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I will be travelling down to Texas this weekend for a family reunion and to see my parents and sister. The trip is 290 miles and I will be leaving just after work Friday evening at 5:00pm. That puts me there between 9:30pm and 10:30pm if everything goes to plan. One year I did strike a 90 pound deer on the drive and nearly destroyed my truck. Adding four hours to your drive while you get your vehicle towed away and find someone who will rent you a car on a holiday in rural Oklahoma is a pain in the arse.
As sunset will be at about 8:30pm and the long work day I will measure my tiredness after leaving Tulsa. If I am tired or sleepy I will pull over at a rest area and get a 20 minute nap then press on. I always keep something caffeinated to drink, usually Pepsi or Dr. Pepper, and maybe a light snack. I don't eat much because it makes me drowsy. I drive mostly at night because it is generally cooler and more comfortable. I will usually listen to my CDs, especially when away from town. Old country music can be depressing, especially out in the desolate countryside of Oklahoma where it is the only thing on the radio. If I can I will listen to talk radio about sports or politics because the shows are broken up into 15 minutes segments with commerical breaks. The segments make the hours seem to go by faster. However, due to the vagaries of AM band radio sometimes you can pick up distant stations sometimes you can't. I will also periodically change the lumbar adjustment on my seat, move the steering wheel tilt around or just squirm about to keep from getting to comfortable and getting drowsy. I sometimes turn off the cruise control to do the same thing.
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