Roadtrippin

This past weekend we packed up the car for a 22 hour drive to Nebraska to see some of my family and friends and some relaxation.  We always drive straight through and people seem to think we’re nuts.  Although I can’t always disagree that we’re nuts, in this instance I do :)  I LOVE road trips, especially those with Mr. C because I’m finally to the point where I’m comfortable singing (i.e. yelling) at the top of my lungs in front of him (I figure by this point he’s not going anywhere) .  He can actually sleep through my singing/blasting music now too which is an extra plus!   There’s something exciting about inputting the destination into the TomTom and seeing a ridiculous amount of miles and the destination time of a day later.  The time goes surprisingly fast though and we seem to make a great team.  Plus, we always have some weird encounters and that keeps things lively.  Last time we saw a van spray painted with a kangaroo and the words “honk if you’re horny” painted on the back.  The side was a little classier and said “get in my pouch”.  Now that’s just not something you see everyday.

No road trip is complete without pull-and-peel licorice, Mt. Dew, and Burger King for breakfast.  In case you hadn’t figured it out, any diets or attempt at eating healthy go out the window during road trips.  Add to this my very diversely loaded-up IPOD and we’re set.  My playlists typically are all over the place, going something like this: hard rock song, followed by a pop song, followed by some Frank Sinatra, followed by Eminem, followed by a Christian song, followed by a country song, and then randomly followed by one of my millions of Christmas songs.   It keeps things unpredictable at least.   No matter how hard I try, I always stay up the night before creating a new playlist with my new favs, however there are a few staples that are REQUIRED to make a road trip a road trip.  Otherwise it’s just a trip in the car.  Here are a few of our staples, sung best with the radio at full blast around midnight.

White and Nerdy – Weird Al_­

Jeremiah was a Bullfrog – Creedence Clearwater

Indian Outlaw – Tim McGraw

Barbie Girl- Aqua

And at least one version of Carol of the Bells played all the way through, regardless of what time of year it is.  Since I have about 10 versions this isn’t too difficult.

There’s just something about these songs that makes them awesome and timeless…. they’re actually quite weird now that I think about it though….  There are others, but these top our list every time.

I have significant issues listening to a song the whole way through.  Somehow Mr. C has learned to no longer be annoyed with this, either that or he just stops telling me how much it drives him crazy.  At this point he just lets me run the show in the way of music.  I think he’s finally realized that my musical tastes are just awesome….or something like that.

We’ve driven from AZ to NE straight through plenty of times and we’ve finally got this road trip thing down to a science.  This includes me usually driving between 12am-4am or so while Mr. C catches up on sleep before we swap.  I think it’s the most fun time to drive, mostly because no one can see me belting out the music while dancing along.  That’s not to say that it doesn’t get a little rough at times, but there’s something about it that makes it all worth it.  I also get some super unflattering pictures of Mr. C during this time when he’s passed out, however I’m apparently not allowed to post them on here.  Although I enjoy the night driving, sunrise is my favorite part of the drive.  I’m not up to see sunrise often and I often forget just how beautiful it can be.  When I begin to see that first glimpse of light in the sky I also know that the most difficult part of driving is over.

The drive to NE went very well and we even stuck to a schedule.  Coconut did well, neither of us fell asleep, and we never missed a turn.  We even hit rain 5-6 times and saw a few rainbows.  There’s still something amazing to me about hopping in the car after leaving work early Friday afternoon and arriving in another state, which seems like another world, a day or so later.  When it’s time to go back I’ll be ready for another road trip.  It may be long, but it’s a great time to unwind, enjoy the beauty of nature, and spend some quality time with Mr. C. , especially since he’s basically forced to listen to me for almost a full day :)