10 Tips for Road Trips

The road trip was the way I spent many vacations during college. A good friend of mine and I would load up his car, pick a direction (South), and a time frame (a week), and hit the road with no more of a plan than that. We'd drive half the time in the direction we picked then turn around and drive back a different way. Some of the best stories of my college experience came from those road trips.

As an adult, my road trips more often than not have actual destinations, whether it's driving to the in-laws for the holidays or vacationing in Maine for the week. Still, many of the road trip rules I held to in college apply. Here are 10 of the best road trip rules, whether you're wondering aimlessly or driving with a purpose.

#1 Eat Local

When my family went on vacation when I was a kid, my parents would never let us eat anywhere that we could eat at home. I whole-heartedly endorse this rule for road trips. Don't be afraid to immerse yourself in the culture you're traveling to, and I don't just mean by eating at the Huddle House in the south and Friendly's in the northeast. When you're on a road trip, try to find someplace to eat that doesn't exist anywhere else. Once, on a road trip through North Carolina, we stumbled on a place called Butts on the Creek Barbecue. It was the best barbecue I've had to this day - with sweet potato pie and fried corn on the cob as sides. I'll probably never be able to find the place again, but we would have missed the experience entirely if we'd decided to go to Wendy's instead.

#2 Stay Local

Again, what's the point of driving across the country if you're going to sleep in a room that is the same anywhere you go in the country? The Holiday Inn 3000 miles from me is the same as the Holiday Inn down the street. That's fine if that's what you want, but a road trip is about adventure, trying new things, and learning about new places and people. If you can, on a road trip, stay with locals. If you have friends or family in the area willing to lend you their couch for the night, you're set. You can also try hostels, although the U.S. hostels aren't nearly as nice as the European ones. Another great way to get the feel for a place on a road trip is to go camping. It's cheap and there are National and State Parks all across the country. For the price of a National Parks Pass and $20 or so a night, you can have easy lodging anywhere you stop on your road trip.

#3 Pack Sound-Smart

This is a road trip tip from my dad and his annual fishing excursion to Canada. That little rattle might not be a big irritation to begin with, but 4 hours or 4 days into your road trip, and you'll be going crazy. Pack in a way that does not allow things to rattle, ping, or make any other sound as you're driving.

#4 Pack Realistically

Road trips are about adventure (and possibly getting somewhere specific). Who knows where the road might lead? Honestly, you do. Even if you're setting off on a completely spontaneous, unplanned road trip, you have some idea of what you might get into. As tempting as it is to throw everything you own into the back of the car, you probably won't actually use your Elvis costume, and you'll get sick of pushing past it to find your tooth brush every day. This road trip rule applies to golf clubs, scuba gear, and quilting projects, as well. Chances are, unless it's the specific purpose of the road trip, you aren't going to need it. A good rule of thumb is this: If you haven't used it in 6 months at home, you're not going to use it in 6 days on the road.

#5 About Food

Road trip food can be tricky. You want to eat out and try new things, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner at restaurants will drive up the cost of your road trip faster than you can get out of town. Here's what we poor college kids did to keep our road trips on a budget. We packed food for breakfast and lunch. Use simple food that doesn't have to be refrigerated or cooked and can be eaten in the car. A loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter work great. We also got cereal, like Frosted Mini Wheats, that could be eaten all by itself. Pretzels, raisins, and small snack foods are best for road trips, because you don't have to stop and take the time to make a meal. After snacking lightly all day, we would stop for a sit-down dinner.

#6 Driving Shifts

Whether your road trip is one of spontaneous adventure or specific destination (or both), who's driving when needs to be one thing that is strictly planned. If everyone on the trip is good for long term driving, I suggest no one drive for more than three hours at a time. This means that you'll be stopping to switch just before the driver feels burnt out on driving, which means that driver will feel better about getting behind the wheel later on. If more than two people are on this road trip, the person riding shotgun has the responsibility of staying awake, keeping the driver awake, and navigating.

#7 Stay off the Interstate

That is, unless you're trying to get somewhere specific. If you're goal is to get from Indiana to your destination in Maine as quickly and painlessly as possible, by all means, take the interstates. If you don't have a destination in mind besides the road itself, then, as they say, get your kicks on Route 66. Driving local highways, or even local roads, is the best way to find out what's really out there. Not everybody advertises like Rock City. Ever been to Hannibal, Missouri? Not if you stick to the interstates, you haven't. And you'd miss all the Mark Twain memorabilia, Mississippi River views, and quaint shops like The Open Book that the little town has to offer.

#8 Take an Atlas

You would not believe how close we were to not taking an atlas on our first road trip. Honestly, the day we left, we just happened to stop by the library, because one of us had to drop off books, and we spontaneously decided to check one out for the trip. Atlases are essential tools for road trips, not just because of the detailed maps - which I will take any day over a GPS unit. Most atlases will also have special features like guides to local festivals, "Best of the Road" suggestions of road trips, etc. My third road trip in college found us canoeing at the Okifenoke Swamp in southern Georgia, which we would never had known existed if not for the atlas.

#9 Carry a Quarter

You know that country song, "Heads Carolina, Tails California." Take it to heart. The turning point of my second road trip found us in mid-south Tennessee with the road forking around a great lake. Were we to go north or south? It didn't overmuch matter, so we flipped a coin. And that's how we ended up in Athens, Alabama - I have the t-shirt to prove it. The point is, don't let logic get in the way too much on your spontaneous road trip. Let chance have its say, and see where it takes you.

#10 Have Fun Wherever You Are

Wherever you find yourself on a road trip, find the fun that is to be had there. Once my friend and I pulled off the road to check out the Cathedral Caverns, but balked at the $12 admission price. Instead, we spent 2 hours in the gift shop playing checkers. In Chattanooga, we went to see the train, but instead found a brilliant storyteller cleverly disguised as a gift-shop attendant. On a road trip to Northern Michigan in what we thought was spring (late March), we found everything closed for the season, and so contented ourselves with sunsets on isolated beaches instead. There is fun to be had wherever your road trip takes you.