hydration is the most important thing.
Gatorade type drinks for sure.
A little bit of water when you're sick of the gatorade.
Try to do as little caffinated sodas as possible.
You will dehydrate and you will get a headache.
Trust me on this.
We make pitstops for peeing and stuff, so if you don't want to bring a cooler, you can just buy drinks along the way.
Every year that we do one of these trips, I'm able to do less soda and still stay awake, and avoid the [censored] headache that I used to get on the first few trips.
Having a copilot REALLY helps to stay awake. For both discussion and to switch off on driving duties for naps.
I have no clue how Elky and Brapple drive it every year.
They crazy.
Huge variety of tunage is important.
Mike has a 12 disc player. We pop in a broad selection of cds and put it on random. Or just burn yourself a bunch of mix cd's.
If all you listen to is wordless trance or club music the whole way, you'll fall asleep. The rhythmic beats lull you to sleep. You gotta switch it up and get some vocals in there.
We also use Dennis Leary's standup cds as backup for when we're dragging. It makes for good laughs.
Laughing is probably the best thing for staying awake.
Be a perverted, sophomoric retard and make fun of the town names and such.
Get on the two-way radio and make the retarded comments. Just don't tell minute long stories like Jsmith.
It will rain during the drive. It always does. Your front bumper will collect bugs, the car will arrive to SZ dirty. You can't avoid it. Clean and wax the crap outta your car before leaving.
Bring your car care products and towels.
There are car washes, so you could even do a full wash if you're that filthy, but for the most part, you can get away with quick detailer spray and be show-worthy.
Check fluids and all that good stuff too.
I think we usually end up doing an oil change after the trip. It depends on the last time you've done the oil change.
The mileage adds up to roughly 1,800, round-trip, but I can doublecheck on that.
