It was, understandably, the trip from hell.
Trapped in a van during the summer with no air conditioning, on a 700-mile trek from Loveland, Colo., to Ames, Iowa, Lynn Matson and his wife were desperate to find something to occupy their 7- and 9-year-old children. Somewhere in Nebraska, they decided to make do with their surroundings. They counted dead animals.
"There were over 700 objects alongside the road, and we thought 'What we should do with this information?'" Mr. Matson said. "We turned it into a game."
Roadkill Bingo, a simple version of the classic game that substitutes numbers with drawings of squashed skunks, snakes and squirrels, was the result of that 1988 trip. It's just one of myriad products designed to cut down on the "Are we there yet?" questions that have bedeviled every parent who has traveled with a child. And, just as cars have gotten more sophisticated, so have the distractions.
North Augusta resident Arlene Bernard is something of an expert on road trips. She and her husband, Jack, make annual 10-hour pilgrimages with their two children, Jack and Olivia, to see Mr. Bernard's family in Pittsburgh. They also take shorter trips to Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, S.C. She said the children are great travelers.
"They've traveled their whole life; they're used to this," she said. "When they were small, we used to drive half way, spend the night and drive the rest of the way; now we can do it in one shot."
Mrs. Bernard remembers traveling a lot to Louisiana as a child, but beyond singing songs, she mostly remembers picking on her two siblings and "driving our parents crazy." Now, Olivia, 6, has to have her stuffed animals, pillows and blankets. Jack, 10, has his Game Boy and traditional games such as I Spy and Punch Buggy keep them both busy.
Like the Sony Walkman before it, the Game Boy, which was introduced in 1989, quickly became an indispensable part of parents' travel arsenal, and the Game Boy franchise has since sold 170 million units worldwide. Old-fashioned magnetic games live on, too, as seen on boardgames.com, where shoppers can choose from 52 travel versions of electronic and board games such as Hungry Hungry Hippo, Clue, Yahtzee and Battleship.
For children who can't read in the car without getting nauseated, audio books on tape have filled the gap. Since 1994, the Cracker Barrel chain of restaurants has allowed visitors to pick from about 200 audio book titles available. Drivers listen to the books along their route, and when they're done, they drop them off at one of the chain's 504 locations. The cost starts at $3.50 for one week and goes up the longer you listen.
What really keeps the Bernards quiet is a combination TV/VCR with a 9-inch screen that Mr. Bernard has jury-rigged onto the back of the passenger seat. It's been a part of their Chevrolet Suburban for six years, and Mrs. Bernard calls is a godsend.
"We have heavy-duty wires that my husband has strapped around the headrest of the front seat. We make sure it won't go anywhere in an accident," she said. "We have tons of movies and the children pick out what they want to watch, whether it's cartoons, Animal Planet, or something like Finding Nemo. It's great; it keeps them very quiet."
When they get a new car, Mrs. Bernard said, they'll definitely look into a model with a rear entertainment system.
Brian Scotto, the senior editor at Rides magazine, said rear vehicle entertainment systems, which are built into the roof or the seat backs, started appearing in earnest three years ago, when, like DVDs, they became more affordable.
"A 5-inch screen would run you $600 to $1,000, and the resolution wasn't very good," he said. "Now you can go on eBay and get a 7-inch screen for $100."
The upshot is that according to Consumer Reports, most minivans and sport utility vehicles can be outfitted with built-in DVD systems for about $1,500, and portable players can be had for $300 to $600. Rachel Branch, a spokeswoman for Sony, said rear entertainment systems are the fastest-growing aftermarket add-on for cars.
"It's almost like there are kids who won't get into the car without a DVD player," she said.
With automakers continuously looking for a way to stand out, Mr. Scotto said, he expects the trend to continue. Most cars offer headphone jacks for viewers, and some vehicles, such as the Cadillac SRX, even feature wireless headphones so the driver doesn't have to hear the latest episode of Pokemon.
"The car market has really embraced the idea of having in the car entertainment for the general public," Mr. Scotto said. "I think it'll be available in every kind of car made with children in mind."
Until that day comes, Mr. Matson, who hopes people will keep his low-tech game, which is mostly available at gasoline stations, in mind. It requires fewer batteries and he insists it's not morbid.
"Most people wouldn't give these animals a second glance, but playing the game increases the awareness of the animals in the area," he said. "And if you hit an animal, the game is over."
Reach Patrick Verel at (706) 823-3332 or patrick.verel@augustachronicle.com.
The road worrier timeline
1940: Packard debuts the first automotive air conditioning. With windows closed, children's incessant jabbering is no longer drowned out by road noise.
1958: Roger Price and Leonard Stern publish the first edition of Mad Libs. Flat surfaces and sharp pencils become highly prized accouterments.
1962: Midland CB Radios introduces into the public market the first CB radio, making the lives of truckers fodder for many a bored family.
1969: Blaupunkt introduces the world's first car stereo, much to the relief of those tired of hearing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
1979: The Sony Walkman, originally called a Sound About, hits the market. It's bulky and costs $200, but oh, the sweet silence it brings.
1989: Nintendo introduces the three-quarter pound, $99 Game Boy to the United States, and a generation of children learn to plead that Tetris is actually teaching them geometry.
2000: The first rear entertainment system debuts in the Warner Bros. edition of the Chevrolet Venture and the premier edition of the Oldsmobile Silhouette, giving the term "drive-in movie" a whole new meaning.
2004: Sony introduces the portable, suitcase-size Dream System, which plays DVDs on a 6.5-inch screen. Its suggested retail is $399.
2008: A dashboard-mounted popcorn machine?
