💪Finkel's Fast Five 131 - Special Road Trip Edition

Welcome to Finkel's Fast Five #131. Thanks for reading and subscribing!  I've spent much of this week on the road, driving to South Florida from Dallas so this is going to be a special Road Trip Edition of the FF5. Here are 5 tremendous things I used and enjoyed over the 1,200 miles.

ONE

 ENERGY - I know it's standard to gulp cups of coffee or knock down Red Bulls or 5-Hour Energy shots to stay alert on the road during 10+ hour drive days. Half of the refrigerators at 7-11 and counter spaces at the register are filled with energy drinks. Alas, they're not really my thing...mainly because they make my heart pound out of my chest. Instead...  I'm a green tea guy. And since green tea isn't readily available next to Bang and Monster and Rock Star drinks, I brought my own mixable matcha from my main Laird Hamilton. It's called Matcha InstaFuel and it's delicious and sweet and also has caffeine and calcium and MCT Oils and it's awesome. Just add a few spoonfuls into a water bottle or a hot cup of water, mix it up and you're good to go. Made one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Here it is. 

TWO

 HYDRATION - For some reason, when I take long rides, I get sooooo thirsty. Maybe it's because i'm just sitting there or maybe it's the dry air from the air conditioning, but I feel like I drink twice as much when I'm on the road. I've been a Gatorade guy my whole life (Citrus Cooler or Orange), but with Covid I wanted to make sure I was also loading up on vitamin C and zinc and other supplements so I've been drinking Body Armour.  Over the four days of driving, I tried every single flavor and here is my ranking of the top four.   4) Strawberry Banana 3) Orange Mango 2) Blackout Berry 1) Watermelon Strawberry  I gotta say... Watermelon Strawberry, iced cold, is an all-time road trip flavor. Try one. They're everywhere.

THREE

SNACKS - Beef jerky and protein bars and all kinds of junk food are tempting on a road trip. I know this. I partake in this. I had a protein bar every day. I treated myself to a King Size Snickers one day. It was glorious. But in terms of a snack that satisfies on a per-minute-basis, the one snack that rules them all is sunflower seeds.  One pouch of sunflower seeds will last a whole trip and kill hours of boredom and craving for food out of boredom. I used to be a traditional flavor sunflower man. I'd eat the giant David seed bag over the course of a few days. I tried a couple different flavors on this trip and the most impressive and best-tasting were the Dill Pickle-flavored jumbo seeds. They were the perfect mix of dill and sweetness and saltiness. Knocked back a bag of these and if you're into seeds, I highly recommend these.

FOUR

 ENTERTAINMENT - I'm not a big audio book guy because I don't like listening to just one thing over the course of a trip and most of the books I like would be 10-14 hour listens... So I opted for a nice mix of single podcasts, short podcast series' and music. Here were my favorites on this trip.  The best short audio documentary series I listened to was Malcolm Gladwell's 'Revisionist History' and the best mini-season that I listened to was called the 'Bomber Mafia' and it was about Air Force General Curtis LeMay and how he uniquely solved problems that nobody else in the Air Force could solve and how he may have been the most important person in the entire war effort against Japan in WWII. It was a fascinating series and starts here. My favorite single episode was on the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (the ship that Robert Shaw's famous monologue in 'Jaws' is about). It's by the world's foremost expert on the subject, who interviewed 107 of the 112 men (out of 880) who survived 5 days of starvation, dehydration, oil poisoning and shark attacks in the ocean. It's an incredible 30 minutes. And for sheer entertainment value and a good time, listen to the Pardon My Take guys interview the one and only Deion Sanders. He's a great storyteller and his swag and charisma in the interview are off the charts. The hour flies by.

FIVE

 A great quote about travel:  “Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets.”  - Oscar Wilde

BONUS #1 : My Official Ranking of Bottled Water

I tried six different kinds of bottled water on my trip to see if I could tell the difference or if I even preferred one to the other. Turns out, there are two that stand above and beyond the rest.  6) Dasani 5) LFE Water 4) Essential Water 3) Aquafina  2) Smart Water 1) Fiji Water  Fiji was the clear winner. I don't know how or why. But it is the crispest tasting of all the brands I tried. Clear difference between the Dasanis of the world. So.... There you have it. Agree? Yes? No? Let me know.

BONUS #2: Road Trip Workout

Before hopping in the car every day and after I'd get to my destination, here is the quick workout I'd do to stay fresh. Takes 10 minutes on each end.  4 x 25 push ups 4 x 25 air squats 4 x 25 jumping jacks.  Done. No equipment needed. Way better than nothing and at the end of the day it's 200 push-ups, air squats and jumping jacks.

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