Automobile companies produced all sorts of marketing materials telling parents how to travel,” said Eric G.
“Gas stations offered maps highlighting potential destinations.
In turn, road trips became a cultural rite of passage for American families. Some 85 percent of Americans vacationed by car in 1963 - or “hit the road to vacation fun,” as the trend was described in a Times article that year.
In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, as the Interstate Highway System developed, driving became the norm for family trips.
