Taking a Long Trip with a Preschooler. How Is It Going to End?

Lots of toys, lots of conversation, music, no tv I dont' think it would help, if anythign you would have to worry about stoppign more to change the movie or the dvd won't act right.
Yes, leaving as early in the morning as you can- is great idea! I do that with my kids- no drinks, or you will have to stop to go pee, i mean she will drink when she gets to her b-fast time, then maybe lunch time- but no in between, it will make it easier for you while driving.
Take her coloring books, crayons, books to ready and then maybe some dry snacks she can munch on.. the bad part will be that there is no one to help you for those long house.. I hope I have helped.

My Father-in-Law goes to Wildacres, up the mountain from Little Switzerland, a couple of times a year to teach gemstone classes and it is an awesomely beautiful part of America. Lucky you for getting to be there all the time.

When my BFF and I travel anywhere we schedule stops. You can find parks, recreational areas, elementary schools with playgrounds, etc...kids have to get up and move around. It will be much more fun for everyone if you just figure much more time for travel and plan at about every 2 hours you are going to have to stop and have a snack or meal, bathroom time, and scheduled play time for running around acting wild.

If it were me and I was going to travel 10 hours away I would schedule my trip like this:

Leave the night before I was expected to be anywhere. Leave a couple of hours before bedtime for the little one, lets say they go to bed around 9pm. I would leave around 6-7 pm after having a really good dinner. They may fall asleep but they may be so excited the just vibrate with it.

Maybe around Columbia, before playground closing time, I would plan a late snack at McDonalds, you can always have yogurt parfeits or apple dippers along with whatever else you think is appropriate, the purpose is to run around and play. Then after letting the little ones play for a good 30 minutes load up and travel for another 2 hours or so, they will fall asleep with full tummies for the night. Plan a stay in a hotel so everyone can have a good nights rest. Maybe Savannah, it's about half way to Miami, 320 miles. You have reached about half way and had dinner, a play/snack break, a child got to sleep, and a couple more hours of drive time out of the way.

Get up in the morning and have a good breakfast, if you drive to Jacksonville Florida it's only about 2-3 hours, should be mid-morning or nearly lunch time, and you can eat, have play time, and we usually figure this will also be "big" potty time. The extra running around after eating 2 big meals should cause them to need to evacuate their bowels. Then
drive on towards your destination. From Jacksonville all the way to Miami it's only 5 1/2 hours. I don't know where you are heading along the coast so I figured the fartherest but it can still be broken up into 2 hour sections.

When we traveled before my BFF's van got wrecked we had a built in DVD player that used the stereo system in the van, it was awesome. She would put a DVD in and put the sound on the back speakers and the kids didn't even notice us. Now we have 2 DVd players, they are her kids players, each player has two jacks for headphones so the kids can double up for the movies playing. The boys usually have something they like in one DVD player and the girls almost always have in a Barbie movie in theirs. The kids range from a 3 year old boy to two girls age 6 then a 9 year old boy. Her kids don't have tv and only get to watch movies,mine have cable and see all the latest shows.so, when we travel we try to get a variety of movies from either house. The kids usually pick them so we know they are ones they like.

We pack coolers with a variety of drinks like juice boxes and small milks, grapes, individual size fruit cups, yogurts, carrots strips cut very thin (the baby carrots are okay if she is older), cheese cubes, etc...that way if we stop at a park we are prepared food wise for snacks. We also have a box of non-fridge snacks. If she is younger you don't want her eating dry stuff and getting strangled, we usually had pretzels, chips of various kinds, and some things they think of as candy like granola bars, Little Debbie snacks or Hostess are good too.

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I was looking at this map for where I got my information:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Swannanoa&1s=NC&1...
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We timed our 12 hour trip (our son was 20 months) closer to bed time. That way he was able to play and run around in the morning, then when he was about ready to nap, we hit the road. We did stop, a few times, but he really wanted more of a cuddle than to run around (and man, did he got through clothes, make sure you have plenty of changes for the drives). So, he was really only awake for a short part of the drive before it was his bedtime (6:30). He didn't fall asleep right at that time, but I think it was easier to have him ready to fall asleep than to get him out of bed and hope he fell back to sleep.

We had a bribe bag with us, with a doll, crayons, cars, etc. and when he seemed bored or crabby he got one. We actually only gave him two of the cars on the way down, and he was great. Lots of treats too, and he really wanted lots to drink (hence the clothes changes).

On the way back, we broke it up into two 6 hour days. I'm really not sure if that was better or not, especially if you can get them to sleep through most of it.

I know that your daughter is a bit older, but I hope this helps a little bit.

We drove from Indiana to Cleveland and back (~6 hours) around Christmas and then turned around and did the same thing to visit my family in DC (~11 hours) a few days later.

A DVD player, patience, and frequent stops are the trick to keeping your sanity. We would intentionally stop at places like Walmart to let the kids stretch their legs (or places like McDonald's with play places) and then get back on the road with a new movie.

We pack lots of snacks and a cooler with drinks (sippy cups as our kids were 3.5 and 21 months at the time).

Good luck. It's easier going than it is coming back - just as a forewarning.

A portable DVD will be a wonderful plan. Also go to your local library and ask if the do vacation packs. If they do (ours does) they will ask you the age and interests of the child. ours packed us age appropriate books for our kids, some coloring pages, cd's and tapes and movies, decks of cards and card game book, puzzles etc. it is a wonderful resource. also pack up some snacks that she helps pick out. but ration how they are handed over. give her a bag with what she can have and don't replenish it to often or she won't eat when you want to stop for meals. when you stop for food make sure you stop at either a rest stop or a place with a playground so she can run and use up some energy. we hate mcdonald play lands but on long trips they are life savers. good luck

I'll tell you what we've done since our kids were that age. My mother in law lives in Florida, so pack the van, I always have coloring books, portable games like battle ship, a cd player or laptop, cards, etc. They shower and eat dinner and go to the bathroom before we leave. We leave New Jersey at around and about 7-8pm. That way, they still have time to play a game or watch a movie. They surely go to sleep soon after the movie is over (if not during the movie). My husband (thank God for him) drives most of the night, while I do some of the morning drive. It usually takes us about 15-17hours, because we go to Jacksonville which is one of or the first town as you come in to Florida. Yes they get up in the morning and we stop for breakfast and pictures, but mostly all the ride is done by then.
So, if you can leave at night time, I would suggest to do it :)
We left in the morning one time and learned the hard way from that experience!!!! Never again!!! Not even now that they are older. :)
I hope you enjoy the ride.
Best wishes.

She will probably we WIDE AWAKE if you get her up that early to leave, so I doubt she will sleep!

We take long trips yearly with our kids... we are the griswolds. LOL! Our boys are now 7.5 and 4, but we've taken cross country trips for years with them. We DO have a DVD player for the long trips, but its only for after lunch while driving, 'rest time'.

She will be fine! Just give her some stops to potty, get something to eat, stretch her legs.

When we were taking our kids (3 & 5) on a 10 hr trip for the first time I bought a DVD player. My kids never even used it! They were busy either napping, playing with the lap desk I bought to play puzzles, mazes (buy the highlights magazine which has puzzles, dot to dots, seek & find, stuff like that), and coloring with colored pencils, crayons, markers, stick glues, etc. They had the magna doodle and Etch a Sketch too. They also took stuffed animals and pretended to be in the jungle. Plus we played lots of car games (I spy, find letters A_Z game), played music, sang songs and with frequent stops to stretch, eat, gas and bathroom. The trip went so smoothly we were pleasantly surprised! With all that the trip went by really fast.

We drive to Disney (9.5 hrs. from us) every year and a DVD player is a MUST! It is well worth the money that you spend on it. If she has a Leapster or portable "laptop" I suggest that as well! We also normally pack a few new toys ($3 or less) that he gets every 3 hours or so. It is amazing how one small new toy can keep him occupied. I also suggest taking along all of your kids CDs or getting your ipod prepped with your daughter's music. Finally, make sure you take enough breaks (we normally take about 3) during the drive that she feels like she had some time to move. I don't know how you would figure it out, but maybe try and find a McDonald's that you could get something to drink and she could play at the playplace for a little while. I also suggest leaving at night time (or even later in the afternoon). Whenever we get my son up early thinking he is going to sleep, he never does. Just a thought! It is an ordeal, but it can be done! Good luck!

Maybe do a bit of research to see if there are any playgrounds that you can stop at along the way to let her get some of her wiggles out. When we would take long road trips, my parents would always plan a 1-2 hour stop where we'd eat and play for a significant amount of time before continuing on the way. We usually ended up falling asleep in the car after our meal/play breaks--a vital break for my parents' and us 5 kids.