Wisconsin

Many of you know that my AH is working about 700 miles away right now. He usually comes here once a month or so, generally to see our son (his behavior has made it crystal clear that he really doesn't have any interest in seeing or spending any quality time with me). I have my daughters almost every weekend during the school year, but this coming weekend, they will be with their dad. So, I am loading my little guy into the car and driving him 500 miles to my (and my AH's) hometown. My AH is paying for the gas. I am looking forward to seeing my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, whom I adore and haven't seen in a year. I should also be able to see my favorite cousin, and some high school friends. I haven't done anything purely social that didn't involve me also having to constantly tend to my son in 18 months. I haven't been out of town in almost 2 years, and THAT trip was to my mother's memorial service. I haven't been out of town for anything "fun" in over 2 years. So I am really, REALLY looking forward to spending some time with some friendly faces, especially in light of how long and awful this winter has been and how much I tend to self-isolate when I'm struggling.

I'm nervous about the drive. I LOVE road trips, and have no trouble at all driving for 8-10 hours in one day. I am worried, though, about how my little guy (who is not quite 4) will do. He's in a pretty defiant stage right now. I'm also (as usual) nervous about spending time with my AH. He is not at all interested in being with me, but if/when I dare to behave as though I am having fun with anybody else (friends, family, you name it), he often gets upset (at best) and nasty (at worst). I'm going to be working my program HARD, staying detached and not engaging in the ridiculousness to the absolute best of my ability. I want to have FUN, dang it! I have certainly earned it!

Anyway, send me your safe travels, well-behaved preschooler, and fun trip vibes, if you please.

amy55

Do you have a DVD player that you can hook up in your car?

Have a great trip, you can do it !!!!!!!!!!

Wisconsin

I'll be bringing the laptop computer, which plays DVDs. And he can watch Netflix on my phone if I have a 3G or 4G signal. My dad gave him a tablet for Christmas that has some games on it (but no movies). My hope is that between that, the scenery, (hopefully) a nap somewhere in there, and frequent stops, we'll make it without any major incidents.

Florence

Snacks! Phone games, Netflix, and time it to hit nap time. Lots of novel snacks.

lillamy

Yeah, between that and snacks, you should be good!

I traveled a lot with my kids before the era of portable DVD players, and I would go to the dollar store or Michaels or something and stock up on little $1 things and wrap them as presents -- and then when whining threatened, I'd toss them each a little present to open... would keep them busy for a while... and then a snack... and then another little present...

I hope you have a wonderful time!!!

SiRiDiPiTi

Have a safe and great trip! Sounds like a lot of fun and will be reinvigorating for you

For your four year old, bring a portable DVD player, toys, activity sets... keep him as distracted as possible. I used to take long road trips with my four year old nephew all the time and keeping him occupied was the most challenging part of the whole trip.

... and I'm a little jealous, I need a road trip!

Hammer

Have ran this drill a few times . . .

My observations --

Road trip 4G videos can eat up the Phone/Mobile Bandwidth. Just a caution ($$$). Easy to hit 10 Gig and keep going.

Videos from a Half-Price Book Store (or whatever they may be called local to you), let you get whole DVD's for your notebook CHEAP, or free from the library is even better. Can also pre-load from YouTube (from a "free" wifi) onto your hard-drive. Ask about that if you would like.

Sometimes night-runs work well. Put in LOTS of pillows, a blanket each. I give them baths, put them in Pajamas, eat out at Cici's (or some such), brush their teeth and they tuck-in. I have a BIG coffee for me, and a couple Books On Tape (CD) from the library or Half Price, and make a Night Run.

When we get there, I pick them up and tuck them in bed.

==

If daytime, I find maybe ten things along the way -- State Capitols, Odd Museums, weird stuff. I let them pick their favorites and we stop and see all along the way.

If you want to PM / Facebook me, I have whole road trips on there.

EmmyG

THAT is genius.

AnvilheadII

don't forget good ole road trip games too! I spy with my little eye....slug bugs....singalongs....remember we DID use to travel in vehicles WITHOUT technology and most of us live to tell about it!!!

lizatola

My sister took her 7 year old and 2 year old on a trip from Denver to NJ a few months ago and was worried about the same thing. She was taking the kids to see their father and to go to his sister's wedding, while she spent some time visiting with friends. She was looking forward to the trip because she really hadn't had a break from the kids for nearly a year.

She made sure they had a portable DVD player and got an adapter for DC(or is it AC, lOL) current that could plug into the 12 volt adapter in the car. She got a few cute books on tape, loaned them from the library, and made sure they stopped at McDonalds or anywhere that had a play structure when she could manage it.

You'll be surprised what kids can deal with. I remember taking my 4 year old on a trip to the mountains in CO and we did 2 7 hour days in the car both directions and he did great. Now, he's a seasoned traveler and doesn't seem to even mind the 7 hour drives we do monthly.

Yurt

When my DD was that age, we traveled a lot for our business, and I had collected a lot of toys from the various fast food restaurants and kept them in a special travel box. You could do the same with items from the dollar store. That box was only used for our travel time, and we never brought it into the house, so it lived in the bus that we used for traveling. She looked forward to playing with these "special" toys when we were on the road. This was also before the time of small, portable devices, so we had a 13" TV/VCR that we could plug into the 12v outlets. I think she and I watched the same Barney episode about 100 times in two years....

CodeJob

Hi WI,

I think it is important to let them run around during breaks because they are confined in those car seat contraptions. Several rest stops on my route have play grounds. Those are helpful. We would run around. If the weather is not so great, then there are some junk food restaurants that still have play areas too for an indoor release.

The trick of the whole thing is to release your adult expectations of "making time" except for when they are asleep!

Be sure you have plastic bags, baby wipes and Kleenex within reach. Many catastrophes can be temporarily controlled with these 3 items.

Please drive safe and watch out of deer - I have a a bad habit of hitting them, or them hitting my car.

FireSprite

Oh how fun, there is nothing like a good road trip!! Our last real trip like that was a couple of years ago - we did about 3300 miles altogether over 2.5 weeks, from FL to OK & back with many stops in between.

I also planned for the kid boredom with small little dollar store gifts (don't forget glow sticks for nighttime... they also make great disposable night lights for the nights you are away from home.... when we camp DD hangs them from the tent pole & in hotels she leaves them on her nightstand so she can see in the middle of the night.) At your DS's age I loved getting those color wonder kits that I found at Walmart/Target for about $1 - each has just 2 pages & 2 markers & the markers only write on that special paper so no marker mess on my car interior.)

I buy tons of different snacks & break them down into snack-sized ziplock bags so that I can give her something new/different each time I'm using snacks as a distraction without giving her too much of any one thing. Keeps it interesting, lol.

hopeful4

Have a safe and wonderful trip!!!!

Wisconsin

Thanks for the tips and good wishes everyone! My AH has started his usual pre-visit routine (which generally includes escalating hostilities with me so he can justify ignoring me and/or being a jerk when we are actually together, and also refusing to make any firm plans whatsoever despite the fact that there are a lot of people who are excited to see us), and I am being a stubborn mule. I REFUSE to allow this mean, selfish jerk to ruin my weekend! I WILL HAVE FUN!!