After looking back over the hundreds of photographs from our 2,000 mile road trip, I’ve decided to break it down over the 5 days of traveling. (We also do not have internet in our home yet, so please be patient as my blogging may be a bit sporadic for a while until everything is connected!) Our goal was to travel close to 500 miles per day – which is no small thing when you take into account 3 children and a 14 foot trailer.
A few weeks earlier during our road trip to Michigan to visit extended family and friends,
we learned that traveling long distances with small children isn’t about making good time.
It’s about making progress and planning ahead for the next rest stop.
We also discovered that they were most comfortable if we planned to drive an hour, then stop for food (lunch or snack), then drive 30 minutes, then stop for a bathroom break - we at least made progress…
We also learned that when the kids fell asleep, we could stretch that to almost 2 hours…
Not that I was counting the miles…
Or enjoying the blissful quiet…
Ahem…
And so, for our first day we said goodbye to the beautiful farmland of Pennsylvania…
And hello to the beautiful rolling hills of Ohio…
Have you ever traveled a long distance with small children?
What are your creative ideas to break up the monotony of long distance road trips?
July 16, 2012 at 12:51 am
OMG!!! I HATE long road trips! We don’t have kids but man we went from Panama City,FL to Fort Carson,CO and its a 29 hour drive thats with only stopping when we need gas thats when we would stop for food or use the bathroom.. It was insane and were making this trip again in Dec.. I’m so NOT ready for it but it’s so much cheaper then flying!! Oh the places the Army will send you! At least y’all look like y’all are taking the trip well..Good luck travel safely…
July 16, 2012 at 5:59 am
We always have long distances to travel with my husband’s family in Wisconsin and mine in the South and the Army does not like stationing us too close to either. lol We stop every 2 hours, get out walk around, have a bathroom break, get snacks and get back on the road. We have learned from experience that we do not push our daughter to stay in her car seat for more than 7-8 hours a day. We did that 1 time, (she was in the car seat for about 10 hours), and we won’t do that again! lol She was truly a joy to be around. lol We do love travelling though and I do try to find us decent places to stay overnight.
July 16, 2012 at 6:21 am
For the last three years while we have been in New Orleans we have driven up north to PA and WV at least four or five times. Our second trip our youngest was newly potty trained and I insisted we bring a potty seat because “you just never know” and boy were we glad we had it! Our thing is to bring packed lunch and stop at a rest area for lunch for about an hour and let the kids run around and play. Lots and lots of movies!!! On long road trips I have no shame in using electronic devises for endless hours. Oh and I always pack lunch boxes for the boys and put them in the back seat with them so that they always have food and we aren’t stopping to get them something or me having to turn around to help them dig for food (I don’t do much driving).
We are currently on our most recent trip from NOLA to the supposed cooler north and we drove straight from NOLA to PA. I don’t recommend that!! Our kids were troopers and did great but it takes a couple of days to recover and feel normal.
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July 16, 2012 at 12:31 pm
We pretty much never take long road trips, flying is worth it! I love road trips by myself but with kids, forget it! The longest we drove with kids was from Northern VA to Chicago to drop my husband (and his car) off for school. And we ended up stopping for two days in Ohio at Great Wolf Lodge!
We did just fly from Spain to Hawaii which was 26+ hours of travel and I thought I was going to die.
Rebecca recently posted..North Shore Trip aka Best. Day. Ever.
July 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Yes ma’am, we have! One was LONG flight overseas with a then less then 2 year old…the other was a drive from CA to IL, then Back the other way to CA, and then to WA….
Tara
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July 16, 2012 at 7:10 pm
We travelled with a 2.5 month old. Much easier than older kids! She slept, then woke up when she needed to be changed or fed. We also had a border collie on one side of her and a meowing cat on the other.
July 17, 2012 at 9:40 am
i HATE what long road trips do to my back, but i do LOVE the places you can go!
we drove from kansas to washington state last summer with a 4 & 5 yr old. the route we went was 32 hours of driving, 4,000 miles to and from. it was the end of may and we hit a snow storm in idaho/montana. oh, that was the worst…that and the elevation. blech. we drove through nebraska, wyoming, utah, idaho, montana, washington, oregon and colorado in a week. we broke our trip up into places/people to visit. high school buddies, college friends, family and THE OCEAN! 
it was a great experience and thankfully the only kid issues we had were having to stop every hr for my daughter and her small bladder!
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July 18, 2012 at 4:20 pm
We drove from Ft Benning to Kingston, ON pretty much straight through…30 hours. We stopped for food/restroom breaks (for us and our fur baby) and we stopped to get a little bit of sleep here and there. We look back on it now and wished we made an overnight stop for all 3 of us. Our dog Holly was the most comfortable with the back seat to herself, toys, bones, and with her comfy bed.
Good luck on your PCS!!
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July 19, 2012 at 2:10 pm
I come from a family of truck drivers. I don’t stop unless someone needs food or has to pee. Although, I did learn that taking the turnpike is a royal mistake for any trip due to lack of options.
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July 21, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Mike and I have found our groove with a 125M driving portion followed by a rest stop with exercise. We’ve visited some of the nicest State Parks “close” to the PA Turnpike
We’ve also gotten off the turnpikes and driven through small towns since most towns still have their elementary schools…WITH playgrounds!
July 22, 2012 at 6:16 pm
I like the Crayola Invisible Markers coloring sets and jumbo sticker books (Lego Star Wars). My kids are 12, 8, and 7. Both the activities give us a few hours of uninterrupted travel time.
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August 1, 2012 at 5:32 am
We have road trip together with my kids and husband. We enjoyed the beautiful panoramic views across the road..
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August 17, 2012 at 11:15 pm
So I’m kind of blog stalking you tonight, since I just found your website, but I loved this post! Since February, I drove back and forth from North Carolina to Missouri 4 times. The first round trip I drove solo, with 3 young boys- 4, 3, and 8 weeks old! I couldn’t have made it without my van with a built in DVD player- it was heaven. We also have little handheld devices for the older boys to play games on when they get sick of watching movies. It was the baby that slowed me down- he HATES the carseat on long trips. My first day was supposed to be 9 hours- took me 14! The next was about the same. But when my Husband was with me on the second trip, we drove more at night, when they were sleeping, and took our time during the day. It was harder on us (mostly Me, because I was always the one who ended up driving until 2 am), but easier on the kiddos.
I am currently getting ready to drive from Missouri out to Idaho and Utah for a trip to visit family for a few weeks, to help get us through month #3 of Deployment! Should be fun and crazy! The baby is now almost 6 months, and tolerates the car seat a lot more now, so it should be a little quieter, this time around!
Also- it helps having boys as passengers- I just pull off onto an exit- and open the sliding door and let them aim at whatever plant they can spray! Then take back off! I also try and hold it and not stop because I HATE bringing 3 kids into a restroom alone!!!
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