This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, INC. and The Coca-Cola Company, all opinions are mine alone. #MakeIcyMagic #CollectiveBias

When I was growing up in small town Minnesota, in order to do any good shopping or do any fun activities, you had to drive to the “big city.” Many weekends, my family would pack up, hit the gas station, and get on the road. Now, my husband grew up in the suburbs and thinks this idea is ludicrous. He could drive 5 minutes and get to a mall, dozens of restaurants, two movie theaters, and a good handful of parks and other fun places.

As an adult now, we sometimes spend a nice chunk of time in the car. Our families live an hour or two away and if we want to visit them, obviously we need to drive. So when we are going to be driving for a while (especially at rush hour!) I make sure I grab these five things to make the drive easier.

The Five Things I Need to Survive a Drive

1. Sunglasses – As someone who has worn glasses for 20(!) years, it was a total game-changer when I finally invested in some prescription sunglasses. I spent way too long having to squint in the sun so even when I am not driving, I make sure to grab my sunnies.
2. Extra keys – This may seem silly, but I grab my set of keys even when I’m not driving because who knows when you’ll lock your keys in the car. Now that I have kids, the thought of locking them in the car accidentally in super hot or super cold weather makes me super nervous. With two sets of keys, that most likely won’t happen.
3. Activities – I always grab something to do in the car. I usually have at least one book I’m reading and I also like to have a notebook and some pens with because I get a lot of thinking done in the car.
4. Snacks – Our drives are usually not super long, so we aren’t going to stop for a meal or anything. So I make sure to grab a snack like an apple from home in case the hunger monster strikes.
5. Beverages – I love to stop by the gas station to grab something to drink. It was such a part of my childhood to grab a drink at the gas station so I love keeping that up.

Going on a Drive

The other day, I was packing my list of things to take our drive when I volunteered to fill up the gas tank and grab us some drinks for the road. When I walked in, I found that the Holiday gas station by my house has an Arctic Coke machine.

I don’t know if you have seen one of these, but I decided to grab a Coca-Cola™ for Andrew and a POWERADE® Mountain Blast for me and try out the machine. It is pretty straight forward, so I tried it out with the Coca-Cola. First, you slowly tip the bottle upside down and then back to right side up.

Next, you put the bottle on the Arctic Coke machine.

Then you push the red button to get the process started.

Once you push the button, the machine lights up. It looks like something that is in a spaceship or something! You can see the pop getting colder. It is really cool. So I did the process again with my POWERADE.

And look how cool it looks with the blue POWERADE:

I mean, there was no cinematic music playing, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been. It felt like such an epic moment. And the upside to the entire process? My beverages were so cold that I knew they would stay cold the entire drive. They made a video all about the machine that is worth a watch.

So the next time you are headed out on a drive, check this link to make sure your local Holiday, Kum & Go, or Chevron gas stations have an Arctic Coke machine for your road trip drink.