Bury the Cows

Back when I was a young child long car rides were excruciatingly boring.  Two hours in a car seemed like an eternity.  Today, kids have the luxury of tablets, portable DVD players and other electronic devices to make the trip go by faster.  But, even though these items are great to have on a trip, shouldn't part of the traveling be used to spend time and interact with your family?

Even with all of these electronic devices  I am glad to know that the old fashioned car games are still being played.  I recently learned of a game for the car I had not heard about before.  The game is called “Bury the Cows”.  It’s a simple game. Each side of the car looks out the window and you count the cows that you see.  So it’s the left side of the car vs. the right.  If you pass a cemetery you lose all of your cows.  Thus the name “Bury the Cows”.    I thought this would be a simple game at first.  How many cows do you see on a trip?  How many cemeteries do you pass?  I quickly learned a lot more than you think.  This game is a good diversion for a trip and is fun for children and the adults.  Like most games the rules start out simple but as you play certain modifications will come up.  For example, what happens when you see a truck transporting cows?  This has developed into a controversy.  Some people I know ruled that these cows should be treated as “special” and these cows are granted immunity from ever being buried.  However, others feel those cows are probably closer to getting buried than other cows and should not be counted at all.  And what about the Chik- -Fil- A cows?  You know the 3D ones on the bill board or in front of the restaurant.    And then there is the person dressed up as the cow in front of the restaurant.  And, do chickens get counted as a ½ a point since Chik-Fil-A cows tell you to “Eat Mor Chicken”?  As you can see many sub rules can be added to make the game even more competitive.  Half the fun is making up crazy rules.

At some point the rules do get too complicated and then you move onto another game.  License Tag Bingo is always a safe alternative.  That’s about as straight forward as you can get.  Try to get all 50 states license plates while on your trip.  This one ends up being a longer term game and can stretch into weeks and even months before it is completed.  The last time my family played this it ended about six months later and that was after an initial combined ten hour trip.  Finding a car that has Alaska or Hawaii is not that easy.  Of course there is the old standard “Punch Bug” game.  This can be played anytime you get in the car.  My family has played it so often I catch playing it by myself when I commute to work.  We use the pretty standard rules.  The person who sees the VW Beetle first and is able to correctly identify the color gets to count that car in their total.  We did add a few rules.  Classic Beetles circa 1970 get counted as two.  If you identify a car that turns out not to be a Beetle you get one subtracted from your total.  

Another fun game is Trip Scavenger Hunt.  If you know the route you are traveling or you can use your favorite search engine to find interesting landmarks along your route.  Make a list of these items and have your passengers look for these items.  If you are not on the trip have them take pictures (not when they are the driver of course) when they find the item and email them to you.  That way you know where they are on the trip and you get to take part in the trip.   I traveled from Birmingham to Tallahassee quite a bit.  It's a boring drive so you have time to identify obscure items.  If you travel that way via I65 through US231  Look for these:  1.  "Go to Church or the Devil Will Get You" sign (I65 between Birmingham and Montgomery.   2.  The golden peanut (Dothan).  3.  The rooster made out of car fenders (US231 between Montgomery and Dothan).  4.  The metal pig (also between US231 between Mongomery and Dothan).  There is also a house along US231 that sells ghourds.  They have been doing this for over twenty years.   I never stopped to buy one, maybe I should.

All of these games accomplish many things beyond just passing the time.  It helps you notice things on your trip that you might not have seen.  You get family interaction.   So, give one of these games a try the next trip you take with your family or co-workers.  Happy motoring!