In 1997, I drove around the country (at the age of 23) for 16 weeks with a carload of my first board game invention, Loaded Questions®. At each stop, I would demo my game for local game stores and call on local media to cover my story. By the end of the trip, Loaded Questions was featured in many of the top dailies and available at dozens of the country’s top specialty game stores.

Fast-forward 26 years…

On the eve of me embarking on yet another sales & marketing adventure to promote my new Loaded Questions Greatest Hits game (and all my other family/party games), I started reflecting on the many personal and cultural differences between my initial road trip and the start of tomorrow’s trip, dubbed “The Mid-Life Crisis Tour”. For example, one of the stores I sold to in 1997 was a popular Seattle-based game store chain called “Turn Off The TV”. I realized that store today would likely be called “Put Down Your Phone”. The Internet was in its infancy. There was no smart phone. Bill Cosby was America’s dad. It was a simpler time.

While I’m sure my time on the road will reveal a number of other differences, here are 10 that came to mind before I finish packing, sending out last minute emails, and trying to get a new night’s sleep before I become a traveling salesman these next six weeks.