That’s right, it was a road trip weekend with some sorority sisters. I’m still active in my sorority, almost 20 years after joining, and I will never apologize for it. Being in sorority has taught me how to come out of my shell, accept others as they are, and I’ve gotten a lot of assistance in the area of leadership. This weekend, I got to reconnect with some beloved sisters, and meet new ones, while we learned more about ourselves and our emotional intelligence, and improved our leadership skills.

I am lucky enough that two of the women participating in the weekend live in the Chicagoland area, so we got to road trip to Indianapolis together! I have no problem driving on my own, but there is just something about getting together with friends, hitting the road, and solving (what you think are) all of the world’s problems over the course of a few hours.

If you have not done it before, it is a lot of work to prepare to go away for a weekend; especially when leaving your 1 year old behind. I had to pack for myself (easy to do) and pack for him (several times, as his care plans changed 4 or 5 times in the last week). Make sure there’s enough frozen milk for 3 days, grab a sleeve of diapers from the case, do I have enough outfits? Should I do a last minute load of laundry for him? Grab his blankie and pillow, pull a few jars of mummy-approved baby food (BeechNut now makes pouches? Sure, I’ll toss 2 of those in the bag in case he’s hungry on the drive), and make a bottle for the drive to Nanny & Papa’s. I already felt like such a bag lady with my suitcase, cooler basket, and sorority tote. Add in his 3-day bag, diapers, and small cooler, and it was a bit much.

The drive to Nanny & Papa’s was good; 2.5 hours in the car with them, and Nanny in the back seat helps! Leaving Little Man was terrible…for me. He kept reaching out for hugs, so I kept grabbing him, but I ultimately had to go. I know he’s in safe hands, but there is always that little nugget in my brain wondering “What if…”

I met my girlfriends at Starbucks (yeah free WiFi so I can do some blog work!), and was able to grab a table for my bags before getting in line to order a strawberry-banana smoothie; it is my go-to Starbucks drink. My hopes and dreams were crushed when the guy at the counter said that they don’t do smoothies anymore. The only other thing I drink here is Black Tea, and it’s waaaay to hot out for that right now. The guy behind the counter was super sweet though, and helped me figure out what to drink – an Iced Blueberry Black Tea Lemonade (I think that’s what it was called. It was just too many words in the name.)

Packing for a road trip, I always make sure I have a bottle of water and some kind of food (got malted milk balls and chocolate covered potato chips from the Kandy Kitchen in Galena, along with Schullsburg cheese and pretzels!) along with some kind of first aid kit. I threw my mini trauma kit in the bag for this ride. It’s got several different sized gauze bandages, CPR mask, several pairs of gloves, alcohol and antiseptic wipes, neosporin, a lighter, saline spray, and a tourniquet. You never know what you are going to need, or when you will need it!I’ve actually had to pull my kit out several times over the past few years, and it truly makes a difference.

The other major requirement for a road trip: a sense of adventure! You never know what will come up on the drive, and you have to be able to make those changes that always come up. Going to be stuck in traffic? In Chicago, it is inevitable. Have some ideas for how to pass the time, grab a map and see what backroads you could take to get around the mass of humanity and back on the move, are you ready to go with CDs or podcasts?

I like to have a deck of cards for whoever is in the backseat to play solitaire, and there is always an atlas and a printed map of our directions in the glove compartment for the navigator to check out. What do you do to prepare for road trips, and how do you stay sane?