Would you take a road trip across the country and back with a 6 year old and 1 year old?

Question

My husband has 2-3 weeks off in March 2022. We have this crazy idea we've been forming of taking the kids on a cross country road trip (from our home florida to Tennessee to Colorado, to Montana to Oregon to Washington to California to Arizona to nevada then New Orleans and back to FL again). 
They'll be 6 and 1 at the time. We would try to do most lengths of driving at night so they'll be asleep but would love to be able to go all these places with them and take stops as needed for them.
Would you do this? Or are we insane?

Answer

I wouldn’t subject my little kids to that much car time. I would maybe do 2-3 different destinations, but fly so you have more time on the ground.

Answer

We did a trip like this when I was in my early teens for 3 weeks NY to CA and back and as great of a trip as it was and all the great memories we made, it was a lot of time in the car almost everyday, and we had a huge conversion van that we were able to stand up in to stretch if we needed. I can’t imagine doing it with little ones, and if you plan of driving overnight and doing stuff during the day when do you and your husband plan to sleep? We have a kindle in our car now for my 1 1/2 yo and she still maxes out around 3 hours in the car with one stop before she starts having a meltdown. My husband and I want to do trips like this with our kids too but plan to wait until they are older.

Answer

Yes if you have the time to take frequent stops I don't see why not, ive done a 12h trip with an infant, but it was probably closer to 15h because of stops 🤣😅. Just make sure you have snacks and toys to entertain them on the drive. I also like to do "travel treasures" where I just get a few things from the dollar store and wrap them up in a paper bag or tissue paper and they get one at major stops like landmarks, gas station, stops we make every time we do the trip (we always stop at a specific dairy farm lol) etc, whenever you want really. That just gives them something new to have in the car, even if there's a small toy they havnt played with in a long time and forgot about works good too

Answer

I would the 6 year old....but idk about a 1 year old...but my 1.5 year old starts getting fussy after it's been a little over 45 min, unless he's sleeping..

Answer

My partner and I just took our (at the time) 2 month old from NC to WI to NJ and back to NC. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be in the car and we made frequent stops so baby could stretch, eat and be changed. We did the trip in a coupe so that was a little frustrating😅

Answer

I wouldn’t do that without two kids

Answer

If you are going in March I would check weather for Colorado / Montana etc. can still have heavy snow and bad weather then.

Answer

It's going to be hard. Make sure you have lots of snacks and charged iPad for games.. Factor in bathroom breaks and bring a ball or something for the kids to kick around at rest stops.

Would you take a road trip across the country and back with a 6 year old and 1 year old?

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