Paige Spiranac Pushes A New Golf Product, Tebows Do A TikTok Dance & Tiger Tests His Body Against Augusta National
As expected, the Screencaps community came through for Craig V. and his big upcoming road trip to Florida with his three kids
I believe Craig V. is heading out on a 12-hour Spring Break trip to Florida starting tomorrow, so we have to crank through these suggestions fairly fast because poor Craig will need to consume all this content from seasoned travelers who wanted to help him keep his kids occupied without burying their faces into iPads on the road to the Sunshine State.
Let's start with Michael H. because he has an interesting story of traveling back and forth from North Carolina to Michigan.
Love what you're doing and have been a reader since, well, whenever I first stumbled across this beautiful oasis in a sea of internet garbage.
My family and I recently moved to northern Michigan, but we've had a summer house up there for years and commuted from North Carolina more regularly than we should have. I'm nowhere near the level of expert of these parents, and probably grandparents, who have maybe done this for multiple generations, but we found a system that works well for us, especially for that specific time frame (our drive is ~15 hours), that may work well for others
Our system only has two parts - leave VERY early in the morning, and limit time out of the car as much as possible... I know the second part sounds very counterintuitive, but once the kids start moving, it's very hard to get them to stop and the antsy-ness increases ten-fold.
What we've found is that if we leave very early (3:30am - ish) the kids will have sleep for the first 4 plus hours, then grab breakfast, hit the bathroom, etc... and just keep rolling along with everyone essentially in a fog.
What we've learned is the key is to stay in that fog as long as humanly possible. Kids are shockingly good at just zoning out. Ours play on the iPad for spurts of it, but essentially they just sort of half-sleep, half-read, do a little coloring, do a little video-gaming, etc... but the magic is the energy never gets high enough for them to start going crazy.
Then, when we arrive in Michigan or NC (whichever direction we're going) we go run around, play outside, eat a real meal, and basically throw out the idea of getting to bed early. Every time they stay up late, sleep in the next morning, we immediately get out and get active at the new destination, and by noon that first day they're back to perfectly normal.
I know it's tempting to stop a bunch, run around, use energy, sit down and eat at a real restaurant, etc... but every one of those raises energy levels making the next section of being trapped in the car that much harder.
So that's my advice... get on the road very early, keep them as tired and zoned out as possible, and you'll be amazed how quickly the trip goes by (because you're half out of it the whole way as well).
Just for reference we are a very active family - competitive dance (my goodness it's ridiculous) and traveling hockey and soccer for the kids, so a day of doing nothing should be very hard for all of us, but somehow completely shutting down makes it much easier.
Thanks again for everything you do Joe, please keep it up. What an amazing community you've built!
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BTW, I can count on one finger the number of people who have emailed me to say they've moved from North Carolina to northern Michigan, but Michael says he absolutely LOVES the winter activity in Petosky and, well, summers are insane up north. Good for Michael and his family.
Michael adds:
I know you love the area and if you're ever in town and want to sneak out for a round of golf and a beer at Ron's, the greatest dive bar in America, just say the word!
According to the map, this is Ron's. I swear that says Don's, but on Google, the place goes by Ron's, so I'm just going to go with it. Let's be honest, this looks like the perfect dive bar where an Over The Top remake should take place. And is that window shot out? If so, it's my kind of place.
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Let's get back to the traveling suggestions.
• Scott S. has a great idea:
We have 5 kids and started yearly spring trips when the youngest was three and oldest 15. Leaving from Michigan to Orlando driving through the night while kids slept worked for us.
Number one tip: To avoid the stress of traffic jams with a car full of kids, we always brought bubbles.
When we were at a standstill, windows open and all kids started blowing bubbles. Kept the kids busy, and the positive responses from other cars were great.
Enjoy the trip as it’s all about making memories with the family.
• Ryan W. writes:
I’m a veteran of a lot of road trips with my kids (15,11 now so they mostly just sleep and watch movies with headphones) and the most effective method of containing them was hourly presents. Each hour they were good in the car they would get a wrapped present to open. Nothing huge obviously but a stuffed animal or a goofy game, small gift card to something et al.
When they were good for that hour they got it. If somehow they messed up we’d take that hours gift and give it to someone else. If one lost it, they both did. It worked really well for us. It was a small price to pay for decent behavior in hour 4 before the gas stop leg stretch.
• Johnny M., pretty sure he's a new emailer...always love the new voices, writes:
We just made this trip last week…St. Louis to Destin with a 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl. Three quick stops on the way down (gas and snacks only) two on the way back (gas and McDonalds, so slightly longer). A few suggestions…road trip bingo killed a couple hours.
Finding things like a police car, stop sign, cows etc…even driver dad can play if he can multitask. Should be able to find one on Amazon or dollar store for cheap…or just make one up. My wife also had trays made up for them so they could do coloring/stickers and that killed some time. My son was able to pull off a small Lego construction as well, but take that on at your own risk…drop a piece and you could be in trouble unless you want to pull over on the interstate. We had some fun just chatting and making up stories…one person starts the story and the next part…”once upon a time there was a dragon…” “…who live in an ice cave with Elsa.”
That can end up being pretty hilarious. Lastly, talk about what you are seeing and do a little research on what you will pass…the big rocket on the side of the interstate in Huntsville is a winner and there are many, many other cool things to see and discuss. Between those things, naps and iPads you should knock it out, no problem.
• Louis M. Jr. writes:
I saw Craig’s request for assistance in today’s ‘Caps and I wanted to weigh in since I have some experience surviving the gauntlet that is a road trip with young kids.
First, I will say that my wife and I do not allow screens in the car on road trips. Our longest one is 7 hours though with 2 boys, so 12 may require desperate measures. I attached some screen shots of different games we play in the car that keep our boys happy (for most of the time anyway).
You hit the nail on the head with playgrounds, identify some on your route and plan to stop there along they way for a good bit. Plan your first meal on the road as a picnic. Pack sandwiches, etc, that way the kids can run around plenty during lunch. I know my sons have a hard enough time sitting still in a restaurant at a normal meal, let alone after being stuck in the truck for hours.
Finally… THE QUIET GAME! Make it very competitive so each child will want to win. Thankfully it works all the time with my boys and if carried out successfully, will grant you 15 to 20 minutes of silence during the ride.
Naturally, I also recommend packing a bottle of scotch for when you arrive at your destination and can set the keys down for the night.
Good luck and safe travels, enjoy the OASIS OF FREEDOM!
• Patrick F. writes:
Tell Craig V. not to speed through S. Georgia, just got popped on our spring break trip to NC.
• Rick G. has some thoughts on this subject of keeping the kids out of the iPads:
I would suggest the license plate game. Although the children are younger, mom and dad can help (mostly the non-driving parent) by ‘collecting’ license plates from different states. Have mom/dad write down the license plates they all see from the different states and at each stop have a pre-printed US map for each child (easily found on the internet) and have them all color in the states they have seen a license plate from. This also may be good for the 7 yr. old as he or she (yes I will always use those terms) will begin learning about the states and their capitals.
Other games would involve counting the number of Coke or Pepsi trucks they see or any other brand (Hostess, Nabisco etc.) named truck. Mom and Dad can compete also, see which of their favorite beer truck they see more of during the trip.
• Al in Medina writes:
Thanks again for all your work. Most Screencaps topics are learning experiences for me, rather than an opportunity to chime in. The 'Caps community has broadened my knowledge in many categories. One topic in which I am an expert is driving small children double-digit hours between 900-1000 miles.
In response to Craig V's post: Our family's typical trip without stops would be just under 15 hours. We actually have multiple locations we regularly travel to with this estimated travel time. This is getting really hard (that's what she said) with the current gas prices. Let's Go Brandon.
Screencaps Nation: My wife and I are NOT expert parents! We struggle every day. And we only have 2 kids! (They are now 8 and 6) But we have this travel thing down to a science.
I get home from work at 7pm. My wife has already packed everything but my personals, and places them in a location near the garage. I eat a high-protein, low-carb dinner that my wife has prepared. Meanwhile, she is finding a way to tire the kids out. The activity depends on the time of year.
I pack my personals and we load the car. THEN I shower. A good shower wakes me right up. We usually get on the road about 10pm. The wife does not drive. The wife and kids sleep till the sun comes up (of course exact timing is seasonal but y'all are 'Caps readers....you can be flexible.) Once the kids wake up, we do have some hours left to go.
Find something your kids are interested in and make a game out of it! After potty and breakfast, we start the License Plate Game! My kids are really into geography: States and capitals and time zones. So we start to keep track of all the state license plates that we see, and I say it was too dark to see any of them while they were sleeping. Then that leads to them asking questions about the road signs and billboards that they see.
This keeps them busy for 3 or 4 hours. Then you bust out the tablets/videos (if you need to freshen the options up, your public library has dozens of these) for the final few hours. We usually make the 15-hr-without-stops trip in 16 1/2 hrs. And the fact that I just did a 34-hour day with no sleep means my wife gives me the next day off to myself.
P.S.: I hesitated to send this long post to the 'Caps community until I saw the Dick Trickle social media post Joe linked. My amazing mother was a babysitter for the children of Richard and Darlene Trickle when she was a teenager. She says the family was wonderful.
R.I.P. Mr. Trickle, If any of you folks are struggling, please let someone know!
• Peter T. writes:
Love screencaps, keep it up! I'll keep this short.
For the road trip question: books on tape (CD / mp3). Specifically for kids (aged 7, 5, & 3) I highly recommend books by Beverly Cleary. At their age go with "Ralph S. Mouse" "the Mouse and the Motorcycle" or "Runaway Ralph."
This series is centered on a world where a mouse can make a toy motorcycle move by making motorcycle noises and Beverly is a very, very gifted children's writer. The kids (and parents) will be captivated and entertained by the story. When the kids get a few years older, go with the Henry Huggins and Beezus series of books by Beverly. We used almost all of Beverly's books and the time flew by.
Second idea: go on a Dollar store shopping trip a few weeks before you leave. Have each kid pick out 5 toys (for example). Then put them away until they become needed in the car. Pull one per kid, per hour. If any get lost or damaged or left at a rest stop, it only cost you a buck and can easily be replaced (and if that is needed, it means that toy was a hit).
• And let's close down this theme with words from Indy Daryl:
On road trips: we are on the crazy end of the spectrum, but with kids ages 12, 6, and 3 the only way we like to travel (say more than 8 hours) via car is overnight. For instance, we made the trek to Ormond Beach from Indianapolis (google says 13.5 hour drive time) starting around 3:45pm. We picked the kids up early from school, loaded the car, and boom we were off. We arrived in Ormond around 6:15am the next day.
The benefits:
The drawbacks
And that’s it…. That’s the drawback. There are a couple of milestones in the night: 12 am and around 3 am. If you can power through those, then you are well on your way. Coffee, chips, trail mix, throughout the night helps as well. Yes, I’m tired the next day and take a mondo nap once the car is unpacked, but wouldn’t trade it for daytime traveling.
I’m probably crazy, but it has worked for many years. We always feel like we have an extra day wherever we are going (to be spent on the beach!) since we don’t spend an entire day traveling.
Hope this helps Craig V.
Also, here’s a picture of the sunset over the Halifax river from last night. Florida is awesome!
On mowing
For those of you who aren't on social media, I'm now asking you this same question: How do you determine it's time to retire a pair of mowing shoes?
Give me your mindset going into the decision.
On playing 6/5 blackjack in Vegas these days
• Sean C. in Granger, IN is "curious" to see how you guys will react to this blackjack email. Tuesday, I posted a few tweets in Screencaps concerning the state of blackjack in Vegas.
Sean writes:
The John Mehaffey posts about blackjacks tables in Vegas (the lack of single deck and 3:2 games) was interesting.
I started noticing the lack of single decks a while ago and just gave up looking for them. I want to say the last one I ever saw was at Harrah’s 10 or so years ago, and it was a single deck “pitch” game. BUT, they reshuffled after every hand. So it was pointless.
And if I’m the corporate Vegas that now exists, why wouldn’t I just keep the 8 deck shoes that are cut a deck and a half in, with 6:5 payouts and the dumb “bonus bets” that pay terrible odds if the tables are full. Vegas decided about 20 years ago that they don’t care about the gambler anymore. They want the foodies, the club people and the pool party people. Now, if you want a 3:2 at ALL, you’re playing a $100 minimum table, but it’s still a 6 to 8 deck shoe.
But I have question for the blackjack players out there. If you are stuck with the inevitable 8 deck shoe at 6:5, have you ever considered doubling down on your blackjack against a 4, 5, or 6? The basic strategy of blackjack is to keep a constant bet and let your double down and blackjack hands allow you to increase your bet/winnings (back when blackjacks paid 3:2). But at 6:5, isn’t the “money play” to double down on that blackjack against a losing dealer hand? Or do we just eat it, take our 6:5, and say “thank you sir, may I have another?”
On Screencaps theme songs
• Levi E. in Boise writes:
Saw in today’s screencaps someone recommended a theme song. With apologies to Lynyrd Skynard’s “Simple Man” which is great, if screencaps has a theme song it has to be “How Bout You” by Eric Church. I’ve been to Chruch 4 times, the first was a 7 dollar ticket to the Dusty Armadillo, a small dive bar in Northen Ohio, when I was in college almost two decades ago. At the time he was a nobody. I nominate this song by Church!
On keeping trucks out of a yard during a pool project
• Gerard W. has one final suggestion for the pool project Reid S.'s neighbor wants to put in, but the only access to the neighbor's yard runs through Reid's yard.
Gerard writes:
Here are couple of suggestions for the next door pool project. He can insist that no cement trucks go through his yard. They can get a pumper truck to pump the concrete over the house into the backyard.
Also seeding grass in a yard is best done in the fall. There isn’t the weed pressure and the cooler weather will insure he gets better growth.
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And with that, we're done with Wednesday Screencaps. This one is absolutely jammed up. I threw out a couple of topics I need you guys to crush: mowing shoes and the state of blackjack in this country. Jump on those. Fill up the email inbox. Let's keep this column cranking along. We're picking up new readers by the day as people across this great country discover, as Michael H. puts it, "this beautiful oasis in a sea of internet garbage."
I'll just keep saying it, I'm beyond proud of what has happened to Screencaps in less than a year. We're closing in on the date when I posted my personal email and opened up the floodgates. You guys have run with this project to make it your own and it shows.
Now, let's go out there and have a great day across this great country. Let's keep the hammer down at the job, unless you're reading Screencaps, and then let's get home to fire up the grills, the hitting sessions and the driveway basketball games.
Take care.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com