Orange County to Texas-First time!

[mrubio79]

Hi Everyone! So glad to have found a forum that may be able to help with my first road trip out through the southwest. We will be travelling in Late June (26-29) so we are both prepared for some serious heat. I think we'll be driving with very little clothes on once we get to New Mexico.
When I was alot younger my family made that drive out there in july/august, and we did ALOT of night driving to avoid the heat.
My boyfriend and I are driving from Orange County (near the 5, 55 and 405) to East Texas (40 miles north of Houston).

What are some really good tips for first time lovebird roadtrippers?

My Jetta has about 55K miles on it right now. It's been driven pretty gently the 6 years i've had it. And I am having it serviced this week for new timing belt, oil change, tire pressure and overall condition. Should I talk to my mechanic about any additional service?

[PNW Judy]

First, the car....the service you're getting should be enough. You might be sure to tell him that you're planning a roadtrip so he can take that into consideration when he checks your car out.

Now, the heat...don't you have A/C? You can drive at night if you prefer but then you'll miss seeing the sights along the road. I can't imagine that you'll have any problems as long as you run the A/C when you need it. Just make sure you drink lots of water. That's always a good idea in the heat.

[W. Larrison]

If you've got a working A/C in the car, you should be fine. If you have a concern, find a fast food place with A/C and have a leisurely late lunch, just to cool off. (But the car will be hot when you get back out to it.) Or plan on leaving early in the morning, and getting to a hotel in mid-afternoon to enjoy the A/C and soak in the pool. I remember driving through the dessert at night with my parents to avoid the heat -- but that was back in the early-mid-60's when A/C was something unusual to find in cars.

Your car sounds fine.. I've got a 4 (going on 5) year old car with 65,000 miles on it, and it handles road trips pretty well. You did the right thing getting a good service on it before hitting the road. The one or two things I would add to this would be, to
- Have the mechanic check all the belts and hoses when he's scoping things out.
- How are your tires? And make sure you have a good spare.

For traveling, a couple of minor things... Since you'll be traveling some hours each day in the car:
- An ice chest for the back seat, that you can load up with water and snacks. A picnic lunch on the road is not only fun, but can save substantial money. You also want to be drinking water if its warm outside, so having something with at least sodas in it is a good idea. (I throw in a bunch of water bottles and a few sodas. The water is for drinking and the caffienated sodas for when I start feeling fatigued at the end of the day. The water is also a good emergency supply.)
- Some basic car tools & stuff. There are several threads on this, that you might check out. But the basics to put on a spare, a flashlight and etc for the night, a fire extinguisher, some hose bandage for a leaking hose, and maybe a spare belt would be useful.
- Books on tape, CDs or some nice cassettes to listen to always help.
- An AAA card, or the like, for emergency roadside service if you need it. And a Cell phone -- if you're on one of the interstates you will have coverage for emergencies 99% of the time.

If you're traveling that route, you really should take the time to stop and visit some fun places. Some of the more famous (and fun) places along the way may include (depending upon which way you go):
- Las Vegas
- Grand Canyon
- Petrefied Forest National Park
- Santa Fe
- White Sands National Monument
- Carlsbad Caverns
- The Alamo

Get out an atlas or look at a map, and see if there's something along the way that would tickle your fancy. You've got the choice of a couple of different routes, depending upon how direct you want to go, and you'll be traveling through some very pretty country with some very good natural and historical places to visit, if you want to.

And if you're lovebird roadtrippers -- plan to not do too many marathon drives, and make sure you get out of the car every couple of hours to see something or at least walk around. That'll keep tempers nice, and the tired/ frustration factor down. You can find some amazing things to see and share with each other, which always is fun.