For the uninitiated summer festival go-ers and seasoned veterans alike, one thing is certain once you have your golden tickets in hand. The excitement leading up to a music festival is palpable enough to make even the most “Type-A” dudette or broseph lose their rationale & logic when prepping for the adventure. Fear not my fine fellowed hipster-hippie-groove-loving friends. I gotcha covered on what to remember from the night before you lock the door and gas up the VW, to the time you hit the road that will assist in making your trip and time at your destination as pleasurable as your favorite jam. Read a bit further and all mysteries shall be revealed.

Prior to departure:

1. The night before you leave you need to check the weather and find out the average highs and lows at your arrival destination. It wouldn’t be a choice road trip if you to packed ONLY summer clothing and end up experiencing seasonably cool night time temps, or the freak monsoon that hits Chillicothe once every 100 years. Remember the scouts motto and “Be Prepared”.

2. Pack only the clothes you will need while you are there. Simply put if you don’t need it, don’t bring it. Being prepared doesn’t mean being a “Druish Princess” and packing like Rose on her voyage across the Atlantic. You only need one bag and maybe a backpack tops for the 3-4 days away from home. Wisely you must use that space, young road-i.

3. Take a short stroll to the local $1 store where you can normally find trial samples of different health and beauty items like; shampoo, razors, toothpaste, travel tooth brush, deodorant, and mouthwash. This isn’t Woodstock circa 1969 and deodorant and hygiene exist and are appreciated by your fellow automobile trip inhabitants.

4. One of the most important items, make sure you have Tylenol and Antacids. You never know when headaches or stomach upset might occur. These items along with the sample items from the $1 store will fit nicely in an overnight bag.

5. Before you turn that light out and crawl into bed, make sure you put the bag in your car. It saves time in the morning in the event your alarm clock malfunctions and you run out the door empty handed. Circling back and losing even an hour can dampen the collective spirits and make that person look like a clueless kill-joy.

Preparing the car for the road trip

1. Put together a First Aid Kit. Bandages, scissors, alcohol wipes, tape, gauze, a red colored flag, matches, flashlight and q-tips. Minor nicks and cuts in the wilderness can become infected and you don’t want to be the one person at the fest that caught gange-green from opening a Pringles container at 2am.

2. Check your trunk.  No not your caboose.  Your car trunk.  Be sure to have a spare tire, tire iron, car jack and jumper cables. You never know when you might have a flat tire.  When you are rolling into Camp at the magic hours before dawn in a huge caravan you don’t want to hold up the party by running across that random nail in the road.  But if you do and have these essentials you’ll be fine (make sure you also know how to change a tire…).

3. Make sure to let your family or a friend know that you are leaving. Then leave a number or tell them where you are going in case of emergency.  It’s just common courtesy and all together a smart precautionary move.

4. Have your oil and tire pressure checked before leaving. Check the water in the radiator too. This is a must considering you don’t want that vintage VW wagon to break down on the road.

5. It seems like everyone carries one nowadays but make sure to carry a cell phone and extra charging source. I recommend going to a local outfitting store and grabbing a solar charging option so you can be smart as well as green.  You don’t want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere without a way to phone home.

6. Most of all make sure that all your things are in the car, put the keys close to the door, and pick out something comfortable to wear on your trip. Nothing is worse than driving 8-9 hours in pain because you think upon arrival you’ll be selected to the next cover of Rolling Stone by wearing uber cool, but uncomfortable threads.

Also key to remember.  You need to make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before, because chances are you won’t be getting much shut eye for the next few days of sun drenched fun.

CIT Dave