Road Trip Essentials

It doesn't take much to convince me to go on a road trip. It's like saying "wanna go for a car ride?!" to a puppy. I love driving cars; automatic, manual, vintage, new, truck, sedan, compact, pretty much anything I can get my hands on. And I love looking out the window watching the world go by (when I'm the passenger...). There is something meditative about it to me.

However, being in the car for long periods of time and driving through towns you have never been to definitely calls for some food and music essentials. Here is what we usually do:

Food:

My family has a running joke that every time we step foot on our boat we immediately crave Cheez-its and an icy cold beer. It's like that with me and cars too. As soon as I get in the car I get the munchies and I want to take a nap. So I like to bring a cooler with cold drinks, sandwiches, chips or Cheez-its (or Goldfish... mmm), fresh fruit, and mixed nuts. It's a good idea to bring at least one meal with you as you never know what sort of fast food or mystery restaurant you might be dealing with on the journey. I like having options.

Like these options, which we bought out of a truck at a truck stop gas station last spring...

 

Music:

Sitting in the car 45 minutes let alone nine hours can be boring. We usually bring satellite radio and go back and forth between music, NPR, and the comedy channels. I grew up listening to classic 70s party music, which is still my preference, while Gman wants to sing along to 90s grunge as a reminder of his youthful glory days. "That's when music was real music," he says. Funny that's how I feel about what I like... Besides if I listened to music from my youth it would most certainly include NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and there is only so much of that one can take.

I usually don't sing along to music as my singing voice is reminicent of a dying cat. But being on the open road affords me the freedom to roll down the windows and belt it out. Gman wears earplugs (just kidding! He laughs at me).

There is also something to be said about quietly listening to the wind rush by while looking out the window at idyllic pastoral landscapes. Being on the open road gives you the immediate liberty to take yourself to another place, to fantasize about what it's like to live somewhere else, and to be still and relax.

Do you like being on the open road? What do you bring with you?