What 'says' road trip to you?

[JJBers]

Poor state roads and horrible potholes

[kkt]

Different chains of fast food or gas at the exits.

[mariethefoxy]

When I cross over the Throggs Neck Bridge or the Verezano Narrows Bridge

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Getting to Zaragoza does it for me, as in most road trips I'll be passing through there.

This post is brought from June to your guys in May .

[kphoger]

The Kansas Turnpike.  I hardly ever use it except leaving for a long-distance trip, but I almost use it at the beginning of one.

[slorydn1]

Sitting in my driveway waiting for the clock to tick to the next minute because my pre-launch checklist was complete a minute early.
Oh yeah, and placing my thermos full of coffee on the floor next to my wife's left leg-I don't carry that unless we are on a long trip.

[noelbotevera]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

[Max Rockatansky]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

That's way too damn late for a road trip wake up time.  My Dad would flip his $#*% back when I was your age if we weren't on the road by 4 AM. 

[US 81]

I thought of another one: freeways without access/frontage/service roads. They're ubiquitous in TX, so if I'm driving on a freeway without, it must mean I'm on a Road Trip.

[noelbotevera]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

That's way too damn late for a road trip wake up time.  My Dad would flip his $#*% back when I was your age if we weren't on the road by 4 AM. 

I'm actually supposed to wake up at 7 AM, but I just mess around for an hour and wait until they finally are decently ready.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I must be a weird roadtripper, because unless I do something stupid like book a hotel in Denver and leave from Minneapolis the same day like I did last year, I have no problem with leaving late (like 11 AM-12 PM) and driving until the wee hours of the morning.

[slorydn1]

I must be a weird roadtripper, because unless I do something stupid like book a hotel in Denver and leave from Minneapolis the same day like I did last year, I have no problem with leaving late (like 11 AM-12 PM) and driving until the wee hours of the morning.

Nah not wierd, my little brother is a 11-noon departer too.

Depending on where I am going I leave at whatever time would allow me to arrive between 5:00pm and 6:00pm. It may be as early as 2am or as late as 10am usually.

[Max Rockatansky]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

That's way too damn late for a road trip wake up time.  My Dad would flip his $#*% back when I was your age if we weren't on the road by 4 AM. 

I'm actually supposed to wake up at 7 AM, but I just mess around for an hour and wait until they finally are decently ready.

Well to be fair my Dad was a little on the paranoid side about traffic or delays in general.  He was really bad at the airport most of all, we would usually get to the gate 2-2.5 hours in advance of departure.  He was always worried about traffic and it causing something to be messed with what he had planned out.  Mind you this was a good 10-20 years in advance of things like the TSA at airports...so yeah...damn that's way too early.    But with that in mind usually he would try to 1 day the trip to the destination from Detroit to anywhere up to including Florida if it was more than just me and him.  Anytime more than 2 people were in the car he would get really edgy, I suppose that's why movies like vacation really resonated at the time since the stereotypes about the bumbling traveling family were largely true.

Now...I can't be the only one on this, but what about empty water bottles and an upset parent telling you use them rather than stopping on the side of the road to pee? 

[mariethefoxy]

Another Long Islander here, what says road trip is any time I get over the Verezano or Throgs Neck Bridge (sometimes Whitestone)

[vdeane]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

That's way too damn late for a road trip wake up time.  My Dad would flip his $#*% back when I was your age if we weren't on the road by 4 AM. 

I'm actually supposed to wake up at 7 AM, but I just mess around for an hour and wait until they finally are decently ready.

Well to be fair my Dad was a little on the paranoid side about traffic or delays in general.  He was really bad at the airport most of all, we would usually get to the gate 2-2.5 hours in advance of departure.  He was always worried about traffic and it causing something to be messed with what he had planned out.  Mind you this was a good 10-20 years in advance of things like the TSA at airports...so yeah...damn that's way too early.    But with that in mind usually he would try to 1 day the trip to the destination from Detroit to anywhere up to including Florida if it was more than just me and him.  Anytime more than 2 people were in the car he would get really edgy, I suppose that's why movies like vacation really resonated at the time since the stereotypes about the bumbling traveling family were largely true.

Now...I can't be the only one on this, but what about empty water bottles and an upset parent telling you use them rather than stopping on the side of the road to pee? 

So how early would he leave in this day and age for the airport?  2-2.5 days?

[Max Rockatansky]

Having to wake up at 8 AM and waiting half an hour just for preparations because I'm done by then. Cue Sonic the Hedgehog's signature phrase.

That's way too damn late for a road trip wake up time.  My Dad would flip his $#*% back when I was your age if we weren't on the road by 4 AM. 

I'm actually supposed to wake up at 7 AM, but I just mess around for an hour and wait until they finally are decently ready.

Well to be fair my Dad was a little on the paranoid side about traffic or delays in general.  He was really bad at the airport most of all, we would usually get to the gate 2-2.5 hours in advance of departure.  He was always worried about traffic and it causing something to be messed with what he had planned out.  Mind you this was a good 10-20 years in advance of things like the TSA at airports...so yeah...damn that's way too early.    But with that in mind usually he would try to 1 day the trip to the destination from Detroit to anywhere up to including Florida if it was more than just me and him.  Anytime more than 2 people were in the car he would get really edgy, I suppose that's why movies like vacation really resonated at the time since the stereotypes about the bumbling traveling family were largely true.

Now...I can't be the only one on this, but what about empty water bottles and an upset parent telling you use them rather than stopping on the side of the road to pee? 

So how early would he leave in this day and age for the airport?  2-2.5 days?

I think he showed up around 4 hours early during the heyday of post-9/11 security line waits in 2001-2002.  By then he had developed a heart issue and avoiding stress was even a bigger deal, good news was most his company travel days were long behind him by then.  By then my only exposure to his travel schedule was getting on a plane to go home.  Kind of worked out since he would be at the airport long before rush hour and I could do my thing.

Speaking of that I was living in Phoenix at the time and he flew in to go up to New Year's on 2001.  For some reason he insisted leaving at noon the day we were supposed to go to Las Vegas even though he was fully aware of the long waits crossing Hoover Dam for vehicle inspections.  He wasn't even the driver on that trip but that was by far the worst one that I took with him.  US 93 was a two-lane highway back in those days with no a lot of passing room which got way worked up even before hitting Kingman.  Suffice to that last jaunt to the state line wasn't a fun one, at least my parents got a good look at the Dam since we we're stuck looking at in the back up for hours. 

But pretty much all my closer family has a road traveling quirk that's recognizable:

Uncle:  Drives 15 MPH under the speed limit.
Grand Father:  Very timid in the passenger seat and will even try to grab the wheel on occasion.
Mom:  Very afraid of mountain roads and high speeds associated with them.
Brother:  Infamously slow to get out the door and in the car.
Brother-in-law:  Tries to one-day every road trip no matter the distance.

[paulthemapguy]

Any fast food garbage left over in my car.  Nothing says 'road trip' like being on the road in the middle of nowhere, where my food options limit me to Wendy's, Arby's, and the like.

[Max Rockatansky]

Any fast food garbage left over in my car.  Nothing says 'road trip' like being on the road in the middle of nowhere, where my food options limit me to Wendy's, Arby's, and the like.

Or limiting yourself to safe foods like fruit, protein bars or anything that doesn't require human preparation because you have a giant gap between services to drive through or you have to get going before anything is open.  Usually I'm a Subway, Quizos, Jimmy John's or in general a sub guy on the road...found the bland food be just what the doctor ordered on a long drive.

[hbelkins]

For many of my trips, this sign...

[slorydn1]

For many of my trips, this sign...

For me its usually this one  here.

[1995hoo]

....

Now...I can't be the only one on this, but what about empty water bottles and an upset parent telling you use them rather than stopping on the side of the road to pee? 

I think I mentioned the "pee jar" from when my brother and I were kids somewhere in another thread. My dad pulled off on the shoulder of the Thruway somewhere between Albany and maybe Saugerties when my brother had to puke once, but until we were too big to stand up in the back seat, if we had to piss RIGHT NOW and there was no rest area around, we were told to use the "pee jar." (I'm sure it is not a coincidence that incidents of having to go RIGHT NOW decreased as we approached an age where we were too big to stand up, as bladder control seems to be something all little kids have to learn.)

[Jardine]

Frequently, but not always, just getting onto the interstate will do it.  Pulling off the county gravel and onto that ramp leading to the interstate, and knowing it's connected to every road in the continental US, makes me want to go.

[Max Rockatansky]

Getting flipped off by nervous drivers who don't use the pull-outs when they are going 10 MPH below the speed limit in a canyon for 15 plus miles. 

[Rothman]

Getting flipped off by nervous drivers who don't use the pull-outs when they are going 10 MPH below the speed limit in a canyon for 15 plus miles. 

Heh.  Coming out of Flaming Gorge, I sped around a slow-moving RV that refused to pull over into pull-outs.  Got the stinkeye from them.

[fdpierson]

For many of my trips, this sign...

Same area, different direction for me.