Road Trip Prep

We are now enjoying a very warm and very sunny vacation in Florida.  It took several days prep to pull off this road trip.  But after 24 hours traveling in the car I realized no matter the amount of prep, family travel is really more work than leisure.  In fact, the past couple of days in our van would have made for a highly rated reality show. But I suppose it is the unscripted and unplanned events on family road trips that make them so memorable.

Anyways here is how I prepped and here is how it has worked so far.

A few days before ETD I had all the clothing bags packed.  I usually do two to a bag filling them with enough outfit rolls for the trip.  The outfit rolls include socks and underwear so there is no unnessasary digging and jumbling of clothes.  I usually work individually with each child on this process.  Afterthoughts:  it looks neat upon the first opening but the fact is there really is no avoiding the digging and jumbling of clothes no matter how neatly they were packed.

Next up:  packing individual backpacks for entertainment. Each was assigned to do this on their own.  This has to pass my inspection.  Here is Maryanna in the inspection process, can you guess what passed my inspection and what had to be left behind?

She ended up with two coloring books, two picture books, a baggie of crayons, a plush horse purse and one blankie.  In the other's backpacks you may also find a journal, sketchpad, Madlibs, books, pencils, a few small toys, pocket knives, sunglasses, binoculars, compass and playing cards.  

In the end I find they spend most their time coloring or drawing, and only playing with a few small toys.  In addition to a backpack each child brings something soft and cozy like a blanket, pillow or stuffed animal.  Here it is all lined up and ready to be loaded. Afterthoughts:  whatever is packed, just imagine it all dumped out on the sticky floor of the van mixed with stinky shoes and crumbs.  This really was too much stuff.  Sometimes keeping track of treasures on long road trips causes more stress than the comfort. 

I had shoes and hoodies lined up a few hours before ETD.  There is nothing like one missing shoe that can hold you back.  Afterthoughts: that is only a good idea if you are likely to meet your ETD but in our case we were several hours off so the lined up coats and shoes just got in the way.  Also, it is way to hot down here to even look at so many layers but I'm sure somewhere along northbound I-75 we'll be happy to pull them out again.

A lot of the road trip prep actually revolves around food.  I made a triple batch of pumpkin muffins to eat on the road but since we were 7 hours off our ETD we ate them around the table.  Hard boiled eggs are another favorite road trip food.  Just be sure to peel the shells at home otherwise the floor of your van will really start looking like a compost pile.

The rest of the prep work is done on the idea of a few different "mother ships" and smaller "satellites".  Our mother ship cooler gets packed way in the back of the van.  It is only accessible when stopped.  In it there are several frozen water bottles to keep food cold and a gallon of fresh milk and a gallon of frozen milk.  There may also be bags of deli meat and cheeses, yogurt, and cut up fruits and veggies.  The satellite cooler is accessible while on the road and will hold whatever cold drinks the driver may need, whatever meal will be passed around until the next stop and a few sippy cups of milk.

Here is my mother ship "pantry", it is stored in a large plastic bin in the way back.  I always keep at least two satellite pantry bags accessible for whatever snacks are needed to help keep the driver and all the passengers happy.  The satellite pantry bags are then restocked at the pit stops.

My mother ship diaper bag (actually bin) is also just below.  In it there are packages of pull-ups, cloth diapers, homeopathics and baby wraps.  This is also stored in the way back and has occasional exchanges with my small satellite diaper bag.  Afterthoughts:  This system really worked great!

Here are some children patiently waiting through hours of delay.  In the back you may see a 5 gallon water jug - that is our mother ship.  Then below are 9 little water containers that act as our satellites.  Afterthoughts:  you have to be really careful with a 5 gallon water jug because it can easily leak!

Now a place and system for the fun stuff like oversized running shoes and beach towels.  These three bins are serving as my back hall or mud room.  One for shoes and hats, one for towels and bathing suits and another for sporting equipment.  This also worked well with the execption of storing wet towels and bathing suits.  Perhaps I could figure out a clothesline for the van?

It is kind of funny how I look back on all the family vacations and road trips from my youth with only pleasant memories, never realizing how much work it actually was for my parents to pull it off.  So we do it now (all the work) for our children all out of the fun of it.  Just posting this up here for moral support to myself the next time we off on a road trip adventure.

Please share your secrets to family adventures and road trips - would love to hear what  works and what doesn't for other families.