Florida to California Family Roadtrip

Just over a week ago, we set off on our cross country adventure from Florida to California with 2 dogs and a 13 month old! It actually went much better than I expected, even though our daughter came down with something the first day of driving and then we got a huge crack in our windshield. Otherwise, it was a super smooth and fun trip!

My husband left in the car with the pups on Wednesday and stayed in Hattiesburg, MS for the night. The next day, I flew to Dallas with K, where we met up with them in the afternoon. We had dinner with friends and stayed in Dallas for the night. The next day, we set out early to cross Texas… which pretty much looks like same landscape over and over and over. Oil rigs and cotton fields and wilderness/desert… not the typical east-coast drive we’re used to! We planned on staying in the small town of Van Horn for the night, but to be totally honest, you could see the entire city in a mile stretch from the highway, and it gave me House of Wax vibes. It was early afternoon, so we decided to keep going to make it to El Paso, which had more food options, AND a Safelite to replace the foot-long crack in our windshield. It was a win-win-win. Since we drove an extra 2hrs on day 3, we took our time getting up and going the next day since we had less than a 5 hour drive to our final destination!

A few tips if you’re planning a long road trip with a toddler and/or dogs:

Life with a toddler is basically just coming up with one distraction after the next. Our daughter doesn’t watch movies or tv yet (yes, I’ve tried several times) so I was nervous about how I’d keep her entertained.

• Snacks on snacks on snacks! Traveling is the perfect excuse to snack, and a great way to keep your little one happy.
• New toys! Instead of spending $50 on some Fisher Price toy that’s probably too big for the car anyways, hit up the Dollar Section at Target or the Dollar Store. I found a slinky, stickers, coloring books, and little holiday activity sets at Target and only spent like $5!
• Travel during sleep time! This is obvious, but it really does help! If you know you’ll be in the car for 6hrs one day, leave a little later in the morning so part of that time will fall during your child’s long afternoon nap. Or, if you’re up for it and it makes sense for your family, travel at night when they’re almost guaranteed to sleep most of the time.

Also, anyone with pets knows it can be a little limiting when traveling. Not many hotels accept pets, and if they do, they probably have size and/or quantity limits. I found a lot of hotels that accepted 1 dog up to 35lbs… which doesn’t help our 2 giants. Research and plan your route in advance to ensure you have a safe and nice place to stay that can accommodate your family.

We had a great time on our road trip, but I think the next one will be a little shorter than 36 hours. LOL.

xx,

Kirsten