Road Trip

Turn your road trip into a laugh fest with this app. Name: Funny Road Trip, http://www.funnyroadtrip.com Available for: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad What it does: Four characters from different parts of the world - Señor Tortilla, McBronx, Sushi Sakura and Emil DaElecktra, the travel robot - ask questions and suggest tasks that can lead to your family telling stories, interacting with what they see along the...

MOAB, Utah - The doorknob had smashed a sizable hole in the wall of our room at the Apache Motel. The rusty bathroom ceiling fan made a harsh scraping sound, and the industrial carpet sported several suspicious stains. We loved the place. The neon sign at the motel, built in the early 1950s on what was then the town's main street, is classic: A giant white arrow spears the motel's name alongside the archaic image of an Apache. It glows with pure midcentury sentimentality.

FUEL COSTS Based on Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (about 27 mpg) and using AAA's survey-based national average price of $3.54 a gallon for gas last week, it would have cost you about $350 to drive the 2,647 miles from Los Angeles on the route described. WHERE TO STAY Zion Park Motel, 865 Zion Park Blvd., Springdale, Utah; (435) 772-3251, http://www.zionparkmotel.com . Simple lodgings with flat-screen TV, refrigerator, microwave and a scenic pool. Doubles from $84. San Juan Inn, Highway 163 and the San Juan River, Mexican Hat, Utah; (800)

Nothing says summer like jumping in the car and taking off for a week or even just a few days. So how much will gasoline prices crimp your impulse to travel? It depends on where you're going. The good news is that last week gas prices continued to tumble in Southern California. As of Monday, AAA found the average price of a gallon of gas to be $4.12 in the L.A.-Long Beach area, $4.07 in Orange County, $4.10 in San Diego, $4.17 in Santa Barbara area, $4.09 in the Riverside-San Bernardino area, $4.15 in Bakersfield and $4.13 in Ventura.

--Madewell, the younger, more relaxed division of retailer J. Crew Group Inc., is going mobile this spring. Think less smartphone and more road trip. The brand, formally a work wear manufacturer in Massachusetts before getting rescued by J. Crew, is taking its denim line on a cross-country summer journey with a retro Airstream trailer. Retailers have been trying to shake up brick-and-mortar stores with more creative spaces such as pop-up shops, specialty stores and now stores on the go. Madewell's Airstream is rolling into Santa Monica Place this Saturday, loaded with stylists, discounts on jeans and a hair-braiding station.

ELDON, Iowa - Beth Howard sits at her kitchen table on a Sunday morning and pulls back the curtain to peer at a group of rosy-cheeked youths taking pictures on her front lawn. They pair off to stand side by side in the pose familiar to millions - the dour farmer with a pitchfork, the unsmiling woman beside him in front of the white house. No one notices the woman in flannel pajamas sitting inside. "People seldom know that people live here, much less that there's someone watching them from the other side of the curtain," says Howard, who rents the house made famous in Grant Wood's painting "American Gothic.

It hasn't always been smooth sailing for Alex the lion and Marty the zebra, the pals at the center of the "Madagascar" animated films, but for two Central Park Zoo animals, they've certainly had their share of adventures. After washing ashore on the titular island in the first film and crash-landing in the wilds of the African mainland in the second, Alex and Marty, voiced by Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, respectively, find themselves back among civilization in"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," which opens June 8. In taking up with a European traveling circus hoping to make it big in the U.S., Alex, Marty and their compatriots may have found their best, though riskiest, chance yet to return to the zoo. "A lot of it is about going home," Stiller said in a joint phone call with Rock from New York.

A couple of days off between playoff games might be too many for the people who play them and the media who cover them. Players like to get into a rhythm of playing every other day. Writers and broadcasters like that too, because the longer the time between games the harder it can be to find fresh stories to tell. So they ask the same questions, with minor variations. As a result, players, usually reluctant to say anything that might end up as motivational fodder on the opposing team's bulletin board, often lapse into clichés.

John Steinbeck dubbed the 2,400-mile ribbon of pavement America's "mother road. " A new study now confirms that Route 66 -- stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica -- also generates a mother lode of revenue for the small towns and businesses along its path. Each year, Route 66 travelers and those programs dedicated to preserving the historic landmarks along the road spend $132 million, according to a study by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, the National Park Service, the American Express Foundation and others.

Reporting from Minneapolis -- Twenty-four minutes of basketball separate the Lakers from a winless road trip. They trail the Minnesota Timberwolves, 58-49, at halftime Friday at Target Center, the latest surprising development for a team in danger of falling to 6-15 on the road. The Lakers appeared to catch a break beforehand when Minnesota announced that All-Star forward Kevin Love would be sidelined because of back spasms. He is averaging 25.5 points and 13.8 rebounds. The Lakers (23-16)