ROAD TRIP

We’re currently in the middle of a two week vacation, in which we thought it would be a good idea to DRIVE to the Pacific Northwest from Denver. Its only 20 hours of driving with a ten month old WHAT COULD GO WRONG?!

Here are the lessons I’ve learned so far from traveling with an infant:

Lesson #1 - It will take 1.5x what google maps says it should. Accept that now, and your trip will be 100x better. Think you’re gonna make good time? YOUR CHILD LAUGHS IN THE FACE OF YOUR TIMING. Or screams more accurately. Plan to stop every two hours.

Lesson #2 - Stop at parks instead of rest stops. We literally googled “Parks near me” when we got close to a city we thought we could stop in, and ended up at several really cool parks. Ransom was able to crawl around and eat rocks and get all of his wiggles out while he ate an absurd amount of puffs and french fries, and being outside without freeway noise was good for us too.

Lesson #3 - Stay at an Air BNB. Preferably a one bedroom one, so you can put the baby to bed and then get the car/bags ourselves ready for the next day of driving.

Lesson #4 - Under no circumstances do you stop the vehicle when the baby is asleep. You have to pee? HOLD IT. You need to throw up, DO IT OUT THE WINDOW. You’re hungry? YOU’LL LIVE. The only times you make good time are when the baby is asleep, so KEEP DRIVING. We followed our usual nap time routine in the car, and “put him down” for naps around his normal time of day and he did really well. We even had a black out curtain draped over his carseat to create a dark environment (don’t @ me, I made sure there was enough airflow and checked on him regularly) and he slept great in the car seat the second day.

Related: Get gas every time you stop even if you’re at 3/4 of a tank. If that kid falls asleep, needing to stop for gas is the worst.

Lesson #5 - If you see your gas gauge and think “We can make it” You cant. Don’t be dumb. Stop and get gas. This is the ONLY reason to stop the vehicle if the child is asleep. We were a hair’s breadth away from running out of gas 60 miles from where we were going to stay the night, at the end of a 14 hour travel day, because we thought we could make it. Learn from us, young blood.

Lesson #6 - NETFLIX. Download some shows onto your phone. Im not here to judge you for letting your kid watch tv in the car. THIS IS SURVIVAL, PEOPLE.

What other questions do you have about road tripping with a baby?