I also missed going on road trips. My husband and I have been so busy lately so we don't have much time to go on trips with our children. Kind of saddens me. I remembered out first time going out with our firstborn. It was a disaster. We didn't have any idea what to do or what to bring. We ended up buying a lot of stuff. Good thing - when out second kid came, I already read an article about the essentials when travelling with babies. It was really useful. Now, I'd like to go on a vacation with my family. I really missed it! Have fun with your trip!

The best "Road Trips" of my life were BK and AK which is before kids and after kids. That is not to say the trips in between weren't fun or great but weren't quite the same.

Kids present new and interesting challenges not only to road trips but life in general. This is coming from someone who has traveled with and without kids on a national and international basis, including having a son born in Naples, Italy. Actually we could call it BK (Before Kids), AK (After Kids) and let's include the WK (With Kids). Believe me that each is its own little adventure.

I think what was nice about this thread is that Dave the thread starter chronicled his cross country trip with pictures. Dave also falls into that AK category. Since he posted where he planned to be along the way it gave a few of us an opportunity to meet and share a dinner which was really pretty cool.

Ron

 

I think what was nice about this thread is that Dave the thread starter chronicled his cross country trip with pictures. Dave also falls into that AK category. Since he posted where he planned to be along the way it gave a few of us an opportunity to meet and share a dinner which was really pretty cool.

That was cool, for sure. I'm glad I got to meet you and @wayneh on the way home, which ended the trip on a high note.

My previous trip a few years back, I was so exhausted and beat down when I got home I vowed "never again." The radiation treatments for cancer a couple years before that had left my lower chittlins fried to a crisp, and driving all day was a terrible ordeal. But a few more years to recover from that made a huge difference this time: within days of getting back home I was starting to think, "hmmm... where do I want to go next?"

I haven't been up to the New England states since I was a small child so one possibility for a road trip is to go North sometime this Fall, ideally when the leaves are changing color. It would be a fairly short trip, probably 4-5 days, and I figure if I time it for during the work week and avoid major cities the roads should be less clogged with sightseer traffic.

A second possible junket, probably next year, would be down South: the two states I still haven't visited are Florida and Alabama, and I've been thinking of heading down the coast to Miami or maybe even to Key West, then come back up the Gulf side to Tallahassee and head west along I-10 or U.S. 98 to Mobile, then up thru Montgomery, Birmingham and Huntsville to Nashville. From there it'd be back home via I-40 and I-81 across Tennessee. I figure about 10 days for that particular trek, give or take a few. Aside from checking off the last 2 states in the Lower 48 I've never been to, a major goal for the trip would be the food: BBQ, low country boil, shrimp and grits, oysters, and a table piled high with boiled crawdads are all on the menu. Yum!