Even though I spend my time writing about record collecting and record stores, a hobby that requires me to be at home, I love a good road trip. If you love to travel and see new places (like me) but are also a so-called “low-income-earner,” (like me), then you learn to love the discomfort of a long road trip.
You learn to deal with the lack of space, to enjoy the gas station food, and to always go to the bathroom when you have a chance. Through the follies of past road trips and careful studying of the tragedies that befell your friends and family, you can learn to avoid common mistakes. Mistakes like not bringing one of those stupid cigarette-lighter car charger adapter things, or forgetting to download your podcast before that 150-mile stretch with no cell service, or perhaps worst of all, leaving your records to warp and ruin in the summer heat.
Records are delicate and expensive. They don’t like being touched, they don’t like being stacked and most of all, they don’t like excessive temperatures. With so many record stores dotting main streets and downtown shopping centers across the United States, more and more people are learning that buying a record while on vacation is a bit of a commitment.
This summer I’ll be going on a handful of roadtrips of varying length, and most of these trips will be focusing on going to record stores far, far away. Figuring out the safest and most convenient way to transport all these records is something weighing heavily on my mind while I plan for said trips. A simple tote bag is my go-to in most cases, but with extreme temperatures and the fact that I will be buying a ton of records on these trips, I have decided it’s time to up my game a little bit.
Hopefully, I will have come up with several possible solutions to my dilemma that I am likely overthinking.