Road Trippin'

We obviously didn't have the benefit of an in-car turntable, nor a Plymouth Fury for that matter, but we did have Spotify and some modest wheels, so we took turns with road trip selections from classic albums to while away the hours.

The rock'n'roll penny has just dropped for Yesteryear's 11 year old lad, who has taken a real shining to the kind of music that Mum and Dad grew up with.

We started in the 50's and worked our way up to the 90's, spending more time in the 70's than anywhere else, perhaps a reflection of how good that era was, or perhaps an indication of how much the young fella' loves classic rock'n'roll :-)

"I like songs that tell a story" he says from the back seat, before bursting in to song, right alongside Don McLean.

"A long long time ago, I still can remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance, I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
But February made me shiver, with every paper I delivered
Bad news on the door-step, I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside, the day the music died"

And then we all joined in.

Eight and half minutes later, he asks another great question,

"What made the music die?

And so began a chat about Buddy Holly and the beginnings of rock'n'roll.

We played golden oldies by Elvis, Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers.

We sang along to classics from The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen.

And we ended with U2, Nirvana & Midnight Oil just as we trundled into Prince Albert, tired but energised from our musical road trip into the big wide Karoo.

The journey home? Not so good! Our not-so-trusty Nissan X-Trail gave up the ghost just as we were about to head back to Cape Town. Long story short - we ended up spending seven hours strapped to the back of a tow truck arriving home at 11pm, way past our due date.

It happened to be around the time of the super moon, so it was all a bit surreal, stuck on the back of a flat-bed, surrounded by desert, with this massive orb sitting low in the dusty pink sky.

Yesteryear was perched in the driver's seat with no need to steer, indicate or overtake. Even had a beer or two on the way back. It actually sounds like a pleasant cruise but as the night set in and the rain started to fall it wasn't quite so much fun, not being in control, behind the wheel.

Without a stereo, the young lad talked non-stop the whole way, while Yesteryear's very patient wife played endless games of I-Spy to keep him entertained. To him, it was an adventure, and looking back on our little ordeal, I guess it was in a way, but not one we would want to repeat anytime soon :-)

Give us a reliable car that gets us safely from A to B, and some classic rock for the road and we're all much happier campers.

Until next time, cheers from Yesteryear :-)

Win a R500 Voucher from Yesteryear:

1) in what kind of car would you find the old-school turntable mentioned above?

2) name your Top 3 Road Trip albums?