Road Trip: Ways to make it interesting
 

Hi all! I depart on Friday and apart from interesting destinations day to day, what are some ideas to break up the monotony of driving? My "co-pilot" and I plan to break every 2 hours for a minute or so "stretch and switch drivers" break.

Any suggestions for the actual drive time? We plan on leaving early in the morning each day to minimize evening drive time, and will be driving 8+ hours a day for 5 days.

Of course there's the license plate game and the alphabet game.

What route did you decide on?

After MUCH debate, and fussing at AAA, we settled on a southern and eastern route. Texas, here I come! I'll be in Orlando for a couple days and then resuming my drive to DC!

I don't envy you for that drive at all! When I would drive home from college it was an average of a 12 hour drive....but I knew I didn't have to get up for the next 4 days straight to drive!!!

I don't have any other suggestions....if I do think of one I'll let ya' know.

Music. Music is key. When a boyfriend and I roadtripped to Vegas via the Grand Canyon we practically planned out the soundtrack. Have a variety of music from old sing along favorites to a cheezy eighties segment and anything you can think of that might fit geographic locations you're going through.

Books on tape can be good too!

Ah....that's a great book! It's called The Book of Questions. I have a copy lying around here somewhere.

My aunt and I drove from New Jersey to Wisconsin in a day - books on tape are GREAT! Two of those got us almost all the way to Indiana! :)

A heads up. When you are approaching San Antonio on I-10 after a town called Boerne, stop at Rudy's BBQ for the best BBQ in Texas. Its right off the freeway and its where we all eat.

From I-10 East, take Exit 550. Stay on the access road past the first stop. (theres signs to giude you to Rudy's) At the next stop, make a left under the freeway. Rudy's is straight ahead at the next 4 way stop inside /next to the Diamond Shamrock Gas Station (This is the south... we eat at Gas stations here) Park, go in, and be prepared for an amazing experience. You order by the pound (you can get smaller amounts) and sides. The sauce (its how its spelled) is the best you've ever had. DONT PASS THIS OPPORTUNITY UP. Ya have to have BBQ when youre in Texas, and take it from a local, its where to eat. Ask kitso, SATXA*Phi, or AggieAXO. Its all country out there, so its real easy to find. Also its a local celeb hang out. Theres a really high rent (the highest in SA) neighborhood behind it and David Robinson, and Tommy Lee Jones who have homes there can be seen there on a regualr basis.

Roger that what lifesaver says... another place worth checking out if you don't mind taking a small detour is Casey's Bar B-Q.

How to get there: from I-10 get on I-610 to US 281 north, exit Nakoma Road. Don't be surprised if you get dive-bombed by a Southwest 'Mustard Rocket' (it's the approach for Runways 12L and 12R for San Antonio International Airport). At the light, turn left, Casey's will be on your right on the northwest corner.

When you're done, pick up 281 southbound to downtown and you can pick up I-10 from there.

OMG!! We went on a 16 hour road trip once and we played the license plate game!! We guess at the begining how many states we would see, and we figured about 36 or so. We were like "well we know we probably won't see Alaska or Hawaii.."

We were driving a long and all of a sudden I was like "OH. MY. GOD. There's Alaska!!!" Anyhow...this was in Florida so I was like "Damn they drove a long way." And my friends just lost it! They laughed hysterically and they were like "you can't drive from Alaska, they had their car shipped" And I was like "They may have had their car shipped, but you can very well drive from Alaska" They thought I was the dumbest person ever and called everyone they knew only to learn...

OK to make a long story shorter it turns outr they thought that Alaska was hanging out over by Hawaii. You know those maps that show the 50 states and Alaska & Hawaii off in a corner? Well They thought Alaska was an island!! They never knew it was up there by Canada!! I still give them a hard time about it. Damn Kentucky & Mississippi geography classes!! ;)

The alphabet game is always a winner because you can play the "alphabet game of cars" or the "alphabet game of DJ's" or the "alphabet game of candy" or the "alphabet game of countries" or...uh-you get the point!

I've got that one great book for when your friends are just chillin or a car ride.

There are another series of books. The If series. Those books have a whole slew of questions too.

There's a book called Drive I95 or something like that, just came out in December. I drive to FL all the time, and I liked this book a lot. It gives you interesting tidbits on what is off every exit, and it tells you what food/hotels are off every exit too. Very important to me because I only eat Waffle House from Maryland south.