Roadtrippin' To Texas!

For some people, the thought of being stuck in a car for 15 hours is a nightmare. 
Once JC and I decided to take on this 15 hour car-ride challenge to Texas for his youngest brother's graduation from Basic Military Training, many people told us we were “brave.”

Brave or not, I was not completely dreading the drive.  I am addicted to seeing and exploring new places and the route to Texas was going to allow me to take in the sights of another state I had never been to.  I was ready to take on the 15 hour car-ride challenge.

In hopes of making the drive easier for the two of us, JC and I decided to break it up into two days.  We left early in the evening Wednesday, stopping in Springfield, Missouri for the night at a cheap hotel.  The inside of the hotel room reminded me of a room you would see on an RV, but it served its purpose of providing a place for us to rest our heads for a few hours.

The next morning, bright and early, we headed back out onto the road.  We rolled into Oklahoma by mid-morning and were welcomed by miles upon miles of road construction.  Oklahoma turned out to be much more green and hilly then I had expected.  It was interesting to me that we drove hundreds of miles to Oklahoma and the landscape was very similar to Illinois.

 

 

After crossing the Texas border the construction and traffic continued, but we were happy to see the appearance of Whataburger Restaurants and made a pit stop to recharge. 

We finally made it to our destination of San Antonio, Texas late Thursday evening.  We could not have been happier to get out of the car and find a nice “watering hole.” 

 

 

Thankfully the ride home on Sunday, which was done in one day, was much easier and more pleasant with very little construction and traffic.

For my 15 hour car-ride I made sure to pack a few things to help make the trip easier.  Here’s my go-to list of must-haves for long road trips (some of which I neglected to pack this time and sorely missed):

-Snacks: normally we pile up on sugary snacks, but since we are trying to eat healthier we limited the number of snacks and chose low-fat pretzels (JC’s favorite)

-Bottled water: I usually buy a small package to drink along the way to limit on stops – we did not do this during this trip, which resulted in more pit stops and cash spent for drinks.

-Pillow/Blanket: I was not prepared for this trip at all—I left home without these also.

-Cell phone charger for car: This one came in very handy for this trip as I watched Netflix movies on my iPhone throughout the drive.

-Entertainment (i.e. books, magazines, crossword puzzles, etc.)

-Atlas/Maps: I liked to keep track of where we were in each state to show myself we were making progress toward our final destinations!

-Tylenol/meds

-Camera: to take pictures of the state welcome signs.

-Sunglasses/sunscreen: Believe it or not, my face got burnt on the way to Texas through the car windows.

-Talking games: I found this game on pinterest and did a few from the list http://cherishinghopesanddreams.blogspot.com/2012/01/30-things.html

 

Happy travels – and more about our time in San Antonio, Texas soon!