What Signafies You Are on a Road Trip?

[ethanhopkin14]

What are the things that make you feel like you are on a road trip?  Is it the car packed with the wife and kid's pillows?  The fact you are in the car and everyone has their shoes off?  Maybe it's your choice of beverage or food at the time?  For me, it's stopping at a convenience store with a different name than the ones in my town (Alsups is one of them), seeing candy I have never seen before, or the 20 oz. Dr. Peppers out here are in a rounder bottle than back home (since Dr. Pepper has no national bottling contract).  I could drive the first 100 miles of a road trip for business and stop at the same convenience store and not have the same feeling, but if it is a part of a long road trip it has a different feeling. 

What are the signs that make you "feel" like you are truly on the road?  Sometimes it's a difference in the way the roads are constructed, signage differences (even though it takes forever to get out of Texas, the different districts do things so differently it feels like leaving the state when you still have hours to go) or even differences in the pavement (the rough grey of Western Texas, vs the red pavement of Far West and East Texas).

[Roadgeekteen]

Staying overnight anywhere. Also seeing a ton of luggage in the trunk.

[Max Rockatansky]

Either it's overnight or my hiking bag is in my car. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

It's usually when I reach the part of a familiar route number that I don't see very often.

[Ned Weasel]

Being more than a full day's drive away from home.

[TheGrassGuy]

* Service areas
* Rest areas
* Paper maps
* Hotels, obviously
* Unfamiliar route numbers

[CtrlAltDel]

For me it's mostly a mindset thing, which at least for me, comes from a number of things, not necessarily independent:

Distance — the longer the better of course, but a day trip can be a road trip

Destination — if I'm going to be seeing or doing something more or less important or unique at the destination

Diversions — the more I'm going to see various sights along the way, the more I'll consider it a road trip

Duration — the longer I'm at my destination, the more likely I will consider it a road trip

Preparation — the longer it takes to get everything set, the more likely I'll consider it a road trip

Clinching — clinching a road is, on its own, a reason to consider a trip a road trip

Solitude — if I'm not traveling by myself, the vibe is different, and the more the other criteria need to apply


Traditions — for all "official" road trips, I take a set route I take to reach the first interstate, and I have a tendency to avoid shortcuts; I also celebrate in some way crossing state lines; I also usually make it a point to buy gas in each state except perhaps the beginning and ending state


Not all of these are necessary, of course, but the more there are the more I'll see it as a road trip.

[FrCorySticha]

For me it's fairly simple: good music on the radio, lots of snacks and pops (or "sodas" for you heathens), and luggage in the back.

[ari-s-drives]

Chex mix

[skluth]

Any trip where I take my road atlas for directions rather than relying on the map in my head

[SSOWorld]

A drive other than the commute where I can play a lengthy playlist from my phone.

[allniter89]

Crossing a state line.
Ice & pop in the cooler.
Reset the trip odometer b4 leaving our driveway. I like to see how far I drove on the roadtrip.
The need to check the atlas, driving unfamiliar hwys.
Possibly writing my route on paper.
I'm feeling the need for a roadtrip, probably to Mt Vernon, IL. I've driven this trip b4 but not often enough to be boring.
I was mulling a Mem Day roadtrip but then 

[Rothman]

Luggage in the back and the key in the ignition.

[Roadgeekteen]

Any trip where I take my road atlas for directions rather than relying on the map in my head

That would be very far for me. My head map + signs could probably get me to most major American cities.

[dlsterner]

Any trip where I take my road atlas for directions rather than relying on the map in my head

That would be very far for me. My head map + signs could probably get me to most major American cities.

Sometimes the best road trips are to the more obscure places, rather than the "major" cities. 

[GaryV]

If you have to pack more than a lunch, it's a road trip.

[1995hoo]

Typically for me it's if I go beyond Richmond, Charlottesville, I-81, Frederick, or Annapolis.

[thspfc]

I think you can be on a road trip without staying overnight. Unless you want to classify "road trip" and "day trip" as two separate things.

[jeffandnicole]

For me, it mainly is doing something unusual. I can roadtrip in my own county for several hours. We drove from NJ to WV for a day trip...less than 3 hours each direction. Yet, I wouldn't consider NJ to Baltimore a road trip since I've done it often, even though I stay overnight there.

[ethanhopkin14]

For me it's fairly simple: good music on the radio, lots of snacks and pops (or "sodas" for you heathens), and luggage in the back.

Cokes in Texas.  To those who may not know, all carbonated soft drinks that people may call pops or sodas are called universally "cokes" in Texas.  It is not uncommon for the following exchange:

Person 1: "Hey do you want a coke?"

Person 2: "Yeah!"

Person 1: "Okay, what kind?"

Person 2: "Dr. Pepper."

[Henry]

Going through at least two or three states, depending on the length of the road in one of those states.

[roadman65]

Anytime I drive from A to B convoluted and make loops or side road trips.

[vdeane]

I can't say I've ever seen the words "pop" or "soda" pluralized before this thread.  Do you guys refer to glasses of water as "waters" too?

[Roadgeekteen]

Going through at least two or three states, depending on the length of the road in one of those states.

Doesn't work up here, I've been on day trips to southern Maine through 3 states and that's barely a road trip.

[ethanhopkin14]

I can't say I've ever seen the words "pop" or "soda" pluralized before this thread.  Do you guys refer to glasses of water as "waters" too?

I say waters for multiple bottles of water.