2 week overland trip with 2 babies in a defender 90, suggestions??

[TexasD-90]

I am taking my wife, daughter (2.5), and son (1) on a 2-3 week camping trip in August. We are leaving on the 2nd of August from Graford, TX and heading toward the national Land Rover Rally in Brekenridge, CO. We will camp there until Saturday, and then we are headed toward Crested Butte, CO. We will be at Harmell's for a couple days with my extended family, but then we are on our own again. I am looking for suggestions on where to camp that will be away from other campers, but still have access to town. We would like to be on a river or lake, and are going to spend most of our time exploring back roads, hiking (kids in backpacks), fishing, and most of all relaxing. We are then going to head to the Lake City/Ouray area for a few for days of camping.

Did I mention we are doing all of this in a Defender 90. There is not much room, so we will be pulling our expedition trailer along with all of our stuff. My wife and I have been camping together for years, but this will be our first time out with the kids. If you have any suggestions on how to make this an extremely enjoyable vacation I would love to hear about it. I think this first experience is very important to the future of our family camping. Suggestions on things to bring and places to go or anything else you think I should know would be greatly appreciated.

Martin64462

[overlander]

God bless you. You are my personal hero of the week. :bowdown:

[Martyn]

Stop often, smell the roses, stay calm. Mantra " I love my wife and children" repeat often :-)

[TexasD-90]

Great!!!! This is really making me feel better....

[G jeep]

I have traveled and camped extensively with my two children who are now 13 and 11. The best advice that I can give you is if you have not been camping with them yet go for a night or two before your long trip. We went on a three week tour through the west when my daughter was 6 months old and we took her out for a shakedown run one week before our trip for 2 nights. The first night was pure misery because of the new surroundings and such but the second night was pure bliss. If she would have screamed the entire night on the first night of our long trip my wife probably would have made me turn around.

[BIGdaddy]

Dude, you'll be fine.

I have a wife and three daughters. (6, 4, and 2 years old) They are EXCELLENT travellers.

Here's some tips.

1. Snacks -have lots of little servings in baggies. no sharing. nothing too sticky

2. Drinks - Sippy travel cups are the bomb.

3. Work some kids songs into your ipod or CD playlist.

4. Get OUT of the car every hour, if only for bathroom break. Best would be to lookout for things like grassy spots, fountains, playgrounds, etc. Not only does this expend pent-up energy, but they'll start to anticipate and look-forward to these trips. This will very much reinforce good behavior.

5. Once at your destination, give your kids simple jobs to do, to help them get accustomed to the campsite, hotel, etc.

6. Also, I would limit "Toys" to these few things: a softy to sleep with (blanket, bear, etc), lots of books to share and read, also, maybe kid versions of explorer tools like camera's, binoculars, etc.

[TreeTopFlyer]

Good Luck and God Bless :sombrero:

Nah, it should be okay. But a shake down run is in order. The first time we camped for the weekend on my birthday. Luckily we had a 2nd car. My son did great during the day but when it came time to sleep, his allergies went haywire cause we had the dog in the truck with us. They ended up having to head back home. Major bummer. Lesson learned. He has become quite the traveler so far, but we do a lot of 8hr trips so he has become used to the driving part. x2 on the snacks, it keeps em busy for a while. We have a portable DVD player, we hardly had to use it at all on our trip to Ouray though. He was more interested in talking non stop. Do a test run first, even if it's somewhere just down the road. Good luck.

[TexasD-90]

We are supposed to be 100 degrees + for the forseeable future... not real excited about camping in that heat, but I agree a trial run is in order. We drove both of them to Crested Butte in March, and it went great, but we were in a 4 door vehicle with heat and a/c. The defender will be a little different. We are very excited, and are thankful for your bits of information. Keep them coming.

[CA-RJ]

100* days are going to be hard on the kids. They will get hot and whiny. I'm going to assume that your D90 has AC, if not, don't go or don't take it.

Stopping is certainly the key. Every couple hours at least. Find somewhere to stop and have lunch and give them a good hour to run around and play. Keep them engaged so that they won't get bored and whine.

Above all, be prepared to take your time and stop a lot. You guys are on vacation and enjoy the time you have together.

[eric1115]

My son is a GREAT car baby, but the "stop often" advice is I think the most important. He's down for an 8 hour day in the car, but three 8-hour days back to back? Gets pretty rough. I had to make some big time adjustments to my expectations as far as how far we can go in a day. If your kids happen to have a fairly consistent nap schedule, make sure you are good to go on gas, bathroom, etc before they nod off. Nap time is "makin' good time" time. I'm guaranteed 2-3 hours without needing to stop, and I make sure I can make the most of it. Plan to be in between destinations. It's frustrating to pull in to a planned stop 30 minutes after the kid falls asleep. I waste a chance to get a good chunk of the day's miles taken care of, and he doesn't get the nap that he needs to be good for the rest of the day.

I've been SO tempted to bust out the laptop and throw in a DVD for Little Man when he starts to get cranky, but stopping to get out and play has always been a much better option (especially on trips like yours where the timetable is loose or nonexistent). I can't stand the thought that we'll be driving through the most amazing scenery and he will be zoned out watching a movie, and once the "movies in the car" thing starts it's tough to stop.

When the kids start to whine, and the dog wants to run, the afternoon heat rises, and the pressure starts to build, what do you do? As the driver (literally and metaphorically), you need to be the source of calm and cool in the car. If Dad gets tense, cranky, and irritated when things begin to go not-as-planned, you can bet on a rough trip. If you stay relaxed, optimistic, roll with the punches, and they can KNOW that you'll be solid, loving, and kind, that lends a tremendous sense of peace to a family vacation (and beyond).

Lastly, don't get too set on this: "I think this first experience is very important to the future of our family camping." Things work differently with kids, and there's a learning curve/adjustment period. If it goes great, that's great! If not, don't give up. My son's first night in a tent was pretty rough. Next few were OK, now he loves it. We "do" camping and travel differently now with a not-quite-2 year old than we did when it was just us, but it's still lots of fun and even though we don't go as hard, see as much, or do everything we would like to, in some ways it's more fun to show the world to our son than it is to see all that stuff we would have done without him there.

Good luck, have fun, and BE PATIENT!

[racingjason]

[QUOTE=CA-RJ;911300]100* days are going to be hard on the kids. They will get hot and whiny. I'm going to assume that your D90 has AC, if not, don't go or don't take it.
QUOTE]

The hot days are certainly a risk to your sanity. On our way back from Baja last year, we lost the AC belt in the Cruiser. I opted not to change it right away but as we drove through Nevada, the temperature climbed above 40C (100F) even with the windows open. Junior was very cranky (10 months old), not to mention the wind buffeting from the windows being down was likely hard on his ears. I was laying in the parking lot of a hotel in Vegas changing the belt that night. If you have the battery capacity, a cheap 12v fan with a clamp can make sleeping much better.

Plan your driving time around lunchstops and nap time and you should be ok and don't be afraid to get a hotel if you need it.

[CA-RJ]

This is excellent advice! I agree, multiple 8 hour days in the car are hard on little kids. And please, if this trip doesn't go as you planned, try again! It might take awhile to figure out what works best for you and your family.


My son is a GREAT car baby, but the "stop often" advice is I think the most important. He's down for an 8 hour day in the car, but three 8-hour days back to back? Gets pretty rough. I had to make some big time adjustments to my expectations as far as how far we can go in a day. If your kids happen to have a fairly consistent nap schedule, make sure you are good to go on gas, bathroom, etc before they nod off. Nap time is "makin' good time" time. I'm guaranteed 2-3 hours without needing to stop, and I make sure I can make the most of it. Plan to be in between destinations. It's frustrating to pull in to a planned stop 30 minutes after the kid falls asleep. I waste a chance to get a good chunk of the day's miles taken care of, and he doesn't get the nap that he needs to be good for the rest of the day.

I've been SO tempted to bust out the laptop and throw in a DVD for Little Man when he starts to get cranky, but stopping to get out and play has always been a much better option (especially on trips like yours where the timetable is loose or nonexistent). I can't stand the thought that we'll be driving through the most amazing scenery and he will be zoned out watching a movie, and once the "movies in the car" thing starts it's tough to stop.

When the kids start to whine, and the dog wants to run, the afternoon heat rises, and the pressure starts to build, what do you do? As the driver (literally and metaphorically), you need to be the source of calm and cool in the car. If Dad gets tense, cranky, and irritated when things begin to go not-as-planned, you can bet on a rough trip. If you stay relaxed, optimistic, roll with the punches, and they can KNOW that you'll be solid, loving, and kind, that lends a tremendous sense of peace to a family vacation (and beyond).

Lastly, don't get too set on this: "I think this first experience is very important to the future of our family camping." Things work differently with kids, and there's a learning curve/adjustment period. If it goes great, that's great! If not, don't give up. My son's first night in a tent was pretty rough. Next few were OK, now he loves it. We "do" camping and travel differently now with a not-quite-2 year old than we did when it was just us, but it's still lots of fun and even though we don't go as hard, see as much, or do everything we would like to, in some ways it's more fun to show the world to our son than it is to see all that stuff we would have done without him there.

Good luck, have fun, and BE PATIENT!

[The Adam Blaster]

I've done one big road trip with my little guy when he was 1.
8 hours of actual driving time equates to about 11-12 hours of in/around the vehicle time. We hotel/motelled it and that definitely made it easier in the summer with A/C and usually a pool for him to play in at the end of the day.
I also agree with the trial-run trip way before you do the big one.

With my son, he could go max 4 hours in the car seat between having a snack, napping watching a movie and then babbling to us for a bit. Getting the laptop out with a vid for him was the last thing we did before we stopped. It helped get an extra 30-45 minutes out of him while we kept making miles.
We're doing a similar trip (3000 KM one way) in less than a month and I'm hoping to have as good results or better as he's 3 years old now. We can play eye-spy and interact with him in the car a lot better than when he was 1.
Finding random play grounds is a great thing as well, try to combine that with lunch stops and one parent can watch/play with the kids and the other can get lunch ready.
Finding random play grounds can be a bit tough though, so don't count on them...

I think a good game to play would be starting a rock collection for every stop you make. They could each have a bucket or something inside the vehicle and they pick one rock each at every stop and pop it in the bucket when you load them back in after the stop. (Make sure they are small rocks.)
That game would keep them busy, and they also get to keep cool souvenirs. I might have to try that with my son this summer.

[Riptide]

I look at my kid strapped in a car seat, and always think, I would have gone bananas in that thing if they had them when I was a kid. Remember, you can shift around for comfort, but kids car seats are usually rigid plastic things with surprisingly little cushion. I'd get cranky too, forced to spend a few hours in one...

My wife always figures adding 50% to the estimated time to get somewhere. We budget for the extra time, and as a result, have realistic expectations on how long it'll really take to get there.

The actual camping part is easy; what kid DOESN'T love to camp??

[wardrow]

Crested Butte, CO

65657

This little gem of a spot is about 5 miles to the west. Beautiful place to camp with a family

[discodisco]

First off I totally agree that stopping every hour or two depending on location is extremely wise, don't be surprised if they cry when they have to get back in the car.

Second, don't forget child friendly bug repellent. Children under 7 are more susceptible to mosquito born viruses.

Third, one thing I didn't expect is how early we needed to get into camp sites. The kids needed a good 4+ hours at that age to wear themselves out so that they could sleep well that night. We just drove from San Diego, Ca to Norfolk, VA in 9 days and any day that we got in too late, caused grumpy kids the next morning because they didn't get enough sleep. Kids are 2 and 4.

Depending on your children, each of ours has different responses, you might want a place to put them as a time out or controlled area to either calm down or just to be safe when they start going nuts. With one of the kids it was simply a chair that she could sit in and calm down. As for my boy we discovered bringing a long a really cheap Walmart tent with almost completely perforated sides acted like a play pen when he wanted to eat the entire forest and we needed to do things like cook.

Fifth, have fun and take lots of pictures.

[mph]

My wife and I have a 3 year old. We have spent some 70 plus nights camping. A lot good..some not...here are some things that I have learned.

plan drive times around nap times
make sure you have gas topped off so you don't wake the kids refueling
get into camp no later than 5ish...
make meals easy!! the last thing you want to do is piss off the wife making meals, etc.
the longer you can stay in one spot; the better...more of a routine
no what you need...make sure you are dialed in with supplies, etc.
dvds for the car...yes, i don't like the tv thing but it is hard on your kids just to sit there and look outside or read a book for hours on end
give each other a break...take the kids for a few hours so your wife can go do something and get a break from the "maddness":)
experiment with a hotel stay here and there...we found it is easier on our child just to camp
so, what are you going to do with the kids? we bring a bike for her, backpack for her to ride in while we hike, a magnifying glass for her to look at bugs, books..they will drive you nuts if you don't have something for them to do at camp


you need to have a shakedown run...


CB is prime!!! Love that area...you will enjoy!

[mph]

forgot one thing...check the weather religiously on the way out..the monsoons could be acting up and colorado can be extremely wet...my family and i spent a week in CB and it rained every day for 2-5 hours...

[TexasD-90]

We are closing in on go time. We have moved up our departure to Monday the 1st. We are planning on leaving around 12:30, after lunch, right at nap time. Both the kids usually take a 2-4 hour nap after lunch. We are going to see where we end up. Leaving a day early gives us that much extra time to go slow and stop a LOT. Our camping will be broken up a little. We will camp tuesday night thru friday night at the national land rover rally in Brekenridge. Then we are a Harmell's on the Taylor River with my Dad's side of the family thru tuesday night. Then we camp again Wednesday thru the following Monday night around Crested Butte and maybe a few nights in Lake City. We will return home on Tuesday the 16th. We have been loading up on all of your ideas to entertain the kids. I am very lucky to have an easy going wife, and "usually" very content children. I can't help but think that this will be a great trip. I will follow up with lots of pictures and stories from the trip upon our return.

Thanks to all of you!

[TexasD-90]

Well.........

We are at the end of our first day of travel, and we are in a hotel in Amarillo. We didn't get off to a great start. The wife and both kids have been absolutely perfect. However, my alternator is not cooperating at all. We got about 150 miles from home this morning, and my battery light came on. The belt was turning the alternator, and the battery showed to carry 13.94 volts when nothing was turned on except the motor. Turn on the A/C or the radio or the lights and it would pull down to around 12, and then come back very slowly after you turned it back off. So, we limped another 170 miles to amarillo with no a/c, and stopped to have it checked out. There is some sensor going out, and I will have to have a new alternator. Luck is on our side, and we were able to get a rebuilt unit delivered tonight, and we will be ready to roll in the morning. As for the trip in the 111 degree weather with the windows open, we never had a bad moment. The kids were great, and my wife took it all in stride. We will get back with a trip log and lots of pictures in a few weeks when we get home.

God bless

[BoilermakerSteve]

Hope your trip is going well.

One thing that works really well for our kids, when they got a little older, is listening to audio books. They hold their attention much better than dvds or anything else.

Even when my youngest was four or five she seemed content with the audio books, even though she didn't hear all of them when she would sleep.

Now we make a 1900 run to where our parents live in 33 to 36 hours and audiobooks are the main thing we use to keep all of us calm and sane.

steve

[Uncle Roger]

I am taking my wife, daughter (2.5), and son (1) on a 2-3 week camping trip in August.
Don't think you're going to do a 10-hour day of driving. 3-4 hours is a good day. Stop a lot and let the kids explore.

If you can, when you've got a day of travel, get up early, before the kids wake up, and hit the road. When they wake up, have breakfast and then do another hour or so of driving. Stop for the day and do stuff, then put them to bed in their car seats and drive a few hours as/after they fall asleep to your next campsite. We've done this and it works great for us.


We are [...] heading toward the national Land Rover Rally in Brekenridge, CO.
We did that 20 years ago (in my '59 109") and had a blast. Wish we could go again.

Sounds like a great trip; I'm very envious!

[Uncle Roger]

If you have the battery capacity, a cheap 12v fan with a clamp can make sleeping much better.
We've had good experience with the coleman tent fan: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009PUPSS/ Not sure we've been in 100+ deg. with it though.

[TexasD-90]

We made it home. I have to say after all the build up and planning, it was maybe the best trip I have ever been on. My kids loved camping, the weather was perfect, the mountains were as beautiful as I have ever seen them, and the defender did great. The national rally was a blast, then we were on the taylor river outside of Almont, CO for a few days, then we ended at the most amazing camp site I have ever seen way up slate river between CB and MT CB. My wife is working on a trip log with a bunch of cool pics that will be on the site soon. I will post here when we get it all up.

.....OH YEA, yesterday we left Crested Butte at 7 AM and arrived at our house 775 miles away at 11 PM. We were planning on a 2 day trip, but the kids were so tired from the trip I think they both slept about 10 hours yesterday in the car.

[TexasD-90]

a few pics6886968870688716887268873688746887568876

[Ray Hyland]

That is fantastic. Looking forward to the trip report and everything you learned along the way!

[Yudda]

Looks like it was a memorable trip.