On Mondays for the entire month of March I am talking road trip planning! As a kid I grew up doing road trips, rarely did we take a trip that required riding on a plane, it was more cost efficient for my parents and involved a lot of family ‘bonding’.
So, you want to go on a road trip…have you been on one before? What did you enjoy or dislike?
Before we plan a road trip we create a google map and figure the furthest we want to go…no more than 6 hours a day…less if there is something we want to stop and do along the way.
So, where do you want to go? Do you want to go a further distance or shorter with more stops? Once we decide our trip, usually a loop to see as much as possible. I’m going to use our last road trip as an example for this series. In 2013 we took a road trip out of Colorado Springs to Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming and back into Colorado from the north.
We started by deciding that, Travis ‘needed’ to go to Dodge City Kansas, then figured the best route to get there then from there to Nebraska and so on and so on until we knew the distance for each day, and stops along the way; Carhenge, Agate Fossil Beds, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, etc.
We planned our entire trip on Google Maps…then had a printed copy and used our phone for navigation. It worked most of the trip…except getting to the fossil beds, I thought for sure we were going to die out there…
1) plan out your trip in detail knowing where you are going each day and how long you’ll be on the road.
2) have more than one map, while navigation is GREAT, sometimes you need a paper map. Stop at welcome centers at each state and pick one up, they are free plus you can usually get something to drink and walk around for a bit.
3) Plan out your food. When on a road trip there isn’t always a place to stop and eat when your stomach decides it NEEDS to eat. We carried a cooler with small bagels, almond butter, jelly, apples, cuties, and trail mix perfect snacks and sandwiches when on the go.
4) Check the weather. On our trip we left Colorado in sandals and tee shirts…we wore lightweight jackets in Kansas and by the time we arrived in Nebraska the next day the snow storm of the century had blown threw and we battled freezing temps and snow for the rest of the trip. Pack accordingly. So, in our case I had everything from sandals to snow boots, shorts to long underwear!
Next week: Getting prepared, your home, car and everything in between!
Stylishly Shelby 
I’m a weather fanatic. I’m constantly checking the weather on road trips! It’s smart to pack snacks with sustenance on long trips. I always tend to pack Chex Mix, but then I get super hungry before I know it. Great tips!