Road Trip, Part Two: the Keepin' it Real Edition

This week, we drove from Reno to Lincoln, Nebraska, where we will be spending the next 5 weeks (with Kenny spending the middle 3 in France).  Once again, our road trip went well overall.  Here are the observations from driving, round two:

When I was your age...:  Somewhere in the middle of Wyoming, Joshua started teaching Zoey to make fart noises with her mouth.  And then when she successfully did it, he got mad.  This is just the beginning of payback for all the trouble my siblings and I caused our parents on family car trips.  For example, I used to tattle on my siblings because they were looking at me.  I'm sure this complaint will be coming my way once the kids are able to articulate it.  

Hotels:  If you ever wonder whether a hotel is worth the extra money, the answer is probably yes.

Tube Feeding v. Nursing:  It used to be the case that nursing was easier than tube feeding in every way.  Now, it's more of a mixed bag.  Tube feeding takes more planning on the front end - bringing the right food and equipment, keeping it cool, measuring it out, etc.  Nursing takes zero planning.  But tube feeding can be administered while the car is moving, which is a big plus, and the administration of tube feeding doesn't involve finding a private place and dealing with a squirming child who would rather be crawling -- so for this last leg of the trip, tube feeding wins out over nursing for easiness.  

Rest stops:  Next time I see a toddler pushing chairs all around the corner of a fast food restaurant or an infant eating cut up french fries, I will give that family some grace and think about how that was my family while we were on the road.   

My best travel tip for traveling with kids is variety.  We brought several grocery bags of toys, books, and food, and just kept rotating things.  When they got bored with playing or eating, we would turn on music or sing songs.  When that got old, we would make a stop and let them run around, then restart the whole process.  Fortunately, Joshua is really great at keeping himself entertained.  At one point, he started tickling his own feet, which was funny for us as well as him.    

Long distance driving is like running a marathon:  you can't think about the whole thing all at once or it gets too overwhelming.  You try to just stay in the present, enjoy the scenery, and respond to the needs of the moment rather than worrying about every single thing that could come up along the way.  And you break the trip into segments, thinking about the next stop rather than how many miles / minutes until the whole thing is over.  It's good for me to be forced to think this way, since I tend to be a worrier.  Maybe I'll start training for a marathon when our travels are over.

We will be doing one more leg of travel in August.  Any good tips for the last section of driving?