By Morgan Hixson
March 28, 2019
Spring Break. For many people Spring Break means trips with friends and family to traditional vacation spots like the beach or a mountainous resort. Others just stay put and relax at home. Personally, I do the relaxing bit, but unfortunately the staying put part is not included. I must drive home to Colorado by myself every time break rolls around. Now, I know for most of you a twelve hour drive with no company sounds… well, awful. It definitely can be, unless you get a little creative. The following is a recap of what I do during my journey.
First off, music. Music is a must. If you only take one thing away from this reading, let it be this: make sure you have a playlist full of bops, jams, and sing-your-heart-out hits. You will never regret it. Typically, with my music comes my concert. I treat myself (and, if I am especially loud, the middle-aged lady in the Corolla next to me at the light) to a concert which is always great, despite my bad singing voice, thanks to my great taste in music. It has everything from solo ballads, to rock duets, to the occasional quartet, all while accompanied by an array of bad imitations of musical instruments, with some beatboxing and rapping sprinkled in for good measure. If merely singing along is not good enough for you, there are a couple of games you can play to add intrigue. I like to call the first one “Wildly Guessing at Harmonies” and it is really simple to learn: all you have to do is try and harmonize with a song for its entire duration. The second game is called “How Long Does it Take to Lose My Voice?” and basically what you do is you time yourself to see how long it takes before you sound like Darth Sidious trying to impersonate Yoda gargling shards of glass, then write your time down to see if you can beat it next time.
Once you have inevitably mutilated your vocal chords, it is time to move on to another activity. What’s the fun in music if there is no one jamming to it? But feel free to leave the music on as background noise. So, the next step is to start forming emotional connections with the cars around you on the interstate. Honestly, you really do not have to try hard at this stage, it pretty much happens on its own with some time. I’ll never forget the green minivan which I traveled behind for over a hundred miles before he tragically exited in western Kansas. I wonder how he’s doing? I hope he’s okay…. The attachments need not always be positive ones. Feel free to begin feeling annoyed towards any rude trucks who cut you off and force you to reset your cruise control. Jerks. I would also highly recommend sending apologetic thoughts to any Buicks which you passed without using your blinkers (sorry, ma’am with the Arkansas license plate- honest mistake). My personal favorite part of this step is the rivalries that develop. You know, where a car passes you, but then later they slow down so you pass them, but then they speed up to pass you, then later when you try to pass them you swear they start speeding up… good times. Rivalries only end when one car caves to the needs of their bladders and stomachs (or, if you are REALLY weak, your route. This writer has once gone two hours out of his way with no regrets just so he would beat an SUV from Florida, but if you have a smaller will then that is fine).
I’d now like to briefly mention one last recommended technique, that being the Train of Thought. Specifically getting on one, zoning out… then getting off at a wildly different stop. My all time favorite occurrence of this has to be when I began thinking about Taco Bell (I was mildly famished and saw a sign) but then one thing lead to another and next thing I knew I was debating with myself about whether or not the Apostle Paul had better dancing ankles than Michael Jordan.
Honorable mentions for other things which make one person trips enjoyable: Food, all jokes told are funny, no one snores in the back seat (usually), and making weird noises out loud just because.
With these guidelines in mind, I hope, should you ever find yourself on a solo road trip, that you are now well equipped to make it a fun one. Now if you will excuse me, Spring Break is nearly over, and I have a college to get back to.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Infuse Student Media or Southwest Baptist University.
Comments