40 Essential Items for a Three Week Road Trip

The 40 Essential Items to 24 Days on the Road with Your Kids

ie:  The Packing List

9 days from right now, I'll be taking off with four kids (ages 19, 10, 7, and 3, and picking up an 18 year old along the way) on a grand adventure of a road trip.  We'll be visiting 15 states in 21 days and camping in our tent AND in our van!  See the pics below for our setup.  So, here's the conundrum: I have to be able to fit everything from the trunk in the front two seats for sleeping when we aren't tenting it.  Here, I'll show you....

This is the layout of the van.  See the trunk space?  See the front seat space?  Well, the whole list of stuff, minus the air mattress, sleeping bags and pillows need to go from the back.......................

to in between the front seat and the dash.  This includes Annika's car seat.  So I'm posting my list to make sure I didn't forget anything, or maybe even skinny it down!  We've done it for two years running.  Next year, we'll be flying to Alaska and Hawaii, so I'll have a whole NEW set of problems....HAHA!  #camperproblems Please comment and FOLLOW!

1.  Air Mattress
2. Sleeping Bags x4
3. Pillows
4. Cooler with Ice
5. Fresh Food
6. Dehydrated Food
7. WATER
8. 2 pair long pants each
9. 3 pair shorts each
10. 5 pair underwear each
11. 5 t-shirts each
12. 1 sweatshirt/jacket each
13. 1 pair tennis shoes each
14. 1 pair Sandals each
15. 5 pair socks each
16. 1 swim suit each
17. 1 towel each
18. 2 pair jammies each
19. deodorant
20. shampoo
21. conditioner
22. body wash
23. toothbrushes
24. toothpaste
25. face wash
26. moisturizer
27. Sunscreen
28. Bug spray
29. Benadryl/Motrin/tylenol/valium
30. money
31. MOVIES
32. BOOKS
33. Emergency Kit
34. Atlas
35. Computer/Charger
36. Cell phones/charger
37. Tent
38. Tarp
39. Stove
40. Baby Back Pack

Car Camping:

 

Tent Camping:

VanCation

In a previous post, I mentioned camping in our van.  I want to show you what I mean.  A fellow mom and blogger Mrs. Gray wrote recently about "mommin it".  This.  This right here is the epitome of mommin it.  I packed 3 of my kids, collected luggage from the 16 year old, packed myself and then fit it all in our 2008 Nissan Quest with enough space to sleep all 5 of us, comfortably.  Ready?

Step 1: Take about a weeks worth of clothing, a cooler, a swamp cooler, an air mattress, some sleeping bags, and a baby back pack, and a Wal-Mart Hammock and put them in the back of the van.  Not too hard.

Step 2:  When its time to turn in for the night, place all items except air mattress, sleeping bags and hammock to the front two seats.  See yesterdays post for the placement of the swamp cooler.

Step 3:  Put all the seats down and get the air mattress inflated.  I got one with an built in pump and plug it into our inverter so I didn't have as many pieces to loose.

Step 4:  The sleeping bag goes between the mattress and the front two seats in a nice little person sized cubby.  My 5 year old claimed this spot as her very own.  Of course I didn't manage to catch a picture of this part, but I will over the next 24 days, and I'll show you then.

Step 5:  Put up the hammock.  Not going to lie, this was a little challenging to figure out.  The length of the fabric was too long for the van.  The who thing was almost to the ground before I made some adjustments.  Two ties go out the trunk and tie to the roof rack at the very back of the van.  I could knot the front end, but for just a little extra circulation, I drug it out the moon roof and tied it to the roof rack till it was to taut that you almost think no one can get in it.  Weight pulls it down just enough.  If it rains, I'll try knotting it off where I can tie off through the sliding doors, but this works for now!

<---- here is the corner of the sleeping bag

There it is!  Basic sleeping set up is DONE!  

The kids LOVE it.  I'm sure I'll have some better pics as we travel, but you get the basic idea.  Well, bed it is, as we are leaving in 6.5 hours!  WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!