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:

Cotton Pickin Good Day

Charlotte, North Carolina!   We drove to the outskirts of Charlotte to the Latta Plantation.  The grounds are really fantastic, with over 750 acres of State park.  Horse and pony rides were available (for a nominal fee), which we,  of course, partook of.   

The trail guide was very impressed with Annikas fearlessness, 

Siris posture,

and Gannons knowledge of "My Little Ponies".

We climbed the hill to the plantation home where we were able to roam the grounds and tour the home and the outbuildings.

We learned about wool cards, cotton gins, spindles and wheels and looms!

A short three and a half hour drive took us to Goldsboro, NC so cousins could meet for the first time.   All of them enjoyed a grand time, trouncing around a stark contrast to the plantation. ...Chuck E. Cheeses!  

We ate pizza, spent tickets, and enjoyed company.   

After goodbye was done, we decided to shorten our evening drive and re-rout to.........

Some Beach, Somewhere...but specifically Pensacola, FL

Leaving Baton Rough.  456 miles down, ??? to go!

We continued our adventure to the east with a stop in Pensacola, FL.

Back in the day, I was stationed at NATTC Pensacola for AT-O A-school.  It was a weird time in my life, but with fun in the sun, beach volleyball, and sand, sand, and more sand!

We pulled through P'cola, through Gulf Breeze, and over the bridge to Santa Rosa Island.  We walked the boardwalk, ate a yummy dinner with the salt breeze cooling us.  We put our toes in the sand and looked forward to tomorrow.

  We found our camp site at Ft. Pickens National Park, right on Santa Rosa Island.  After we set up the tent, we went to watch the sunset over one of the cannon stations, but missed the event.

Tomorrow is another day.

We got up early.  Like, stupid early.  5:30.  I checked my phone and found that sunrise over Ft. Pickens was at 5:50.  Kayleigh and I put three sleepy headed, pajama clad kiddos in the car and drove a quarter of a mile to another cannon bastile.  We were just in time.

Since we were up, and swimsuits were in the car, we opted to take the beach while it was cool and we had the place to ourselves.

The kids, of course, were excited!

I left my camera in my purse (sandy, wet cameras tend to not work as well), so you'll just have to take my word that we had a BLAST!  First, we chased ghost crabs across the beach into the surf.  Then, we covered Gannon in sand and gave him a mermaid tail.  Then, we watched dolphins (YES, HOLY GEEZ, WE SAW DOLPHINS) swim 100 yards behind us.  

By 0800, we were all swam out, and ventured to Ft. Pickens.

Ft. Pickens was both a Revolutionary and Civil War Fort, used to protect the Bay of Pensacola.  It was one of 4 forts in the bay, and a beautiful historic site.

The kids (and I) were amazed that the cannon holder is made of OAK.  Wood.  Crazy. 

This room was filled with gun powder!

Looking out on a series of tunnels that were used to run supply loads.

Prison.  They're lucky I let them out... ;-)

We had a fantastic time, the kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges.  It was hot, we'd started early, so we loaded the car, and Annika was asleep before we'd left the island.  

 We headed North to.........

Day 1: Equipment Malfunction

Day one:  We left Cibolo with excitement.

  

We left with anticipation.  We expected to beat Houston traffic.  We didn't.  Not even two hours into our journey, we hit a total stand still of automotive muck.   I know it wasn't even two hours because the kids were watching Top Gun and the sudden halt came right about the point where Goose dies.  I was near tears for several reasons.   Oh well.  Nothing I could do about the traffic.  Or Goose.

Movie #2 was Book of Life. I hadn't seen it before. I still technically haven't seen it,  but I've now at least listened to it once all the way through. That's the downfall of the van DVD system. I hear a lot of movies.

I digress. Sorry. Two solid movies into our travel and we made it 155 miles.  Not even to Houston.  Katy.  We drove 4 full hours and made it to Katy.  We stopped for IHOP and gas.  Baton Rough wasn't going to happen.   Kayleigh checked the atlas and found camping near Lake Charles, about 2 hours east of our original goal. We drove in, and started looking for a tent site.  

The sign in red warning us of gators had us mildly concerned and more "super tired and we have to worry about gators"  giggly.   By midnight thirty we had the tent up with the mattresses inflated and had realized that one of the mattresses was. ....FLAT! 

Gannon and I slept on the ground, but I think we were both too tired to care.
A few  equipment malfunctions were not going to crush our hopes for a fantastic vacation!

We got up in the morning rearing and ready to take the day!