Traveling as a child we roadtripped everywhere from Minnesota. Each summer the five of us piled into our conversion van and hit the road on some great adventure. Many times we were only off to see the grandparents, but it was a vacation nonetheless.

I only have one clear memory of flying on vacation, which was to Florida, before I was an adult. There may've been another time or two, but rest assured we took full advantage of our country's great interstate system. One trip even lasted three weeks where we went, if memory serves, from Minnesota to Georgia and then on up the seaboard to New England before heading back home.

Yeah, that's a lot of driving; about 3,700 miles when it's all said and done.

I'm sure that trip felt like an eternity for my parents, particularly my father, as I know we, particularly my brother and sister since I'm an angel, bickered in the back. This was long before the days of portable DVD players or iPods, so we always had to find ways to entertain ourselves.

Sure, we had headsets, books and all of that fun stuff, but those really only lasted so long. Soon then we were on to the joys of playing the "alphabet sign" game or "travel bingo." And if you're not sure what those games are, well, you're probably better not knowing.

One specific memory I have on this particular roadtrip was with my new suction cup bow and arrow souvenir.

There I was, just sitting on the back bench all by myself, minding my own business, firing the darts at the opposite window. I had nothing better to do since my brother and sister were busy ignoring me in the middle seats, so I figured I'd just get some innocent practice in checking out my new toy.

Well, something obscure happened, and I swear to this day that it wasn't my fault - we must've hit a bump, or a magical force hit my elbow or something - because the next thing I new we were pulling over and the magical toy of distraction was no longer in my hands. Apparently an arrow went whizzing by my father's left ear as he was driving and stuck to the windshield right in front of his face.

It was a brilliant shot if you ask me, but totally and completely unintentional. If anything, I was aiming for the back of my brother's head since he probably deserved it for something he did to me on our last stop. Although, in truth, I think it was me that shoved him in the pool while we were in our Sunday's best at the hotel since I didn't want to go to church that morning. But, that's probably another story for another time.

Outside of this one incident, which totally wasn't my fault, I was always a little cherub of happiness; never could anyone complain about my entertainment decision in the back of van.

The other constant that always seemed to be on our family vacations was with the snacks.

One, my mother always had this bizarre way of snapping her gum. She always had a bunch of gum packed on the roadtrips that she had a peculiar way of chewing so that it popped in her teeth. She wasn't blowing bubbles mind you, but it cracked and popped anyway. I recall someone asking her about it one time where she couldn't explain how she did it, so that made it that much more bizarre to me. I was fascinated by it and couldn't help but futily attempt to pop my gum in a similar fashion.

The second item of snack food that we always had with was red licorice. I don't recall a single excursion where we didn't have this stuff loaded in the van. And no matter where we went, it seemed like we could always have as much of the never-ending supply as we liked. Heck, I ate so much that I'm not so certain that my feet didn't turn red at Wisconsin Dells from it instead of the sun.

It's interesting how these little things have carried with me over time. Whenever I take a drive of any length, I always need to have gum and licorice with me in the car. I rarely eat it otherwise, and I generally recall why once I hit the road, but I have to have it with me anyway.

It's a point of nostalgia as it brings back the fond memories and the glory days of family roadtrips. And while the memories are pretty fuzzy in spots, the feeling of happiness and contentment as we adventured on the open road, constantly asking if we were there yet, always come back in a flood as I drive out myself, licorice and gum close at hand.

Viva la roadtrip.