Gloria and her mother in the family house trailer

Much of Gloria's childhood was spent on the road with her family.

In her memoir, My Life on the Road, Gloria recalls her father preparing for each spontaneous trip: "... going through his tattered road maps and address books, trying to figure out how much gas money he needed to get from here to there, where to find trailer parks that would shelter his wife and two daughters, and what roadside dealers might buy the small antiques which he sold and bartered as we made our way across the country."