There’s nothing like a road trip for quality family bonding. I’ve been on quite a few in my life, but the most memorable has to be the three-week trip that my family and I embarked on in June of 2020. Four people and a dog in a van, driving across the country, starting from Everett, Washington, stopping in states on the way to Indiana and back. What started as a way to get out of the house turned into lessons learned, memories made and new inside jokes.

The beginning of the trip was just like any other, we were excited to go see friends and family at the start of the trip, beginning in Eastern Washington and Idaho. Then, we reached Utah. While departing from Arches National Park, our roof rack slid off of the top of our car and fell onto the road, burning holes into our camping chairs, which we had intended on using for the remaining two and a half weeks of our trip.

Towards the middle of the trip, we camped in Kansas for a night. This was the worst place to camp. Bugs flying around, unbearable humidity, crickets chirping louder than your thoughts. Oh, and raccoons. Lots of raccoons. Every time I peeked outside of our tent, there were dozens of pairs of beady eyes staring back at me from the distant trees. The next morning, our food had been rummaged through. The funny thing was that they had somehow gotten the lid off a bottle of vitamin gummies, but they couldn’t figure out how to take the simple paper film off the top, and presumably gave up and tossed the bottle aside.

Something that was recurring throughout the trip, unfortunately, was my dog choosing to dump randomly. The first time, my family and I were walking in Cody, Wyoming looking for a place to eat dinner, my sister gave us a heads up as my dog was number two-ing on the sidewalk, but it was too late. My pink Croc flip flop was covered, which had to be wiped off in the grass in front of some restaurant. Then, in Vail, Colorado, right on the brick road. Luckily, this one avoided getting smushed. Finally, inside of a Bass Pro in Illinois. My sister and I had to figure out how to hide a pile of dog poo while waiting for my dad to go find a bag to pick it up.

So, what have I learned? Strap your roof rack tight onto the roof of your vehicle when camping, don’t go camping in Kansas, keep your vitamin gummies sealed tight, and let your dog go to the bathroom before walking into Bass Pro. I remember other things from that trip, but it’s always the funny or unfortunate things that I remember more vividly. My family and I still joke about these incidents, and I look forward to every road trip knowing that there could be more jokes to come.