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As a parent, you probably dread the repeated “Are we there yet?” mantra. And if you’re going hundreds or thousands of miles, you’ll probably hear that phrase hundreds of times. But there are some things you can do to foolproof your family’s road trip and ensure everybody has a good time. Follow these suggestions and hopefully your kids won’t be so bored.

Bring some travel games. You can find some great travel games at your local discount store or make some up along the way. You can find travel versions of many of their favorite games, including Connect 4, Battleship and others. Or you can make games up along the way. Make a game out of finding license plates from different states or anything else that occupies their time.

Let them bring a goody bag. Before you leave for your trip, allow your kids to bring some stuff to do along the way. They can bring their favorite toys, books or anything else that keeps them entertained. Limit it to one backpack, though. When I was a kid, I wanted to bring everything in my room. That just won’t work.

Bring some road trip music. You won’t have the same taste in music as your kids, but you can compromise and allow each person in the car to pick a CD. This will keep everybody entertained.

Plan stops along the way. Kids can’t sit for long periods of time without getting cranky or needing to go to the bathroom. Prepare to stop every couple hours so everybody can get out and stretch and get fresh air.

Bring a portable DVD player. Nothing keeps kids entertained better than popping in their favorite movie. You might even find a few new models at your local GMC dealer with DVD players installed in them. Pick one out before your trip and you’ll be driving in comfort and style the entire way.

Ask any hearse enthusiast if they’ve seen the 1971 cult classic “Harold and Maude” and they’ll probably tell you how many times they’ve watched it instead of giving you a simple “yes.” That’s because this movie did the same thing for hearse enthusiasts that “The Godfather” did for mob enthusiasts.

The movie focuses on a young man – Harold – who owns a 1959 Cadillac Superior funeral hearse. As a hobby, he enjoys staging mock-suicides. He does this so much that his mother doesn’t even get upset anymore except for the times when he makes a mess with his fake blood. He also enjoys attending the funerals of strangers. This is where he meets 80-year-old Maude – an energetic and impulsive senior citizen. They form a friendship where they both learn from each other.

After a long friendship, the two sleep together. Harold plans on asking Maude to marry him, but he finds out she swallowed a fatal dosage of pills on the day he planned on asking her. In case you haven’t seen it, this is where I’m going to stop the summary so I don’t ruin anything for you.

The film, directed by Hal Ashby, is #45 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Year – 100 Laughs. It’s also one of the top 100 American comedies of all time on a list released in 2000. Also, after polling more than 1,500 film lovers, AFI named it as the #9 movie in the romantic comedy genre in June 2008.

So if you’re a hearse limousine enthusiast or if you just enjoy classic dark comedies and film history, check out Harold and Maude. It makes for a fun (and morbid) Friday night.