The kids and I had traveled quite a bit in state but had never gone on a drive longer than 6 hours. To make the big move from LA to Chicago, we needed to drive my car to our new home. This meant three days on the road. We knew we couldn’t do the drive straight through, not with an eight and eleven-year-old plus a dog. Oh, and a goldfish, a carnival won goldfish that had already surpassed our expectations for its life expectancy.
We planned to do some site seeing while also trying to keep our drive time to a minimum. A decision was made to stop at the Grand Canyon and the St. Louis Arch along the way. It was a shame we didn’t have more time; there was so much in between our old home and our new home to see. Unfortunately, we had to be at the house by the time the moving truck got there. We did the best we could with the time we had.
The first thing to figure out was how to keep the kids entertained and comfortable. We had to troubleshoot ways to keep a tween with ADHD and anxiety calm and occupied for long periods of time. His teen sister wouldn’t be as much of an issue even being on the spectrum, but if her brother got antsy it would raise her anxiety. I made sure to talk it over with them before we left. Both KJ and CT have a thing for order. While they can roll with change better than most non-neurotypical kids, they still like to know how each day is going to progress. Before the trip, we bought books, magazines, activity books and new 3DS games. We also printed out coloring pages, mazes, and find-a-word puzzles. We packed a backpack for each kid with all these things in them in the hopes of a relatively easy drive. And snacks… lots of snacks.
One of the things we learned from several drives to San Francisco from LA, was that it was unrealistic to expect the kids to be electronics free. I had taken several trips where I was adamant that there should be time spent looking out the window. You know, what we of the pre-computer/cell phone generation have been complaining about the younger generations pretty much since the first kid took a Game Boy on a road trip. We keep insisting that they experience what’s going on outside their window, all that stuff that’s whipping by at 80 miles an hour.
I tried to force feed that idea to my children. After trying everything from limiting their electronics time to Auto Bingo, I realized trying to keep two kids that have varying degrees of attention issues made this a futile effort. That and the drive up to San Francisco on the 5 is nothing but empty fields and farmland that can bore even the most enthusiastic of travelers. After about the first 2 hours of, “Look! Cows!” “Look! More cows!”, “Look! Sheep!” their patience on the 6 hours drive wore thin. It’s now become a running joke for us. Instead, it was better to have the books, coloring pages, and mazes as alternatives to electronics and point things out along the way. An occasional look at rock formations in Arizona, a train crossing the plains in Oklahoma, or a cool looking bridge in Missouri was enough since there was going to be miles of rock formations, trains, bridges and more as we traveled.
The first leg of our trip ended just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. (Come on! Sing it with me! Flagstaff, Arizona. Don’t forget Winona… Well, we were going from LA to Chicago, a reverse Route 66) Between Seal Beach and Flagstaff were stretches of beautiful desert as well as amazing cliffs, mesas, and ridges in colors that ranged from beiges and browns to the warm colors of sunset. We even got to see 50 shades of gray as we drove through areas that looked like etched granite. It was fascinating to see how wind and rain have shaped the landscape. Unfortunately, after an entire day of driving through it, the desert got a little monotonous. We looked forward to the forest that cropped up alongside the Interstate as we approached the first night’s destination, a lovely La Quinta just off the highway.
We chose La Quinta because we had our dog with us (yay! Pet-friendly!) and my husband had gotten used to using their app to book rooms while on the road for work. The app was very helpful. We could compare prices at La Quinta’s close to where we wanted to stop and even book the room. This way we didn’t have to worry about taking tired kids, a cramped corgi, and a possibly freaked out goldfish to a hotel that didn’t have any vacancies. We stopped early enough for my husband and the kids to go to the pool for a bit while I stayed in the room with the pets and watched TV. The room was spacious and comfortable. We slept well then were up bright and early for the complimentary breakfast before starting our drive up the two-lane highway that takes you on the southern route to the Grand Canyon.
To be continued…. The Grand Canyon
