Raising/Training kids for Overland Travel?

[EOE4x4]

We did the same, except I paid like $10 bucks for an evenflo brand back pack. I hated it. It sucked. It hurt.(see my avatar) Next go around I'll actually shell out a few bucks for a good model like the Keltys.

Keep your eyes out for a Kelty on craigslist! Picture below...

First road trip for my then 2-1/2 year old son was about 5000 miles from Kodiak, Alaska to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, in the back of a 2003 Dodge Ram QuadCab pickup.

That sounds like an amazing trip! Got any pictures lying around? What was your normal driving vs resting time daily? Did you drive some every day, or take a day off every so often?
Great stories!!

-Matt

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Resting time? When kid gets grumpy. Find a place to pull over and let em run! Of course that only works if they can run.

You'll learn the kid, no set formulas on them!

 

[EOE4x4]

Picture upload didn't work earlier, so here's the pack. Also got a Peapod this week as a gift from someone...and Tommy likes it already.

On the driving front, I had to drive mama to an appt today about an hour away. He did fine, and I took the scenic route home (since we haven't been outside much the last week or so) that took about 1 1/2 hours. All said and done, we could've made the 3 hr trip to Grandma's with a break in the middle today and he would have been fine. The training begins :smiley_drive:

 

[Andy G]

That sounds like an amazing trip! Got any pictures lying around? What was your normal driving vs resting time daily? Did you drive some every day, or take a day off every so often?
Great stories!!

-Matt

Got a TON of pictures. Being in the Coast Guard, we get lots of opportunities to travel during transfers. Actually, this last transfer from Juneau to Kodiak, my 2 MONTH old and our 6 year old were in the truck while I drove the Ural.

I'm actually working on a website/blog right now...I'll post up our family adventures once I'm done with it.

Spicy

 

[shmabs]

cg

spicy,

I too look forward to your pictures. What do you do in the coast gaurd? AMT3 myself.

Mike

 

[Andy G]

spicy,

I too look forward to your pictures. What do you do in the coast gaurd? AMT3 myself.

Mike

Hey Mike.

I'm a Chief Marine Science Technician. Currently I work with you fly-boys here at Air Station Kodiak. :ylsmoke:

 

[EOE4x4]

Now that my boy is 4 weeks old, I'll give an update on his "vehicular training program."
He's been great in the car so far; he would get upset at redlights before, but that seems to have stopped this week. Other than short jaunts to the store and park, he's done 5-6 one hour (each way) trips. He does well and seems to enjoy it. With the holiday season upon us, we're staying in-state for the first time in almost 10 years! But we will be going my aunt's house, also an hour from home, 4-5 times in the next week. I think the 1 hr drives right now are a good length of time for him- not too long, but gets him used to being in the car for trips.
Future driving plans right now appear to be a trip to Atlantic City for a seminar then to my inlaws the end of January(same trip), and maybe a trip to visit my family in eastern NC in March/April.
Only bad news has been that my rear main seal on the cruiser has turned into a major oil leak .

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

One thing that we will be doing with our next kid (and this isnt completely relevant to this topic) is canceling the cable subscription and throwing out the TV. Slowly, my daughter would rather watch TV than to go outside and play. Which bugs me immensely. Time to start turning the tv (and the computer for that matter) off every night.

 

[EOE4x4]

One thing that we will be doing with our next kid (and this isnt completely relevant to this topic) is canceling the cable subscription and throwing out the TV. Slowly, my daughter would rather watch TV than to go outside and play. Which bugs me immensely. Time to start turning the tv (and the computer for that matter) off every night.

Not off topic at all! Got tired of the TV last night and the wife and I listened to an audiobook we both like while we got the baby ready for bed. Relaxing for all three of us!

On a side note: love the 4runner! I had an 89 4runner when my wife and I started dating and got married. While she likes the cruiser, she still has a sweet spot for 80s 4runners. She liked the pictures of yours on the build thread

 

[brngk]

Shot my idiot tube about 10 years ago now, and am thinking I should do the same with my computer. Wife's expecting in May :victory:, and we're both thrilled there's no TV.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Not off topic at all! Got tired of the TV last night and the wife and I listened to an audiobook we both like while we got the baby ready for bed. Relaxing for all three of us!

On a side note: love the 4runner! I had an 89 4runner when my wife and I started dating and got married. While she likes the cruiser, she still has a sweet spot for 80s 4runners. She liked the pictures of yours on the build thread

I'll sell you mine!:sombrero:

 

[shortbus4x4]

Always take one or more extra changes of clothes and shoes when traveling with small ones. Even if its just a day trip to the beach. Its amazing how quick they can get their clothes wet, spit up on, or have a blow out in a diaper. Take some plastic garbage bags to put nasty clothes in also. When I take long trips with my kids it helps to have a new movie or book for them to watch/look at. Also limit candy/soda/sugar intake, I notice a real difference when I am traveling with just my kids or my kids and wife. My wife gets quite a bit of candy/snacks and then the kids are bouncing off the doors and each other in a few minutes, I only let them have water and fruit or crackers for in car consumption. The hardest part for me was taking trips that I could do in 4.5 hours and it would take 6 or longer with kids, it gets better as they get older though. I learned to just enjoy the stops and little kids can actually be quite fun to travel with, they have a certain zest for life that quite a few of us older folk have lost/forgotten.

 

[EOE4x4]

I'll sell you mine!:sombrero:

She said if you'll trade for her 04 Jetta! But probably not the upgraded expedition vehicle you're looking for . I didn't look thru the whole thread but it seemed like you had the 22RE/5spd model? That's what I had; not as much room as a Cruiser wagon, but tough, reliable, and waaaaay better mileage!

I learned to just enjoy the stops and little kids can actually be quite fun to travel with, they have a certain zest for life that quite a few of us older folk have lost/forgotten.

Well said!!
_______________

Through Christmas, Tommy's been in the car for 2hrs (1 each way) both yesterday and today. He's even starting to be awake for part of it. Seems to be great; he is relaxed while riding. He really likes the cruiser (feels like his bouncy chair!) but with the new oil leak we're limited to drives to the park until I get it fixed.

 

[HWY22]

Doing it right!

This is what we all want for our family and kids.
Our six year old absolutely loves road trips- numerous trips between Jackson Hole and Sacramento to visit the grandparents. I'd refuse to fly and at first my wife resented it. Now we break it up - with an overnight camp at different places. There we can hike, fly fish or mountainbike. We all have our different responsibilities, during the pack, camp set up and take down. Simplifies it for everyone. Pooping in the woods was an art taught early on.

I hope my son would also enjoy overlanding as a teen- one of my 60s, an 84, is named Max. And he calls it his rig, washes it and helps me check all the fluids, and changing the oil. He checks the tire pressure on the KM2s before each trip- he insists on it!
QUOTE=rbod;714322]Snacks, distractions and occasional play breaks worked best for us. Our daughter got into music as she got older, so we always packed an Irish whistle or something to play in camp. Side walks, even in a backpack while younger and hiking trips, kayaking, mountain biking mixed in as they get older help them burn off energy. They absorb more than you think. Our daughter who is the (relatively) less outdoors-y one was born when we were young and just went everywhere with us. Never taken a vacation or trip without the kids.
Some day you can have the pride like I did when recently I went to load up her stuff at the end of her freshman year of college... Her XJ's roof was covered in mud. I'm like what happened. She went to check out some abandoned mine sites up a forest service road and after throwing mud in low spot of the road realized she was stuck. So she'd seen some old planks off a trailer or something along the road and told her boyfriend to put those under the tires while she rocked it in low.
I was like "weren't you worried". She says "no, it was like our regular family trips... and I had food, water, tools, sleeping bags, blankets, etc, etc"

19 years of getting dragged around with mom and dad, she'd been absorbing it like a sponge. I'm glad we just took the kids everywhere and they've loved (almost) every minute.[/QUOTE]

 

[EOE4x4]

First Big Trip

Last weekend was our first "big" trip as a new family; I think it went pretty well. Left last Thursday at lunchtime from Baltimore to Atlantic City (work seminar). Driving time was about 3 hrs, which is about the same length of time between feedings...so we fed him, jumped in the car and headed east.
He slept the whole ride. And he normally naps in the afternoon, so not too much issues with adjusting his bedtime (not wanting to fall asleep). He seemed to enjoy staying in a hotel and coming to restaurants with us!
We left Saturday morning at 4am to head for my inlaws near Pittsburgh (~6hrs). We hoped that leaving when he would normally sleep would help, but he ended up sleeping the whole way (apart from waking up to eat) and kept my wife up a good bit Saturday night. Dad went camping Saturday night- an annual tradition with my brother in laws- at Adirondack shelters nearby. Lots of fun! Sunday night we left about 8pm for the 3 hr ride home. Again, slept the whole way. But he would normally sleep at this time anyway.
All in all, a good first overland practice trip . Key when they're so little seems to be to drive when the baby normally sleeps? And plan feeding stops...too hard to feed and burp a baby in an infant seat!