How to Love Road Trips

Somewhere between CO and CA, Road Trip Sept 2010

                 

I don't want to say I'm and expert on this subject, but I do have a real love for driving for hours on the open road.  I've been on multiple long road trips usually about 8-10 hour drives excluding my drive across country (which I would do again in a heart beat!), and I've actually never had a bad time.  I figured I'd give some tips on the subject.

1.  Honour thy mixed tapes:  Make mixed CDs or playlists.  It's nice to just let the music go and get excited about your pre-approved list rather than skipping and searching for the right songs.  Road trips are all about the music so include everything from dance music to some slow Celine Dion ballards.  Pro-tip:  download a couple of stand up comedian shows, it really is an awesome way to take a break from music and just laugh.  Everytime we take a trip I always wish we downloaded more!

2.  Thou shalt not make people sit on their feet:  Make sure everyone in the car has enough space.  I know sometimes you need to jam pack the car, but do not put that bundle of wood under your passengers. 

3.  Thou shalt be comfortable (piggy backs number 2):  Wear comfortable clothes with layers.  If you're driving through multiple weather conditions, you don't want to be too cold when you jump out of the car to pump gas.  Also bring a couple of pillows for people to take naps. 

4.  Honour thy time:  Try not to "be in a hurry".  Road trips are better enjoyed for everyone when you're taking your time on the road.  This way, you won't get annoyed stopping to use the restroom, stopping for gas, or running into the dreaded traffic that kills your road trip buzz.  Just add a few hours on to you ETA and you'll be pleasantly surprised if you arrive earlier than expected.

5.  Thou shalt utilize thy co-pi:  Make sure you switch driving shifts.  I do like to drive, but you miss all of the gorgeous scenery when you're driving, so it's nice to take and break and let someone else take a reins for a while.

6.  Do thy research:  Research where the traffic will be and try to avoid it at all costs.  I know there's always traffic leaving Las Vegas and there's always traffic around Los Angeles.  I try to avoid it by going around it or leaving at a time where you will have the best chances of not getting stuck in it.  I can sit in the car driving for 12 hours, but there's something really irritating about sitting in traffic for a half hour!  

7.  Remember to keep emergency energy:  You will get tired driving at night.  Make sure you have a trusty redbull before heading on deserted roads incase there is no where to stop again for miles. Redbull has saved the day (night!) on important legs of our trips more than once.  Please be safe.  Pull over or ask someone who has been napping to take over for a bit.  It's very dangerous getting tired at the wheel.

8.  Remember to go to kinkos and print directions:  Print directions!  Cell service can be spotty in some areas, it's best to have old school paper back up.

9.  Thou shall know where to fuel up:  Gas buddy.  If you're travelling on a budget and you need an estimate for gas, use gas buddy.com.  It tends to be a little lower than what you actually will spend, but it's still a good gage.  Don't trust gas station signs and fill up when you can.  I was driving through CO once and there was a sign that said "next gas station 44 miles" but we decided to fill up right there.  Luckily we did this because when we arrived at that next gas station.. the entire town was closed.

10.  Thou shall remember to have fun:  This is kind of a no brainer.  When you're on a road trip with friends it's really fun to have games prepared and just enjoy some conversation.  If you're a passenger, put your phone down and try and enjoy the time you're spending with the people you're with.  Some suggested games would be the question game, print out trivia, or sometimes I like to play "don't forget the lyrics" with the music you're listening to at that time. 

I hope you enjoyed this list and got some ideas on how to prepare for a road trip.  Some obvious additional suggestions would be to have some water/snacks in the car and a general courteous to the person who is driving.. offer to fill up the tank once.  Just because that person is offering to drive, doesn't mean you shouldn't help split gas.  Especially with prices the way they are now:)

APR 2011 Coachella, man.

The drug of choice is Music.  This would be my second go at Coachella and Jenn’s first.  We were joined by multiple friends including our good pals Steve, Cole, Gina, Katy, and Alex.  My parents also decided to join during their year long “Living in a Van” trip.

We left late in the afternoon on Thursday in the Jeep Liberty followed by my parents’ van and two other cars of friends and friends of friends.   We hit traffic getting into the festival well after dark and still a ways from our 10’ X 30’ camping spot.  The line getting into the festival takes forever and is fairly unorganized.  They have to search everyone’s car for weapons and dangerous things.  Knowing this would take a couple of hours we all cracked a beer and celebrated the beginning of the weekend’s shenanigans.  We arrived in our camping spot at 3am and set up our new tent in the dark for first time ever.  Luckily Jenn is a pro at pitching a tent, hehe.

As the sun rose, we were all awoken by the heat. It gets so hot in the tent with the sun beaming down that you feel like Ace Ventura climbing out of that fake rhino when you finally shake off the lazy and exit.  My parents brought an Easy-up that provided much needed shade and without this the sun may have fried us like bacon.  The first shows started at noon everyday so there was a solid 4-5 hours of waiting to go in the venue which was about a half mile from our camping spot.  This time was filled with making breakfast, playing cornhole, showering, and mostly, starting to drink slightly chilled beer way too early.

It baffles me why anyone thought it’d be a good idea to have a camping festival in the desert at the end of April.  The heat at times is overwhelming and it’s a constant battle for shade or water.  Although, these kind of treacherous conditions make for better story telling and it feels like an accomplishment to leave there alive after 3 days.  Maybe, it’s the alcohol, but sometimes is so horribly awesome it just makes you laugh.  OK, I’m done bitching about the heat.

Instead of saying what shows we saw on each day, I’ll just talk about the highlight shows alittle.  Arcade Fire was the best show we’ve ever seen.  They did an encore and played “Wake Up” while thousands of glowing beach balls dropped from the top of the stage and bounced around the crowd.  Easily the best concert moment of our lives.  Kanye and his Ego killed it.  He rapped for what seemed like 3 hours almost non-stop.  Ratatat was awesome, but unfortunately cut alittle short.  Cole insisted we go see Two Door Cinema Club and I’ve been a megafan of them ever since.  Other highlights were Good Old War, The Chemical Brothers, The Black Keys, Freelance Whales, Mumford and Sons, and Duran Duran.

Monday morning came and our sweaty bodies piled back in the cars like a dozen glazed donuts into a box. It was a long, smelly drive home and the sight of our own bed and bathroom was heavenly. You wouldn’t think it, but a with little hot water and soap that Coachella washes right off. It feels nice to be clean and relax inside on your couch and it’s within those first few moments of doing just that …that you can’t wait to go back.