Road Trip Essentials

Time has come for another trip home.  I tell you what, living this much closer is nice.  Since moving up to Minnesota last August, we have made the trip home three times including this one.  While living in Wichita, we made it home about twice a year.  The obvious benefit is not having to fly to get home.  You can go at your own pace, not based on what the airline says.  You don't have to show up an hour early to get patted down by someone who hates their job.  You can bring drinks with you in the car!  You can bring home more than a three ounce bottle of shampoo. 

All that is great, but what is essential for the trip home?  Or for road trips in general?  Outside of having an atlas (old school, I know) to go along with your GPS, the essentials you need are two things:  music and food.  Fuel for the body and the mind.  When you drive by yourself, these two things can be whatever you want them to be.  You don't have to fight over the music or fight for the last Twizzler in the package.  But when you travel with others, compromises have to be made.

When I was younger and went on road trips, one of the keys to the drive was Mt. Dew.  This was the days before I started drinking coffee.  Now, before leaving I make a pot of coffee and bring a thermos and a travel mug with me.  It's cheaper than stopping at a gas station and buying pop or coffee.  I do buy pop every once in a while on road trips, but for the majority of the time, it's coffee.  Stocking up on food from stores is cheaper than buying at the gas stations too.  Candy, chips, crackers, etc.  All that can be found without paying the higher prices of the gas stations.  If we bring a cooler with us, we throw in some lunch meat and cheese and have something close to lunch too. 

 The biggest argument my wife and I have in car rides is music.  We agree on most of it, but songs I love and want to crank, she wants to skip.  And vice versa.  So, with her staying behind for a week to help some family out, I made up a playlist for the trip back.  Music that I will want to play loud enough to blow the speakers.  Songs that I love to hear and some people will just shake their heads at.  I present to you, my playlist for the trip back home.

• In The Hall of the Mountain King
• Jolene (cover by the White Stripes)
• Throw the Brick (Less Than Jake)
• Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)
• Cocaine Blues (Johnny Cash)
• Rocket Queen (Guns n Roses)
• Indy Kidz (Cage the Elephant)
• It's the End of the World As We Know It (R.E.M)
• Seek and Destroy (Iggy and the Stooges)
• Raw Power (Iggy and the Stooges)
• Vietnow (Rage Against the Machine)
• Lose Yourself (Eminem)
• Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zeppelin)
• Highway to Hell (cover by Marilyn Manson)
• B.O.B (Outkast)
• Du hast (Rammstein...yeah.  Rammstein)
• Howlin' For You (Black Keys)
• Paul Revere (Beastie Boys)
• We Are Going to be Friends (the White Stripes.)

Below is a picture I took while driving home from a camping trip in Kansas a few years ago.  I like it just because it is very basic.  Road, sun, and trees.  That's it and that encompasses our travels for the most part once we get into Michigan. 

Now, bring me that horizon.