Playlist: Road trip!

Today began my official move to Santa Fe! It's only a 15-hour drive from Columbia, so it's an easy drive over two days. It still gets pretty tiring driving though western Kansas by yourself, though. (I always thought Nevada was the ugliest state in the union, but now I think Kansas is giving it a run for its money! Although Kansas is more boring than actually ugly.)

Source: nataliemerrillyn.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Over my years of mini-road trips (mostly to and from airports), I've developed a list of songs that help keep me awake in the car. Some are upbeat, some are not, but they are all effective stimulants because I love singing along to them! Here's a sampling of my favorites. Try some of them out on your next road trip! Enjoy.

• Defying Gravity - Wicked (This is always my first wake-up song when I'm feeling sleepy. Let's just hope there's not a hidden microphone in my car somewhere; that is a sound the world does not need to hear.)
• I Woke Up in a Car - Something Corporate
• We Found Love - Rihanna
• On My Own - Les Miserables
• All or Nothing - O-Town
• Your Love is a Song - Switchfoot
• Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
• Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People
• It Only Hurts - Default
• If I Die Young - The Band Perry
• Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann
• Heavily Broken - The Veronicas
• Desperately Wanting - Better Than Ezra
• Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol
• That's the Way It Is - Celine Dion

If I decide to pay more attention to the road and not flip through my iPod for specific tracks while driving, I have two tried-and-true solutions:

1. Set my iPod to play all songs marked as the genre "Soundtrack" (all Broadway and Disney songs).
2. Hit play on the Love & Basketball soundtrack that's always in my CD player.

I also have an extensive playlist composed completely of '90s alt-rock tunes (titled "Childhood Alternative"), so there are many amazing songs I am not including on this list - including various tracks by Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, Fuel, Counting Crows, etc. - because they have their own special place on my iPod.

Do you ever use music to keep you alert? Which songs do you prefer?