You guys, we took the longest road trip of my life this past summer (not including the move halfway across the country when I was 19): Eastern Iowa to Deadwood, South Dakota… with 2 kids (13 and 6 year old boys).
We were planning to stay in a large cabin with a huge group of extended family members for a week. I do like cabins and condos rather than hotel rooms. I will forego daily housekeeping to have a few hundred more square feet and a private bedroom… but hey, to each their own.
Anyway, it was about 12 hours each way, when you factor in a few pit stops. Google said it would be 10 hours 45 minutes (approximately), but I’m a realist so I figured for 12ish. We did drive about 3 hours on our first night and stayed overnight at a hotel, it was a Friday and we weren’t sure how early we would be able to leave or if we wanted to do it all in one shot on Saturday. I like to break up the drive… I get sick of being in the car too…
If you are planning a road trip with kids, here are my top tips:
- Plan to make stops – Don’t be one of those parents that is trying to set a world record while trying to get to your destination. I promise that your kids are going to have to go pee more than expected and it will frustrate you if you are in a serious hurry. Just lower your expectations here… and/or help your significant other lower theirs…
- Plan your food stops – there was a good 100 miles where there were not any restaurants available without going significantly off course. So unless you wanted convenience store or vending machine food, or wanted to add a 20 minute detour, you were out of luck. Use Google (or Mapquest) and check it out before you are all starving with no options in the middle of nowhere. BONUS TIP: You could definitely save some $$ if you pack sandwiches for one of the meals. Throw in some cold meat sandwiches, wraps, or salads and eat them en route or stop at one of the roadside attractions you come across to get some fresh air.
- Bring snacks! All. The. Snacks. – Put a medium-sized cooler within reach of your eldest child or passenger and pack it full. Seriously. First, because this was a life saver for those areas mentioned above where there was no food (and helped save us from spending $5 on a hot dog). And second, because kids love snacks. All kids. All types of snacks. This is a like a peace offering to get some quiet moments… but “snacks” does not just mean junk food. I just mean portable small portions of food:
- Protein snacks – jerky, meat sticks, lunchables, string cheese, peanuts, protein bars, yogurt tubes
- Fruit/veggies – celery with PB, carrot sticks, grapes, mandarins/clementines, apple slices (anything that doesn’t need a fork is easiest, but you can bring forks!)
- Kid faves – fruit snacks, crackers, chips, licorice, cookies
- Drinks – bottled waters, sports drinks, juice boxes, soda, whatever you prefer (this will save you tons of $$$ at the convenience stores and hotel!)
- Bring a case of water – Yes, I just mentioned drinks, but we literally take a case (24-30 pack) of bottled water on ALL trips that are longer than 1 night. I am NOT buying a $2 bottle of water at the gas station when I get a WHOLE CASE for $3 at the grocery store.
- Refillable bottles/cups – We all have stainless steel tumblers that we fill up before getting in the car and refill along the way. We literally don’t leave home without them (work, sports, trips, shopping, etc). Bring extra cups and refillable water bottles for going on adventures or in case you loose one.
- Movies/Movie player/Tablet – a portable DVD player was SUPER handy on this trip, but we still put a limit to it (so that they didn’t watch a solid 8 hours of movies). We also checked out some “new to us” DVDs from the local library (for FREE!). If you have a tablet you can download movies on or utilize your Amazon account (if you have a hotspot/Wifi capability), that works great too! **Make sure to bring headphones so not everyone has to listen to Trolls for the 12th time**
- Reading/Coloring/Activity Books – We encouraged reading, coloring, and paper-based activities during the daylight hours, in between snacks and movies.
- Stop to see some of the cool roadside attractions – I know you want to get to where you’re going, but how many other times are you going to drive by the Corn Palace or the World’s Largest Ball of Yarn. We found this statue near Chamberlain, SD. We stretched, walked the path, checked out the view (it was beautiful), and took some pictures. The kids will appreciate the break and you’ll be happy to let them run off some of that energy before tackling more hours in the confines of the car.
Another bonus to driving (over flying) is getting to bring more stuff with you! Some of the other members of my family brought their golf clubs for the golf outings they had planned in SD. We brought tons of groceries in a big cooler (for the week in the cabin), 3 cases of water (don’t laugh, it almost wasn’t enough…), plenty of kids stuff, and ALL the clothes I wanted 😉 (it switched back and forth between Fall/Summer weather the whole week).
Our first family road trip was pretty successful and it wasn’t so bad that I would never do it again, so we’ll call that a win!
I hope you guys can use these tips to help you survive your next roadtrip! Please SHARE your adventures with us on social (tag me or use #familytravelonabudget):
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And if you have any travel questions, I am happy to help! Message me on social or email me at familytravelonabudget@gmail.com. If I don’t have the answer, I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction.