Reporting Live from A Road Trip

There is nothing I love more than a road trip. Could it be because I grew up in the midwest and often heard, "oh it's only a 9 hour drive?? that isn't too bad." I swear I don't think that is a normal thought people have outside of the midwest. I have a large family....like we could be our own soccer team large, so road tripping places was our go-to option when traveling to visit family or going on a vacation. I always loved making up games to play with my brothers, eating an ungodly amount of pringles, and waking up with what felt like a broken neck from how I curled up to nap in the car. The best part is that the car ride is a trip itself....you get to stop at cool places along the way, read books, or listen to the same Blink-182 song on repeat (which I often did on my yellow iPod nano).

In January of 2021, Seth and I decided to set the tone of our year with a nice long road trip. I made a Google folder, had spreadsheets with links and locations, and lists for snacks and things to pack. Seth so graciously contributed some audio books and pandora with ads while planning the trip (he is literally the only person I know who still uses pandora with ads). So when you are reporting live from a road trip or planning one, here are my tips and a breakdown of our road trip!

Our Trip

We planned our trip about a month before we put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. We had a set date that we had to be back in Indiana, so we planned within our time frame. When picking places to stop and stay for a couple nights we basically looked at the map and picked locations that were about 5-6 hours apart. Here is a break down of where we went:

• Kokomo, IN (starting point)

• Louisville, KY

• Gatlinburg, TN

• Savannah, GA

• Ft. Lauderdale, FL

• Marathon, FL

• Atlanta, GA

After we picked our locations I created an itinerary that detailed the dates we were staying in each place, the travel time between each location, and on each date the times that I had work meetings and Seth had class. We then worked on finding places to stay for our adventure (I'm going to share a detailed guide for Gatlinburg, Savannah, and Marathon (in the Florida Keys) with alllllll the deets and maybe some funny stories).

How to Find Things to Do

After figuring out where the heck you're going to stop the next thing to do is figure out what you want to do while you are there or en route to your stop for the night. We prefer to do outdoorsy things where we can be far away from other people, because you know why. So here are my ideas that I use to find things to do:

-Pinterest: When planning for a trip I will make a private Pinterest board that has other blogs and guides in it that provide ideas of places to eat and things to see that I think Seth and I would enjoy. This helps me figure out the best times to visit places, parking, costs, etc.

-Maps App is your Friend: Seth and I like to do outdoorsy/nature things, so when finding places to stop and things to see I will literally pull up the directions and follow the route to see if there are any cool state parks to stop at on the trip.

-Instagram: Another thing I like to do when planning for a trip is to look at the go to the explore page and then search pictures by location.

-Guy Fieri's Website: On our trip Seth and I felt very passionate about stopping for food at a place Guy Fieri visited. We are currently planning a cross-country road trip and I KNOW we will be using this for that road trip. We used his restaurant locator by state and ended up stopping at a place in South Carolina for lunch on our way to Savannah, GA.

-Airbnb Experiences: I love to check the Experiences tab to see if there is anything that interests me offered in the place I'm visiting. Using the experiences tab is also a great way to plan a stay-cation in your own city. I just planned a fun date night for Seth and I in San Diego using Airbnb Experiences and I'm *so* excited to surprise him with it.

Road Trip Essentials:

Here is a list of all the essentials you NEED in your car for a road trip.

• Phone charger or a fully charged battery pack

• Snacks and drinks! My go-tos are trail mix, apples, clementines, and La Croix

• Wipes, paper towels, and hand sanitizer

• A couple grocery bags to use for trash

• Board games and card games to bring each place you stay....we really got into chess during our road trip.

• A neck pillow and blanket for naps

• A good attitude

• And someone back home that you are updating regularly with your location! I touched base with my mom each day to let her know where we were at.

Feel free to send me your road trip essentials and tips! Hope you enjoyed!! xoxoxox, Ris 🦋

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