Driving long distances is something that most people with a driver's license will have to face at some point in their driving career. For some people, they actually make their living from driving across the country in order to make ends meet. My uncle, for example, is a truck driver and has chosen to make a career out of driving long distances.
For most people, driving a long distance usually comes up during the holiday season. For instance, during the thanksgiving season that is currently going on, millions of Americans crowd the roadways in order to drive out to see loved ones, friends and family. If you are planning on making your first long distance road trip, there are a few things that you should consider before you jump into the car. For starters, make sure that all of your vehicle maintenance is up to date. The main things that you need to be concerned with in this area are things such as oil changes, tune ups and tire pressure, rotation and balance.
Most importantly, make sure that you pack your vehicle with an emergency kit. In your emergency "kit," you should include things such as a first aid kit, a flashlight with extra back up batteries, jumper cables, flares, a blanket, a paper road map of the United States, a swiss army knife, bottled water, some other non-perishable food items and at least one full set of clothes to include an extra pair of socks and a winter jacket. Now, while some of these items may just seem like you are being paranoid, you never know what kind of a situation you are going to come across.
A few years ago, North Carolina got hit with an awful ice storm that wound up freezing the roads over in a fine sheet of ice. The sheet of ice was more dangerous than any snow that could have hit the area, and before people knew it, they were sliding all over the roadways, off the roadways and into each other. I, myself, was caught in the middle of the ice storm mayhem. On my way back from classes, it should have only taken me approximately thirty minutes to get back to my apartment. However, due to all of the bad weather, it wound up taking me almost nine hours to get back! In nine hours, I could have easily driven home to New York!
While driving for that long (and obviously not being prepared to spend nine hours in traffic), I began to get hungry. That's when I remembered that I had some non-perishable snacks in the back of my car in my emergency kit along with some water. So, when we were stopped in the middle of traffic for a while, I crawled into the back seat of my car and retrieved a small bag of granola and a bottle of water. I was also thankful that I had chosen to fill up my car prior to leaving for class earlier in the day. There were actually people around me who had run out of gas and were abandoned on the side of the road, waiting for help to arrive (which was going to be a while). This is why it pay to always be prepared, because you never know what situation you're going to be faced with!
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