Disappearance of the Family Road Trip

Can we ever regain what was lost?

One of the many road trips we took, with my sister and grandfather.

Every summer, we packed our busted up 1989 Plymouth reliant. It was a clunky, cramped vehicle that housed two parents and two kids on a trek from Virginia to Merritt Island, Florida, where my grandparents lived.

My parents concluded this trip could only be done in one day —or so you’d have thought — because hotels…