ROAD WARRIOR
While you may not be Mad Max driving the last V-8 across the wasteland, traveling long distances through unfamiliar places comes with inherent risks. For instance, many of you may be familiar with the story of James Kim, a TV personality whose vehicle became immobile in inclement weather during a holiday road trip. He died of exposure after deciding to leave his family in the car to go search for help in rural Oregon.
You may have also heard about the case of Denise Huber, whose car was found abandoned on the side of the freeway in 1991. Years after her disappearance, her body was discovered in a freezer in another state. It’s believed that Denise pulled over with a flat tire and her killer approached her under the pretenses of offering help before abducting and murdering her.
Aside from the traditional dangers presented by hundreds of miles of high-speed driving, there are less obvious ones you’ll want to think about and plan for, as our road trip experiences have illustrated. We’ll discuss where we’re going, how we’re getting there, what to take, and where to stay. We’ll talk maps, apps, and safety as well as a host of other topics to keep you protected on the road — whether you’re traveling a few hundred miles or a few thousand.
Recently, I completed my second coast-to-coast crossing. As a parent, I found myself confronted with a plethora of challenges presented by traversing 3,500 miles from Washington State to North Carolina in two vehicles with a wife, five children, two dogs, and everything we owned packed into a 16-foot box truck. The following considerations are based on the lessons my family learned while traveling across the country.
Preplanning
Preplanning the trip consists of gathering information on routes, driving schedule, accommodations, and vehicle inspection. I want to know where I’m going, how I’m getting there, what kind of pace I need to maintain to make it happen, and feel assured that my vehicle is good to go before we roll out. Much like my days in Afghanistan, we found ourselves surrounded by locals at temporary stops in strange towns, and not everyone we met along the way may have had the best of intentions toward us.
A homeless guy screaming at his dog at a gas station at 10:30 at night in Las Cruces, New Mexico, can be either an annoyance or something entirely unpredictable. So, while you fill up your tank with your entire world in the car and a mental breakdown 10 feet away, your decision to deal with him or avoid the situation entirely should’ve been made before you left your driveway. Let’s do some planning and avoid these types of situations altogether.
Route Planning
Fire up the Google machine and take a look at your intended route. And I don’t mean simply inputting your start and end points. Google or Apple — or whichever dystopian tech conglomerate is currently ruling your digital life —
