Top Nine Items For Car Trips

When Steph and I take long car trips, certain things are needed for true success. A trip to Virginia, car rides back and forth from Tennessee, trips up north past Fort Wayne, even a flight across the states to Las Vegas -- most of these vacations had a lieu of affairs that entwined our interests (not sleeping with other people, you sicko -- I used a thesaurus to find a synonym for the word activiy, I'm trying to sound brilliant).

A trip is successful when there is both laughing and singing. But other factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Cosmopolitan must be in the car. Am I a true friend? How do you hit "the Big O"? I know I have eyebrows that like to stray, but how do I get rid of them? What kind of relationship will I have? You can do it in how many positions? How dousche is bad and why dollar stores are still selling it...

I can't read Cosmo too often because I have a brain and I would like to keep it, that, and every issue is practically the same.

2. Mad Libs aren't just for your little brother -- granted, we play them like your little brother -- where else can we come up with the grossest nouns, verbs and adjectives to create the sickest story ever? They are not all disgusting, however. Often, we give them themes, especially if we can think of as many words that define someone we know.

3. Gummi Bears are either in the form of a 5 lb. bag, many little bags from CVS, or a small bucket. Twizzlers are good, but when it comes to bringing candy in the car, gummi bears are always between us.

4. Before the MP3 player, there was one CD holder with 48 pockets and 24 of those pockets were filled with mixes. Now two years and two iPods later...I cannot live without the gadget the size of a pack of cigarettes (or for the younger types, a box of crayons). Now, I am biased since I became a Mac person in college, so I love my iPod -- not like a socialite loves their iPod, I actually like music that won't be "out of style" in five minutes.

5. Window Markers by Crayola were always in Steph's truck. We would write on the windows and ask fellow Interstate drivers questions about sex and if they should honk their horn about it. We usually never got any honks. Pictures were also drawn. Nothing dirty, just landscapes.

6. A cooler with drinks are often with us. Steph will go through half a beverage per two hours, while I will drink fifteen waters and colas. It is my personal philosophy that I always have something to drink while driving. It cools my throat since I spend most of my hours singing. On our trip down to Memphis while Steph visited a doctorate program, we drove late that Friday night and I had a Starbucks in my hand...

7. My notebook to create a list as we travel. Good times happen, but we don't have all the time or patience to sit down and write down every single detail, so I pull out my notebook and just make a list of phrases and descriptions. Some evenings I'll come across them and Steph and I will laugh because we'll remember everything just with that one phrase, and plus without that list we would've forgotten those small events that make a trip fun.

8. I was going to say the Polaroid iZone camera, but I don't think they make it anymore. I have, at most, two packages of instant film left. The camera was a great tool to take on trips, especially on the honeymoon when we made a cadaver out of sand and took pictures next to it. If you have the traditional Polaroid camera, I say take that with you. Digital cameras are a must, definitely, but people need something even more instantaneous and instant gratificationous than a digital camera.

9. And even though we don't have babies, we have puppies and when Raible (the biggest one) has nervous pooh on a trip back from Ft. Wayne and it's a slimy mess, it makes you reconsider what you really need for a trip. Always bring a set of wipes with you, because without them your hands are sticky, the Mt. Dew you spray all over the windshield gums up from the heat and the chocolate you dropped on your blouse just gets stuck.

As we have a couple of trips planned, hopefully we will use all that we have learned and continue or expertise in traveling.