DON'T MAKE ME PULL OVER

A hilarious blend of highway misadventures and the history of the road trip, from just after WWII to the late 1970s, when the whole family piled into the car with only their imaginations and license plate bingo to keep them occupied.

In the days before cheap air travel, families didn't so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and one'sdestination lay thousands of miles and a plethora of annoyances, like being crowded into the backseat with anolder brother or being sentenced to a cross-country trek with a dad who didn't believe in bathroombreaks.

Don't Make Me Pull Over is a nostalgic look at the "golden age of family road trips"a halcyon era that culminated in the latter part of the twentieth century, before Google Maps, Snapchat, and Candy Crush. The construction ofnational highways in the 1950s hit the gas pedal on the road trip phenomenon and families were soonstreamingseatbelt-lessto a range of sometimes stirring, sometimes wacky locations. The destination might be Mt.Rushmore, Yellowstone, or Disneyworldor the goal might be a little more offbeat: for example, seeing "The Thing"
in Texas Canyon, Arizona or the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, California. In this golden age (which began in the early 1950's and culminated in the late 1970's), national parks attendance swelled to 165 million, and a whopping 2.2 million people visited Gettysburg each yearthirteen times the number of soldiers who died in the battle.

Ratay reveals how the American family road trip came to be, how its evolution has mirrored the country's, and why those "forced to talk to each other" family bonding journeys have largely disappeared. Combining laugh-out-loudpersonal recollections with countless factual anecdotes, Don't Make Me Pull Over is part pop history part "National Lampoon's Vacation," and completely riveting.

An award-winning writer and tourism authority, Richard Ratay has helped market some of travel's biggest brands, including two of the Midwest's biggest tourist destinations, Noah's Ark Waterpark (America's largest) and theMilwaukee County Zoo (Wisconsin's most popular attraction). His numerous industry awards include dozens ofADDYs and two EMMYs. He's also often appeared as a featured speaker, advising state tourism bureaus andchambers of commerce on how to brand themselves in the digital media age. A lifelong Green Bay Packers fan, Ratayappears weekly on WHBY Radio to offer analysis on the team. He lives with his family in Menomonee Falls,Wisconsin. Don't Make Me Pull Over is his first book.