It might be getting colder outside, but road trips aren’t over for the year yet. The busiest driving days are the days around Thanksgiving and Christmas, as people travel to visit loved ones. Some might be just heading across town. Others are driving around the state, while others are traveling across the country. And while the old adage that “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey” might be true, the journey can be crummy. What’s the worst road trip you’ve ever taken?
Plenty of things can spoil a long drive. Snow is on the way in the next few months, and that’s always something to look out for, but with hurricane season winding down, you can still get caught in a torrential downpour or an early winter storm with lots of non-frozen water. Never underestimate how dangerous precipitation can be out on the road. I learned that lesson the hard way while driving across Pennsylvania before the start of a fall semester in college. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t see beyond my hood. The curtain of water made visibility so poor that I had to pull over beneath an underpass for shelter.
Never underestimate the value of air conditioning
A big part of driving for hours at a time is staying comfortable behind the wheel. When it’s scorching hot outside, a good climate control system is the only thing that can keep you cool inside a car because rolling down the windows will literally just blow hot air into your face. If an issue crops up with your car’s air conditioning unit, it’s never an easy fix. A road trip, especially a summer one, where your air conditioning breaks can be particularly brutal. You either have to suffer through oppressive temperatures, or stop somewhere unfamiliar to get a fix — potentially delaying your trip quite a bit.
A bad road trip could be well outside the bounds of one that’s got expensive repairs or uncomfortable conditions. It could be an ultra-long trip that goes exclusively past boring, endless, flat terrain with no music to keep you entertained.
You tell us what your idea of a bad road trip is by leaving the story of your worst road trip in the comment section below. Include all the aggravating details along with the pertinent information, like when and where you were driving.
