Road Trip- Takekawa Style...

Tommy and I took a road trip to Chicago yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Here are a few rules we follow when taking a road trip.


Rule 1: Plan Last Minute. We spoke about going for a few weeks and did not officially decide we were to Chicago going until 1030 on Friday night. (We steal this last minute planning from the chapter about planning vacation: Tickets to Vegas - 48 hour advance purchase; Plane tickets to Houston in June- 7 day advance purchase. If going international, we like to give ourselves a little more time. Last Summer we went to Cancun - 17 day advance purchase.

Rule 2: Pack As Much Into One Day As Possible. We do not like to waste money on hotels. If we road trip, we are generally going to Minneapolis, KC, Omaha or Chicago. Yes this can make for a really long day, but I can totally justify spending more money shopping if we do not spend money on a hotel. We left at 530 am on Saturday morning and returned shortly after midnight. (Note: We do pack an overnight bag in case last minute we decide to stay overnight, but I do not think we have ever actually used our overnight bag).

Rule 3: Know Your Strengths.  My strengths are following the speed limit driving only 7 over the posted speed limit and driving early. Tommy's strengths are staying up late and being able to drive while I sleep. Therefore, I always take the first driving shift. When we left on Saturday morning, I drove until about 9am. This got us nearly to our destination. I took the first shift out of Chicago last night. and drove from about 830 pm to 10 pm. Tommy took the last shift of 10pm to 1215am. This worked out well because I was able to get us back out of Illinois (speed limit 65) and then Tommy drove once we got to Iowa (speed limit 70). I am learning that the reason Tommy likes to take the late shift is because I always fall asleep and this allows him to speed at a much higher rate than I would approve of. When he speeds when I'm awake I complain to him once every five minutes. When he speeds when I sleep, I wake up once every thirty minutes and yell and him to slow down! He then just has to wait a few shorts minutes until I'm back asleep to hit the accelerator.

Rule 4: Beware of Karma. Whenever I am traveling I ensure that I am constantly letting off good vibes. Our first stop of the day was Starbucks. I NEVER tip the barista because I already pay $4 for the coffee, but not when we road trip. I left a 20% tip on my coffee.  Halfway through our day Tommy kept our good karma going by chasing down a man who left his jacket at the table next to us. (I did this same thing in Vegas in April. This resulted in the guy being so grateful he bought our lunch and another round of drinks for us. I then walked into the Paris Hotel after lunch put three nickels into a slot machine and won $28.)

Rule 5: Plan A Meal. Tommy loves Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Before we go to any city Tommy looks for a restaurant featured on the show for us to eat at. It is kind of fun to do this because we always end up trying a local place and the food is almost always very good. This was not exactly our plan for Saturday. We were supposed to go here:



We have been wanting to go to this restaurant for years now. However, we always just want to go for lunch because lunch is $26 while dinner is $50 per person. (I know- we are really cheap conscious of the money we spend.) Anyway, I made a big mistake while planning on going here. I neglected to read that lunch is only served on weekdays. So, we drove all the way downtown Chicago and paid for our parking to find that the restaurant was closed. However, we weren't too far from one of our favorite Chicago Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, that we drove the few short miles to Smoques BBQ.

I ordered this:

Yes. I got two sides of the mac and cheese. This is the mac and cheese I posted a recipe for a few weeks ago. I am glad we went here because I realized I am not putting enough bread crumbs on the mac and cheese when I make it at home.

Rule 6: Find a Costco. We always make a stop at Costco when traveling out of town. Not all Costcos are created equally. We find different things at different Costcos. Omaha's Costco is the absolute best Costco around.

We had a wonderful time in Chicago. There are a few other rules we generally follow on a road trip, but if you use these tips you will be sure to have a good time. Its also nice that we have Sunday to relax do everything we were supposed to do earlier in the week.  Go ahead- plan your next road trip, but don't plan it too soon!