The week before
Most highway breakdowns trace back to tires, batteries and cooling systems, and all three can be checked in advance. If an oil change will come due during the trip, do it before you leave. Have a battery older than four years tested, since long hot days finish off weak ones. Look at the tread and the sidewalls of all four tires, set the pressures cold to the door-jamb figure, and check the spare too, because a flat spare is no spare at all. If the brakes have been squealing or the car has been pulling to one side, a week ahead is the time to deal with it, not the night before.
Loading the car
The door-jamb placard also lists the maximum combined weight of passengers and cargo, and it is lower than most people guess, often 850 to 1,000 pounds for a sedan. Four adults and their luggage can reach it. Pack the heavy items low and as far forward in the cargo area as they will go, and keep the rear window clear. A roof box is useful, but it can cut fuel economy by ten to twenty percent at highway speed, so take it off when it is empty. Add air if the placard specifies a higher pressure for a full load.
Planning the driving
- Plan a stop about every two hours or hundred miles, since fatigue arrives before you notice it.
- Cap the day at eight to ten hours behind the wheel, which is roughly five hundred miles.
- Trade drivers at each stop if you can, and do not count on coffee or an open window to defeat drowsiness, because only sleep does that.
- Time your departure so that you cross big cities outside the rush hours of seven to nine and four to six.
- Refill at a quarter tank in empty country, where stations can be a hundred miles apart.
Papers and tolls
Carry your license, the registration, the current insurance card and the phone number of your roadside assistance plan, on paper as well as on your phone. Many toll roads no longer take cash and bill by license plate at a higher rate, so check whether your home transponder works in the states you are crossing. Tell someone your route and your expected arrival time, especially if you are traveling alone.
Tip Take a photo of where you parked at every overnight stop, along with the hotel's address. Tired people lose cars in unfamiliar garages more often than they admit.
