June 16, 2025 – When seven of my kids began searching around the gas station to gather as many squeegees as possible I just knew something amazing was about to happen. We were near the end of a 30-hour road trip to the southern states and were almost back to Canada. If you ever have the opportunity to spend a few days in a van with 10 kids I highly recommend the experience.
We pulled into the final gas stop of our adventure. I was keen to take advantage of the less dollars-per-litre gas prices before heading north across the border. Doing conversion calculations along the way I felt like I was going back in time paying only a looney per litre! Along with filling the tank with gas many, many times we were also filling the windshield with bugs. We were some of the lucky ones. Judging by the dozens of deer we saw along the side of the road some people must have been hitting more than just bugs.
As I was getting out of the van I asked if there were any volunteers who wanted to clean the splattered insects off the windshield. The air rang out with shouts. “Me!” “I will!” “Pick me!”
Unfortunately, most of these eager volunteers were less than four feet tall. Our 4-year-old, Mabel, would have a rather difficult time stretching up to clean the windshield of our full-size 15-passenger van. But Mabel would find a way. I handed a squeegee to her 6-year-old brother, Arrow, and he was just tall enough to stretch up and wash the bugs from my driver’s-side window. When one of the kids noticed more squeegees at the next pumping station the race was on.
Under the careful supervision of teenage siblings the kids quickly spread out and gathered most of the squeegees from around the gas station. I went inside to use up some of my last American dollars and came back out to find seven squeegees washing more than just the windows of my van. Picture Snow White and her dwarfs standing around a giant navy blue van armed with squeegees. I was Snow White. These were my seven squeegee-siezing dwarfs. Some of them, not quite tall enough to reach the windows, were just washing the van. “Washing” may be a slight exaggeration. Little Mabel, lacking the upper body strength to carry her newfound squeegee all the way to our van, just dragged it along the ground all the way to pump number nine where we were parked. Very helpful.
I looked around at the other vehicles gassing up to see if anyone else had bugs on their windshields. I guess their windshields were all clean because I didn’t see anyone wandering from pump to pump wondering where all the squeegees went. If you see a giant blue van driving around town with half-clean windows and soapy water stains splattered all over it please don’t judge.
Kids helped. Windows were cleaned. Paint was most likely scratched. And memories were made. Why not head outside with your kids to wash your car this weekend? What a fun family event, right…? Right? Time flies, dad! Make every moment count! Even the soapy-stained ones!
Jason Weening does road trips with his 10 kids and one patient wife. For more road rebel stories get his book on Amazon, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them”.