Notes on a Road Trip

I hit the open road this last weekend and travelled to Western Pennsylvania for Mother's Day.  It had been a long time since I had taken a road trip all by my lonesome, so I was a bit nervous.  As a New Yorker, I don't drive very often.  I used to joke that I only drove twice a year and that it was usually just taking my Grandma's Buick to the grocery store!  I used to drive a lot.  I had a sporty little two seat Honda and I used to love to go out exploring the Iowa backroads in college.  I tried to remember my relative lack of country drives on Friday when I found myself lost for an hour or two in Amish Country and literally stuck behind a buggy.  I was really lost, but it was really beautiful.

Two eight hour days of driving behind me, I can say that what everybody says about road trips is true.  I had a great time.  I played the same song on repeat yesterday for a full hour, belting out every word every time, and no one complained!


PS- I recently got the world's nicest letter from a reader who said she loved all my travel advise.  I never really considered myself a travel blogger, but with her in mind, I'll tell you this. For this road trip, I packed; music that I could sing along to, twizzlers, carrots, kale chips,  kombucha, chocolate, beef jerky and gum.  I chewed through two packs of Bubblemint Orbitz like a chain smoker smoking cigarettes.  I love it, and there's no better place for totally unabashedly obnoxious gum chewing than a road trip by yourself!

PSS- the car I rented was a Kia Optima Hybrid, and I drove not less than 16 hours in the mountains on just one tank of gas, returning it to New Jersey on fumes.  I'm definitely not in the market for a car, and I'm certainly not getting paid by Kia to say this, but that was one sweet ride!