Spending 14 hours awake and 3 hours asleep in the car made me do some thinking. I’ve been on plenty of long car trips, and have different survival skills. In no particular order, here are my thoughts.
1. I am not a great driver, but I’m a worse passenger. Car trips take for-ev-er, so I’d rather be an active participant.
2. I almost always have horrible weather while driving. Saturday I hit torrential rain twice and deep fog in the night.
3. The iPod is a lifesaver. Having your own songs beats the radio hands-down. Even better than songs are podcasts. I had This American Life, Car Talk, and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. (Thanks, NPR and iTunes!)
4. Bring your own milk if you’re going to buy coffee on the road. I don’t care for gas station creamer.
5. Um, maybe put that milk in something that is leakproof. If not leakproof, how ’bout you put it somewhere where it won’t tip over, moron?
6. Keep a cloth napkin (or washcloth/hand towel) in the car. We have one in there all the time – it’s a lifesaver.
7. When sleeping in the car, put the windshield cover (the thing that keeps the sun out in the summer) over the driver’s side window and that side of the windshield. (I felt less weird since no one could stare at my sleepy face.)
8. When sleeping in Iowa in winter, wear your sweater, your coat, and bring two fleecy blankets. You’ll be fine.
9. Don’t put a bunch of stuff behind your seat so you can’t recline.
10. Don’t put other stuff in the passenger seat that could recline, if you could just get into it.
11. Do something about being so lazy. What? You can’t move that stuff to a different spot?
12. Since you can’t recline, you’ll wake up after two hours with a mouth that is drier than the Sahara because gravity likes to mess around with your jaw. Decide that you should maybe just pack it in and drive home.
13. Turn your headlights on – it’s midnight. Sheesh. Aren’t these supposed to be ‘survival’ skills?