Son taking a road trip-any suggestions?

ariesathena
Wed, 05 Jul 2006 09:27:17 +0000

My general rules of thumb for rest stops:

-if you’re getting off the highway to get gas, don’t do it in the town with 5 gas stations and one hotel; do it in the town with 5 hotels and 1 gas station.

-if interstate rest stop, go to a well-populated one, obviously. (I only go to ones that are absolutely teeming with people. If that means I wait in line for my gas and for the ladies’ room, fine.) Generally, the rest stops that don’t give me the willies are the ones with a lot more than just gas at them. Look for the ones with a Starbucks.

-Don’t do dumb stuff like leave the windows open or park far away. Park right out front.

-A lot of rest stops are patrolled. The kids can always slow down, get into the rest stop, and cruise through to see if they can see a cop hanging around.

Theory behind both of these is that Starbucks and Hiltons aren’t going to put their businesses in super-unsafe areas. If I’m wrong on this, someone, please correct me.

-Let the locals do your research for you. Do you only see out-of-state license plates in the lot, even though you are near a city? Maybe, then, the locals know something about it that you don’t know.

The final one: truckers. Generally, they know what they are doing - they drive the same routes over and over for years. Ditto for tour buses - dead bodies aren’t good for business. Note, though, that places with a lot of trucks at night can get more than their fair share of prostitutes.