Thursday Thoughts: June 5, 2025

Since I’m about to embark on another road trip in a couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of internet searching on things to keep my friend and myself from getting bored on the drive.  I’m still relatively new to this road tripping thing, so I definitely needed a bit of inspiration.  Especially since, when we did this when I was a kid, I’d sit in the back with my cassette Walkman (dating myself here) and a book.  But you can’t really do that when you’re the one driving.

So, how do we keep ourselves entertained?

The first thing my traveling partner suggested was an audiobook.  We’ve done this before, and it worked out really well.  We’re planning on a John Scalzi novel for this trip because he’s one of our favorites and his books are always lighthearted and a lot of fun.

The next thing she suggested were Mad Libs.  I am so excited that she did, too, because I haven’t done these things since my girls were in elementary school.  Found two different ones at Barnes and Noble and can’t wait to see what kind of ridiculousness we can come up with.

In a similar vein, since she and I are both writers, we have been known to randomly plot stories while we’re driving or otherwise preoccupied.  I’m hoping we can get some of that in during this trip, even if the stories never get written.

Something fun I saw online was to bring a notebook along and write down the interesting or crazy things you see on your trip.  Or funny things you and your travel partner say.  I love this idea because I want to make a travel junk journal once I’m back home, and these little observations and memories will be great to have for later.  Plus, it might remind me to keep all the silly little things you usually throw away on a trip.

Another idea I found online was to find the weirdest roadside attractions and stop at them.  This made me laugh because we came really close to doing something like this last year.  We’ll have more time and will be on the road more this trip, so I think we’ll have to factor this one in for sure.  And driving through the desert southwest, there’s bound to be some strange and odd things to stop and see along the way.  Maybe we’ll even spot a jackelope?

One I’d never have thought of on my own was to bring a project.  My travel partner is bringing her knitting, which I think is fantastic.  She can get caught up on her projects while I drive.  Since she has offered to take some of the driving duties off my hands, I ought to find something I can do while riding as well.  I’m open to suggestions as well.

Plus, I’m sure we’ll talk each other’s ears off whenever we have a bit of downtime, but I think that’s half the fun of a girl’s trip.

What kind of things do you do to keep yourself entertained on a long drive?