Also, another thing I'm not sure was mentioned but I didn't see in the article is that everything is measured in time, not distance. My cousin (second cousin?) wanted to go to Yosemite in a day, we told him it'd take about three hours from where we were. He thought he could just drive faster and get there quicker. HA!
I do that, too, so maybe it's a west coast thing. It's like knowing how to get somewhere by landmarks that are no longer there because you don't recall the street names. (That's true everywhere, though. My husband once told me that in San Jose, Costa Rica, some streets don't have names -- which I know can't be true, just from a mail POV -- but I think he means street signs. Anyway, everyone knows where XYZ used to be. So, drive to where this used to be, past where that happened, and if you get to the building that used to be blue, you've gone too far.
) As I tell people, my mother lives 8 hours away when driving with kids, 6 without. (This same formula works with dogs, apparently, too.)
EDIT: When my kids asked me how far away it was to my sister's, I told them that if we drove straight there on I-5 we *could* do it in two days, but we were taking the scenic route (which ended up being via the redwoods on the coast - definitely recommended), so it would take closer to four. We arrived on the 5th day. The reason for the journey was the journey not the destination (no offense to my sister, BTW). I wanted them to know what it felt like to be bored in a car for hours on end with no electronic entertainment. They handled it better than I expected. Apparently, kids only crave entertainment when they have access to it (i.e. since we've arrived home and they're bored out of their skulls with the TV *RIGHT THERE* sitting in the living room within their reach!)
