Pre-Roadtrip Checklist

Don't Forget to Tell Your Bank

This way you don't wind up with your cards not working because the bank is trying to help and shut down your card for security reasons (or in my case, because there was a security breach days before I left and they sent a new card by snail male and gave everyone three days to use their old cards and then automatically shut everyone down without a phone call).  These measures are in place for your security but can really pose a problem for you while you are on the road if you don't plan ahead.

Pre-Trip Inspection at your local mechanics

Your service manager can check fluid levels, tire pressure and other basics just to be sure your car is in safe condition for driving over the long distance AND that it is running as efficiently as possible which will save you money on gas mileage.

Emergency Kit for the Car

Make sure you have your star wrench, jack, spare tire, and jumper cables as well as a flashlight, small pressure gage, emergency yield sign or flares and a patch kit so that should you have a flat, dead battery or get in an accident you have what you need to get moving again.  Should you need a tow or additional help, make sure your AAA membership is up to date.

Emergency Kit for the People

Of course "minor emergencies" can happen along the roadway too.  If you are prepared, most of these kinds of emergencies can hopefully remain minor.  Keep some food and bottled water in the trunk  along with a well-stocked First Aid Kit.  Such kits can be purchased premade but here is a checklist to help you create your own if you wish.

You also won't want to forget your cel phone and its car charger, but for safety's sake, please only use it when you are pulled over and hands free. 

Travel Bucket and Entertainment

A travel bucket will help keep the kids entertained and cut down on sibling (or friend) rivalries.  Fill yours with a few old favorites and a new surprise.  Books, toys and travel games should all go into the travel bucket a few more new "surprises" stashed in the glove compartment to add to the mix before the fighting begins, but as it appears the kids are getting desperate.  Here is a link to my original article about travel buckets how to make them and what to put into them.

I haven't used a lot of technological gadgets for road trips in the past years, but we are adding a DS to the mix this year as well as my ipod instead of CD's (we got an adapter for the car this month).  If you would like to incorporate technology into your bag of tricks to keep your kids entertained, this blogger has some great information for you.

Travel Comfort

If you have a child still at that age where they throw things, try Nini Bungees to help you find all the toys, sippy cups and pacifiers that get dropped (or tossed).

If you expect your child to sleep along the way, make sure to make or obtain a Seatbelt Snoozer.

Make sure to bring a favorite blanket or throw for those sleepy moments too.

Even if they are done with diapers, wipes are a great item to have along to wipe any mess up, cool hot faces, and to dry-wash hands after a stop for gas.

DON'T FORGET to hang a trash bag where your kids can use it!  I have one designed for cars I hang on the headrest of the passenger side bucket seat that I line with plastic grocery bags.  I nest about ten grocery bags together and anytime we stop, I pull out the inner most bag and trash.  The next bag is already there and ready to go.  It just keeps things cleaner, less cluttered and more comfortable.

Food Safety and Convenience Considerations:

Of course you can't forget their little tummies (or yours because a well fed and hydrated parent makes for a safer, more alert and more patient driver).

If you will bring meats or dairy (or anything else you would like to make sure to keep cool for that matter), here are two GREAT ideas to help keep the cooler cold without hogging up space with dripping ice. 

• Freeze Green Grapes the night before you leave.  They will act as ice would (until you eat them) and they are a fabulous snack to have, frozen or thawed.
• Freeze wet, but not dripping, sponges.  Even if a hole gets poked in the sandwich bag you put the sponge in, you won't wind up with drips and spills.  This avoids the wet mess of loose ice and sponges are a lot less expensive than the cooler bags you can buy for this purpose (which still drip if punctured).

If I'm traveling without my hubby, I keep the cooler on the floor in the front seat for easy access.  When he is with us, we actually squish it into the "hump" between the seats.  It keeps the cooler out of the sun, out of the way, but within easy reach so we aren't pulling over for every little tummy rumble. 

In this picture you can see the frozen grapes and frozen sponge (in a sandwich bag) that will keep everything that needs to stay cool, cool.  You can also see the assortment of things we might bring thought the sandwiches and baked goods for breakfasts are missing from the photo.

If you don't already have a soft cooler with additional pockets, I highly recommend splurging and purchasing one.  They come in medium sizes that are not terribly expensive and work perfectly for the car (the one above was $20 and works perfectly for two of us for a three day trip).

Such coolers have multiple pockets and some even have options where one area is for items that you want to keep with the "ice" and there is another separate pouch nearby for keeping things cool but not quite as cold.  This is a great place for stashing fruits and veggies as well as chocolate or those yogurt covered raisins and trail mix that includes m&m's or chocolate chips.  Ours also has outer pockets the chips and crackers and things can go in so much of the food is together, but not ALL refrigerated. 

Here are two links that list food safety considerations for when you pack foods: My Recipes Packing Your Cooler and Picnic Safety.

Snacks:

My favorite packaging invention is used for packaging foods like Gogo Squeeze and Buddy Fruits that come in the nice little pouches the kids squeeze to eat.  These are great because the food inside is yummy, they are easy to pack, pre-portioned, and the left over trash is slim and doesn't require a lot of space (which is better for the environment too).  However, unlike "Go-gurt" they don't just squeeze out so easily that when you pick up the package food comes flying out of it leaving you with a huge mess (As a preschool teacher I cringed when I saw go-gurts in my kid's lunches - it was less messy to squirt it into a paper bowl and give them a spoon with which to eat their yogurt).

Other standards could include:

• Presliced fruits such as melons and apple wedges (spray apples with a little lemon juice).
• Preshelled pistachios mixed with craisins
• Sweet Peas still in the pod
• carrot sticks with a tiny Tupperware of peanut butter for dipping.
• Peanut drizzled popcorn (or other fancy popcorn that makes it yummy even if it is "stale" like caramel or chocolate).  or flavored mini rice cakes.
• Many people recommend pre-shelled, hard boiled eggs.  We're not big eaters of hard-boiled eggs and I don't like the resulting whoopee cushion sounds and accompanying smell a few hours after eating these eggs.  If you don't have this problem, enjoy your eggs, if you are like me you might bring a protein shake for each of us for each day we will be traveling instead.
• Dry cereal favorites, pretzels, goldfish crackers or chips (proportioned is a good plan for avoiding mindless munching AND fights between siblings/travelers).
• Clif Kid bars and fruit ropes (only one per kid, per day - especially if you also do the shake or egg)
• A special treat as a surprise such as astronaut ice cream, something to make them laugh (or gross them out) like chocolate covered grasshoppers, or a food they love but don't get very often.
• A special treat for you.  If you go all healthy all the way, it is more likely you'll find yourself pulling through the drive-thru more than you had intended. 

Meals:

For Breakfasts:  Pre-made favorite muffins (I bring, zucchini, carrot or bran muffins), scones and/or croissants.  As a special treat I also do Nutella pockets (essentially chocolate croissants).  Save the scones for the last day because they hold out the longest and then pull in somewhere and get hot cocoa (or chocolate milk in the hot months) to dip the scone in (or chase it with) as a special treat.  Eat these with some type of fruit you've packed and a protein shake or squeeze bag treat that contains yogurt.

For Lunches and Dinners: Sandwiches, cold pizza, or cold fried chicken fingers (or other boneless cut) - just make sure you hand out the wipes ahead of time and have plates and a veggie with peanut butter for dipping such as celery or carrots with a handful of pretzels or chips and a few slices of cucumber or melon.

Eat one fast food meal.  You are on vacation after all right?  For ideas to make healthy choices in the drive through, check out the book and website, "Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko. 

Stops:

I try to have us do the eating in the car.  That way stops can be about having a chance to move around instead of becoming an opportunity to sit some more.  Plan ahead and choose a few parks along the way where you can stop for 30-40 minutes and bring a ball to toss around or a similar favorite for out doors.  Every one will stay in a much better mood this way (though I'm not guaranteeing complete harmony).

If you want to take advantage of your drive and are willing and able to make the trip a bit longer, you can use our national parks as places to stop, go for a short hike and see the visitors center and then grab a camping site or hotel room to crash before starting off in the car again the next day.  Or you can stop in the major cities along the way and take advantage of one of the city museums, landmarks or events before crashing for the night and heading off again the next day. 

My Travel Bucket

We all know that traveling by car with kids can be frustrating.  Especially if there are siblings as they tend to entertain themselves by driving each-other nuts.  However, besides portable electronics that allow us to access movies and a variety of games there are also a few old-fashioned tricks that can help as well.

Two items I have found essential on especially-long road trips are my 12 pack cooler bag and my "travel bucket" 

The 12 pack cooler bag is just big enough to fit exactly 12 cans of soda which makes it a perfect place to throw a few juice boxes, some grapes, and a couple of sandwiches.  This results in fewer stops because having a few things packed means stops are only required for the bathroom, two meals, gas (hopefully the kind with which you refill, not the kind that needs relieving) and sleep.

The other essential item basically acts as a catch all for the entertainment.  Variety is the spice of life and even watching TV and playing video games gets boring when enough time as passed.  It is possible to do three and four days in the car (even with a three-year-old) with-out these niceties.  I've done it with my own kid.  The key was the "travel bucket".  Ours, is really more of a basket and is pictured below.  It can actually be belted into the center of a bench seat between two passengers to provide a little "block" between siblings.  Having a boundary line won't prevent all arguments but it certainly does its part in making it clear who is in whose space. 

I purchased this particular basket because ice cube trays for keeping already-made ice that I also found at the same store fit inside it quite nicely.  I simply wove ribbon through the holes in the basket to hold the ice bucket in place.  The travel bucket now has three divisions and can hold books and other "flat" objects vertically as well as store the bucket of small items and larger loose items where they can be easily found.

You would fill this basket differently depending on the age of the child/children with whom you are traveling, however here are some essential ideas that work quite nicely for most school-aged and preschool kids.

A couple of favorite books are a must.  For younger kids you can get the "on tape" versions and play the story on your car's stereo or have mp3's etc. with headphones.  Kids pick up on how to operate these devices quickly and easily so even for a 3 or 4 year old, a quick tutorial before the trip should suffice.  Of course, if it is the three-year-old that taught you how to make it work in the first place, this step is not needed.  Don't worry if they aren't turning the pages in time with the sound - So what?  They are having a good time and being entertained.  On this same note, I've recently discovered a great narrator, Jim Weiss, that I'm sure has been around forever but I was only recently introduced.  He has done wonderful elementary versions of many classics.  You can find him online and download single stories or entire albums of stories easily.  Here is a link to a catalouge of his collection.  http://www.chinaberry.com/c/Jim-Weiss-Collection.cfm?tid=926082503   Of course, there are no books to go with these, but its a nice way to change the pace occasionally and the way he tells his chosen tales is both calm and engaging.

I also make sure to include at least one search and find.  The one in the bucket pictured, is by Klutz and came with special "tools" for seeing.  I include a new search and find for each trip that takes more than one day.  This way it takes awhile for everything to be found.  Search and finds are made for different development levels so you can find beginner versions as well as adult-oriented search and find books for your teens.

The last book I include is a road atlas that has our route highlighted.  For Alice, when she was three I included pictures representing each stop in a way that made sense to her.  I taped the pictures in over where the city or town was where that stop would take place.  We always go over the route together in advance and this way she knows what to expect as well as how to use her atlas.  As she gets older, she needs less and less help with this, and during our next trip when she asks, "when will we get there" I will simply refer her to her atlas.  "Why don't you look at the map and see if you can guess, we just passed  through. . . "  When we take trips across state lines, I use stickies and label them with the days we will travel through that state.  If you'll be traveling at night at all, make sure to bring a book light for anyone in the back seat old enough to not simply fall asleep.

The next item/s are things I refer to as a "fidgets".  As do many other educators - particularly in the "special ed" departments.  This can be anything that helps to give a kid a place for his or her fidgety energy and every classroom should have a basket full of them.  You know those little stress men that when squeezed have their ears pop out?  He is a great example of a fidget.  Anything squeezable and/or with different textures.  At least one for each traveler (but all different and interchangeable) works well.  You can often find great fidgets in the dollar bins at many stores or you can make your own.  Put 1/2 cup of flour (or a variety of other substances) into a surgical glove or balloon, tie it off tightly and this becomes a wonderful fidget (Be safe this is only for kids who are NOT going to chew on the fidget.  You also wouldn't want them to tear it open and spill the flour all over your car).  You can get different textures for your fidget balloons by including other substances as well, lavender buds, corn starch, lentils and anything with rounded edges will all work.  If your passengers are trustworthy about putting things away when finished, a plastic egg with Silly Putty would also work for this purpose.  Another fidget idea with a different kind of fidgeting motion is a Slinky as long as the sound it makes isn't going to become one more item over which to argue and go crazy.

Art supplies and a sketch book for each passenger are also essential, just be careful about wax crayons sitting in a hot car while taking any sort of leisurely stop.  For travel, I prefer colored pencils.  There are a lot of great "doodle books" as well as coloring books out there.  Also, if you'll be traveling at night, we LOVE our Glodoodle which lights up (multiple color choices) and comes with stencils to get you started.

Bendaroos are a fabulous "toy" that can act as a fidget and as an art supply.  If you aren't familiar with them but have a crafty kid - or one that likes to bend and twist things a lot - get familiar.  They are the modern version of piper cleaners but cooler!  Its string with wax on it so kids can play with these things over and over again and never wind up with a prick from a broken central wire.  Kits come with cards that show you how to make "pictures" out of Bendaroos as well.  Plan ahead though because sometimes the strings need to be cut in half or thirds to complete the pics and although their hands won't be sticky, kids that are particularly sensitive about having clean feeling hands all the time will want to use a wipe when finished.  I pull out just enough to complete the pics on three or four cards, and two more strings of each color, put them in a snack zip-loc bag and include them in the bucket.  Kids of different ages will use these differently so they even grow with your kids a little - Again, please be safe!  Don't give them to anyone that is still in the "sucking and chewing" phase of life.

Be prepared to sing songs and play old fashioned games too.  I know 99 bottles of soda on the wall is repetitive, annoying and cheesy (but maybe that is why kids think it is so much fun).  Make it a game: who can sing all the words to "family favorite" a capella?  Or, find some obscure but fun new titles that can become family favorites for "yelling at the top of our lungs together"  - We like Niel Diamond's "I am the Lion" (seriously, it isn't what you'd likely expect from Mr. Diamond).  There are license plate bingo, find the alphabet, alphabet word games, and a host of other games that may bring back memories for the older members of the traveling group.  Slug Bug anyone?

Lastly, there are all kinds of travel-sized games available these days.  Boggle, Bop It, and Chess are all games I've seen in travel versions.  Mellisa and Doug offers a great flip the tile wooden board version of hang man (pictured in the travel bucket).  Mad Libs tablets can be a lot of fun for kids that can write - you can even be the one to come up with the words if there are only the two of you.  Tablets with grids for playing boxes and tic-tac-toe also work when you have two that can play along with each-other nicely.  One of our favorite road games is Clever Castle because it is something that can be done independently and I only allow Alice to play it as a "rainy day" activity which keeps it special and the idea of playing it is new each time. 

Sprinkle in one short-but-sweet sight seeing stop that allows some leg stretching for each day of travel and you're set.  During one trip we stopped at the fort in Sacramento and toured it in about an hour and a half.  It was at the mid-way point for our drive for the day and worked perfectly to work out the "car kinks" and get us feeling refreshed.  Yes, it meant we didn't make the additional 100 miles are so for the day, but it made for a much more satisfying and peaceful journey and we worked a fun, but educational activity and lunch into the stop.  Your "stretch stops" can be shorter and simpler.  Plan for a 30 minute stop at a park where the youngest ones can swing and slide, or you can simply toss a ball around for a bit. 

This is how we have managed major car trips for the last three years and we haven't had a video player with which to watch movies OR video games at all along the way.

complaining still present at times but significantly minimized!

Here are some links to some companies with travel products I've mentioned.

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/  - Go to think fun - Clever Castle and other problem solving games
http://www.melissaanddoug.com/ Clever games and toys made from wood
http://www.glodoodle.org/ 
http://www.bendaroos.com/
http://www.klutz.com/
http://www.outsetmedia.com/ - look for car tag - scavenger hunt and others - these are decks of cards or little booklets with some of those "old fashioned" car games explained and then taken up a notch.  Just makes it easier and less need for "thinking on your feet" is required.