The 12-Hour Road Trip

I complained last week about a tiny five-hour drive knowing full-well that I would be on the road another 12-14 hours by myself this Thursday.  As an update to last week's post, I am happy to announce I've figured out how to drive long distances without killing myself!  Since driving in an eco-friendly vehicle when you must travel tends to be much better than flying (in an environmentally-friendly sense), here are my tips:

1. Forget your normal travel strategies and do the opposite.  That is, instead of stopping in one place, getting as much done (gas, food, bathroom, etc) and then going as far as you can between stops, do just ONE thing at each place.  I found that two hours in between stops really hurt my back, but a stop each hour was perfect and cleared up the back pain.  My strategy was to get gas at one location, a snack at the next, and take a walk at the next place (taking bathroom breaks whenever needed)!  That way, I stopped frequently and felt productive about it. 
   
2. Stretch.  I also tended to do a few stretches at each stop and that seemed to help also.
   
3. Make sure your car has cruise control.  I know, it seems like such a basic feature, but my rental car did not have it this weekend and keeping one foot/leg still for long periods of time is not that easy when you're pregnant.
   
4. Avoid that gross fatty-food feeling by figuring out where you can get a side salad or fruit with your lunch and go there on the road.  I like stopping at Subways where I can get a sandwich with tons of lettuce, apples, and milk.  Most places will substitute a side salad for the fries in a meal, but Arby's is not one of those places - they do not offer side salads.  Wendy's offers a choice of mandarin oranges or side salad with its combos.  Almost everywhere sells meal-sized salads, which are fine if you're not craving delicious trip food.  Better yet, if you have a cooler, bring your own lunch and save yourself a lot of money.
   
5. Be smart about when you drink your caffeine.  Although everyone tells us pregnant ladies to limit caffeine, the prevailing knowledge still says we can have the equivalent of 1-2 cups of coffee a day (that's because there's no consensus yet on whether any amount of caffeine actually harms our babies).  If you tend to get tired in the morning and after lunch, make sure you have your caffeine then, when it's most affective.  (Or pull over and take a nap at a rest stop...that always sounds like a wonderful idea, but is not always practical.)