10 Things to do Before Your Road Trip
July 3, 2009 by Jennifer Walker-Journey
Filed under Parenting
We are about to embark on our cross-country road trip. I love road trips. They allow you to see so much of the country that a flight simply misses. Since I’ve probably done more long-distance road tripping than the average person, I thought I’d post my to-do list to get ready for the big trip.
- Service your car. That’s a no-brainer. We’re taking the Touareg in Monday for the 75,000-mile service. But I’m also taking it later in the week to NTB to get two new tires and a rotation. It would really suck to be in the middle of west Texas in 116-degree temperatures and have the car stall out on us for some reason.
- Buy a Road Atlas. I hate Walmart, but they sell this awesome, large-sized, spiral-bound road atlas. Sure, use your GPS, but nothing replaces a road atlas. Plus, it’s great educational entertainment for the kids. Truman and I like to play the “where do you want to go?” game. He I dying to go to go to South Dakota, for some reason. Doesn’t it stay cold there year-round?
- Stock up on the necessaries. I always bring a big box of wet wipes, roll of paper towels and a trash bag. If you have to ask why, you obviously don’t have young children.
- A cooler stocked with drinks. Why waste your money at convenience stores when you can have your own cold drink conveniently in the car?
- Snacks. Again, why waste your money at convenience stores. I also like to pack fruit, like oranges and grapes, but not bananas because I cannot walk past a banana without it bruising.
- Wine … and a cock screw. Nothing is worse than stopping overnight in a town that’s dry or has a poor wine selection. (Yes, I am a wine snob.) Put the wine in the cooler unless you’re driving in cool weather.
- Games, toys, DVDs and books. We use road trips as a good opportunity to buy DVDs and game books our son has not yet seen so he’ll look forward to seeing them. If you buy them early, hid then until time for the trip.
- Check out your devices. Nothing is worse than starting on a road trip and finding out the power cord has a short or the iPod dock is missing a piece.
- Make a list. I’m a list-maker, so I start mine early. This is for the things you will be miserable if you forget, like the iPhone charger, laptop computer, that book you’ve been meaning to finish, etc.
- Book the house sitter, or make your pet/home care plans. We are spoiled. We have a house sitter named Joe who is an ex-marine and a personal trainer at the gym down the road. He brings his to dogs, Brutus the Rottweiller and Thor the Doberman. (Or is it Thor the Rottweiller and Brutus the Doberman?) I stock the fridge for Joe, and throw in a few extra steaks for the dogs, so it’s like a mini-vacation for all three of them.
Road Trip Photo, Flickr, jamiejohndavies
I follow a lot of these guidelines before I hit the road, too. I didn’t have the spoiling of having someone watching the house for me everyday though – that would’ve been nice! I think keeping up the appearance that you might be home is very important, so if you can’t get a housesitter, making the house look occupied by cancelling the newspaper, putting a stop on the mail, etc, will do the trick. Have fun on the trip!