a choice. Instead, they didn't answer the question.

Choosing a Family Road Trip Vehicle

The polling at familyroadtrippers.com indicated that SUV edged out station wagons and "children pulling buggy" and all of them beat mini-vans. But the real choice is a little more complicated.

When we were looking for a new roadtrip vehicle, it was an interesting choice. There are many choices available, station wagons, mini-vans, SUVs, compact SUVs, cross-over vehicles, and stuff like used vanagons and PT Cruisers.

Mini vans let you split up the kids
Mini vans have a few advantages over other vehicles: tons of cargo room, three rows of seats so that you can either carry many people or split up a couple of kids. (This is something they like as much as something we like).
We've used a Dodge Caravan at length because the company I work for has a small fleet of them for us to use on photo shoots and other trips. The Caravan is a wonderful roadtrip vehicle -- comfy, zippy, and there's tons of cargo space. Even a big dog like Wookie would fit quite well for extended trips. We rented a Ford Aerostar for a trip a few years ago and it felt like a hunk of junk. A couple of years ago we rented a Chevy mini van which we liked quite well.

We were looking at a Caravan and a Toyota Sienna.

Crossovers are zippier but still with lots of room
We took a trip from Nashville to New Orleans and back recently in a rented Kia Rondo, a crossover vehicle I guess, but it really felt like a mini mini-van. We liked the ride and the inside setup quite a bit, and there was plenty of cargo room. The gas mileage was OK, a little better than a mini van, but still in the lower 20s. I think this type of vehicle could be a great choice. The Kia's main drawback was that when one of the windows (especially the rear ones) were opened (partially or fully), a horrible pulsing pressurization would overcome the car. Like your ears would explode if subjected to it much more. Other than that, we liked it.

Mazda's and Toyota's mini mini-vans look really good, and we'd like to check them out. Maybe the next time I rent a car, I'll try to get one. Mazda has one with three rows of seats so you can split the kids, boost gas mileage, and maintain quite a bit of cargo room.

Compact SUVs have lots of vertical storage
There's more cargo room in the Subaru Forester than in either the Outback or the Legacy. But the cargo room is vertical -- you need to pack stuff on top of stuff, and long stuff is either out of the question or on the roof. Despite their higher center of gravity and larger shape, the Subaru sales man said that all three models get about the same mileage -- because they have identical power trains, the body shape, he said, was pretty much irrelevant. I suspect he's mostly right, but if so, why do Olympic athletes get so anal about friction and drag?

PT Cruisers are in a class by themselves (so to speak).
I've also rented PT Cruisers a couple of times on photo shoots. I don't know how to classify them. Maybe crossover vehicle? But crossover between what? They're almost like small Chevy Suburbans. There seems to be a lot of space, they're sporty, and they do very well over speed bumps (hey, it was a rental, I owe it to readers to find these things out). The window controls, though are no where near where you would expect them to be: they're in the center of the dashboard. Not on the door or the center console. In the dark, things like this are a pain in the neck.

Station wagons use less gas and have a lot of space.
In the end, we chose a Subaru Legacy. The mileage was purported to be 28 highway, but on our maiden voyage, we got 30 or better (hiper miler techniques employed). The cargo space is plenty sufficient (we were able to bring all of our camping gear). And the cup holders are fine. The look is super sporty. We had a roof racjk added so that we can boost cargo room when needed, but at a gas mileage price. But we figure, Why take the hit on mileage with a mini-van every day of the year when you can only take the hit when you need the extra cargo room?

Cup holders matter more than some might think
The Subaru guy was amazed at the fact that he was about to lose a sale because the '98 Outback (only 68,000 miles!) had cruddy cup holders. I didn't see them on my test drive, and when I returned to the lot, I parked it, walked up to Tinsley, tossed him the keys and said to her "There are no cup holders." Tinsley shook her head, Trevor scrambled to the car to look, and found them: a dinky, rickety little tray the slips in to the dashboard. Tinsley and I rolled our eyes.

What's your road trip vehicle of choice?

This Gas Staion "Doesn't Have a Bathroom"

View Gas Stations that won't let kids use the bathroom in a larger map

Gas stations that won't let little kids use the bathroom have always irritated me. Especially after I fill up the tank with $45 worth of gas. It just seems like a basic hospitality issue.

"Restrooms are for customers only" is fine. But after you fill the tank, and unstrap your three year old from the kid seat, and they walk in having to pee really bad and the man (or lady as in the most recent case) says something like "No, we don't have a bathroom." Right. Like the employees pee out back. Can't they just let one little girl pee?

That bothers me.

Doesn't it always work out that when one tank is empty, the other is full? So it seems like common decency that "service" providers recognize this and accommodate their customers with full-service. Please let us pee!

We at Familyroadtrippers.com have started a Google map of these types of gas stations. I think anyone can contribute to the map (at least I checked a box that seemed to allow it), let's, as a family of family travelers, revolt against these un-feeling hoarders of relief. It's in the name of our kids, not us; heck, we can hold it, right? At least till we get out back.


So here's the first entry on the map of shame: Mort's Grocery in Spofford, New Hampshire:


If you're unable to add to this map, add your stations of shame to the comments section, and I'll add them to the map.

A Tale of Two Cities: Big and Small

Unfriendly Police Officers can Ruin a Town's Economy

I don't get a lot of speeding tickets. I drive a lot of miles each year with all of the travel for work and the family road trips, so I get some speeding tickets. But I'm not a chronic offender by any means. Especially if you divide my number of tickets per mile.

Hartford, Connecticut
I had an interesting trip last month to photograph Montpelier; home of James Madison, our fourth President, Father of our Constitution, and the author of the Bill of Rights. I'm one of those people who are always thinking. At least that's how I see it; Tinsley, on the other hand, may describe it differently. Anyway, "always thinking" sometimes looks to the outside world like "not thinking". Sometimes I miss my turns. Usually this isn't a problem, but on the way to the airport, it can turn into a problem real fast. Especially if there's traffic involved. Which, if you're in Hartford, CT, is a given (I fly out of Bradley Airport serving Hartford and Springfield). So I'm blasting through neighborhoods of Hartford trying to get to the airport when I come over this hill. There's a speed trap at the four way stop sign halfway down the hill. The police officers don't even have to get out of their car, they just sit there shooting people at the crest of the hill. So they wave to me and point to the side of the road.

"I'm sorry, but I was... well I suppose the excuse doesn't matter, forget it" I say to the officer after handing him my license and registration.
"But what?" is his reply;
"I missed my turn a few miles back and I'm trying to find a quick route to the airport because I've got a flight to catch."
"When does your flight leave?"
"1:30"
"I got you going 40 miles per hour coming down that hill and this is a 25 miles per hour zone; keep it under 25. You can get a fast route to the airport by going straight, and then taking your second left. That'll lead you to Interstate 91."
"Thank you very much officer, I appreciate it."

Let's contrast that to my experience after the aforementioned flight.

Orange, Virginia:
I had a wonderful time touring the restoration of Montpelier, eating in 3 local restaurants, and photographing the scenic countryside. I even found the ruins of a mansion designed by Thomas Jefferson for Governor Barbour which burned down after about 70 years. On my way out of town, I got up, packed up the rental car and headed into Orange for gas, road snacks, and breakfast at the local cafe. Coming over a little hill and around a corner I went through a traffic signal (which was green) and simultaneously noticed a "Speed Limit 25" and blue flashing lights in my rear view mirror.

Rather than give an out of state visitor a warning for an honest mistake, the young officer wrote me up a ticket that I can either pay through the mail or appear in court. After I accepted the ticket it occurred to me that if the blue flashing lights were in my mirror at the same time that I saw the "Speed Limit 25" sign, then I wasn't breaking the law at all. I was on the correct side of the sign when he pulled clocked me; the "Speed Limit 45 mph" side of the sign.


Truth is stranger than fiction
When a big city police officer set up in a legitimate speed trap gives a friendly warning (and directions to the airport) and a small town police officer hits an out-of-towner with a big speeding ticket from a bogus speed trap, its in stark contrast to what we expect.

I didn't fill up with gas, I didn't buy any road snacks, and I didn't eat breakfast until I was out of Orange County. It took all of the gas I had, I might add. When I go back to visit Montpelier, I'll stay in a hotel outside of the county and spend my money elsewhere as well.

If I were Stephen Colbert, I'd give Orange, Virginia a "Wag of the Finger!"
Hartford, Connecticut, on the other hand, gets a "Tip of the Hat" for hospitality.

And so does Portland, ME for that matter. I was in Portland photographing a house. I parked on the side of the road not realizing that it was a two-hour only parking spot. When I came out around lunch time, I noticed a parking ticket on my windshield. It was green, rather then red or orange as we expect, and it said something \along the lines of "You have been forgiven". Because I had out of state plates, they figured I didn't realize their parking laws, and they wanted me to come back, so they didn't bust me for an honest mistake.

Hartford, CT: 1
Portland, ME: 1
Orange, VA: 0

By the way, I'm not going to pay the ticket; instead I'm going to court.