My earliest memories of music on these trips are of sitting in the old conversion van and listening to my mom and dad play tapes (and eventually CDs as soon as CD players came out, my pops was always into early adoption of tech) listening to CSNY, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, and the Dead.
If I hear "Truckin'" I instantly think of heading up north in the green van.
Once we got a bit older, and probably radio technology improved, etc. We started to listen to a station out of Bemidji - Z99 or something... maybe with a LASER too... turns out it is the exact same stuff (just delayed a couple of minutes usually) to the Power Loon out of Brainerd/Baxter.
The Loon replaced CDs as the soundtrack to our vacations... not necessarily because of the quality of the music. But because of the dependability of the ridiculousness of at least 2-3 songs an hour. SOMEONE PLAYS "CHILDREN OF THE SUN"?!!? And it would also start to come in just after St. Cloud. When you heard the first Rush, Led Zeppelin, or Billy Squier song... you were officially on vacation.
Of all the ways the internet has affected my life, I am happiest (at least right now) with the face that you can stream the Power Loon anywhere you have the internet... and rock out to 25% good songs, 50% generic "classic rock" and 25% mind-blowingly bad 70s and 80s "hits".
What is playing right now? Well... Supertramp just ended... the radio host is talking about having too much saliva in her mouth... and life is good.
