Summer Road Trips ...

Now that we are home from California, the husband and I have the travel bug again.  Due to his schedule and some stuff going on at work, we are limited to weekend getaways and staying closer to home, in case he needs to come back here quickly.  So what does that mean?

Road trip!

Dante says "Puppies can road trip too!"

We've done several cross-country road trips with the kids--Dallas to Canada, Colorado Springs to Canada, weekend trips to Keystone from the Springs, Dallas to San Antonio, Dallas to Louisiana, etc.  While the husband was training in Missouri last year, we did another road trip to visit him, then onwards to St. Louis to visit one of my sweet friends and her kids, back to see him again, then back to Dallas.  It was the official "Ben's Birthday Road Trip" that I have yet to blog almost a year later, oops!

Faith has really wanted to go see Mount Rushmore and while we are stationed in COSprings, it's only about a 7.5 hour drive.  Since I doubt will ever live closer than that, we want to be sure to take her.  I've already started mapping it out--Mount Rushmore, Bear Country USA, the Oregon Trail wagon tracks.

But road-tripping with kids?  We've got this.  A few of my best tips are below:

• Buy an outlet converter that plugs into your car's lighter.  I drive a small SUV that has one more lighter outlet in the trunk.  We plug the power strip into that, weave it through the middle seat between the kids and they can charge anything and everything they need to from their seats.
• Pack a good travel bag, including non-electronic items.  Faith helped me write this post last year and we still use a similar bag.
• Pack food, lots of food.  We always bring full lunches for the first day of the road trip--sandwiches, fruits, and assorted non-messy snacks.  Road trips are not the place for messy or sticky items and children.  Trust me.
• Don't forget the earphones.  Whether it's for their iTouches or yours, it's a sanity saver!
• Keep a sense of humor, or you'll go crazy.  It may not have been hilarious at the time, but Ben using a skunk in the middle of winter in the middle of Tennessee is a hoot now.  Same with the canned possum.  

What are your favorite travel tips with kids?  I'd love to hear them.

Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.