Hold the Wheel and Drive

I will *not* be allowed to do this, guaranteed.

Maureen and I are facing a 6-hour(ish) drive on Friday, then a return 6 hours after the cruise. Although I know our amazing conversation skills will carry us through most of it (because we are, in fact, awesome), I started thinking about prepping for that part of the trip.

The essentials for any road trip, according to ehow.com:

1) Food, snacks and water: Maureen has promised me a cold Diet Coke upon my arrival to Jacksonville, and that she will have snacks packed. I figured that we would we be stopping at a grocery store and will be stopping for lunch and/or dinner. Diet Coke > water, but there should probably be some of that packed, too.

2) Battery Jumper/Jumper Cables: This is all on Maureen, as I have no idea where I will pack a battery jumper, let alone my 2nd swimsuit, in my luggage.

Look at those rockin hammer pants! Go Def Leppard!

3) Good music: This is ALL me. I love Maureen, but even she'll be the first to admit her musical knowledge is lacking. For her entire senior year at MSU/ my first year at Cooley Law, EVERY TIME we got in her car, it was playing "The Eagles Greatest Hits 1971-1975" CD because she didn't own any other CD's. Since then, I have passed down an old ipod and the woman got an iPhone- but I still send her music from time to time. I've made sure to download some new music, put some classics on there (a little "Pour Some Sugar On Me" for Maureen), and even downloaded a few episodes of This American Life. I'm ready.

4) Jack, Tire Iron, Spare Tire: Or, as I say, "having a AAA membership, where the Roadside Assistance vehicle comes and brings that stuff to you-- AND puts it on your car."

5) Travel Blanket and Pillow: I'm SO tempted to pack my MSU Snuggie now... but I probably won't. However, this is a good idea. Hopefully, Maureen is reading this and stashing a few pillows and blankets in the car for us. Can't hurt to have them on the boat, too.

6) Gas Can: I've always been taught that, if the car hits a quarter of a tank, it's time to fill up. I don't think this will be an issue... but again, I have AAA that will bring you 1-2 gallons of gasoline if you're stranded.

7) Power Inverter: Ehhhh, I don't think we'll need this. We have phone chargers and can use our computers to charge iPods. Actually, I think my car adapter will do both- charge the phone and the iPod. Magical technology, I tell you...

8) Trash Bag: Yeah, my OCD self will need one of these.

9) First Aid Kit: Band aids and Tylenol are already packed for the trip anyway. Check!

10) Camera: again, it's already charged up packed in my carry-on bag.

I added #11: Road trip games!  Maureen is probably going to kill me... BUT, I'm preparing the games!

1) Rock, Paper, Scissors- assuming she's at a stop light or can do it one-handed. What I *really* want to play is "rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock." I don't think she'll go for it...

2) Slug Bug/Pididdle- 1 point for a VW Bug, 2 points for a Woody Whacker (insert dirty, lewd comment here), first to 20 points wins. Pididdle probably won't happen since it'll be daylight while we drive, but you never know... and I don't think stripping will be as much fun in the car with 2 women, so the pididdle loser will have to do something else just as embarrassing.

3) I Spy- Traditional and may get a little boring as we drive along a stretch of highway. Plus, this may require the driver to take her eyes off the road.

4) Mad Libs- OOH I HAVE TO BUY SOME!

Like I said, I may not survive the car trip to Ft. Lauderdale... :-)