5 Essentials For Any Road Trip

Sure, the pressures of the city are in the rear view

, and the possibilities are as limitless as the open road stretched out before you. But it takes more than just the freedom of the highways and byways for the great American road trip to live up to its name. American Express aside, here are five essentials you should never leave home without.

Think you're gonna find a wall socket out in the Mojave desert? The cactuses may not have a 12V outlet, but your car can when you bring along a car power inverter. These handy devices can charge all your electronic gear while you drive, including cell phones, GPS devices and a wide range of other accessories. A car power inverter is available with 200W, 400W or 1000W of power and features protections that include high and low input voltage alarms, overload protection, short circuit protection, automatic shut off and an internal cooling fan.

No matter where the road takes you, if youre more than a few miles from a major city (and heres hoping you are), radio reception is going to be spotty at best. And since a road trip without music is like the Super Bowl without nachos and beer, you might want to bring along your iPod as a backup plan. To connect your iPod, youll need an iPod car adapter. With an iPod car adapter, you can plug your iPod right into your car stereo without one of those crackly, hissing FM transmitters or lackluster AV jack connections. IPod car adaptors provide the highest possible fidelity, charge your iPod or iPhone while you drive and give you control through your stereo. Plus, with an iPhone car cradle installed, you can keep your mobile jukebox from sliding around when you take a sharp curve.

But music is only one essential when it comes to hitting the road. Depending on where youre headed, youll need any number of things, ranging from hiking and camping gear to extra snacks and beverages. All the extras can pile up quickly, making for a full cabin and an uncomfortable drive. Give yourself some extra room with a rooftop cargo carrier. Like a second trunk on top of your vehicle, a rooftop cargo carrier expands your storage space capacity and also lets you hide and lock valuables safely away from prying eyes (and hands) when you step away. A rooftop cargo carrier features a snap-on mounting system that often works with your existing roof rack and allows for quick installation and simple removal for convenient storage when not in use. Theyre constructed from all-weather ABS and come in three sizes, providing up to 17 cubic feet of cargo room and leaving plenty of extra leg-room inside the vehicle, which comes in especially handy when youre hauling your four-legged friend around with you.

This brings us to another useful add-on when taking pets on the road: a pet barrier. Similar to a childs car seat, a pet barrier keeps your pet contained and prevents it from wandering around the vehicle while youre trying to drive. This is an important safety feature but also helps to contain the mess to one designated area (also akin to a child seat). With a pet barrier, pets are kept neatly out of the way and safely out of your line of sight.

The final must-have for a road trip is a solid set of wiper blades. They say to change your windshield wiper blades every 6 to 12 months or every 6,000 miles, but it's a smart move to swap 'em out a little early if you're heading into wet or dusty territory. And if you live in areas with a lot of sun, freezing temperatures or other corrosives like pitch and pollen, they may need to be swapped out even more often than that. The thing to watch out for is streaking and noisy wiper blades. That usually indicates theyre cracked, split or torn which greatly reduces their effectivenessand your visibility.

by: Daniel Cruse

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