Some of my fondest childhood memories involve road trips taken in the
family car. Whether visiting extended family or simply sight-seeing, a road
trip will often lead to wonderful opportunities for family time, exploration,
and adventure. It can also lead to blown diets, stiff joints, boredom, stress
and mental fatigue. But with proper planning and a little flexibility these
negatives aspects of a road trip can be minimized or completely eliminated.
My wife and I, along with our four-year-old son, recently put these
tips to the test as we made a round trip drive from Little Rock, Arkansas to
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A trip that saw us drive 4400 miles through Arkansas,
Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana across the
Canadian Border to Calgary. That was just the drive there. After spending a
week visiting my parents we made the return drive, this time going through
Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and finally home to Little
Rock. The journey to Calgary took two and a half days; we left Little Rock on a
Tuesday afternoon around 2pm (after I had gone to work at 5 am to leave early)
and arrived in Omaha, Nebraska at midnight. We were the road by six am and
drove all the way to Cody, Wyoming, just outside of Yellowstone National Park,
again arriving at midnight. This was after stopping by Mt. Rushmore in South
Dakota earlier in the day. That’s right, Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone in the
same day. After spending most of Thursday touring through Yellowstone we
arrived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at 1:30 am Friday morning. Without the
stops at Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore the return trip was a little shorter, leaving
Calgary at 6 am on a Friday, driving to Denver arriving at 1am. We hit the road
at 7am and made it home to Little Rock at midnight Saturday night.
Sound a little crazy? We have a few methods for stemming the madness,
six to be exact:
1.
Plan the
stops: on a road trip, nothing will derail a diet program or reduce the quality
breathable air inside the car quite like gas station food. For the sake of
speed and efficiency to get back on the road ASAP, we timed our meals with
stops for gas. The trick is to use a smart phone to locate a gas station that
either has a decently healthy restaurant attached, or, nearby. That same phone
will allow a person to view the menu and nutritional information ahead of
arrival. Going into the restaurant prepared to order will not only save time,
with the right meal choices it can help save that waist line. My family and I
were able to eat at Chick-Fil-A, Arby’s, Dairy Queen, and Quiznos without
worrying about blowing our diets.
2.
Take
Healthy Snacks for the Car: again, one of the keys to eating healthy is to
have options available before actually becoming hungry. Making a choice before
feeling the need to eat eliminates the opportunity to make a poor choice. We
tend to choose simple things like trail mix, fruit, yogurt, and protein bars.
An individual serving of one of these options between meals is an excellent way
control caloric intake and avoid the typical vacation weight gain. For my
family, it is important to eat healthy while on the road because all bets are
off once we arrive at my mom’s kitchen.
3.
Differentiate
between boredom and hunger: a mental obstacle to eating healthy is
struggling to not eat for entertainment. Few things will create a feeling of
boredom quite like sixteen hours days in the car. It is easy to reach for
something to eat at a way to break up the monotony of driving. A simple way to
do this is to only snack during a specific time window. This will avoid boredom
eating. We had our snacks 3 ½ to 4 hours
after breakfast and lunch. Planning curbs the hunger while alleviating the
boredom.
4.
Stay
mentally active: During the driving days of a road trip physical activity
will be limited; make up for it by staying mentally active. My wife and I
listened to a lot of podcasts covering a variety of activities and interests:
marriage, parenting, hunting, Christian living. Then we did something
remarkable; we talked about what we had heard. Conversation will relieve
boredom and pass time quickly. On top of this, my wife spent a couple hours
every day playing games with our son and teaching him to read. Road trips are
an excellent time to learn about a topic that there may not be time for during
life at home. Playing games is another way to pass the time. One of our family
favorites is “spot the animal.” It is simple, look for animals on the side of
the road we do not get to see at home. Playing this game through South Dakota,
Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. We saw three Buffalo, twenty Elk, roughly
thirty Mule Deer, and over 100 Antelope.
5.
Get
active during stops: Road trips are filled with numerous stops; gas,
bathrooms, food, sleep at night. Most of the time these stops are short and
getting back on the road quickly is the priority. However, planning one
deliberate stop per day of an hour or so to get out and move around is an
excellent way to feel relief from the monotony of the miles. We made two
deliberate stops on our way. We stopped at Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone. At
Rushmore we walked through the exhibits and walkways while viewing the
monument. In all, we spent a little more than ninety minutes walking around and
enjoying the sights. Is a ninety minute walk going to miraculously shed ten
pounds? No, but it will do wonders to reduce the stiffness and soreness that
often accompanies long days of sitting in a vehicle. The day in Yellowstone
began at six am and we left the part around
four in the afternoon during that time we got out an walked down trails
at different views of waterfalls, mountains, and of course Old Faithful.
Nothing terribly strenuous but at the same staying active and enjoying the
beauty of nature.
6.
Work as a
team: this tip is about staying emotionally healthy on the road. One of the
benefits of a family road trip is the opportunity to work together. As I
already mentioned, my wife and I worked together to plan out stops for gas and
meals. She also served as a navigator when the directions got confusing. On our
return trip we had planned to spend the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Arriving in
Cheyenne at 11:30 pm we learned that the Wyoming Frontier Days festival was
happening and that hotels were booked up for miles. Think State Fair multiplied
by one hundred. Apparently it is one of the biggest Country Festivals in
America and we unknowingly drove right into the middle of it. We continued down
the road, I let her know what towns we were coming to while she called ahead
trying to find a hotel room. We finally found a hotel room on the outskirts of
Denver, 80 miles further than where we had planned on staying that night. We
went to bed at 1:30 am, two hours later than anticipated. This situation could
have easily turned into a minor problem into an argument for the ages. There
are three steps to successful team work on the road: 1) Identify the problem,
2) Identify your personal role in correcting the problem, 3) Provide
information to help fix the problem without being critical of the other
person’s action. Our problem was simple: no hotel rooms available. Solution:
Keep driving until you find one. No other choice in this circumstance. Identify
roles: I kept driving, my wife called ahead while trying to comfort our half-asleep
son who was crying because the hotel would not let us stay. The hardest part is
keeping emotions in check in the face of bad news; in our case my wife and I
had a constant back and forth about where we were and nothing being available.
In situations like this; share information, not frustration. This is team
building and emotional strengthening, any other action is adding to the
problem, not helping to fix it.
Road trips are an
amazing opportunity to see new areas and experience new things. Doing so
without being detrimental to all aspects of health is possible. The key is to
plan ahead, take opportunities to avoid stress, and work together in the face
of adversity.
