When I was 11 my dad took a job in Kansas.
We were living in California (where we’d been since I was made) at the time. I was a 6th grader, at the height of my pre-teen game: big dog on campus (6th grade was the highest grade at the school back then before middle school was a thing), cutest boy in the grade writing me notes (his name was Greg and he had eyelashes and curls for days), sort of a big deal in the cafeteria (6th graders got to work the line and eat lunch alone afterwards fueled by all of the wacky cake you could stomach).
So, when I got the “WE’RE MOVING!” memo from the parentals I was less than thrilled. And, imagine my horror when they told me that not only would they be dragging me from my enclave of awesome half way through the school year before Greg and I even had a chance to actually hold hands on the playground, but that also, we would be DRIVING there.
A road trip?
From California to Kansas?
In a king cab pick up truck?
Never mind that the back was carpeted, could made into a bed, and had one of those sheltery things on it. Or that, apparently, 1990 was a year when wearing seat belts was still optional and allowing your offspring to bounce around in the back of a pick up truck untethered wasn’t frowned upon drastically.
All I knew was that me, my parents, my brother, and my motion sickness were looking at a good 22 hours in a car together.
Un. Fun.
But, my parents tried of course.
They let us eat pancakes, and stopped in podunk towns with really absurd attractions, like Liberal, Kansas, where you can visit Dorothy’s Kansas house from the Wizard of Oz.
Thrilling.
Less exciting, the hours spent bumping around in the car (or the back of the truck). It was before cell phones and iPads and even portable DVD players (or even DVDs for that matter) were invented. I couldn’t read because I would barf. All I had was my walkman, pumping hours upon hours of New Edition, Whitney Houston, and Madonna into my ears courtesy of homemade mix tapes.
I was grateful, sure, because the alternative was listening to my 6 year old brother drone on and on about, um, whatever he liked in the 90s. Or, listening to my parents bicker about the route, and the map, and if we really needed to get a hotel tonight.
The Dudes are lucky in this way.
I’m never going to drag them to a new house in the middle of the nation, but also, the road trip entertainment options of today are endless.
To break up the monotony of Minecraft, Temple Run, Minecraft, 2048-worst-game-ever, we downloaded Audible for our last little excursion.
For people like us, who don’t plan ahead really ever, it’s an awesome site where you can listen to audio books on demand, and with over 150,000 titles to choose from there is something for everyone.
You can listen via an app on your mobile device and, if your car is like ours, blast it through the car speakers so everyone can enjoy it.
It’s also perfect for motion sick book lovers like Dude 1 and I who would love to read while we ride, but can’t thanks to the overwhelming and uncontrollable desire to barf when we do.
Why couldn’t technology have been this advanced in 1990?
We’ve made a list of some of our favorite Audible titles to listen to so you can check them out on your next road trip. Best part? The first book you choose is free (as is the first month of the $14.95/mo subscription). With an Audible Promo Code you can get even bigger savings from Coupons.com. Plus, every month you pay for you get a credit for a free book. Pretty sweet way to spend 22 hours in a car if you ask me.
5 Audio Books to Listen to With Dudes on Audible
Enders Game. Dude 1 read this book and loved it. The younger two wanted in on it too, but since they can’t read on this level yet, we let them listen before bed.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is one of their favorite movies so of course the book is better. Super fun reading of it by Stephen Fry.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It’s Anne Hathaway and I heart her so of course I forced this one on them, just like Princess Diaries, both parts.
A Series of Unfortunate Events. It has a full cast of readers so it’s way more exciting than when I read it to them a few years ago.
Matilda. They love, love, love this movie and Kate Winslet does and amazing job with this audiobook. I LOVE listening to her read and this story. Oh, and yes, The Dudes enjoyed it too of course.
Disclaimer: I am a member of Coupons.com blogging team and am compensated for post I write on their behalf. All opinions, book recommendations, old school stories, and proclivities to barf when I move too fast are my own.
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Margaret says
I hear you about long family moves via car and having motion sickness. We were an Air Force family so we did this frequently. My worst trip started by having the flu and having to get into the family station wagon to ride thru the VA mountains. Barf city, and it couldn’t have been any fun for the other passengers. Lol. I love listening to books in the car!
Angelina says
My parents did so cal to GA as a vacation aka Torture. I agree kids these days have very it so easy and I already use this app loveit!
anna whiston-donaldson says
I haven’t tried audible for road trips yet!
Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? says
Sweet idea. I’ve never tried a book on tape because I’m the word audio learner EVER…but maybe I should.
Also, Atlanta to Houston…apparently, that does equal pukes for us. Yeah, that wasn’t fun to clean up!