This long weekend I went on a three day road trip with my dad. My parents own a furniture store in Columbia. Someone ordered a sectional (large couch) and wanted it delivered to Texas. My parents had to choose between hiring someone to deliver and assemble it or do it themselves. Originally, my dad was going to take one of his employees but then I offered (my mom suggested it and I said yes) to go.

Extreme culture, as defined by Mary Kosut, is a “particular set of practices, ideas, images, and commodities that surfaced in the last decades of the twentieth century that revolve around the ideas of physical engagement, competition, and risk.” I think there were a couple examples of extreme culture on the road trip.

We left Sunday morning at 5:30. In attempt to speed up the trip by avoiding stops we packed some snacks and drinks. There was an unspoken rule that we would only stop when we really needed to like for gas which would be timed with a bathroom break. My dad and I pushed our bodies by drinking less water and avoiding salty snacks (that would make us drink water).

There was also a little bit of competition to see who could drive longer (and better) without a break. My dad drove further than I did but I drove for longer periods of time so I think its a tie. Part of extreme culture is the the idea of competition and how it makes its way into something like a road trip.

En route to our destination we stopped at a Buc-ee’s, which if you don’t know Buc-ee’s is a combination of a rest stop, a gas station, a gift shop, and a deli/grocery store. Buc-ee’s is an example of extreme culture in that the company was determined to beat their competition by creating a super store. Check out how big some of the locations are!

On our way back from Leander, TX we got delayed by two hours because of the way the delivery went. We didn’t leave Leander until 6:30pm on Monday night. My dad and I brainstormed options for possible cities to stop in and we had a crazy thought. What if we drove back without stopping? We balanced the pros and cons, one of which was telling my mom our plan. After some discussion we decided we would try it. We called my mom a couple hours later to tell her she didn’t need to book us a hotel because we weren’t going to stop and she thought it was a really bad idea (which we knew she would). After the call my dad decided that we were taking an unnecessary risk for no reason. Another part of extreme culture is the idea of risk. Even though my dad and I didn’t take the risk it was something that both of us seriously considered.