PHOTO BY BILL HANS EN

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RUTH LITTMANN
STAFF WRITER

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ed and Gladys Allen of
Southfield started driving
to Florida more than 35
years ago. Those were the
days when I-75's predecessor was,
at some points, a two-lane high-
way.
It was way back when mom-
and-pop guest bedrooms were the
name of the game, not Marriott
Suites. Not Quality Inns. Back
then, air-conditioned cars were
hardly the norm, and the Aliens
traveled in summer.
"We had to stop for ice water all
the way down," Ms. Allen re-
members.
The couple's daughters, Terry
and Elayne, share the pleasant
memories.
"I remember my sister getting
carsick all over the. I was going
to kill her," Elayne says. "We were
only an hour into the trip. I got to
sit in the front seat and keep an
eye out for police cars. That was
my reward for not complaining
too much."
Elayne still travels, over hill
over dale, to Florida. These days,
she makes the journey with her
husband, Barry Moss, and their
two children, Hilary, 11, and Je-
remy, 9. The young ones eat junk
food, keep their eyes peeled for
out-of-state license plates, and
stick to certain car rules:
"No screaming, no unbuckling.
Don't ask to go to the bathroom
every 20 minutes," Elayne says.
"It was easier when they were lit-
tle. They slept a lot of the trip."
Like the Yellens, occupants in
the Moss-mobile consider the pil-
grimage to Florida a valuable
source of family time, but their
driving days are numbered be-
cause, as the children get older,
it's harder to extend vacations
past the point where school re-
sumes.

T

