The Town of Odyssey

I have an 8 hour road trip to camp coming up on Wednesday. My mom and her friend are driving and I'll be the only... young person in the car, so I'm anticipating a long time of boringness. I borrowed a few books from the library and I'll have my phone, but I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for me to keep myself entertained. So, what do you do during long car trips? Can you think of a specific book to read or anything for me to do?

Also, like I said, my trip is going to be somewhere near 8 hours. The longest I've ever ridden was around 16 hours (with stops), with some friends. So, what's the longest ride or drive you all have had?

And just so it doesn't sound like I'm complaining, I am SUPER EXCITED about camp. I can't wait to start the trip even if it is really early and still dark outside.

We once took a 5 week road trip from South Carolina, to California, and back. But we didn't make it just a straight line... Nope, we visited people in (the list is not in any particular order) Indiana, Alabama, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico (and more that I can't remember), along the way. The longest drive we had durring that trip was about 22 hours (we stopped for a quick bathroom break here and there, or so my parents could switch driving/riding, or a quick stop at a drive-through restauraunt (sp), but for the most part, it was one, uninterupted drive).
One thing I really enjoy doing durring long trips is getting some Audiobooks from the library, and listening to stories as I watch the landscape go past in the window. Whenever we pass a really interesting thing that I really want to pay attention to, I just hit pause on my book and watch until we're too far away to see it. Then I hit play, and keep watching and listening. I have passed hundreds of hours of car trips in this way...
But, I dread the day when they stop makeing CDs, because sometimes I'll fall asleep in the middle of a book, and it will only keep playing for an hour or so (until the CD is done), and it's not too difficult to find my place again. But if I'm using those Play-Away MP3 things, and I fall asleep, I'll wake up 5 hours later and I find out that my favorite character has died, or something just blew up...It just ruins the story for me (not to mention, it makes it EXTREMELY difficult to find your place again, and in the process, having even more of the story ruined for me).
Anyway, I hope this helps, and enjoy your trip!

Well the longest car trip I've been on was probably 18 hours, we made two stops for gas and a few for restrooms, but that was it. We're constantly doing 7-9 hour road trips, so What I do, is I usually get library books, but recently I've just been doing digital downloads through our library, they're pretty cool because they're all on our iPad/laptop/whatever. I also like to burn CD's from iTunes of a lot of different songs I like, and just listen to music while I look out the window. (it also works to put your iPod/whatever you have on shuffle. Also audio dramas are pretty awesome for passing time, and audio books. Or even you can find the Bible on CD, we sometimes listen to that for an hour here or there, it's different, but fun.

Specific book? well, I would suggest something by Beverly Lewis (those always keep me pretty entertained and oblivious to my surroundings ) Oh, and another thing

Every road trip I've ever taken we listened to Odyssey to pass the time. We always got a couple new albums that we hadn't heard until the trip.

Last road trip I took was last October (not too long . . . my sister and I went to Arizona for a conference) and we listened to Odyssey all the way there.

Other than that, I usually listen to music and play games (mancala, reversi, addiction solitaire, backgammon, farkle) on my iPod touch.

If I didn't have that, I'd probably pick a series of books that I love... like Narnia or Anne of Green Gables... something I know I like that will take up a lot of time.

Mandy

Thank guys!
@ JJ: You reminded me, a friend is loaning me a good audiobook. Im going to copy it on my iPod (hope that's not illegal). That should help!

@JP: Wow, constant 7-9 hour road trips? *feels carsick*

@Mandy: Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely going to listen to Odyssey now!

Sorry people, the quote thing doesn't always work so well on my phone!

Mimi wrote:Thank guys!
@ JJ: You reminded me, a friend is loaning me a good audiobook. Im going to copy it on my iPod (hope that's not illegal). That should help!

I don't think it's illegal as long as you don't sell it

Mimi wrote:Thank guys!

@JP: Wow, constant 7-9 hour road trips? *feels carsick*

Yeeaah, we live 3 hours from any cities, so if we have to go anywhere, it's at least that long, but recently we've been having to go pretty far pretty often... One gets used to it though

The longest I have traveled in less then 36 hours is a 9 hour trip to and then 9 hours back to a wedding. Riding to Maine (from Indiana) also took forever. Last Saturday I drove to Cincinnati and back which is a total of 6 hours.

The longest I've ever driven is 17 hours from Seattle to where I live with my family. It was long, but I took a lot of pictures of the scenery.

I have listened to audio books from http://librivox.org/. It is a collection of public domain audio books. (So classics like Dickens or Jules Verns)

Mimi wrote:@Mandy: Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely going to listen to Odyssey now!

Really - you're going on a road trip and it never occurred to you to listen to AIO? Isn't that like... cliche - all conservative evangelicals listen to Adventures in Odyssey on long car trips?

King Butter Turtle wrote:

Mimi wrote:@Mandy: Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely going to listen to Odyssey now!

Really - you're going on a road trip and it never occurred to you to listen to AIO? Isn't that like... cliche - all conservative evangelicals listen to Adventures in Odyssey on long car trips?

I listened to AIO sometimes, but I listened to DGL more often on car trips. I don't listen to either in the car anymore, however.

The longest road trip I've taken is 10 hours when I went with my mom and my older brother on a college visit last summer. Besides AIO and books I would download season 3 of the ceiling fan podcast off of I tunes a notebook in case you want to write or anything and gum or mints. I have found that those who are driving sometimes want something to keep their mouths busy when they are not talking. And Swedish fish are always fun to have (Good books I would recommend are: inkheart, and anything book by Karen Kingsbury, Anne of green Gables, the Help)

King Butter Turtle wrote:

Mimi wrote:@Mandy: Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely going to listen to Odyssey now!

Really - you're going on a road trip and it never occurred to you to listen to AIO? Isn't that like... cliche - all conservative evangelicals listen to Adventures in Odyssey on long car trips?

Ha ha. That made me chuckle. Though, I will say that my family NEVER listens to AIO in the car. Probably because I stopped really caring what happened on it or about the show in general.

Hang him from the highest yardarm!!!


Ha, it was just confirmed and locked in last night that my family will be headed to Texas in July for a conference. It will be a 24 hour drive, split over 2 days. Woot! So I'll have to gather some stuff to do in the car as well.

When my family and I traveled it was books. My brother and I took lots of books to read. I love to read in a moving car.

King Butter Turtle wrote:

Mimi wrote:@Mandy: Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely going to listen to Odyssey now!

Really - you're going on a road trip and it never occurred to you to listen to AIO?

Dude, this is exactly what I thought when I was typing that. It's like AIO fan 101 or something! I listen to it all the time at home and whatnot, and yet it never even crossed my mind to listen on the way.

Laurie wrote:When my family and I traveled it was books. My brother and I took lots of books to read. I love to read in a moving car.

I love to read, but it makes me feel sick if I read too long in a movin car.

Whenever we go on road trips, my mom makes a list of all the different state license plates we see. We don't take many road trips, but I generally take pictures, read, try to sketch (only if I get REALLY bored), and do things like knit, or listen to my MP4 player.

Guys, my road trip has been underway for about 5 hours now. After waking up at 4 in the morning, I've really been too tired to do anything. I have slept, eaten, done devotions and that's pretty much it! I still have a few hours left though...

I'm going on one this Friday! The 2 friends I'm going with are also AIO listeners, so I have a feeling we'll be doing some listening!

We go on a lot of road trips. My dad's a national counselor, so we go quite a few places. Longest trip would be to Nova Scotia. 10 hours the first day, bunk down in a hotel, then ten hours the next day, arrive in Halifax, and check in. Every few years there's some convention, so sometimes my dad takes us along. My dad also goes to Ottawa every year, and while last year, though this year I won't be going with him and my mom. The longest straight road trip would be our visit to our cousins in the States.
What I usually do is bring about a dozen books, and when I get bored of one book, I'll pick up another, so basically I don't end up finishing any of them on the trip. I also bring along my MP3 player, listen to Odyssey, and Narnia, and also I listen to a CD done by a girl from my church, called "I choose to believe".