As kids, road trips were very different. Our parents, usually with Dad at the helm, would map out the route ahead of time. They’d plan our stops carefully based on gas mileage and how long they predicted the kids would last between needing snacks and bathroom breaks. We’d play games in the car like road or license plate bingo or the dreaded punch buggy game. We’d fight over what station got played on the radio and would go a little crazy when the stations changed over to static. Things sure are different today.

Roadside Assistance

Remember Ralphie from A Christmas Story helping his dad change a tire? How many of us can change our own tires? Pfft. That’s what we have roadside assistance for, right? Many of us rely on the package that comes with our new cars when we purchase them from the dealership. Some of us sign up for a roadside assistance package privately through a local auto club or from a national one like AAA or Good Sam’s Club. All are helpful. Whether you need a towing company Tucker GA or a simple tire change along Route 66 on your way to the Auto Museum in New Mexico, a good auto club can definitely pay off for you in the long run.

There’s an App for That

Kids used to learn map reading – and folding – skills in Social Studies in school. Not so much anymore. Instead, most of us use a form of GPS to navigate through the world. Garmin and TomTom showed us the path to electronic map use. Now many of us have GPS enabled screens in our vehicles that either update automatically or connect to the app we use on our phones. Those devices come in handy not just for routes, but also for finding restaurants, stores and, well, bathrooms because we still need those on our road trips.

Prepping for the modern road trip is a little easier thanks to all the help available.