["This weekend I'm going on a road trip to visit friends who live 8 hours away.", 'I love road trips, sounds like a good time.', "This will be our third year going.  I'm hoping that it will be as good as it has in previous years."]
Hope you have a nice trip, It's good to have things to look forward to.
I'm going to visit friends out of town this weekend.  I'm hoping that we have as good of a time as we've had in previous years.