Friday, July 25, 2008

Friday Five Road Trip: What you Absolutely, Positively can't Leave Home Without


Singing Owl says; "We will be at a chaplain's convention when you all are answering the Friday Five Questions. I'll look forward to reading your answers next week when I get home. " At the moment we are trying to get the car loaded so we can hit the road, so this will be a simple F.F. This running around madly in order to leave has me wondering: what are the five things you simply must have when you are away from home? And why? Any history or goofy things, or stories?


#1 Hubby and kids

#2 DVDs

#3 Drinks and food

#4 clothes

#5 GPS


And there is usually a WalMart somewhere or Dollar General. I'll just say, I usually forget something.

5 comments:

Mary Beth said...

oh yes, I ALWAYS forget something. It's just a matter of how soon I remember that I forgot it!

RevDrKate said...

I think you got it covered there Abi! Great list. All the basics. And , yeah, I wish I were going somewhere, too.

Jan said...

We don't have a GPS, so that's a good idea. But my husband would never agree to spending the money--he'd rather roam on his own!

Diane M. Roth said...

me too! I always forget something too! not the same thing every time, tho...

Anonymous said...

DVDs??!! I always laugh when I see that on a list of things to pack for a road trip (seems like cheating!), though I admit it can make time spent in traffic jams go by much more peacefully. (Our roadtrips with kids were taken before DVDs were around.) We did make sure to take tapes and then CDs of songs that were good to sing along with though. Lots of great memories of singing along with Les Miserables, Sound of Music, Alison Kraus, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Woody and Arlo Guthrie, etc. with the whole family. Probably my most memorable road trips were with my kids (hubby wasn't a big fan of road trips unless they were by motorcycle - he liked to be AT a destination DOING something), once before hubby's midlife crisis and departure to a new family, once right after. The first was from CA to Ill., and the oldest (then 14) read the maps, the middle one (then 11) read the AAA guide books and the youngest (then 3)watched for recognizable signs, like for hotels. We toured the Little House on the Prairie country. Our next time was in Europe about 6 years later and we drove from Venice to Paris, where we were leaving the oldest for her junior year abroad. She still was the map reader, the middle one watched for street signs and the youngest had the dictionaries to check on the meanings of road signs (yes, that word did mean the road we were planning to take is closed, for example). Way more fun than a GPS! We also started taking turns reading books on long trips. Harry Potter (before the huge increase in popularity), "Number the Stars" when the youngest was in 3rd or 4th grade, etc. The middle one now lives in NC, and until her hubby gave her a GPS for Christmas, she called me to get directions (ah, the wonders of cell phones and moms with internet access who have summer vacations!!!) - as in "We just passed this exit and are on this freeway, where do we get off for ...?" or "My usual exit is closed for construction and now I can't find another detour sign. How do I get to...?" I actually miss being a vicarious part of her trips now that she has a GPS!
Always good to know there's a Walmart (or Target out here) nearby, though after several road trips I started remembering to pack a cooler, even if I thought we'd be eating meals out since we weren't camping.