I have been in San Diego this week, a mere 6 hour drive from my hometown of Scottsdale. As you are reading this, I will most likely be on the road, headed back home tan and refreshed.
It should therefore go without saying that this Friday’s Favorite Thing is about all about road trips. Oh yes.
I have taken many a road trips in my life, some lasting hours, some lasting weeks and even a month. I’ve learned a lot along the (high)way. Here are my Favorite (Road Trip) Things for Friday…
Music. Planning the perfect road trip play list is almost a full-time job. I spend days navigating through my music collection planning each song with great care and concern. What kind of mood do I want to set? Upbeat? Low key? Energized? Chill?
How long is my driving time? Where is my destination? If I’m headed to California perhaps a little LL Cool Jay is in order. A tropical destination? I might bust out some Bob Marley. You get the idea.
I also have to consider who else might be driving with me. If I am road-tripping with my husband it is a requirement that I add some Radio Head for his listening enjoyment. Not my top pick, but I like to please my man.
Food. Road food is both awesome and disgusting, fortifying and nauseating. It is predominately food substances that you would never eat under normal circumstances, but somehow become acceptable once you hit the open road.
Funyuns. Bugles. Beef jerky. And an endless supply of chewy, chocolaty, sour, or all of the above candies. Basically, we’re talking truck stop food heaven.
Conversation. I used to be much less of a talker. Over the years, I have blossomed into quite the little conversationalist. Granted, I can still sit quietly on a road trip for long periods of time and never feel the need to fill up the air space.
My husband, however, has forced me out of this habit. He loves to talk. He especially loves to talk on road trips. He has a plan mind you. He wants to discuss future goals and dreams, lessons learned, God moving…and so on and so on.
I have come to expect this and so now I enter our road trips prepared to chat. Turns out, I always enjoy our conversations. I continue to learn more about my husband or anyone else I might be driving with. Hours trapped in a car can produce some memorable talking time.
Scenery. Hopefully your own road trips have taken you along highways and byways that are beautiful. Otherwise you are staring out the car windown looking at, well, nothin’. Let’s not forget too about all of the cheesy (literally), quirky, and delightful road trip stops like seeing the world’s largets bloack of cheese or largest ball of yarn.
Somehow I think these road side anomalies are reserved for the United States, not surprising. I blame the mid-West.
Road trip movies. Lastly, if you are looking for a little road trip inspiration, a road trip movie may be in order. Man, I love road trip movies and there are so many good ones. A few of my favorites are: Way of the Gun, It Happened One Night, Thelma and Louise, Little Miss Sunshine, Midnight Run, Paper Moon, and Into the Wild (although this movie is so depressing that I actually kind of hate it).
Okay, so now it’s your turn. What has been your best-ever road trip experience? Why? What do you love/hate about road trips? What song HAS to make it on your road trip play list? What is your favorite road trip movie?
I love to take long drives down the Natchez Trace National Parkway. I stock up on my usual supplies…Doritos, Swedish Fish and Arizona Iced Tea Arnold Palmers…and either have an all Christian rock playlist or a mix of the 4000 songs I have on my netbook.
I rarely feel as alive as I do when I’m doing that.
Jason,
Excellent assortment of snack food my friend. Well done.
And why is it that a road trip makes a person feel more alive? Freedom? The power to get up and leave?
Not sure, but I love it all the same.
So true about the food, road trips are the only time I eat sunflower seeds, and it creates the biggest mess in the car!
Favorite road trip was up PCH from Burbank to San Francisco w/ the fam, love that drive ’cause it’s tons of beach.
Hate gas on road trips, the human kind. Love car games and conversation.
Song: Somewhere Out There, ’cause Kim and I can sing a mean duet!
Movie: Not sure I have a favorite one here, but there’s tons of funny ones. Bah, I got nothin’.
Ben
Oh man…gas (human kind) in the car is the worst! My kids are just about old enough to play car games. Can’t wait.
Awesome that you and your wife sing duets. I’m jealous.
I love to road trip. It’s hard on me, because of my fibromyalgia, to sit in a car, and nearly impossible for me to drive more than a couple of hours for same reason, but I love it.
This is kind of bittersweet. In all my life, my favorite person to trip with was my husband. Of course that’s no longer possible, but I miss it. We would take turns with music — we both LOVE music, it’s a must. I love fast food and I rarely eat it so the endless stops to get a burger, yum. He always made me laugh when we got lost, when typically I get angry.
My favorite road trip thing would be my husband. :(
But after that … the excitement of destination. I can’t wait to get somewhere fun. Music. New crayon smell, for my kids always get a new box and a new coloring book for the trips. Lots n lots of coffee! I love coffee. the fact that I have amazing kids who seldom get grumpy in the car even on long drives, and they just sing along or color or play i spy. Um, I’m weird but I love rest areas. Some of the coolest things can be found there. Oh, vending machines! It’s like a treasure hunt.
How good it feels to stretch when you get out of the car. Rows and rows of cotton, which are a staple site for pretty much all NC road trips.
I like road tripping. Very much.
Ade,
I too love rest areas, even creepy shady ones. Don’t know why. I think there are always so many characters there.
Ditto too on the coffee. My husband and I drink obscene amounts of coffee on road trips.
Great list from you, as always. Thanks for sharing!
Oh road trips. I TOTALLY agree with the junk food. I would add having fresh fruit is nice too, especially when you’re doing the Cali/AZ drive during the summer. And a huge ice chest with tons of chilled beverages.
Welcome Home by Radical Face is by far one of my favorite songs to listen to while driving through the desert. Windows down, sun setting, and this song with the volume turned up. It has such great drive to it. (Now I want to go on a road trip.)
My favorite drive is the I-10 drive on the way to California, when you drive all the way to the beach. Close second is New England in the fall. :) Little Miss Sunshine is the perfect roadtrip movie (good call).
What has been your best-ever road trip experience? Why? What do you love/hate about road trips? What song HAS to make it on your road trip play list? What is your favorite road trip movie?
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1. Driving from Michigan to Florida with a 3 day stopover in Virginia.
2. Any road trip with a boring stretch of highway is awful. Driving through Alabama almost killed me.
3. Not one song, but it is mandatory to bring Pink Floyd’s “Pulse”, the movie soundtrack to “Jesus Christ Superstar”, Otis Redding’s 3-disc collection, and at least one New Wave 80’s compilation (Modern English, Kim Wilde, Josie Cotton and the Party Crashers, Duran Duran, etc…)
4. Fave road trip movie: (I am reticent to admit this, but…”Road Trip- The Unrated Version”. There are several scenes that make me laugh out loud, to this day.
“What did you do, skin a cheetah?”