On the road again (AIEEE)
We've got a road trip planned for this weekend, a 7+ hour drive from Seattle to the southern Oregon coast to visit family. I've done this drive so many times I have the landmarks memorized: there's the right-wing billboard in rural Washington which typically marks the point when we've run through our repertoire of festive family sing-alongs, there's the rest stop where we had the World's Most Stressful Two-Kid Diaper Change, there's the quaint little coffee shop in the Willamette Valley where we can no longer stop and relax and have an adult conversation because we've got two children dear GOD TWO CHILDREN HOW DID THIS HAPPEN.
My husband likes to act like he doesn't understand why I dread these drives so much, until I cheerily announce that this time, I'd like to spend the majority of the trip in the relative comfort of the driver's chair while he sits in the cramped backseat, wedged between bags of food and diapers and toys, entertaining the baby with dangly plastic things while pointing out cows to the toddler. For SEVEN HOURS.
It seems like traveling with the kids will get easier when they're a little older, but maybe not. I cringe to think back on all the road trips my mother took me on when I was a school-age kid, where we would drive across the entire country from our home in Virginia in order to visit all sorts of amazing, beautiful places -- and how I would whine and complain and repeatedly get carsick and generally was probably such a pain in her ass I have no idea how she managed not to resist leaving me on the side of a road somewhere.
For this trip, I plan to bring our usual accoutrements: snacks, bag of distracting new toys from the dollar store, DVD player, drawing pad. You know what I'd really like, though? If I'm being totally honest? A soundproof glass divider between the front and back seat, like you see in limousines. Wouldn't that be great? When the kids start whining, you just push a button and bzzzzzzzt -- blissful silence.
Alternately, I'd like the option of FedExing my children to our destination ahead of time, so my husband and I could spend the drive BSing and taking turns napping. Oh, don't look at me like that: I'd put holes in the shipping container, I'm not a monster.
What do you guys think, is it easier to travel with older kids -- or does it just get HARDER?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Julie Underberg 6-25-2008 @ 7:06AM
I drove 5 hours with a 7 week old and a 2 year old. GOD AWFUL! I just did the trip again with a now 5 and 3 year old and what a difference. MUCH MUCH EASIER. At least now they can feed themselves.
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the goddess anna 6-25-2008 @ 8:30AM
It's a 4-5 hour trip from here to my husband (he can make it in 3). It's hell on Earth, two kids are always fighting when the third is trying to nap. I've made the trip alon a handful of times, and it's one of the very few reasons I wish I had a bigger vehicle. It's gotten harder as they've gotten older - the twins when babies would sleep in the car, making it quiet.
One thing I don't bother with is a lot of entertainment, usually just whatever toys are in the car. I'll open the moon roof cover if it's a sunny day with clouds, and I swear they can spend hours pointing out cloud shapes. Cam will stare out the window for the entire trip. Needless to say, my kids are very good at entertaining themselves - I don't have the luxury of entertaining them while driving on the interstate.
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randi 6-25-2008 @ 10:03AM
It does get better. My kids are 8 and 4 and we drive from Atlanta to Long Island (18 hours) in one day. We do it twice a year and it is ok as long as you get used to the inane conversations of the 4 year old. And now he wants to play I spy all the time!!
Have you watched Jon and Kate plus 8? They wear ear plugs :)
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maria 6-25-2008 @ 12:02PM
It does get easier. My kids are 4, 6 & 8 and we drive 11 hrs to SC every summer and to the in-laws 5 hrs away several times a year. The god-send is the DVD player. It really does make life easier. When my daughter was a newborn we drove the 1000 mi to Iowa so I could spend part of my maternity leave w/them. It was awful. We had a 4 1/2 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old potty training. I thought we'd never get there and I know we'll just cough up the $ for plane tickets twice a year for that trek. For the 11 hr SC trip we have found it's easier on all of us if we just divide it into 2 days - leave mid-day the first day and find a hotel, order pizza and swim til the pool closes rather than drive through the night. We are all a lot more relaxed when we get there.
Hang in there.
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Kristi 6-25-2008 @ 12:15PM
When my oldest was 3 months old, we took a 3-leg road trip to visit family--each leg was 3-4 hours long, and she screamed the entire trip, sleeping for maybe 10 or 15 minutes during each driving session. I am soooooo glad those days are gone.
Now that our youngest, at 15 months, can face forward, the drives go a bit smoother. Both he and his 3.5 year old sister can watch DVD's, and I can more easily hand back snacks, drinks, toys, and pacifiers from the front seat.
Most of our road trips are about 4-5 hours long. We stop once, about halfway, either at a rest stop or a Starbucks (they have milk for the kids and clean restrooms!). If possible we try to leave either right at bedtime, or right at naptime so that we at least a couple of hours of guaranteed snooze time out of the kids. Having lunch or dinner at a restaurant with a big play place also helps them burn off energy before being strapped down.
I have 4 sisters and I remember several epic 2-day drives from Indy to Myrtle Beach. I don't know how my parents survived.
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Emily Campbell 6-25-2008 @ 1:11PM
Why don't you try leaving at night? Then they (and maybe even you) can sleep the whole way. I just tried this with my 7-month-old and it worked great. No feeding/changing/fussing, we both got to sit in the frontseat, and his sleep schedule stayed on track for the whole vacation, and we enjoyed plenty of both adult conversation and blissful silence.
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Elissa 6-26-2008 @ 1:54AM
Not having any children yet, I don't have any answers. :) But I do remember my family's drives to southern CA from Seattle every summer growing up. We had a huge old chevy truck that my Dad would lay out foam mattresses and my older sister and brother and I would sleep and play back there the entire time while my parents sat up in the front and could not hear us unless we banged on the window between the parts of the truck which we did if we had to go to the bathroom. As a child I thought the kids were the lucky ones - it was exciting to sleep in the back of the truck. But my parents really had it good - their kids were content and they couldn't hear them. :)
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Sabrina 6-26-2008 @ 8:51AM
Yeah, you think that's bad? I just finished driving from Sacramento, California to Pittsburgh, PA with my 3.5 year old and 2 year old. Dear old hubby got to drive alone for the entire trip since I can't maneuver his loaded truck and it has no AC. Talk about a nightmare trip, and my kids are super well behaved.
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Mary 9-13-2008 @ 11:43PM
It gets much easier, don't worry. Soon, they'll be entertaining themselves and all you'll have to do is relax and enjoy the ride. Finding food can get harder if your kids are picky thoguh.
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