This summer marks our family’s fifth cross-country road trip. While the drives are long, we love having our own vehicle and an abundance of stuff when we travel. Pillows from home? Yes, please! We certainly have our mileage limits, but our kids have become quite the road warriors. The idea of driving 15 hours in a confined space with bickering siblings is enough to make anyone nervous, but with a little preparation and a lot of prayer, we manage to survive and, even enjoy, our time together.
Over the years I’ve put together a “Roadtrip Readiness” checklist to help plan for the long journey. Here are five easy tips to help you and your family prepare for the road ahead.
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Service your car
It may go without saying, but it is a wise idea to give your car a mechanical once-over before embarking on a long drive. I learned early-on that road trips can be hard on vehicles, and we sometimes neglect routine maintenance if our normal routes are relatively short. I tend to stay within a five-mile radius of my house so my car coughs and sputters at the idea of a 1,000-mile journey.
Change your oil if you haven’t done so recently, especially if you’re driving through extreme temperatures. Ask the mechanics to check all of your fluid levels and top them off as necessary. Most neighborhood oil change outfits and even automobile repair shops will look over your car for free or a small fee. It’s worth the investment to ensure that everything is ship-shape under the hood.
Check the pressure and general health of your tires. Make sure your windshield wipers are streak-free. Be sure all of your headlights and blinkers are in working order. You get the idea.
In spite of all this service, I always pack an emergency car kit just in case. Having it in the car gives me peace of mind, and, let’s be honest, everyone needs one of those reflective triangle thingys.
Clean & Tidy
Listen, road trips are messy. Your car has never seen snack crumbs like the ones that materialize after ten straight hours of driving. That’s why I like to start with a clean slate. I go beyond just the typical interior and exterior wash and take time to empty out the nooks and crannies. I empty the in-door storage, glove compartment, etc. of anything extra before disembarking. You will need as much space as possible to store your necessities in reach while on the road.
Real Life Road Tripping – It’s messy business.
My kids have a tendency to stuff toys and even random trash into their cupholders, seatbacks, you name it. I get help from them on this step, and we always find a ‘lost-forever’ Shopkin or favorite pencil somewhere.
Check Your Data Plan
Here’s the truth: we survive road trips mostly because the kids can spend time playing games and watching shows/movies/YouTube on their devices. Until I stumbled into the awesomeness of unlimited Wi-Fi in my super cool new minivan, we burned through my cellular hotspot bandwidth rather quickly. I always dreaded getting that “you’ve reached your data limit” notice hours from our final destination.
All data plans are not created equal. If you intend to have your kids use devices while on the road, I suggest contacting your service provider to understand your available data (personal hotspot available limits are often different than general monthly allowances). For limited plans, I recommend asking for help understanding how bytes and bits translate into minutes/hours of Wi-Fi use. Then multiply that times the number of people tapping into the data. Don’t forget the co-pilot.
Map Routes & Make Reservations
I never advocate for winging it on road trip routes or overnight plans. Check the possible paths to your destination and think through how many hours you want to spend driving each day. Our family can tolerate about eight to nine hours (500-600 miles) before we need a break from driving. Your time may vary depending on your kids’ ages and your general determination to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible.
Do you want to stop and eat lunch or drive thru and press on? How often will you need to stop for fuel? These are things to think through before hitting the road. And remember that younger kids (and husbands with micro-bladders) need potty breaks often.
If you plan to stop overnight along the way, I strongly recommend making a hotel reservation in advance. Doing so avoids the mayhem of searching for a suitable room once you finally decide to call it a day. Plus, it gives everyone something to look forward to (especially if you book a place with a pool!).
Bonus Tip: While digital map apps and GPS work fine in most cases, I recommend having a paper map of your overall route to consult in cases of poor reception. This good ol’ fashioned road atlas works well for us. It’s also fun to have your kids follow the route in their own atlas and learn about the states you’re passing through.
I recall a time during college when my friend and I drove from Memphis to Nashville (almost three full hours) looking for a hotel along I-40. We were road tripping back from New York to Dallas over Spring Break, and it was a less-than-awesome end to a great trip. We still talk about how tired and grumpy we were that night. And how we ended up in the grossest motel ever. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.
Spontaneous Stop
Near Royal Gorge, Colorado
Fun Exploring the Rock Yard
Please don’t misunderstand. I love spontaneous stops at fun places along the way. Never pass up a visit the world’s largest ball of twine. (In case you’re wondering, it’s in Cawker City, Kansas.) Pull over at that cute little fruit stand touting Texas’s finest peaches. Always make a little extra time for bathroom and snack breaks. Because, with road trips, the journey matters, but with kids in tow, so does the destination.
Pack Up & Hit the Road
Once your car is clean, serviced, and ready for the trip, find a good place for your luggage and equipment and hit the road! Be sure to put everything your pilot will need within safe reach. I always make sure I have plenty of water and copious amounts of coffee along with my lip balm and cell phone close by.
Give your kids easy access to their own snacks and water if you want to avoid having to hand them something every 2.4 minutes. I also put their books, easy art supplies, and other activities in a bin between them. Check out the fun mini activity pouches created by my friends and mompreneurs at Twig & Olive – they’re perfect on this little tray to pass time in the car.
Bonus Tip: Pack a separate overnight bag with changes of clothes and toiletries if you plan to stop along the way. Be sure it ends up being placed in easy reach in the back of the car, along with anything else you’ll want to take in for the night.
My kids love to road trip in their flip flops so they can kick them off as soon as we’re in the car. Because we usually need either socks and/or tennis shoes at some point along the way, I slide them under the seat for easy access.
We take a small cooler with snacks that can serve as meal substitutes like hummus and pretzels, salami and cheese, etc. Plus it’s great to have a cooler and ice packs handy for picnics on vacation. Packing a jug of water from home also saves us time and money. We refill our reusable bottles along the way instead of buying bottled water at every stop. Ours lasts for days and helps my sensitive-tummy family transition into using local water while away from home.
Bottom Line: Road trips are what you make of them. We try to focus on the fun of the journey as much as the excitement of reaching our final destination. Happy trails to you!
To travel is to live.
Hans Christian Andersen
I’d love to hear your road trip stories. Please comment and share below.
An adventure for sure