Crossing My Fingers that Car Sickness Is Our Biggest Problem. Basically, Panic Is Setting In.

The countdown to our road trip is on, and I'm starting to panic.

Good grief, what was I thinking?  Who takes 6 kids on a road trip with zero plans??

Me, apparently.  Because instead of, I don't know, making plans, I'm cleaning out my purse.  And painting my toenails.  Real important stuff when you are about to embark on a road trip.

In a weak moment this morning, I asked the kids, "Should we pack a tent?  I'm afraid that at least one night, we're going to be sleeping in the van down by a river."  They simply paused from their bagel-eating to look at me.  They knew if they just sat there quietly, I'd answer my own question.  Which I did.  "No, you're right.  We won't have room for tents.  We barely have room for ourselves with all this other stuff we're packing."  "We" went on to discuss our lack of foresight when buying the 12-passenger instead of the 15-passenger van.

Yup.  It's going well.

Bryan, for his part, is doing his own panicking.  He would never tell me to cancel the trip, but he's making subtle hints.  Last night he suggested, "Remember Nashville?  It has all sorts of fun things to do.  The zoo.  The Parthenon.  The fun museums."  His hinting didn't make me book any hotels, but it did make me wonder if he secretly reads Dyanne's blog.  That would annoy me, since he doesn't even read mine all that often.

He has also handed me a Hilton card with all the phone numbers I can call if I decide to book a hotel in advance.  And this morning, he said, "Once you get to (someplace I can't recall), you can decide whether to go more southeast and head towards Gatlinburg."

There's a reason he plans all of our vacations.

I know there are plenty of people out there who can't even stand the thought of road tripping with kids, never mind road tripping without plans.  I'm not worried about the road tripping part.  Our kids are great travelers.  When they aren't throwing up from car sickness, they are a dream.

Our trip home from Disney two years ago.  Thirty minutes into the 20 hour drive, one child vomited.  15 minutes later, a second child did.  While I took photos, my mom held the bag of vomit-covered everything that Bryan handed to her.  Notice Cuckoo, still strapped into his car seat, "reading" as if nothing gross is going on behind him.

If you are planning on taking a road trip with kids, I've got some wisdom to share.  We've done this lots and lots and lots of times.

1.  Keep them well fed.  Hungry kids are cranky kids.  A steady supply of food will go a long way to keeping everyone content, if not happy.  When feeding the children, I look for fast, mostly healthy ways to do it.  Fast food is fast but gross.  Restaurants can be good, but they take time and require more sitting.  Our solution is to pack a lot of food.  If the kids are doing well, we'll eat in the car.  If they are squirrelly and need a break, we stop.

On a trip to St. Louis when I was pregnant with Giant.  The rest stop was closed, so we just got off at the next exit and ate in the grass next to a hotel parking lot.  Those boxes are the best things I have ever purchased in my entire life.  I don't think Tupperware sells them anymore, which is a darn shame.  They are awesome.  I still use the same ones I bought 13 years ago.

Our favorite foods to pack include cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs, individual fruit containers (ex: applesauce cups, boxes of raisins, or pineapple tins), cups of peanut butter with pretzels, fruit leather, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, grapes, carrots, sandwiches, and cheese quesadillas.  Basically, anything that doesn't require a fork or spoon.  (My kids are able to "drink" their applesauce out of the container.)

2.  Give them things to do.  Busy kids are happy kids, so make sure they have things to occupy themselves.  I get carsick if I turn around much while Bryan drives, and I have no desire to sit in the back with them.  The kids are on their own when it comes to entertainment.  Poor, deprived children that they are, we have never had a van with a TV in it.  Each child has a desk in which he can pack toys and other activities but also use as a flat surface on which to write or play.  Activity books are great, whether they are mazes, hidden pictures, brain teasers, color-by-number, or MadLibs.  There are lots of travel games from which to choose, and if they are magnetic, even better.  They always pack crayons and pencils and a notebook.  (Loose paper is a pain in the neck.)

The day before the trip, we go to the library so each child can pick out a bag of books.  The littlest kids are only allowed to pick board books, as I don't like to pay for books little kids rip to pieces while sitting behind me.

Notice the library books between Phoenix and Buttercup?  How about the kids' camera for Giant?  And the small water bottle for Star?  Helps to keep those smiles all the way to our final destination.

As for electronic devices, the older kids are allowed to bring their iPods.  They get to use them until the battery runs out.  Basically, that gives them 2 hours.  The little kids are allowed to use my phone to play, but I limit them to about 30 minutes.  I save this phone time until the kids have played with everything they have brought and are getting restless.

3.  Stop often.  This is the key to any successful road trip.  For us, the vacation starts the moment we get in the van.  Why wait until we get to our final destination?  If possible, we have a buffer day on either side of the trip to allow us to stop and do fun things along the way.  Even if it's not possible, we still add some fun to the drive.

Every town has a school, and every school has a playground.  Our kids have played on many of them all over the country.  Parks are everywhere, and a short hike is a great way to burn some energy.  We stop and enjoy the touristy things in the cities we travel through.  For example, we made a great find in the zoo in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  Little museums and historical sites dot every state, and they are usually cheap or even free.

If nothing else is available, we turn rest areas into parks.  We can play tag, have a relay race, throw a football, chase the squirrels, or follow the leader.  I don't know why, but one of the favorite games of younger kids is to simply play "follow directions".  I stand in one place and tell them what to do.  For example, I tell them to skip to the tree, then hop on one foot back to me.  Over and over again, they want me to tell them what to do.  It's simple, easy, and the perfect way to get the sillies out.

One year I took the kids on a trip to visit my sister in Hilton Head.  This was taken at a rest area on the way.  Some stranger saw the kids playing and me taking some photos for Bryan and offered to take one of all of us.

Basically, be flexible and prepared.  Be especially prepared for car sickness.  No one wants to travel naked and surrounded by vomit simply because Mom and Dad forgot to have extra clothes, trash bags, and wet wipes handy.

Nobody.

It looks like the entire gulf coast will be hanging out in the 70s for our trip, so that's where we're headed. Yes, the coast spans 3 states (and parts of two more), so it's not really narrowing things down much, but it's a start.  We looked at a map to give the kids a better idea of distances and possibilities, so everything from New Orleans to Destin to Atlanta are possible turn around points.

I noticed today that my dad has now gotten an Instagram account to keep track of our travels.  Feel free to do the same.  My tag or whatever it's called is "inthecoop".

Do you have any tips for us and our travels?  What do you do to make sure your road trip is fun and headache free?

Have a lovely day!