Monday, July 31, 2006

life on the open road

This Wednesday, tiffkin and I will embark on a six day road trip to the Windy City. No, it does not usually take six days to get to Chicago and back, but we will be stopping in Michigan for a night, and hopefully meeting lots of friends and skyscrapers along the way. We've been planning this for a while, so obviously, we're excited to go.

I've been on a lot of road trips over the years, and we've always found ways to entertain ourselves when the miles dragged on. We had these car bingo games when I was young, and instead of letters and numbers you had to find objects outside the window, such as a tractor, a fire hydrant, a scarecrow, or a windmill. And instead of just getting one row of five, we played blackout, and the winner was the person who had the most covered spaces by the time we got to wherever we were going. I remember one time I spent over an hour looking for a tow-truck, and I found one just as we were coming into Denver. I was so happy ... I had won the game!

I've also listened to more books on tape and sermons than I can remember. If you get a good one, they can really make the miles pass quickly. Get a bad one and they'll put you to sleep.

Snacks are an important part, as stopping at a gas station every hour seems to make the trip last forever. Loading up at a grocery store beforehand is always preferable to scrounging up something along the way. I've also found that big-rig truck stops are easily twice as good as run of the mill gas stations when it comes to selection and customer service. The good ones make you happy to be taking a trip; the bad ones make you wish you'd stayed home.

I've detailed some bad open road habits in another post, but those all happened when I was by myself and in serious need of entertainment. Hopefully this week will be different with some company (and, I might say, a new car). No puppet shows, no Chinese food from a to-go box, no playing catch while driving.

Very happy to be going. Talk to everyone when I come home.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

my dad did say he found an extra glove at softball the other night and asked if we wanted it for our trip, but we decided playing catch while driving wasn't a good idea. i'm glad you agree.

we'll definitely play the license plate game, at least. i'm SO good at that game.

Anonymous said...

yeah, avoid the catch-in-the-car game. baj, have you ever played "would you rather" with tiffkin?

i myself am a huge fan of big truck stops. they have all KINDS of stuff there. you can even take a shower, check your weight, spray yourself with name-brand perfume, and get your horoscope... right in the bathroom! hope you guys have a fun trip on your way to HAVE FUN WITH US!

blake said...

Once . . . she asked me if I would rather be able to read people's minds or fly. I said I would rather fly. Reading minds would probably be more useful, but if I could fly, I could impress all my friends and save damsels locked in faraway towers. Clearly my hero complex coming out.

Anonymous said...

i was hoping to find a "would you rather" book to take with us... but i'm thinking those questions are much more fun (and funny) on the fly. stephanie also suggested counting livestock.

blake said...

I think the passenger would have a serious advantage in the livestock game, unless the driver was going really slow.

And yes, you know me. I would rather come up with would you rather's on the fly. That's my spontaneous, creative side talking.

Anonymous said...

I like to play the "I talk and you listen" game..."Aren't you driving too fast?"...I'm very good at it..."Agh! Aren't you too close to that car!!!"...For some reason no one wants to play with me!

Anonymous said...

those are great games, angeljoey! i also like the "you drive while i sleep" game and the "listen to tiffkin's favorite music" game.

one i'm not fond of, and people often play with me, is "wasn't that our exit?" oops.

Chandster said...

when do you come back? are you back now? how about now? now? still back? now?