Son taking a road trip-any suggestions?

ariesathena
Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:00:13 +0000

Road trip queen here - spent some of May heading out to the Midwest, by myself. So some suggestions:

-Car cell phone charger is a MUST.
-“Some” snacks might not cut it. At least for the first day, you can get him a lot of goodies - this is my road-trip secret. You make much better time if you don’t stop every time you’re a little peckish. I’m a vegetarian, so you can add meat options, but I usually pack a cooler with: apples, bananas, plums, hummus, a veggie tupperware (get the flat ones with the dividing sections, because you can put them on your lap and nosh while you drive), crackers, popcorn, pita, cookies, and candy. I swear, the Aries four-star meal is worth it. Don’t put half the stuff in there and call it a day; send them off with everything. Burger King can only get you so far, and it stinks to feel like you’ve been driving all day without a decent meal.
-AAA can make on-the-spot hotel reservations for you.
-get a really, really good map. I get the ones with the yellow cover and the big red lettering that have spiral bindings. The spirals mean that they stay open to where you are, so you don’t have to hunt for the same page each time.
-TONS of water, esp. if it’s the summer. Just throw 2-24 packs in the backseat. Trust me on this one. It’s hard to bring enough; soda dehydrates; and you get really sluggish if you’re dehydrated. Sluggish kids = not safe.
-Frappucinos in the glass bottles if they are going to be doing long drives
-find a map with the Cingular coverage area.
-get one of those oil changes where they check all of the fluids in the car.

Half kidding about this one:
see if any CCers are on the route and would be willing to provide emergency assistance, if needed. Otherwise, certainly have your friends #s handy - in fact, give to your son, in case you aren’t at home to play Mission Control.

Miscellenea:
-if they are driving during the burning hot weather, teach them road trip essentials. Have them start early in the am, drive through the early afternoon, and take a nice long break while it’s a million degrees out. When you do long road trips, it stinks to feel like it’s already lunch time and you’ve only driven 100 miles. Not driving during the blazing hot weather, no matter how good your A/C, is always a good idea. You have no idea how sluggish you can get after several hundred miles under warm sun.
-find the good rest stops.
-generally, rest stops every 2/3 of a tank of gas is a good measure - as in, once the tank is 2/3 empty, look for a place to pull over. When you are with friends, you tend to stop every time someone’s hungry, someone needs a bathroom, someone wants coffee, someone else needs the bathroom, and the car needs gas. One-stop shopping saves an amazing amount of time - trust me on this one. Each additional person usually adds an hour onto every trip.
-make sure they know what driving to endanger is in every state along the way. I mean, he can be a great kid, but kids are kids.
-plan out hotels for about 10-12 hours of driving = 600-900 miles, depending.

Obviously, I end up doing a lot of “driving as a cheaper alternative to flying” trips. Even if they are doing the touristy things, it will still help them to have a better experience.