@BR BodyRR dropcap GRAY50:If there’s one thing I love about the holidays, it’s a road trip.
OK, full disclosure: I always love road trips.
And it has less to do with my extreme discomfort flying than with the sheer joy I get out of singing along to my favorite mixed CD (an activity my husband enjoys much less) and creating moderately healthy, car-friendly snack packs so as to avoid fast-food overkill.
There’s also the money factor -- it’s cheaper to drive with more than one traveler.
Plus, I can take my dog and I don’t have to worry about my knitting needles getting confiscated by airport security.
Living in the deep South with most of our family located in northern Illinois, my husband and I take at least one road trip a year. I’m fairly certain I can make the trip blindfolded, though that might scare some of my fellow travelers.
And this time of year, I’ve got lots of fellow travelers.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, long-distance travelers increase by 54 percent, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This same site states that 91 percent of those travelers use personal transportation.
However my 15-hour, 900-mile drive is longer than the average holiday commute, which the BTS says is 214 miles.
And that is why this is a once-or-twice-a-year trip.
Without a doubt, the novelty of a road trip starts to wear off when you realize you’ve been in the car all day and still have six hours ahead of you.
But there are plenty of ways to keep your mind occupied while on the open road. A few to try:
Read billboards. Create a story about the type of person who might frequent such a place or what they might sell. Depending on your travel partner, this could be a fun exercise in creativity and storytelling or really annoying. Tread carefully.
Do a crossword puzzle. This might be tricky for someone like me, who gets a touch of motion sickness whilst reading in the car, but if you read the clues out loud the driver can also participate.
Road trip play lists. My tendency to belt out the lyrics of my favorite tunes is generally a solo-trip activity, but it’s no secret that the right music can make any landscape more interesting. Spend a few hours pre-trip updating your iPod and compiling some good, upbeat driving music. After 10 hours of driving, you’ll be glad you’ve got a playlist full of the Misfits, preventing your relaxing ocean sounds from randomly popping up and putting you to sleep -- and in a ditch.
Be a good passenger. My husband does most of the driving when we travel together, so I try to make the drive easier for him. This includes grabbing snacks, looking out for rest stops and, unfortunately for me, not singing along to the radio.
Katie McCarthy, features writer, can be reached at kmccarthy@ledger-enquirer.com or 706-571-8515. Visit ledger-enquirer.com/junkfood for more pop culture commentary.
