Twelve hours cooped up in a car can seem like forever. But on a recent road trip that Steve and I, along with my sister, Deb, made from central NC to southern Georgia, it went by pretty fast for me, thanks to three different ways I managed to pass the time. First, though, I should start by saying that one of the things I love most about a road trip is the scenery; Steve and I avoid interstates whenever possible, so we end up on smaller roads where I happily spend hours taking in the views from small towns and the countryside. But we’ve made this particular drive (or some version of it) many times, so scenery-watching wasn’t as big a deal to me on this trip.
So, one of the ways I passed the time was by helping with the driving. Now, that may seem like a “duh” statement — it’s a road trip, so, of course, I’d be driving — but the truth is, in all the traveling we’ve done over the years, Steve has always insisted on doing all the driving — even though I’ve offered repeatedly to help. (He says he doesn’t like my driving, which I completely understand, because I don’t like his.) Steve started out behind the wheel on this trip, and I’m sure he had every intention of staying there for the duration, but when he made a questionable call regarding instructions from a traffic sign, Deb, who was in the passenger seat, yelled out, “Switch drivers!” and Steve was promptly ousted from his position, with Deb taking over.
Over the course of three decades, I’d never before been able to pry the steering wheel from Steve’s hands, but once he finally did settle into the passenger seat, boy, did he take to it. That’s where he stayed for the remainder of the trip — including the drive home — contentedly interpreting and relaying Siri’s commands. Throughout the rest of the trip, Deb and I took turns driving.
When I wasn’t driving, I spent a lot of my time working. As a writer, it’s both a blessing and a curse that my work is so portable. It’s great to be able to work from almost anywhere, but that means I will work from almost anywhere (even when I should be relaxing). In this instance, it was absolutely a blessing, as I wrote a column and a story while on the road, freeing me from having to do any writing during our short stay in Georgia.
And that brings me to the final way I spent my time during this lengthy road trip. I exercised. Sort of. Even though Steve and I typically make lots of stops when traveling, eight or 10 or 12 hours on the road always leaves me feeling like a massive lump of inactivity, both physically and mentally. So, in advance of this trip, I decided to change things up by “exercising” while in the car. I didn’t have any pie-in-the-sky dreams of major back-seat calorie-burning; I simply hoped to find some small movements that would help with modest muscle toning and strengthening. I googled to get some ideas and landed on a site I really liked: The FitRV.com. Not only did I get to watch a video of the exercise moves being performed, but I was also able to print a list of the exercises to take with me. Perfect!
Here’s where it might be helpful for me to point out that sometimes my enthusiasm causes me to overlook a crucial detail or two. As the name of the website clearly stated, the fitness guru doing these moves was doing so in the passenger seat of an RV — and although our trip to Georgia took place in Deb’s spacious SUV, it’s not RV-spacious. I have no idea why it didn’t register with me beforehand that each and every time my fearless fitness leader stretched her arms up high or her legs out straight, that it would be utterly impossible for me to replicate those moves in a smaller vehicle. I’m nothing if not a quick study, though, and my limitations became painfully clear when I tried to put my elbow through the window. Bruised elbow aside, my enthusiasm wasn’t dampened in the least. I was determined to make it work. Some of the moves demonstrated by Ms. FitRV (for example, knee lifts and ab tucks) were easily doable in the SUV, and I modified others so they, too, would work. Also, while in Georgia, I spent some more time searching online, and found a few more moves better suited to a smaller space and incorporated those during the drive home.
Reading this, you may think the whole notion of car-exercising was a dud, but believe it or not, I saw it as a huge success, and it’s something I plan to continue doing on future road trips. Not only do I see it as having physical value, but the mental boost was immeasurable. Because I didn’t allow myself to lose a day of exercising while on the road, I was determined not to lose a day during our stay in Georgia, so every day we were there, I made it a point to exercise (taking full advantage of not being confined to a small space!).
So, yeah, I’ll continue exercising in the car. And writing. And — since Steve has glued himself to the passenger seat — driving.
Next week: There’s work to be done!
