Living 11 states away from my home in Georgia has brought many obstacles, as well as opportunities, to me in the the past year. The most dreadful challenge being the 20 hour drive required me to get my car to Hartford for the school year, and back to Atlanta for the summer. Since I've now made this journey twice, or maybe I should say now that I've survived the trek, I have compiled a list of 20 things that happen on a 20 hour road trip.
1. You eat mostly, if not only fast food, and immediately regret it.
2. You'll drink a lot of water, or whatever beverage of your choice, the first few hours, but after your fourth bathroom break, or a 20-mile journey on a turnpike, you'll pull a survivor and not even bat an eye at liquids. Its like crossfire for your bladder.
3. The amount of music you will listen to in order to keep you from dying of boredom will make you hate music.
4.You'll think you're going through menopause with the amount of times you switch the air conditioning on and off.
5. Traffic will inevitably make your 20-hour drive a 22-hour drive.
6. As a result, profanities will be shouted, and you will receive quite a few back from other irritable drivers as well.
7. Your naps, if you're lucky enough to be accompanied by another person, will result in neck, back, and potentially leg pain.
8. Speaking of naps, even if you take twenty, you'll still feel like you've been hit by a bus the moment you end up at your destination, resulting in a good deep 12-hour sleep.
9. Fights will happen. People weren't meant to drive continuously for this amount of time. Sitting behind a wheel staring at the same Dodge Minivan hour after hour can create some rage in people. Just keep in mind you'll probably have to see the person accompanying you again at some point, so be careful with the words and tones you choose.
10. You'll envy your friends who are at the bar, or chilling poolside, while you're sitting passenger in the same t-shirt and leggings you wore the day before. Lets be honest, it's day three for this outfit.
11. Questioning why you decided to move so far away might happen too.
12. Questioning why we haven't created flying cars to avoid construction and other annoyances is normal as well.
13. Wondering if you'll ever see society again after passing your third dairy farm will probably happen. But no worries you've got this.
14. When you get lost, which literally always happens, you'll have your patience tested, especially if its 1:38 a.m. and you've somehow ended up outside the NSA ground in Washington D.C unexpectedly. The upside of this is the story you'll get to tell when you get home.
15. You will lose so many things underneath your seats in 20 hours. I found half a bag of melted dove chocolate mixed in with my headphones.
16. Those last few hours are, without a doubt, the most painful. I recommend something active for the brain, like sudoku or those adult coloring books all the hipsters like. To be honest, I don't follow this advice and usually end up screaming out the window at god for creating so much traffic near Atlanta.
17. Somehow politics will enter the discussion. Whether you want to "Make American Great Again" or have "Hillary for America" doesn't take away from the fact that you're still in a car, and there's still no space for your legs with all the luggage you decided to pack.
18. Once you see your home state's sign, you will have an emotional response of some sort, perhaps tears?
19. When you pull into the driveway of your final destination you will exit the car feeling like a brand new person, and will feel tempted to never enter a motor vehicle again.
20. Sooner of later you'll have to unload the car, so you'll probably have some profanity slip out then as well.
