Travel & Photography: Road trips!
More and more people are hitting the road and exploring the areas around them. That is a wonderful thing to experience but can be overwhelming. So, here is my personal “to do” list when I have the opportunity to hit the road.
- Check your vehicle! It doesn’t matter if it’s your car, a rental, a friend’s car, whatever, make sure the car is in good working order. Check the oil and change it if it’s time or near time, to do so. Record your milage, because if you're putting the images up for sale on any platform, your millage and gasoline may be tax deductible. Clean your windows and make sure your sideview mirrors are aligned how you need them. Go over that vehicle, that car stops and so does your plans! Make sure your insurance, AAA, and what have you are good, up-to-date, and documented on paper in your glovebox.
- Plan! Don’t overwhelm yourself with planning, but defiantly plan out your trip. You can use Google Maps and a gas estimator program to see your estimated expense on gas. There’s an app for everything you need to know, gas expense and locators-there's an app for that, safe pull-offs and rest stops- yup; an app for that, you get the point. Roadtrippers.com is one of the most popular and gets you started if you're just starting. I used this site for my first cross country trip from south Florida to northern California. And an extra bit of advice, print out a paper copy of your plans, including maps and stops and have it easily accessible! Now decide on food. What are you taking with you, and how are you storing it? Are you planning to take your own food to eat at the hotel, hostel, campsite, etc. or are you planning to purchase along the way? If taking food, do you have a cooler and a way to warm up food that needs to be warmed up? I personally invested in an Itaki cooker. I think it was still crowdfunding or something, but I bought one for me and one for my sister. This little thing has served me well! I have been on a road trip while cooking steamed dumplings in this thing! Yes, it's safe, and yes, the dumplings were great. I will do a story about that if enough people are interested. Anyway, freezing food the night before and being able to pull over and have a hot lunch without going to another fast-food restaurant is wonderful. I can also find a grocery store, much cheaper than fast food, and buy something to heat or cook along the way if I want something different from what I purchased, or if I’m eating in my room. It’s a win-win, for me. There are many different versions of this product now, so find one you like. Plan ahead, it’s not as hard as you think and makes the trip more enjoyable.
3. Apps! Apps are your friend here, even if you just print out your itinerary, they make things simple. Before I ventured out on my first cross country road trip, an older gentleman and I got to talking while pumping gas. When he realized I was about to hit the road, he made a suggestion, get the rewards card! Get a (or multiple) reward cards and download their app. Use your phone number for your alt id so you remember it and earn your points, plus they give you more if you buy stuff in their convince store and attach a card. If you don't want to use a credit card, use a reloadable station brand gift card.
Apps are also useful for other things as mentioned, but a really big one is for hotels. You can plan and book hotels from the app. This app really saved my but on my first road trip. I didn’t factor time changes into my plans on a road trip and was on the road WAAAY to long. The car’s clock updated automatically, so I didn’t realize how long I had gone without stopping. I realized I needed to stop for the night and pulled up the app, found a nearby hotel and used the app’s contact feature to call the other hotels to push back my reservations by a day. It’s easier to make adjustments on your phone that pulling out your laptop.
Another good use for apps is finding rest stops. Don’t undervalue knowing where to pull over if you need to! You also need to know, if that rest stop has a bathroom, store, gas station, is well maintained, or even just safe to stop at. There are books as well as apps that give you this information-use it. When I was driving in Northern California to see the eclipse of 2017, I decided to drive back at night to avoid traffic, I was more tired than I thought and didn’t realize that until I was on the road. I thought I was ok…until I was jolted awake by the bumps on the lane divider as my car had crossed the lane and was about to go into the oncoming lane. I scared the crap out of myself and was grateful I didn’t end up crashing or in the Triton River! I got lucky. I was freaked out but also on a mountain and so I kept driving trying to find a safe place to pull over but couldn’t. It was pitch black and no pull offs. I had already left the i-5, and as I later found out, there were only 3 rest stops on the road I was on…and I’d passed them already.
4. Contingency plan, or where to find answers. Things are going to go wrong. Have a contingency plan for when they do. A gift card loaded with x amount hidden in your car, emergency numbers written down in case your phone dies and you're using someone else's, printed copies of your itineraries (I will keep harping on this), check-in times with people you trust to send in the Calvery, locations of camera stores along the route your taking; you get the gist.
So, with all that done, it’s time to hit the road with your camera…you did pack your camera, right? In the planning phase, you really have to decide what camera you’re using and what accessories you will need.
your camera phone is a decent camera, normally, but if you have a dedicated camera with a lens that you enjoy using, put that magic image box in the seat next to you, on the trip.
I personally have a lot (way too many) of cameras. They range from dslr, mirrorless, to various models of film / analog cameras. I try to use my film cameras as much as possible, but sometimes you have to go with what is the most convenient. An example of this is driving at sunset on a highway with miles of almost photographic views. You know that the views are pretty, but something just doesn't pop to make you want to stop and take a picture. Then, suddenly the light changes and the scene is almost cinematic! There are even rainbows appearing, which is weird because it hadn’t been raining, but who cares, the scene is LIT! You find a safe place to pull over, which may take a moment, and you're losing the light. As much as you want to capture this on film, you know you don’t have time to set up, so you grab the instant camera and the dslr. You get a few shots with one camera, then the other just as the light fades, and you can't wait to see the images as you dance back to the car, secure your cameras and drive into the remaining sunset, happy as a clam.
A lot of those kodak moments happen in-between where you were planning to shoot; that’s just a photographic fact. So many of my favorite photos from my road trips have been obtained by pulling over on the way to where I’d planned to shoot and going wild with my digitals. I generally try to reserve film for what I’d planned to use it for, since I normally bring the filmstock I think best suits the theme, and of course whatever black and white film I have on hand, though that doesn't mean I won't use film if the scene demands it.
Since of course in your planning, you made sure you have your chosen filmstock and camera(s) ready with accessories like tripod and shutter release cable cleaned, packed and ready, with fresh and extra batteries, right? Well, you should. You will never cry harder over a beautiful vista, than when your battery dies, and you don’t have a back-up.
Make the trip worth it, not only for the destination, but all of the wonderful scenes along the way.
This my darling is in part, what this road trip is all about. You will have plans and “must-sees” on your explorations, but you will also have in-the-moment opportunities that will have you in awe of what is out there.
Be safe, and wanderlust on.
