So... we're considering driving from Boston to San Francisco...

[Not_a_Number]

Road trip time! Well, maybe. 

We have plans to be in San Francisco for a month and we were planning to fly. At the moment, I'm not sure I'm feeling good about a 6-hour flight with unpredictable delays, however! So we were thinking about perhaps making a road trip of it and driving cross-country. 

Good idea? Horrible idea? Totally bonkers idea? I checked and we could get AirBnBs along the route, which would mean we wouldn't have to interact with people. I think it would also be a fantastic geography lesson. But of course, driving is more tedious than flying... thoughts?? 

UPDATE: we did wind up going! 😄 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[thewellerman]

If you have the time, I think it is a great idea, as long as the weather is good.  Depending on the time of year there could be a lot of snow or bad roads on a northern  route.

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, thewellerman said:

If you have the time, I think it is a great idea, as long as the weather is good.  Depending on the time of year there could be a lot of snow or bad roads on a northern  route.

We were going to take the southern route! We have friends in Austin and Los Angeles, so it simply makes sense. Plus, the weather. 

[1234]

We drove from San Francisco to St. Augustine and it was awesome! Long, but awesome. We did the Grand Canyon and visited some family on the way (spread throughout Texas). I’m so glad we did it and it’s something we’ll always remember.

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, Joker2 said:

I’m so glad we did it and it’s something we’ll always remember.

See, that's what I'm trying to tell DH... that we need some awesome memories from the pandemic, and this would be an awesome memory, even if the kids did do some whining en route 😉 . 

[Spryte]

I’m all for road trips! Lots of stops along the way to see cool stuff. Plan extra days on the road and be flexible.

[thewellerman]

5 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

We were going to take the southern route! We have friends in Austin and Los Angeles, so it simply makes sense. Plus, the weather. 

Then do it!  I would do that in a second if I could pull it off. 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Spryte said:

I’m all for road trips! Lots of stops along the way to see cool stuff. Plan extra days on the road and be flexible.

We were thinking about 10 days on the road and lots of fun stops. We were planning to drive 5-8 hours per day. (We mapped it out.) 

[Not_a_Number]

For those of you who think this is a reasonable idea, how would you entertain a 9-year-old and a 5.5-year-old on the trip? We were thinking of letting them watch some movies... 

[rebcoola]

Great idea we have done multiple cross country trips with the kids and had a blast.  Yeah their is some whining but overall tons of fun.  We love to find weird road side stops. 

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, rebcoola said:

Great idea we have done multiple cross country trips with the kids and had a blast.  Yeah their is some whining but overall tons of fun.  We love to find weird road side stops. 

Ooooh, any faves you remember?? 

[Lucy the Valiant]

In a heartbeat.

[rebcoola]

For entertainment the license plate games Melissa & Doug has a wood board where you flip over the plates as you find them. Yes some movies, audio books work great especially if anyone might need a nap.   8 hour stretches work well  leave in the morning drive about 4 hours have lunch and visit a zoo or something than drive the rest.   

Our routes wouldn't  really overlap with your route but search  coolest roadside attractions in X state and you should get some good ones. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by rebcoola

[catz]

Oh we did some 3+ week x-c road trips with the kids when they were elementary age and it was fantastic.  Highly recommend a steady diet of national parks and junior ranger programs - we did many in the winter too!  Such great fun and memories!  We did allow abuse of technology while the car was moving and we had very prescribed driving.  We never went over about 2 hours without a stop and stretch.  We ate out of the car.  We maxed at about 8 maybe 10 hours tops a day.  We carefully planned routes to be interesting.   ETA - oh we did do some audiobooks on the road as a family and the kids would doodle or do small crafts while riding too.

Edited December 17, 2021 by FuzzyCatz

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, rebcoola said:

For entertainment the license plate games Melissa & Doug has a wood board where you flip over the plates as you find them. Yes some movies, audio books work great especially if anyone might need a nap.   8 hour stretches work well  leave in the morning drive about 4 hours have lunch and visit a zoo or something than drive the rest.  

Yeah, we have tons of audio books loaded up and can get more 🙂 . The kids both like them, plus both kids don't get nauseous reading in the car so can read. 

[Not_a_Number]

Awesome. This is very encouraging, that most people found the trips memorable and fun as opposed to a tedious hassle. 

DH is feeling reluctant about it, but it sounds like so much more fun and educational than getting on a plane on December 23rd and having to religiously keep on a mask for 10 hours, including on a 5-year-old 😕 . We mask all the time, but it's not what I think of as a fun way to start a vacation... plus I just worry...

Edited December 17, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Arcadia]

12 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

We were thinking about 10 days on the road and lots of fun stops. We were planning to drive 5-8 hours per day. (We mapped it out.) 

It took us 10 days to go from our home near San Jose to LA, SD, LV, Grand Canyon. Took us 2 days to drive back from LV through Death Valley with a hotel pit stop. We went to Legoland, San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Safari as well as to a ski resort in LV. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

Things our smaller kids enjoyed on long road trips: 

~ have a "surprise" for each day (new colored pencils, small game (like pen-and-paper game), tiny candy, new-to-them music, green socks for Wednesday / goofy things to look forward to)

~ audio books / audio dramas (fantastic way to build family culture)

~ longer phone calls with relatives while driving

~ we would make a "routine" on the trip (snack, nap / quiet time, verbal game with mom, check the map, etc --> they liked the routine)

~ we had a box of those "dinner conversation questions" we kept in glove box

~ make cards for others / lonely people / people we loved; mail them from "strange" city

~ involve them in the mapping as much as they comprehend; Rand McNally = worth the $

~ puzzles / Tangrams / those tiny brain-teaser ball-stacking SmartGames / 1- player games from ThinkFun

~ physical challenges at the rest stops (we had popsicle sticks, and they could draw one out - "hop on 1 foot 12 times" / "run around the van 9 times")

~ yes, a DVD player (we built this into our "schedule")

~ learn new songs together / clapping rhythms

~ change seating around from day to day (yes, even if it meant re-attaching car seats - ours like this, some kids don't)

 

(I'll come back if I think of more . . . our teens / older kids have SUCH great memories of the road trips.)

[1234]

20 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

For those of you who think this is a reasonable idea, how would you entertain a 9-year-old and a 5.5-year-old on the trip? We were thinking of letting them watch some movies... 

We let ours pick two shows/movies to watch at times. They picked Sailor Moon and Liberty Kids. Mine were 12 and 14 at the time. 😁 They had so much fun watching Liberty Kids as bigger kids. 

We’ve always done lots of road trips since the kids were very little. What worked for us was games, audio books, regular books, lots of drawing stuff, and snacks we save for car trips. Cracker Barrel restaurants used to have neat little things (often from my own childhood) they could do in the car that weren’t regular games they see everywhere so I would often go there before a trip. Haven’t been in one in quite a while so have no idea if that’s still a thing. I usually kept a stash of things and would dole them out as we went along so they weren’t getting everything all at once. 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Joker2

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

~ change seating around from day to day (yes, even if it meant re-attaching car seats - ours like this, some kids don't)

Ooooh, that's brilliant. We should do that!! 

[Lucy the Valiant]

9 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Awesome. This is very encouraging, that most people found the trips memorable and fun as opposed to a tedious hassle. 

DH is feeling reluctant about it, but it sounds like so much more fun and educational than getting on a plane on December 23rd and having to religiously keep on a mask for 10 hours 😕 . 

Snacks. Snacks are going to be your ticket to paradise or . . . a different place. LOL (maybe that's only my kids?)

Also bathrooms: When ours were quite small, we invented our own road-side bathroom situation. Cleaner and more convenient. 

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Lucy the Valiant said:

Snacks. Snacks are going to be your ticket to paradise or . . . a different place. LOL (maybe that's only my kids?)

Also bathrooms: When ours were quite small, we invented our own road-side bathroom situation. Cleaner and more convenient. 

What was your solution there? Just... random places? Trees? What? 

[Lucy the Valiant]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

Ooooh, that's brilliant. We should do that!! 

If you have 2 adults and a way for 1 adult to sit in the back WITH the kids for sections of the trip, that's fun for the kids, too. 🙂 

[Not_a_Number]

3 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

~ involve them in the mapping as much as they comprehend; Rand McNally = worth the $

This? https://www.amazon.com/McNally-United-States-Canada-Mexico/dp/0528023748/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2BYBP6PNVK2GZ&keywords=rand+mcnally&qid=1639708221&sprefix=rand+mc%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-4#customerReviews

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Lucy the Valiant said:

If you have 2 adults and a way for 1 adult to sit in the back WITH the kids for sections of the trip, that's fun for the kids, too. 🙂 

I sadly don't quite fit between their carseats! 

[Slache]

I absolutely hate road trips and my gut reaction when I saw your title was "Absolutely not!" But this is one of those things that I do for the kids. I think you should do it. Sorry.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Slache

[Lucy the Valiant]

Just now, Not_a_Number said:

What was your solution there? Just... random places? Trees? What? 

We used a pop-up beach changing tent for little girls, and had a "kit" of wipes / toilet paper / hand sanitizer / beach pail + liners if need be. Gallon jug of water we would pour over hands for washing. Plastic bags. For toddlers, we just traveled with the training potty. (I promise I'm not a germaphobe, but - this was better. It also made me feel safer about the OTHER kids when I was driving alone.)

[Lucy the Valiant]

2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

This? https://www.amazon.com/McNally-United-States-Canada-Mexico/dp/0528023748/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2BYBP6PNVK2GZ&keywords=rand+mcnally&qid=1639708221&sprefix=rand+mc%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-4#customerReviews

(Apologies for serial posting!) Yes! This one exactly! Teach them scaling / how to turn the page to find your track / how to find an alternative route / how the even-numbered interstates go east-west and the odd-numbered ones go north-south / the difference between the spurs and the loops on the highways / know how close your thumb joint is to an inch so you can estimate time-by-miles, etc.

[EKS]

I'm on an airplane right now and definitely vote for the road trip!

[Terabith]

As long as you have more than one driver, I think it's great.  By those ages, my kids were captivated by audiobooks more or less indefinitely.  

[matrips]

We’ve done road trips since the kids were 3yo.  We love them!  But they are awesome travelers.  Assigned seats to us is easier.  Complete and utter overdose on videos; we bought DVD players.  Early on it was one they all shared.  As time went by, they each got their own.  Maybe because they never watched much tv as kids or even now, they are enthralled with watching their shows.  Like 8 hours of quiet! 🙂.

We kept trips simple.  No creative games at rest stops; I’m just not creative.  We had snacks, and ate lunch in the car to minimize stops and increase mileage.  If the kids were quietly watching movies, we drove!  We also made our stops count- so while one day might be really long (leaving really early am helps get lots of miles underway quickly), the next day might be a zoo, or national park, or someplace fun and interesting with maybe 4 hours of driving and then stopping by noon for the fun and then dinner/hotel.

Good neck pillows, kid size blankets, car seat organizer or bag for their stuffies/books/etc.  Mine had a zip tote bag they could fill how they wanted to keep with them in the car.  
 

Good soft noise limiting kid headphones.

my kids loved doing Junior Ranger activities at National Parks across the country. 

[hippymamato3]

If your family will not kill each other, I think it's a great idea.

[Not_a_Number]

28 minutes ago, EKS said:

I'm on an airplane right now and definitely vote for the road trip!

Uh-oh. What's up?? 

[Not_a_Number]

17 minutes ago, Terabith said:

As long as you have more than one driver, I think it's great.  By those ages, my kids were captivated by audiobooks more or less indefinitely.  

We do! I drive and so does DH. DH usually does the driving when it's the two of us (he likes it better), but I do drive plenty with the kids and take turns on long trips. 

[Terabith]

2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

We do! I drive and so does DH. DH usually does the driving when it's the two of us (he likes it better), but I do drive plenty with the kids and take turns on long trips. 

We pondered this for awhile, but my husband has a phobia of interstate driving, and I decided I just couldn't handle driving cross country as a solo driver.  

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Terabith said:

We pondered this for awhile, but my husband has a phobia of interstate driving, and I decided I just couldn't handle driving cross country as a solo driver.  

I think DH has done this with his dad as passenger but not driver, and he found it a bit stressful. (It wasn't quite cross-country -- more like 2/3 of the way.) 

[Terabith]

Just now, Not_a_Number said:

I think DH has done this with his dad as passenger but not driver, and he found it a bit stressful. (It wasn't quite cross-country -- more like 2/3 of the way.) 

Yeah, my other fear was what would happen if I sprained an ankle or something.  But with two drivers?  I think it could be fun, as long as you have enough time and can stop and see stuff along the way.  

[1234]

To be fair, I think it’s awesome but we’ve always done road trips. Dh and his dad even did a six week, around the country, road trip when Dh was an older teen. We much prefer driving to flying and are comfortable with long days of driving. It’s one of the things we found out about each other early on and something we’ve enjoyed since our dating days.

If one of us was really uncomfortable with the idea, I would want to start with a smaller trip probably (unless you feel fine doing most of the driving). It was an extremely fun trip but there were times it was still frustrating and stressful so if one of you is going to start out stressed it might not be too much fun for the rest of you.

[fraidycat]

We never did it as a vacation exactly, but my kids have a lot of miles on their bums in the vehicle doing cross-country road trips since they were toddlers until pre/young teens. North/South - Canada to Mexico border, and East/West(ish) -   NC to Canada prairies and SoCal to Canada prairies.

Weird roadside attractions, tons of snacks and car-friendly activities, movies, pillows and blankets for comfy naps make road trips less whiny - not necessarily whine-free, but it keeps them occupied for chunks if time.

[Scarlett]

What a blessing to have the time to do that.  I would do it in a heart beat.  
 

I would probably limit the movies…..to something reasonable.  There are other things to do…..and just scenery to see.  

[EKS]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

Uh-oh. What's up?? 

5+ hours of idiots without masks.  Not everyone, but enough to make me cranky.

[prairiewindmomma]

We have made dozens and dozens of cross-country trips with kids. Our kids travel very well with audiobooks to listen to. We keep basic snacks and jugs of water to refill water bottles in our vehicle, but elaborate setups of games and treats tend to backfire. With preschool and younger kids, I do download movies. 
 

I do recommend packing disinfecting wipes, Kleenex, a roll of toilet paper when traveling now as rest stops are being closed or serviced less often. If you have kids prone to motion sickness, I also recommend traveling with a box of gallon sized ziplocks, an easily accessible spare outfit or three, and Dramamine. I will spare the horror stories, and add that if your kid cannot reliably puke in a ziplock that you should add a can of Spot Shot, a roll of paper towels, and a few kitchen garbage bags to the list, as well as adult outfits. I have had to change clothes roadside along I-90, I-80, I-70, I-40, I-10, I-25 and I-35. It’s a dubious honor to chalk up so many events but  I am pleased that when I have driven I-95, and I-5, so far we have so far been incident free. 
 

All of that said, I think you would have less covid exposure flying versus driving. That may not be your primary consideration, but since covid we have had to stick to drive through takeout, had deplorable hotel breakfast experiences, skipped a ton of inside cool experiences, and hauled air purifiers into hotels to try to limit exposure. Traveling cross country mixes you with people, period, and masking along the southern states is less common than in my current home state.

[regentrude]

8 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

For those of you who think this is a reasonable idea, how would you entertain a 9-year-old and a 5.5-year-old on the trip? We were thinking of letting them watch some movies... 

Audio books, so the entire family can partake. We did a lot of long distance drives when the kids were young, and we have all many passages memorized from our favorite CDs. Narnia and LOTR, again and again.

[HomeAgain]

We did the southern route a few years ago.  If it had been dh and I, we would have killed each other.  It was my sister and I and the kids, though, and she's more up for my kind of quirkiness.

We stopped at EVERY kitschy attraction out there.  Appalachian museum?  Yep.  Graceland? Yep. Central High School in Little Rock?  Absolutely.  Town famous for most of them getting into a long vehicle accident on a hill and accidentally burying a toad?  Sure, why not?  We did everything.  It was usually about 6-8 hours a day driving, 2-3 hours stop at weird places, and hitting the hotel in time to get a good bit of rest for the next day.

In the car, our thing was radio dramas whenever possible.  A little more involved than audiobooks, but definitely fun. 

[Clemsondana]

My kids have always been great road-trippers - like, in some ways traveling with them is easier than being at home with them.  🙂  We drove across the country when they were 5 and 2 as part of a move and it was great.  Even when we fly somewhere, we tend to do a lot of driving once we get there.  If you're going south...we enjoyed Fredericksburg, TX and New Mexico has a bunch of good state and national parks that are very kid-friendly.  Jemez, Bandelier, El Morro, and the Petroglyphs were all favorites when we lived out there.  There's a lot of open road in the southwest - I hate city driving and don't love sections of mountains near where I live now, but the long open expanses of the southwest are a breeze.  More recently, we've done road trips in TN and KY, done some stuff in Atlanta, and spent several days around a work meeting doing kid-friendly things near Austin, TX.  

We love road trips, but you'll have to think about what you're wanting to see - we enjoy national parks, but most have museums associated with them and we like trying local foods and going to quirkier, smaller attractions that have indoor components.  You might have to see if there are enough things that you'd be willing to do to make the long hours in the car worthwhile.  

If you decide to do it...one of the habits that we developed when the kids were small was to eat at least one meal each day while driving.  It might be fast food or I'd pack sandwiches or some other finger food.  It was kind of annoying to deal with, but husband doesn't mind eating while driving and it would help to occupy some of the time.  That way when we stopped we were actually doing something interesting, not getting out of the car just to go sit down somewhere to eat.  When the kids were small, we'd put their food (chicken nuggets, fries, carrot sticks, whatever) into cups so that they could sit it in cupholders and not spill it...thankfully, these days we can just hand them stuff like adults.  

[TexasProud]

10 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

We were thinking about 10 days on the road and lots of fun stops. We were planning to drive 5-8 hours per day. (We mapped it out.) 

 

10 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

For those of you who think this is a reasonable idea, how would you entertain a 9-year-old and a 5.5-year-old on the trip? We were thinking of letting them watch some movies... 

Ok, yes, yes, yes. Do this. From the time our children were small, we took two to three 2 week trips a year. I always planned them around what we were studying at the time, most of the time around history, but sometimes science. We also took into account interests of the children: one loved wolves so we went to a wolf sanctuary, another computers: the computer museum, etc. I strongly say NO VIDEOS. But that is my personal bias. Someone mentioned that you had audio books. YES.  We changed from children's books, radio theater to David McCullough's John Adams and other history books when they were in high school. 

When they were little, I would go to Books a Million and get those invisible Ink books and/or sticker books for my daughter.  I would also look for fun travel games or other activities.  You are wise to go 5-8 hours a day. We typically went 10 or more each day. 5 would be super easy. Yes, we stopped at 2 hour intervals for rest room breads, playground breaks, etc. Now most of the time we had an RV/travel trailer. so our bathroom was with us. But you can look for parks or gas stations or whatever, though with Covid I guess you would want to be pickier.  Also depends on when you leave. We typically left at 4am, so the kids slept for the first 2 or 3 hours most of the time.  But this might be a kind of schedule.

Day one:

5am: Leave early to beat traffic and kids asleep.

7am: Stop for breakfast and bathroom break.

7:30- 9:30 Listen to audio books

9:30 Stop at fun attraction or park for snacks.

10- 1 If it is a real attraction then you are here for a couple of hours and maybe even eat picnic lunch at attraction. Or state park where you take a family hike. 

1 Back on the road for 2-3 hours. I am betting the kids are asleep. To facilitate that, you could put on an adult history book like John Adams and David McCullough's voice is so soothing.

3 or 4 arrive at your place for the night.

 

See it is easy. I always waited to hand out the invisible ink or fun little presents on really long driving days or after we had been driving for a couple of days. It was a huge treat.  OH, we also loved singing as a family. So we knew lyrical life science  and other educational songs by heart. When they kids were little it was Veggie Tales songs. As they got older, they picked their songs. When it was just my daughter in high school we sang musicals a ton.  We love Child of the Promise and the kids know all of the songs by heart for Christmas travel.

Yes, it is so so fun. Yes, occasionally they were cranky, but not most of the time. And when they were it was because we travelled to long and/or went too long without eating. We also had snacks that were never allowed in "regular" life, but were always fun travel snacks. So traveling meant they got fun things they didn't get at home.

Enjoy!  You will have a blast! And you are a planner, and that is the key to success. 

 

[Faith-manor]

I am a huge fan of road trips, if the stops are often and meaningful things are planned to see along the way. But I grew up that way. My mom and dad loved road trips. It was nor uncommon for dad to take a three week vacation, leave the business in the hands of a trusted employee and off we would go in August before school started. My favorite was the year we road dropped through eastern Ontario, into Quebec, through Montreal, into Maine, eventually into Vermont, and then came across NY to Niagara Falls, and back home across Ontario. We camped most of the time, saw all kinds of historical places, hung out in Boothbay Maine for a couple of days of the Tuna fishing competition, stayed at the ski lodge in Killington and took the lift up to the top of the mountain for the view, etc.

One year dad wanted to do a different more central and southern eastern seaboard trip and wanted to start in autumn. My parents took us out of school for three weeks, took our school books along, and mom home schooled us in the van during the day as dad drove. When we got back to school, we were way ahead of the class LOL. The principal decided to stop worrying about my parents travel habits after that, and so they took us out again for three weeks in February and went to Florida.

Every three years, we took road trips to Missouri and Kansas with my grandparents to make a big circuit of visiting all the relatives there, and seeing our great grandmother. 

My brother and I have some of our fondest, most special childhood memories from those trips! It is so sad to us that when our surprise little sister came along when we were 17 and 13 years old respectively, she never had those opportunities.

The key for our success was that my parents and grandparents packed picnics everyday. We could always count on a long lunch break that involved lots of fresh air and stretching either in city parks, or rest areas with picnic tables. We stopped and jumped out at scenic turnouts, and historical markers. It laid back and relaxed with a couple of big moment stops to look forward to such as National Parks on the route or beach days. It wasn't just endless 12 hour days of riding and fast food drive throughs.

We road tripped with our kids growing up, and they STILL ask when is the next one. So for our sons, since two have graduated college last two years and began grad school, and our youngest graduates this spring, we are taking them on a graduation present road trip. We leave from youngest's commencement on April 30, and head west to Bozeman, Wy. We have things to do there, two days down in Yellowstone, and then head back to Rapid City, SD, Bad lands NP again (they love that place), then down to Sioux City and Omaha (run around and see some family history sites in Omaha), over to the Danish American Museum in Elk Horn to see Great Grandpa Peter's name plate on the Immigration Wall, visit the genealogy center and drop off the book C wrote about Grandpa Peter (which has a publishing offer on it - so exciting), and then back home.

Go for it. Just be easy going, flexible, and deliberately plan to break up the long days.

[elegantlion]

I would add some extra time for things you find along the way. We were coming home from Florida (lived in Louisiana at the time) and happened upon the Air Force Armament Museum. Ds was very into jets at the time. We ended up spending hours there. If we'd been on a tight schedule, we would have missed what was the highlight of the trip for ds. 

Consider early, early starts so you can get to your destination earlier and have time to relax. 

Ten days in a row is a long time for 5 to 8 hours in the car. As a kid we would do that, but then we'd stop somewhere for 3-4 days. Consider breaking the trip into 2-3 chunks, stopping for a couple of days at one place so everyone can spread out and chill. 

Maybe TMI, but consider bowel habits. Again, sitting for that long, combined with unfamiliar bathrooms can create constipation issues. Even if it doesn't, consider the regularity of the household. Like don't plan on being on the road early every morning if everyone is super regular on their, um, habits. 

I know someone mentioned motion sickness, so make sure you have something on hand if that becomes an issue. 

 

 

[crazyforlatin]

I spent a lot of time on the road during grad school and wouldn’t want to do it again, but I would for kids with a lot of advanced planning. Just don’t leave any luggage or bags or anything that seems valuable to a thief in SF. They are able to break and take in less than 20 seconds. When Dd was younger and I’m sure even now as a teen, we would listen to audiobooks or play I Spy or 20 questions or find specific model/color cars anytime in the car.

I would also prefer to rent a car if the car is older; I’ve had my share of car problems on road trips but those were American cars from 25 years ago.

[alisoncooks]

I’m in awe of those that love road trips. You couldn’t pay me to make a drive like that described in the OP, lol! My kids aren’t super fond of long drives, either.