Anybody got any?
I live 6 hours away from my fiancee, and I don’t fly because I have a dog, and I take her with me to go home (hence, I’m cheap and don’t want to pay the extra money to fly her). The drive is so extremely boring, it’s ridiculous. It goes almost directly straight the entire time, with nothing but corn, soy, wheat and cow shit on any side at any given time. boring boring boring. Anybody got any tips for making the drive seem to go quicker?
Books on tape?
Also, there’s a series of language learning CDs: ‘Learn x in your car’ that are pretty good and pretty cheap. You could become conversant in German or something.
Books on tape/CD. It’s a great time to absorb information, and there are some interesting titles available – although most are abridged versions. You could even listen to collegiate-level class lectures – check out The Learning Company’s website. The courses are somewhat expensive in terms of total cost, but you’re getting hours and hours of material.
I always liked playing the game of “lets see how fast we can go without a ticket”. Although that one can get expensive if you screw up.
I guess I just listen to music on drives like that. Honestly though I rarely go that distance anymore by myself, and when I do it’s through northern wisconsin. Which means I cant just lay back and cruise since there is deer up the wazoo wandering into the road, also a town about every 5 minutes, and some cool looking national forests in the upper michigan area…
If you have a really hyper dog then I suggest giving him/her a beer or two before leaving. They say to use Benadryl but we tried that on our full-grown puppy once for a 4-hour drive. Just made her more hyper.
Ditto with the books on cd idea. I drive 40 minutes to and from work everyday, and I find that listening to a good book really makes the drive go by faster. Actually, there are times where I look forward to driving home so that I can finally find out what happens in the story. I tend to lean more towards the thriller/crime-mystery genre when I am listening to a book on cd. James Patterson is pretty good. 6 hour drive will take through one book! Trust me, it will make the drive more entertaining!
I used to do that a while back for almost 1 year, not as far as you only abouy two hours and a half or so each way.
I usually tried to beat my last time, Which eventually isnt possible , but I still always tried to. Music is the Key though. Just listen to music nice and loud and and have a good time with it.
I found eventually the trips became routine and just flew by. I would try that learn a language thing on tape or CD though as that actually sounds like a good way to keep one occupied and get something out of it at the same time.
Music is Key…
So are Books on audio, I caught up on the last Harry Potter book whenb I drove from Michigan to California last year.
Also, it’s kind of interesting to map out your progress in a log book or a PDA. Include things like fuel mileage, where you stopped, miles traveled inbetween breaks, etc…
Be glad you’re moving.
My girlfriends Dad works for the Pentagon and the drive from Loudon County during rush hour is about 2 hours of stop and go traffic. Imagine doing that 6 days a week. Of course I’m sure the lexus makes it a cozier ride than my minivan would.
How often do you have to make this drive? One of my friends drives from Buffalo to NY a couple times a month and he just does it early in the morning before hes fully conscious of the time going by.
-Adam
What direction are you driving? When I do road trips I try to plan it so I’m driving west for sunset and east for sunrise. You get the extended version of the sunset and the synopsis (but at least you can see it) of the sunrise. I know it sounds cheesy but that stuff really makes me happy and at peace to experience.
The books on tape/cd thing is a good idea. If that fails to keep your attention, you could always go for one of those vibrating travel pussy’s that plug into your cigarette lighter. After you’re done with it, it becomes a play toy for the dog. Multi-purpose tool. 
Comedy tapes (Carlin, Jammin in NY; Williams, Live at the Met).
schedule a refeed during your drive…you feel satiated, and your mind is like its on LSD as the insulin rushes in and all around
Vain
I go to school in Ottawa and my family lives an hour west of Toronto. Yep, 6 hour drive. Aren’t they fun?
Anyway, really loud F’n music always does it for me. Something with album coherency though, not just a random collection of songs. Like, The Wall (Pink Floyd) and stuff like that.
Although I really like that language tape idea. Knowing french would increase my employment opportunities by about 4000%
Bringing along a rowdy rag will always help the time fly by on a long drive.
I went home this past weekend, and I’m doing it again in 2 weeks. I usually have to drive through the country, so radio stations are virtually nil. I have to make some new cd’s, as per your suggestions. I definitely need to get some books on tape, or some comedy on tape. I noticed on the way home last time, I was listening to some hard classic rock, and I got into a group of drivers. Well, without knowing it, we all got up to 95 mph for about 2 hours. It made the trip a lot shorter, but damn, I don’t want to get caught.
I definitely eat like shit when I drive on these trips because I want them to go fast. I stop at a fast food place, but I’ll get something remotely healthy in their standards, i.e. grilled chicken sammich, no mayo.
Thanks for the tips!!
Oh, and Karma, I was driving into sunset this past time, and it was cool, because the sun seemed to just hang in one spot.
Case of beer.Good times, good times…
Yes. Drive faster.
Seriously, if you’re out in bumblefuck, you might as well make good time. Easier to entertain oneself for 5 hours than 6.
DI
Skynyrd and a 'lil doobage.
i live in la junta and i’m from denver so i always used to drive there atleast 2 to 3 times in a month and each way is 3 hr’s or so long. i found that having realy loud music with some nice bass always helped me. some comedy cd’s would be great too. just have several cause they usually don’t last too long. and i never thought of eather language cd’s or story cd’s but i think that is a great idea! i think that i might have to try that. thanks to who came up with those sigestions. 
Bring a stripper.