We have family that lives several hours away (although we have some relatives nearby, too), so Mr. Handsome and I do quite a bit of driving. Consequently, we’re always looking for new forms of road trip entertainment.
On shorter excursions, we talk, turn on the radio, or plug our phones into the headphone jack and play Pandora, but when we take longer treks, we often find ourselves searching for other forms of entertainment. Mr. Handsome enjoys listening to mysteries and spy thrillers, although it can be difficult to find books that aren’t heavy in language and inappropriate content.
While we were on a road trip with Mr. Handsome’s family over the summer, the crew was getting a little antsy, so I came up with the idea of putting a Tim Hawkins comedy DVD into a computer and then plugging the computer into the van’s headphone jack. It worked, and before long, everyone was howling with laughter.
This fall, I started scouring Amazon for comedy CDs and came across a few that looked good. The one pictured above is clean, family-friendly comedy with a Christian bent, and it turned out to be quite entertaining. Each of the twenty routines are three to five minutes long. And I was able to purchase it used for only a few dollars.
Do you have suggestions for clean road trip entertainment?
Anonymous
Years ago, I taped many Saturday night radio broadcasts of "A Prairie Home Companion." Although they're on cassette, I still listen to them (solo) on a Walkman. I love taking them on plane trips. I put the headphones on and zone out, old school style. I'm sure you can find his work on CD now. He's a masterful storyteller, and I'd give most of his work a G rating, especially the early stuff. I recommend any of his "News from Lake Wobegon" CD's. Side note – I was so fortunate to see him perform his Saturday night show live one time. It was beyond amazing. His featured weekly monologue (the "news" from Lake Wobegon) was done entirely from memory, while he wandered the auditorium with his eyes half closed. I had heard it a million times on the radio, but seeing it live had me mesmerized! So glad I got to see that show before he retired and Lake Wobegon and its residents faded into the mist, like Brigadoon.
Anyway – back to the travel entertainment. We have Sirius radio, so all I need in the car is the Broadway channel and I'm happy. Sirius also has an old time radio show channel. Speaking of which, you'll probably laugh at old radio shows such as The Bickersons, Fibber McGee & Molly (his famous closet!), or Jack Benny. The comedy writing of those shows is as timeless as "I Love Lucy."
Anonymous
Yes! I have Sirius as well – such a great investment. Some of the channels just don't come close to what's available locally.
Anonymous
I love listening to "The Spectrum" (channel 28) on Sirius, but I don't mind if the music isn't rated "G". It's just artists like Adele, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen.
Anonymous
On Sirius, I listen to the 60's on 6, the 70's on 7, the Broadway channel, and the Sinatra channel (one click below Broadway).
You know that if you have a Sirius subscription, you can sign in from your home computer or other device. All you need is your e-mail address and password you used when you subscribed. I often have Sirius music running in the background while I'm on the computer.
I thought Sirius had a "clean" comedy channel, too (family comedy?). And they have religious talk channels.
Anonymous
Sweet, thanks for the info, I will try streaming it from my computer
Anonymous
Back in the very early 70's when I was a child, my Daddy would tune in to the radio shows on our road trips. I loved them, and every now and then I will go online to listen. Chicken Man was my absolute favorite! I still love it! The radio shows played at night. Tim Hawkins is hilarious!
Anonymous
You could pick a book and read aloud to everyone.
Anonymous
Only if it's someone who doesn't get dizzy reading while riding in a car
Anonymous
Audio dramas are the best! Some very favorite producers are
1: Focus on the family radio theater – They are with focus on the family and do many classics such as Oliver Twist, Narnia, C.S. Lewis at war, and many others. All of them are very clean. Since your husband loves mysteries he might like their Father Gilbert mysteries. Some of them are a little weird but they always have a good message and have light hearted humor.
2: Lamplighter theater – This has so many wonderful dramas! Each of them are character building stories that are some of the best ever done. Lamplighter brings back books that have been out of print. Each story leaves you challenged in some way of the Christian life. Some of the best is "Charlie's Choice" "Frozen Fire" "Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince"…. The list goes on and on each story is so unique and wonder!
3: Adventures in Odyssey – The Novacom saga is the best if you want mysteries. It is a ten hour saga and you can't really go wrong with Adventures in Odyssey. π
Hope you enjoy the many road trips to come!
Anonymous
My family all has SiriusXM satellite radio- love it! Best part is, no commercials! Any kind of music you could imagine, news, christian talk shows. I usually only activate the service in the summer, as I don't need it at home, but often drive the 6+ hours to our lake house in the next province in the summer months and our cottage has pretty sub par radio, so it's worth it. There are a couple channels on there that I crave being able to listen to all winter.
Robyn
Great ideas, I have a road trip coming up that takes 3 days each way, so am in some need of ideas too π Last road trip we bought a USB port that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car so we could plug in the iPod and play our music and listen to podcasts.
Anonymous
We buy the Mad Libs games and that entered us for hours. Or me and my sister would bring are cassette tape recorder and listen to are music. By Dad's music was terrible to listen to.
We also brought portable games like Sorry, Trouble. And Cards
Anonymous
This all sounds just like my brother and I in the late seventies! Mad Libs games and portable games too like travel bingo!
Tanya
WHAT IS FAVORITE CHRISTIAN BANDS OR MUSICIANS?
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Hi Tanya,
I enjoy listening to contemporary Christian music (Christian radio is great for that), hymns, bluegrass, and gospel. I don't really have any favorite bands or musicians, just whatever sounds good. How about you?
Ellie
Anonymous
I'm not Tanya or Ellie, but I really enjoy listening to Meredith Andrews, Francesca Battistelli, and the Newsboys.
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Those are all great artists.
Ellie
Jenni Mulvey
I grew up listening to Mark Lowry! He's not only a great comedian and musician, but also a great writer. I have a couple of children's books by him. Did you know that he wrote the song "Mary Did You Know"?
If you enjoy Mark Lowry and Tim Hawkins, you might also enjoy Bob Smiley. I've had the chances to meet all of these amazing comedians so I highly recommend them.
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Hi Jenni,
I had no idea he wrote "Mary Did you Know." I love that song. I've heard of Bob Smiley but haven't listened to much of his work. I'll have to check that out. Thanks! That's neat that you have met all three of them. We met Tim Hawkins, and he was a hoot. What were the others like?
Ellie
unknown
I agree with one of the anonymous comments above. Focus on the Family produces great stuff, especially Father Gilbert and Adventures in Odyssey. Jonathan Park by Vison Forum is also good, but since they went out of business they can be difficult to find.
Mum-2-8
Brinkman adventures, Life at the Pond, Little House in the Prairie, Powder River series are all studios we enjoy as a family. There is also Christian Audio where you pay and download , their range is extensive.
Blessings xxx
Julie
My family loves to listen to CDs by national storytellers. Bill Harley, Bil Lepp and Donald Davis to name a few.
Federica
For mysteries that are not inappropriate, I really enjoy listening to audio-books of Agatha Christie's work. I really like both Poirot and Miss Marple characters. They are truly masterpieces. I concur with you that 90% of the crime/mystery/spy stories are not something I would not have been comfortable listening with my grandma (my judgement standard!). I truly wish more writers of this genre were cleaner.
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Thank you for all these great ideas! Speaking of audio books, at my brother-in-law's wedding, we met a storyteller named Jim Weiss. He has read quite a few popular audio books. Stay tuned for some giveaways of his material. π
Ellie
Odie Boggs
XM radio.
Anonymous
If you like Tim Hawkins, you may also enjoy John Crist's comedy.
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Haven't heard of him. Thanks for the suggestion!
Ellie
Anonymous
We will definitely try this, as we LOVE John Branyan and Tim Hawkins! Thanks for the tip!
Adi Gregor
I love reading books out loud with my sister, playing the Alphabet game, listening to Brian Regan, and playing word games. Singing out loud is always fun too! π
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Those are all great ideas, Adi. Who is Brian Regan?
Ellie
Adi Gregor
He's a Christian comedian who makes my family crack up! π