Like way too many people, I've hit the road for a family vacation this week. Planning early-summer treks is something that I inherited from my father, and I hope my kids appreciate the effort more than I did when I was their age. I think I may actually have coined the phrase, "Are we there yet?"

Looking back, though, I'm amazed what a difference a single generation can make. When my dad was planning a road trip, he'd head out to the AAA office to get maps and TripTiks. Then it would be off to the department store -- Zayre, if you must know -- to pick up a travel game or two. If we were going someplace new, he often consulted with an almanac to gauge the historical weather ranges, and we would pack accordingly.

That's just not me. In a nutshell, if my trip goes well, I can thank Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY). I'm proud to be a card-carrying member of the American Automobile Association, but I haven't stepped into a branch office in years. Google Maps has plotted my course through several states. I can get weather updates up to ten days in advance through The Weather Channel's website. And when it comes to passing time on the road between family conversations, my 12-year-old son has his iPod, and my 7-year-old has all the Mr. Bean DVDs that his slapstick-happy heart can muster.

Peas in an iPod
When we hit the road, my dad never made advance hotel reservations. Once his eyes grew heavy, my mother would point to a roadside motel with the "Vacancy" sign aglow, and that was where we laid our collective heads for the evening.

I don't leave things up to chance. I've used sites like TripAdvisor -- an Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) company -- to read reviews of logical places to visit. Once I've landed a winner, I hunt for the best deals on travel-portal aggregators like SideStep.com. I do miss the spontaneity of the road trips we took when I was a kid, but I think my own family appreciates a tangible answer to that whole "Are we there yet?" question.

There are other reasons why my kids are unlikely to get antsy on the road. I picked up an EVDO card from Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) to allow my laptop to stay connected at a respectable speed. (EVDO stands for Evolution Data Optimized.) I'll admit that the speeds pale in comparison to my broadband connection back home, but they're way faster than dialing in via modem. Even better, because it's a wireless connection, I'm able to actually surf the Web while my wife is at the wheel. At the very least, I'm now able to check online maps before I get lost.

There's also another small peripheral that works well with the EVDO card -- my Slingbox. This amazing gizmo allows you to watch your television signal from anywhere in the planet that you're able to go online.

Sling Media, the maker of this revolutionary box, is not a publicly traded company. That may be just as well, because its model is more consumer-friendly than business-model-friendly. Since consumers pay a one-time price to buy the unit, Sling Media can't command juicy monthly subscription fees like TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) does. There's no hardware to subsidize with beefy rebates, because the hardware is the product. I prefer my companies to have more frequent financial relationships with their patrons.

Won for the road
Even portable video games aren't what they used to be just a couple of years ago. The Nintendo DS lives for networking with nearby users in multiplayer games and activities. The Sony (NYSE:SNE) PSP offers the ability to store and play music and movies. Fancy features and flexibility are making handheld gaming systems the next indispensable home-entertainment appliance, but they will especially serve you well on those long drives through nowhere.

I could be an even bigger new-technology geek. I didn't bring along my satellite radio receivers, nor did I spring for a Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) GPS navigation system to track my whereabouts. Maybe I'm putting too much faith in Google Maps this time around, but it hasn't steered me wrong yet. (Pun intended.)

So what does this have to do with your portfolio? It's simple, really. The same stocks that are making road trips simpler and more appealing to consumers this summer may also make for market-thumping returns. Like master investor Peter Lynch, you can often find stock market success by buying what you know -- and what you use.

It's not surprising to see that the Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter has recommended a few of the stocks that I have mentioned. Best Buy, Garmin, and TiVo have all made the cut in the past. So maybe you'll understand if I search for market-thumping inspiration within the confines of my family's rental car. In my opinion, every road trip leads to the path of opportunity.

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz finds that eating, sleeping, and breathing growth stocks will work wonders for your financial health. He does not owns shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.