Inspire your children with images. What’s on your coffee table? Do you have magazines about National Parks, Ranger Rick or National Geographic? What’s on your walls? Do you have pictures of Yosemite or the Grand Canyon? What’s in your wallet? It may not be capital, but you have dreams to lead your family on adventures.
Where on earth can you do this? Imagine taking four kids (or a family of four) to stand in four states at the same time, and take a snapshot of this! “How is that possible?” the children will think. Leave this concept open for anticipation!
My dad and mom knew how to intrigue their four children. Sometimes they would add a couple cousins and collies into a ‘56 Chevy for two weeks every summer and drive us cross country, into Mexico and up to Canada to explore and feel the geography and geology of this planet. They took us back in time by talking about with inhabitants who came before us. This pioneering spirit gets passed down through generations if the experiences are filled with pleasurable memories, even if there are mishaps.
Imagine going over the Continental Divide? The kids will keep asking, “What is a continental divide?” You don’t necessarily need the answers to your questions; you just need questions to raise curiosity. Sometimes the terms you use in your children’s youth will resonate when they graduate from college. Their sense of appreciation for knowledge and experiences will be heightened because they had first hand or hands on knowledge from your road trips. Trust that such excursions will be your legacy. You will be providing your children with something that can never be taken away from them.
So let’s get on the road here and pack your trunk with tools you may need to help you on your way:
1st, get a map! Map the trip out, but be prepared for anything! Spontaneity and the unexpected will occur, guaranteed, but such events teach children to go with the flow and adapt to situations. Literally map out as much as you can. You will need the distance between destinations to be reasonable for the comfort of your children based upon their age. Children need to move! Being cramped in a car for too long will make for cranky-moods and potential illnesses. Fresh air and room to run every couple hours may take you longer to get to your destinations, but it helps you smell the roses along the way. If you have friends along the way, this is a good time to visit them as a weigh-station. Calling them in advance to let them know your plans and to see if they are available when you will be passing through ensures your welcome arrival and departure.
2nd, know your budget for gas, food and accommodations. Do the math on your miles per gallon and allow for a weighted car. If you are on a tight budget, friends along the way may be a place you can spend the night. See if camping is more your style, but have funds for a motel incase of inclement weather. Treat yourselves to restaurants that have historical significance. Ask the locals for suggestions. Also, let your children pick out some of their favorite snacks to pack. Prepare some cold recipes in advance like fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, deviled eggs, and veggie-dips and trays. A cooler of food that you do not have to cook will save you time and lots of money along the way. Picnics serve three purposes: They save you money, time and help the kids get ants out of their pants.
3rd, prepare for the unexpected. Many road trips are riffed with mechanical trouble that could be costly, like a broken fan belt. Have enough money in an account to cover at least $888 in repairs! If you are travelling on a Sunday or holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, be prepared to spend money for a hotel room until the auto repair shops open the next day. If snafus happen, make the best of them. Have and auto club like membership to tow your car and even provide discounts on hotels.
4th, make each experience educational. Include your children in the planning and measuring pros and cons and figuring mitigations plans to adapt to situations. For example, a family of four plans a trip to see nine California Missions in nine days.
Even though they did not have a GPS in their car, the parent got Google map directions to help them go from mission to mission to mission. One of those sets led them on a goose chase! They ended up in a newly constructed community with the same name as the mission. So that mission was scratched from the trip. They found a place to picnic where they could feed a block of geese. Just as well, later they learn the mission they were looking for was so run down it no longer open to the public. Google and GPS are not guarantees to getting where you want to be; this in itself is an important lesson to learn.
5th, have portable DVD players for kids now a days. In the old days, we could have kids easily entertained by singing songs, counting hay trucks or cows. Children today, have a need from much more stimulation. Also they can feel deprived when the ride along at night and see many cars with built in video devices. Imagine what Father Serra and his group of horse back wagon riding missionaries would think if they saw El Real Camino (101 HWY) full of cars and glow and speed or traffic jams through Santa Barbara or Encino, CA just a tiny 200 years later. Take kids back in time to imagine what it must have been like to travel this way without cell phones but just a bell to ring to hear where the path leads. Children begin to appreciate what they have. Still, if modern technology is what we need today, designate a portion of the time to look out the window to see the country side. Find DVDs about your destinations, to reinforce your educational goals.
6th, research features along the road, or prior to your trip. You may find Wi-Fi spots or have a Smart Phone with you to search on the web while you are on the road. You may have specialized knowledge yourself. Be the tour guide, for your children. If you know where the San Andreas Fault is exposed, point it out to your children and have a conversation about how land is formed from Plate-tectonics. Imagine that all we see use to be covered with sea water. It is highly recommended that you study a little to explain what your children may ask about. And, if you don’t have the answer, show them how to research it!
7th, plan a looped tour. See different terrain and scenic spots on the return route home. This may be a chance of a life time. You may never pass this way again. So, you want to get the maximum out of your educational excursion. If you live in the desert and your children have never seen the ocean, you owe it to your children to not be deprived of experiencing what this earth has to offer. If you live in the green belt, your children deserve to view the browns and golden hues of the western states. The climb over the Rocky Mountains is worth it no matter which side of that range you live! Take a northern route there and a southern route on your return. If your destinations are north or south from where you start, veer to east on your tour and bend a bit to the west on your way back. Perhaps you can follow a historical path of Indians or a group of people. Imagine what it would have been like to be pioneers! Appreciate the paths that have been paved for us because of trail blazers like John C. Fremont, John Muir or explores like Lewis and Clark. Chart your own expedition and make it part of your own family’s heritage.
8th, be flexible. Nothing can spoil a family trip faster than if you feel you must get to every destination on a strict schedule. This is not a school field trip. The goal is for you and your children to retain historical memories for your family to reminisce about many years from now, and to enhance what and how your children learn throughout their schooling and life. Stress and painful memories can easily be block or forgotten or even regurgitate a bad sensation when memories are triggered years later. Remember that, like life, the trip is not necessarily about the destination as much as what we learn a long the journey.
9th, document your trip, especially those that depict the historical, cultural and scientific aspects of the knowledge you gained along the way. Take pictures; make some Slide-shows and videos; write an e-book; create a scrap book; draft a map of your path for others to follow.
So, whether your destination is the Four Corners Monument in the western desert or around the girth earth, your trip will set a tone for future generations in your family to appreciate how far mankind has come and where we are headed.
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