I wanted to go on a road trip down the coast of New England for a while. God put it on my heart to go during 2018 so that's what I did. Typically when I go on vacation, I either travel with a friend or family member or I'm going to a destination where a friend or family member lives. However, most of my friends either a. couldn't take off work for two weeks, b. have small children, c. just bought a house, or d. moved away from the area I wanted to visit (priorities people...just kidding!). But I didn't let that deter me. So this trip became my first solo vacation.
Most of the places I wanted to visit on this trip were places that I didn't have time and/or money to visit while I was doing my graduate internship in Connecticut. I looked into flying to New England and renting a car after I arrived, but it was more economical for me to drive my own car out there. Plus, I've made the drive from Oklahoma to Connecticut and back several times so it wasn't completely unfamiliar territory. And who doesn't love a road trip?!?!
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| Just me, Michael, and the open road at 5 am on a Saturday morning. |
Day 1 went well driving from Norman, Oklahoma to Columbus, Ohio. I stuck to my original timeline and didn't encounter any construction until I arrived in Columbus (and it wasn't that bad). Day 2 was a slightly different story driving from Columbus, Ohio, to Portland, Maine. I made good time until I reached New Hampshire. There was a huge wreck that stretched across both sides of an eight lane highway and caused a two hour delay. So my planned 14 hours of driving turned into 16 hours of driving, but I made it to Portland in one piece :)
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| If you ever want to have breakfast completely alone in a Panera go at 7 am on a Sunday. |
- Get the oil changed in your car and have a mechanic give it a once over before you leave. Nobody wants to deal with car problems while on vacation.
- Wash, vacuum, and clean out your car. It may sound counter-intuitive to clean your vehicle when you're about to get it dirty on your trip, but you're about to be spending some quality time/semi-living out of your car. Shouldn't it at least start off clean? Also, if you have any random things rolling around in your car (that bag of clothes you have been meaning to take to goodwill, your niece's tea party set that she left at your house, etc.) now is a good time to get those out of your car as well, maybe even take them to the people/places you have been meaning to ;)
- Now that your car is clean, put some dryer sheets in your car. It will help your vehicle smell homey and not retain any weird odors you may encounter on your trip. I put some dryer sheets in the back pocket of my car seats and forgot to take them out after my trip. Three months later my brother borrowed my car and wanted to know what I used to keep it smelling so good.
- Fill up your gas tank the day before you leave for your trip. The last thing you want to do is be on the road for 15 minutes and realize you are almost on empty.
- Make sure whatever app or external gps you are planning to use on your trip is up to date and functioning properly.
- If you don't already have one, invest in an up to date paper atlas. Hopefully you will not need to use it, but some remote places do not have cell service and nobody wants to get lost in the boonies.
- Bring a case of water and plenty of snack options. Sure you can buy water and snacks while you are on the road. However, you can spend $4 for a case of 24 water bottles from a grocery store or $4 on two bottles of water from a gas station. You do the math.
- Bring plenty of entertainment options. I brought several podcasts and five books on tape on my road trip. I got caught up on all of my podcasts and listened to 2 1/2 of the books. Also, I recommend making sure the narrator for the books you choose doesn't have an annoying accent. On a previous road trip, I made the mistake of choosing a book that took place in the deep south. The narrator definitely was not southern and couldn't emulate a southern accent to save his life. Needless to say I could only listen to about 15 minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. Then I was left with whatever radio stations I could glean from town to town. Not a fun experience, lol.
- Bring extra phone, gps, ipod, etc. chargers for your car. Electronics tend to work better when they aren't dead.
- Make a survival kit for your car and store it within your arm's length so you can reach it while driving if needed. Below is what is in my survival kit
- hand sanitizer
- travel size kleenex
- baby wipes
- ziploc baggies
- duct tape
- It fixes anything!
- aleeve (or whatever pain reliever you prefer)
- plastic grocery bags
- These can double a trash bags so there aren't bottles and wrappers floating around your car
- sewing kit
- tide pen
- Gets out those stains when you hit a bump and have a full cup of coffee/tea/coke, etc.
- writing pen
- small pad of paper
- chapstick
- hair tie
- Cash for tolls and parking meters. New England loves their tolls and the majority of them do not accept credit cards (I spent $30 on tolls just on my first two days of driving!). I also make sure to have a roll of quarters for parking meters, in case they haven't been updated to the kind that take credit cards.
- Have an extra car key hidden in your vehicle, suitcase, purse, etc. If you accidentally loose your car key, or your purse is stolen/pick pocketed, at least you will have a spare and not be stranded hundreds of miles away from home.
- Lastly, my Papa always had a clear storage box with a roll of paper towels inside all of his vehicles. When he passed away, he left me the car I currently drive and I left the box with paper towels in it more because he put it there than because I thought I would ever need it. But when you're on a road trip and spill water all over yourself, it's nice to be able to mop it up and not sit on a wet seat for hours.
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