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TOP FIVE
Ways to Spice Up a Road Trip
How many crop circles and ant-sized vehicles can you stomach in one trip? I'm guessing not many ... that's why you drove! World famous photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand could definitely argue that Earth from above is cool, but here are some shenanigans you can pull that I guarantee will make Earth from below feel equally entertaining.
1. Count the Balls of Twine, Not the Hours
When you see something interesting on the side of the road, pull over. Getting to your destination might take a little longer, but sitting on your butt for the next 3 hours will be a lot more tolerable. Plus, road trips are all about the journey, not the destination, right ? If you’d like to mark out a handful of wacky monuments on your trusty Hagstrom atlas before hitting the road, check out Roadside America or Laughable Landmarks. If you’d like to cruise by that proverbial giant ball of twine or even lay eyes on Uncle Sam’s interpretation of Stonehenge, click here.
2. A Seductive Slant
Have someone in the car (obviously, not the driver) pull out a corny romance novel and read it to the passengers in a seductive voice. Come on now, you can kiss your RoadTrip playlist or mixed CD goodbye for a couple minutes of comic relief – you don’t want to be listening to the same songs over and over again, anyway. Kat Martin’s Heart of Courage, the third book in her bestselling Heart trilogy, is a sensual read, as is Nora Roberts’ Midnight Bayou, which takes place on the outskirts of New Orleans. Romantic tales are set in quite a variety of regions, so perhaps try and base your choice of material on where exactly you’re planning to go.
3. Push Away the Pod
When you’re back in the mood to listen to music, listen to the radio. Open up the door to your little self-created, secluded iPod world and flip channels trying to find a new genre of music. And don’t tell me already you hate country music – you never know what’ll tickle your fancy. Sometimes songs will earn more respect from you if they have sentimental value ("Hey man, this is that country song that was playing while we slurped up those awesome A & W floats in Benson, Arizona!") And hey, you might just hear in between songs about that bottleneck on I-80. That’s something your iPod can’t do.
4. 55 MPH Scavenger Hunt
While a road site may be a giant ball of string, a road sighting can be anything – a driver picking his nose while mouthing the lyrics to George Michael’s "Freedom," a newly-purchased bougainvillea tree sprouting out the sunroof of a Volkswagon Beetle, a dog wearing a seatbelt, or to really kick it up a notch: a hunky officer sitting in the passenger seat of that border patrol cruiser in the left lane. So draft a list of scavenger hunt sightings, and make it as specific as you’d like.
5. Cram in a Jam
Take your favorite song (as ‘favorite’ as a group consensus will yield) and rework the lyrics so they apply to your own collective road adventure. Don’t be afraid! You have the potential to churn out a refreshing rhyme; all you have to do seek inspiration from the surrounding environment and from the characters crammed up with you inside that tiny Toyota Tercel. If you’re in the mood for a more organic beat (or just suffering from rhymer’s block), try creating a poem on the subject of a suggested roadside object and perform it to purely instrumental music. Add in some snappy fingers if desired. But to follow in the footsteps of a real beatnik, visit here or build it like an improv game.
By Kathleen Flaherty, who wants you to know that 'Life is an orange - try to exract as much as you can out of it. But be sure to squeeze in some fun, too!'
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