Vans -- then and now

Remember when……………..remember the days when many cars didn’t have safety belts and there were no laws requiring them? Remember those trips the Barber Eight took to see what the East Coast had to offer. Remember the 12-seater, brown and tan van? Everyone’s favorite, right?

Our first big trip (over 2,000 miles) took us to Kirtland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Niagara Falls, Canada, Palmyra, New York; New York City, Washington DC, Richmond, Virginia; Williamsburg, Virginia, Jamestown, and finally we stopped to see Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA.

On our last stretch of the trip, as we traveled down through Kentucky and into Tennessee, all six of our children somehow piled into the very back bench seat in the back of the van. Brad and Lori brought their Cabbage Patch dolls, and I took a picture.

This picture of one of my all time favorites. Six happy, wonderful children, still with big smiles on their faces after spending almost two weeks on the road—all eight of us sharing the same room in a different hotel almost every night. That’s a lot of togetherness—and a lot of time in the van. But everyone seemed happy as we drove on home—home sweet home.

Thanks for the memories.

By comparison, here’s Mom and Dad all by ourselves in our minivan—seat belts firmly in place. If you look closely, however, you’ll see a car seat in the back----always prepared to haul children (or in this case grandchildren) across the country.