Water is important – I like to carry it in plastic 5 gallon containers with handy dandy built in spout. Filling up before you leave is smart. Driving 15 hours in the bitter cold with aforementioned water jugs in the shell of your truck? Not a great idea. A 5-gallon ice cube is hard to thaw, especially when it’s in a plastic tub.
Sleeping bags are important – It might be Arizona, but it still gets into the low teens at night. Leaving your sleeping bag hanging in the garage is not a great idea. Two dogs – each with a sleeping bag of their own – will share, but it’s a squeeze.
Flanken steak is awesome – My buddy took a chance on packet of pre-seasoned meat in a border grocery store. Neither of us knew what flanken steak was. Later, when the grill was hot, we discovered it is basically an off-cut of short ribs. And it’s incredible. Fresh tortillas with limes and grilled flanked steak? Yes please.
Proper fueling – Bird hunters powered by sunflower seeds and coffee can run a long time past normal expiration when there are birds somewhere ahead.
Limes – Beer, flanken steak, bagels, water, sunflower seeds… Limes. We need more limes.
Serial podcast, season two – It’s no season one, but if you’re looking at a solo 15-hour drive, I highly recommend it.
Mouthful of Feathers 