I have been studying my ass off for this GMAT I am taking in a week and besides eating and showering in the small breaks I am giving myself, I have been mentally planning a road trip! I first had this thought while staring out the window, thinking about how awesome it was outside and how not outside I would be for the rest of the day/week. I thought, "when this is all said and done, I should go see some shit." Granted, my brain wasn't working the best but as simple as the thought was, it's a great one! Summer is the perfect time to get out on the road and just go see shit, don't you think?

Well you say, "I can see shit if I fly somewhere, take a cruise or maybe just look up pictures on the internet." I will admit that a cruise is tempting and I plan on doing that before I'm 30 but when it comes down to it, that is what everyone is doing these days and really all you see is a bunch of water most of the time. Flying is the easy way out and as with most easy way outs, not as fun. I like home James Brown said it (though he was probably talking about life here, not a road trip, haha), "Thank God for the journey." While I was in college, me and a bunch of my buddies went to Panama City for spring break and it was awesome, the best vacation of my life hands down and I've traveled Italy. Anyway, now when we talk about it, we have just as many stories and smiles to share about the road trip there and back as we do of things that happened on the beach.

For those of you who have never taken a road trip, think of it this way. Do you watch a movie or a television series just to find out what happens? No, that is what the news is! We watch the journey of plot, laughs, and mystery to be solved along the way. If you aren't experiencing the journey, you are missing at least half the experience! Okay, pro-road trip rant over.

A road trip is the perfect vacation when you are young, don't have a ton of responsibilities, and need to keep a budget in mind and the best way to do it is plan out the little details like the things (and people) you need to bring, the main destination or destinations, snacks, tunes, and clothes. After that, you can plan some of the places you are going to go and where you will probably sleep but the best thing about a road trip is the stuff that isn't planned. If you are going on a road trip, detours are a must. On the way to Panama City, we did all sorts of stuff but the best things were the signs we saw on the road, talking about attractions and we just went (Jack Daniels tour, worlds largest superman statue, Mexican restaurants galore (to name a few)).

All this in mind, I hit google maps not ten minutes ago to plan out a the trip outline. If you are going to pick multiple destinations to where you are going to go in more of a circle or something than a straight line back and forth, and you have a few choices on which way to start the circle first, choose the place that is furthest first. Starting a road trip right is starting it with a long stretch on the road to set the tone for the rest of the trip and so everyone on the trip can talk about how awesome it is going to be and where they want to hit up along the way so far. From the St Louis area, my first choice is going to Omaha, Nebraska. What the hell is there you say? Well, actually a lot of shit is there I've found but most importantly, one of my best friends from college lives there along with his girlfriend who is another good friend and I know that the people I would get going with me on this trip would want to see them as much as I do. Google maps shows me that the shortest distance there goes through Kansas City, a place where I know a lot of people and in which I love doing things so that is always a nice stop along the way. Another thing about going through KC is that with just a 20 minute detour, you can add Kansas to the state that you went through on your road trip. Hitting a many states as you can, when conveniently close, is a lot of fun.

I had to think for a while about my next destination because I have most of the rest of them already picked out in my mind but the trip doesn't seem long enough to me without another addition. That is when it hit me, Canada! I lived in Minnesota for a time and never made the fairly short drive (in comparison to now) up to say I had been there. Canada, for sure, is my next pick. Being a classic American who just wants to say I've been there, I picked the closest big city straight up from Nebraska, Winnipeg. Now, not having a specific reason for going there besides just wanting to say I did, I am not going to plan out anything so that on the way there, my fellow road trippers and I can brainstorm and maybe look up on our phones the shit we want to do. Besides getting to say we took a road trip to Canada, the route from Omaha is ripe with states to drive through. Iowa (sarcastic yay!...), South Dakota and North Dakota are along the route, with possible big cities to stay in (Sioux Falls and Fargo) and surely tons of shit to see!

My next destination choice is most certainly the twin cities in ol' Minnesota. I personally know a ton of people there and my God I miss the beer! This is for sure an overnight stay as we will party it up with my crew there and will have to spend an hour at a liquor store so that I can figure out a way to pack all the beer I'm going to buy in my car. From there, a quick stint across the border to Wisconsin to add a state to the tally and pick up some more beer (exclusive to WI) and we are off to our next stop!

The important thing about a road trip is not to see the most popular stuff, it is to go to places you want to visit and that means something to you. That being said, our next stop is Kirksville, MO. Most people reading this will have no idea where this is but it is where I went to college and if you want to have a good time, there is plenty of stuff to do. That will bring us through the windmills and flat land of Iowa (sorry if you are from there, both for ripping on it twice now and for the fact that you live there) so we will be ready for the nostalgic  "Water park" (glorified pool) and nightlife Kirksville will most assuredly offer us. From there it is back home, good times, I can tell already! That is the skeleton of the trip as it stands right now! As this post has gotten a little out of hand due to my excitement of the topic, I am going to cut it into two posts, see you back in a few!