My wife and I are on our way to Pleasant Grove, Utah (just South of Salt Lake City) this Easter weekend to visit family and friends. We like taking road trips. We do at least one each year, usually two or three.
Since I won’t be around tomorrow and possibly Monday to post, I thought I’d leave you with the following road trip do’s and don’ts for married couples:
- Pack food instead of eating junk. As much as I love that there’s a McDonalds every third highway stop, and that Flying J has greasy truck stop food, when you’re no longer a teenager that food tends to get to you. We love to pack cherry tomatoes, string cheese, olives, crackers, and really nice chocolate. Oh, and this time around my wife convinced me to get some beef jerky.
- Play road trip games. Can you do the alphabet, in order, using only letters from other cars license plates? This game becomes especially exciting when you’re driving through Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho where you only see a car once every third cow. We also like to play I Spy for hours on end…but we’re kinda nerdy like that.
- Bring music that matches different moods. We always start the trip off with high energy music like Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” or some really great Polka. We also like show tunes, and road trips are a great place to sing show tunes at the top of your lungs – no one can make fun of you except the one you’re with. We also like to bring along other music that is a little more calm and mellow for when we feel that way. Barry Manilow works well (natch!).
- Pull over. MapQuest says do it in 12 hours? We’ll do it in 16, just because we like to pull over at interesting places (read: weird, quirky places, like Nephi, Utah, that most people wouldn’t look at twice). When we get tired, we pull over and grab a nap. We also pull over for other shenanigans…it makes road trips a lot more…er, thrilling.
- No fighting. No matter how long it’s been and how hot it is, we have a no fighting on road trips rule. There’s no one else to talk to and there’s no space to be had. That tactic where you tell the other person you’ll just walk doesn’t work either when you’re in Podunk, Idaho, 600 miles from your destination.
- Check your tires. Also check the air in your tires, your gas, oil, brakes, antifreeze, engine coolant and cooling system, alignment, air conditioning, and make sure the windows roll up and down. Trust me, we’ve learned from sad experience that any of these problems can make a good road trip very, very frustrating.
I’d love to hear some more of your road trip ideas. We don’t leave for another 8 or 9 hours, so maybe we’ll pick up some of your suggestions.
Here’s our route. Anything interesting along the way. Can you recommend a good hotel/motel around the Boise area?
