Suburban Dad: The Great Drive Midwest

This summer I didn’t pack up the family for a cross-country, multiple test-car excursion. If you don’t recall my past summer cross-country excursions with family in tow — I’m still trying to forget myself — you can check them out here and here.

Instead, this year’s endeavor has more of a focus: My father is moving back to Chicago to be closer to us, and this trip entails packing up all of his stuff and leaving Los Angeles, his home for virtually all of the last 50 years. My elder son is coming along to help pack and move. My nephew is coming along as well.

We’ll be making the trip this time in a Ford Flex Limited, complete with the EcoBoost engine and the Sync entertainment system. What else is in it?

• Leather (heated) seats; we didn’t need the heated portions, of course
• Sirius satellite radio and Sync-connected weather info, movie times and gas prices
• All-wheel drive
• Panoramic roof (not much use to us since we were carrying cargo, not people, in the back)
• Sticker price without destination charges: $45,245

Comments

Where is the rest of this article? Did the trip go terribly awry?