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How old were you on you first unsupervised Road Trip and where did you go? Login/Join 
Raised Hands Surround Us
Three Nails To Protect Us
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posted
Week of 4th of July 2000. I had turned 17 in April me and 2 lady friends (19 and 20) drove from Cincinnati to Maine for a buddy’s wedding. We stopped at my Dad’s place in New Jersey.

My wife and I were discussing this and she said no way would she ever let our boys do this. I take no issue with it as long as we had not had any trouble out of them.
I was a pretty good kid and never got into much trouble. Mom took no issue with me doing much as long as my grades were good and I told her where and what I was doing.
Can’t think of a time I ever told her an untruth in regard to what I was doing or where I was going. Can’t think of a time where she said no either.
But again I was not out doing any thing that would get one in trouble either.

So where was your fist unsupervised road trip??


————————————————
The world's not perfect, but it's not that bad.
If we got each other, and that's all we have.
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Posts: 25353 | Registered: September 06, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Does it have to be where I was personally driving or just with a group as a passenger??

If the latter, about 4 of us drove from Shokan, NY to Englishtown, NJ to see the NHRA races at Raceway Park (now shut down). I believe it was circa 1974...I was a young lad not yet old enough to drive.



"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
 
Posts: 11052 | Location: NW Houston | Registered: April 04, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Info Guru
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When 16 and 17 went from Birmingham to Atlanta to go to Six Flags a couple of times with friends, some older, some younger.

When 18 me and my friend drove across the country for 3 weeks - from Birmingham, St Louis, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Black Hills, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Dinosaur National Monument, etc.

We camped most days, hiked for 4 days in the Tetons. My mother bought me this pistol (still in my safe) to take with us:


I have no idea what the carry laws were back in 1983, but I assume the statute of limitations has expired!



“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
- John Adams
 
Posts: 29408 | Location: In the red hinterlands of Deep Blue VA | Registered: June 29, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Not really from Vienna
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We drove round trip Houston to Big Bend National Park (roughly 575 miles each way) to go backpacking during spring break of our junior year in high school. Friend’s dad loaned us his new 1974 Chevy 3/4 ton single cab pickup for the trip. It had a 454 in it and drank fuel like crazy. Took a long day of driving at the 55mph speed limit we had in those days.
 
Posts: 26852 | Location: Jerkwater, Texas | Registered: January 30, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
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A high school buddy and I drove from Michigan to Chattanooga TN to visit his girlfriend.

She was staying with a relative until the...uhhhh...inexplicable swelling of her abdomen subsided and she could return to school.

Mom and Dad knew we were driving down, just not why...




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15180 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I grew up in Maryland , just outside of Washington, DC and at the age of 17 I drove to the (beach) Ocean City with a couple of friends. The best I can remember it was a good week Big Grin.
 
Posts: 1949 | Location: Northern Virginia/Buggs Island, Boydton Va. | Registered: July 13, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lawyers, Guns
and Money
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When I was in high school, SLUH was in the State finals for basketball. It was held in Jefferson City, the State capitol. I think I was 17. The thing I clearly remember was waking up in a cheap motel room where a bunch of underage guys spent the night (yes, there was beer). I walked outside, looked around, and realized my parents were no where near and I had this enormous sense of Freedom!



"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor
 
Posts: 23942 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Sadly, I was 17 and it was the weekend my Father passed away. The year was 1979.

I worked my ass off all Summer and was taking an end of the Summer trip to Cedar Point, before college began.

On Saturday evening, I called home (long before cell phones).

I spoke with my Father, and let him know I had arrived, but the Holiday Inn who I had reservations with, was booked and I simply went to the Best Western ( I think that was it), where I was calling from.

My Father was the only one who knew where I was, which was not where I told everyone I was staying.

He died shortly after I spoke with him.

I had a great time at Cedar Point, where I met up with my Cousin, who spent that Summer there as a Glass Blower.

On Sunday, i headed for home, but decided to stop at Kelleys Island to visit my Mother's Aunt.

My Mom's Aunt was not home, but her Daughter-in-law was.

This was a woman who I had never met in my life.

When I knocked on the door, My Mom's Aunt's DIL answered the door.

I told her who I was and that I was looking for my Mom's Aunt Fran.

Her face lost all color and she asked if I had spoke with my Mom.

i told her that I spoke with my Father last evening.

She said "I do not know how to tell you this, but your Father passed away last evening.

Because my Father was the only one who knew where I was, my family contacted several Police Departments in Northwest Ohio, where I was staying and where we have family.

I was in total shock. Here is a woman I had never met, telling me my Father was dead.

The rest of the day was shitty. My uncle drove from Ottawa Hills (Toledo), to Kelleys Island and drove me to his home.

The next day, he put me on a Comair flight home.

So, my first unsupervised road trip was the worst of my life.

The good news is, all subsequent road trips have been much, much better.

Sorry to be a downer.


Niech Zyje P-220

Steve
 
Posts: 36834 | Location: 45174 | Registered: December 09, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Solo: Thanksgiving when I was 17. Drove Beaumont to Austin a few days early with my younger sister, went down to Canyon Lake with some cousins.
The hills between Austin and San Antonio definitely showed how underpowered my 82 Mercedes diesel was.

College, I did Austin to Ole Miss to visit a girlfriend. 10 hours or so IIRC with no cruise control.

More recently, have done Houston to Bakersfield 3 times.

As a kid, we had a pop up camper, so we went camping quite a bit, E TX, LA & OK.
Fold the seats down in the Suburban & toss a few blankets back there.




The Enemy's gate is down.
 
Posts: 15150 | Location: Spring, TX | Registered: July 11, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Was 16, accepted an invite from a friend to drive down to Tennessee over a holiday weekend from northern Ohio. His dad & step-mom had moved the rest of the family down prior to the school year.

I'd almost never been out of the county before that. Smile

The two of us drove straight through, of course we got stopped for running a red light, 2AM.

I will say the local cops were pretty damn nice to two rebellious out-of-state / under-age kids who had a bottle of whiskey (unopened) in a dry county.

They turned us over to his dad & even let the old man keep the JD as it was a birthday gift for him.



<><
America, Land of the Free - because of the Brave
 
Posts: 1925 | Location: Goodbye, so. Fla. | Registered: January 26, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I went to West Germany as an exchange student in 1983. I was with a host family, who were great, but several times I took a bus to the larger neighboring town so I was thousands of miles away and barely spoke the language.
 
Posts: 3531 | Location: Alexandria, VA | Registered: March 07, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Summer of 1963. I was a 15 yr old farm kid who had never been further away from home than a couple of short, nearby family vacations. I was selected by some organization for a week long, all expense paid trip, by airplane, to Washington, DC, to see our "government-in-action". I dont remember who sponsored it, perhaps the Farm Bureau or some similar type organization. But I went by myself (no sponsor or adult with me) and spent a week in D.C. with a group of other kids that I did not know. I dont remember much, but I made it home OK!

Why my parents let me do that I will never know! I certainly would not have let my kids or grandkids do that! Different times back then. Everybody was far more trusting. Wish we could turn back the clock and have that kind of trust of our fellow citizens again.
 
Posts: 581 | Registered: September 30, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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When I was 15 my dad had a heart event right before we were to leave for Las Vegas to attend the NAB show where we were going to buy a new transmitter and look over the new technology of music on hard drive.

Dad sent me on with the checkbook and to make his decisions for him.

Mother was a wreck but I made it, got the job done, and made it home.

I learned about tipping cabbies on that trip. No previous experience but my first cab ride got me cursed out and almost run over.

Oh, and people passed out these little business cards with naked whore photos on them. I must have collected a couple dozen of those.

Fun times!




Regards,

P.
 
Posts: 1287 | Location: Alabama | Registered: May 20, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The success of a solution usually depends upon your point of view
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Solo, 17 or 18 i drove down to DC to see my GF while she was on a school trip.

At 18 a friend and i drove up to up state NY to visit my best friend, her BF, right after he got to college.



“We truly live in a wondrous age of stupid.” - 83v45magna

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Posts: 3839 | Location: Jacksonville, FL | Registered: September 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Optimistic Cynic
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Feb. of 1969, freshman year at UM, my buddy and I managed to convince two of our female classmates to accompany us to Mardi Gras. It was 17° when we left Ann Arbor and, as we drove South, the temperature kept rising, clothes kept coming off, and gas prices kept going down. We were too broke to get into real trouble, but that didn't stop us from having a great time!
 
Posts: 6398 | Location: NoVA | Registered: July 22, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Seeker of Clarity
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Hitch hiked home from VA Beach without a dime to my name. Barely 18.




 
Posts: 11353 | Registered: August 02, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Page late and a dollar short
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At 16

From northwest suburbs of Detroit to northern Michigan. Multiple times '68 and '69, either driving a 64 Mercury or a 67 BSA Lightning.


-------------------------------------——————
————————--Ignorance is a powerful tool if applied at the right time, even, usually, surpassing knowledge(E.J.Potter, A.K.A. The Michigan Madman)
 
Posts: 8066 | Location: Livingston County Michigan USA | Registered: August 11, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I was 16. A buddy and I drove from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta to go to the Supercross at the old stadium there. Made it there on Sat, staying with 4 other friends in a hotel, and back on Sun, without incident.
 
Posts: 868 | Location: Alabama | Registered: January 05, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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July 1983: Age 18, Chicago to Ft MCoy WI for NG training.


__________________________
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Posts: 1294 | Location: The end of the Earth... | Registered: March 02, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
An investment in knowledge
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Age 17, road trip with my buddies to the Poconos for a week without the parents in the summer.

Not sure it counts but our middle school used to take us to DC for an unsupervised school trip in 7th & 8th grade. Never forget the instructions from the teachers getting off the bus, “just don’t take any cabs and stick to the Capitol Mall area.” One of my best friends proceeded off the school bus, crossed the road and flagged down the first cab I ever rode in. We were 13 at the time and eager to explore the city via the most convenient means possible. That same friend went on to the Naval Academy, flight school and was later Air Boss on his last cruise, of course. Cool
 
Posts: 3362 | Location: Mid-Atlantic | Registered: December 27, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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