First Leg of West Coast Road Trip ’09
Our fancy "retro" paint job on this fixer upper
Our '66 Cardinal Travel Trailer
When my daughter was six months old we spent five weeks on the road with her driving to New Orleans (from New Mexico) and back. Things were different then. We owned a ’77 Dodge Santana Camper Van and my daughter did not walk or crawl. We sold the van and bought a travel trailer so that we would no longer have three vehicles. More importantly, my daughter, at 20 months, walks and talks, all the time. Yet, the adventerous ones that we are, we are taking another five week road trip, this time to Los Angeles and up the coast to Portland, OR. We have managed the first part of our trip and made it to L.A.
I put a lot of preparation into this trip from fixing up our ’66 Cardinal travel trailer (including setting it up with a solar power system) to packing all our basic needs, but my biggest priority was entertainment. If you are in the car for hours with a toddler, it is essential that you have plenty to keep them busy. I made a CD from iTunes called “30 Toddler Songs,” which is basically children singing 150 year old classics such as “Old McDonald” and “The Wheels on the Bus.” This compliation has already saved us several times when we only had thirty miles to our destination, but our daughter wanted nothing more than “out!” I also pasted magazine photos to small cards I made from cutting up cardboard. I put them in a tupperware so she could sort them. She has already peeled off most of the pictures, but still likes the cards. I also went to a thrift store and bought a bag of small toys that I can dole out whenever necessary.
Easy homemade toy- picture cards
After a rough start through AZ and an awesome full moon night in Joshua Tree National Park, we are currently camped out at Dockweiler State Park on the beach in Playa del Rey, right next to LAX. While it is noisy with rambunctious kids and partying teenagers, it is also right on top of the beach and tonight, after dinner with some family, we watched the sun go down over the Pacific. While the first few days of the trip usually requires getting our routine down and a lot of late nights and crabby days, we are finally figuring it out and are looking forward to a bike ride along the beach tomorrow morning before heading to Universal Studios.
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By Tracy Miller, June 8, 2009 @ 7:51 am
Johanna – you are amazing! I’m taking tips on this from you – still hoping our gang gets it together to pull off such an adventure, though it will possible by made more interesting with the newborn addition. Can’t wait to read and see more of your adventures…