June 9 – Route 66 Hydration Planning

My husband thinks I’m over the top to be planning which cup to take for the best hydration on our trip. He chuckled one of his I’m going to keep my mouth shut, but my wife is crazy laughs when he saw a row of cups lined up on the kitchen counter.

“Look, I know you think I’ve lost my mind, but if I get dehydrated, I’ll make you lose yours,” I told him.

That got his attention, bringing back memories of the day I was at Six Flags Over Georgia with my daughter, her boyfriend, and my stepson. I got so dehydrated and overheated riding roller coasters that I went to the public bathroom and flung myself down on the floor in the stall to be able to put my cheek to the cool concrete. I was delirious and could not think straight, knowing only that I was fading fast and had to get my cheek temperature down pronto – and I needed a Coca Cola with ice. While my daughter got in line and waited for the Coke, I waited in the stall, rotating my cheeks, not caring one iota about all the germs. I was trying to survive the brutal Georgia heat – – face down on a public bathroom floor, doing what I had to do to prevent a red-light ride to the hospital.

I called my husband to come get me, since we only had one car at the park. We’d paid full ticket prices that summer, and since we’d planned to stay until the park closed, I didn’t want to take the kids away from the fun when they could drive home later.

When we’d first married, my husband drove a race car many weekends. Along with his brother and father, they competed in racing events as a team ~ Johnson Motorsports, or JMS Racing as they were known. We’d hang out at the race track all weekend, and by the time we were loading up to leave, someone would often warn me that my cheeks were red. Each of them knew to watch for that tell-tale sign, knowing that I’m heat-sensitive and dehydrate faster than a dog in the desert. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to get in the truck and keep my face in the air conditioning while the rest of the crew finished loading up.

So hydration is serious business for me. My skin tightens and I feel my heartbeat as if it were split in two, furiously waving checkered flags under each eye socket.

Over the next week, I’ll be reviewing an assortment of cups to determine the best one to take along Route 66. Mine needs to not only hold a lot of water, but also to be able to keep ice frozen overnight. Since 2022, I’ve been taking my 40-ounce Hydro Flask with the pop-up straw to work every day. I fill it with ice in the morning, add filtered water, and drink from it until lunchtime. After lunch, I fill it again and drink that before replenishing the ice and filling it a third time when I leave. This way, I have the pure, filtered water to last me through the evening until the following morning.

Tomorrow, I’ll begin my reviews with the Hydro Flask 40-ounce cup.