Ha! Joke’s on me. I knew this week’s edition of WFMW was going to be devoted to car tips, and I was all smug in the knowledge that I had a really good one to share. Then I popped over to Rocks in My Dryer for the permalink, and would you look at that. Shannon beat me to it! She writes:
Anytime I print out a Google map for a soccer camp or birthday party or
dentist, etc., I slip it in a folder in my glove compartment for future
reference. I affectionately call this my "Poor Man’s OnStar".
That is exactly what I was going to say, except substitute "field trip" for "soccer camp." (And I didn’t have the funny OnStar line.) Shannon is a great mind and I am thrilled we think alike!
So, okay, I’m not so original today. But I do have another car tip, and this one was tested over 2500 miles *alone* with five children under twelve. The day the kids and I left Virginia, Cally-fornya bound, I stuck a tall plastic drinking cup in my van’s cupholder, thinking I might find it useful for filling up at water fountains or something like that. Instead, I hadn’t gone five miles before I discovered it was a most useful and convenient receptacle for any item I needed easy access to. Over the course of the trip, this included:
• my sunglasses
• my cell phone
• Mentos (What? They help me concentrate.)
• a pen for writing down our mileage
• and also for writing down hotel addresses when I’d call Scott and ask him to find us a room
• Starburst (Oh, hush.)
That cup is still there, coming in handy pretty much every time I get in the car!
Lissa, I would love to take a few car trips with the children but I am nervous about going without my husband. Did you take any precautions – or did you think that the sight of 5 young children and a woman tough enough to handle them all would be enough to frighten away any would be bad guys?
Oh Lissa, share the junkyard dogs story again!!!!
Jennifer
GREAT idea! This is one of my favorite tips today..thanks for sharing! =)
Oh, I love this tip!
I have so much crap in my cupholders that I have no room for cups. Mustard packets, hair clips, pens, sunglasses. I’m taking a cup out to the car TODAY, and everything will now be in one place.
Yay!
Those big cups also make a great emergency basin for a car sick child…. :)Hey, beats scrubbing out the backseat.