We drove from Delaware to Elyria, Ohio today, a distance of just over 400 miles. It’s been a long time sine we’ve done this drive, and although I consider myself a pro at the road-trip thing, today did have a few surprises in store , namely:
- It’s hard to go 60 miles an hour even in a 4-cyllinder car that is holding a huge number of books (as many of you know, we’re trying to save money and gas on this trip by keeping our speed down). I was surprised how often I looked down only to find the speedometer creeping up toward 65. Matt agreed with me. I’d say our average speed was around 62. I’m going to try and do a little better tomorrow. Our stats for the day were 422 miles covered in 7 hours of driving. We used about a tank of gas.
- It is possible to pile more books in the backseat than is actually useful. The kids had a hard time finding what they were looking for. I’m going to put some in the trunk tomorrow.
- A 4-year-old can burn through the stickers, invisible ink books, and mazes you carefully selected for him in about a tenth of the time you have allotted for each. Then he’ll want to poach on his brother’s.
- It is really impossible to overestimate the importance of a hotel pool at the end of a long day’s drive. Both boys, who were really good in the car, could barely contain themselves once they got out and ping-ponged their way to our hotel room shouting and laughing loudly enough to make me wince. A nice long swim was just the thing to get their wiggles out so that we could actually contemplate going somewhere to get some dinner.
But the most pleasant surprise of the day is shown in the photographs above. We pulled off at the Sideling Hill Service Area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in between Harrisburg and Altoona to discover that it is a lovely spot! We grabbed our cooler out of the trunk and had a nice picnic next to the memorial garden that is planted on one side of the service area building (a plaque there honors veterens of the armed forces). Then Matt and Tommy, who has his baseball glove with him at all times, enjoyed a nice game of catch on a wide swath of lawn while trucks and cars buzzed past. Nicest of all was the farmer’s market, where five days a week it is possible to purchase local produce, jams, and baked goods. I picked up some cherries and blueberry bread for breakfast – they should make a nice supplement to the complimentary cereal we get at our hotel.
I never thought I’d see my child playing so happily so close to an highway, but play he did – and then rode uncomplainingly for another four hours. Many thanks to those who thought to make the rest area such a nice place to stop and rejuvenate.
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Sounds like your trip is off to a good start!
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Yup, I know that rest stop well. Used to make that trip a lot during my college days. Once actually tailgated in a dead-stopped traffic jam; we were stuck for over 6 hours, so pulled out the cooler from the back (because as you know, all good college students travel with at least a 6-pack handy at all times), grabbed a couple of frisbees, and made some friends.
I remember, too, as a kid our usual pattern was just as you describe — drive drive drive picnic play snooze drive drive drive swim eat sleep…then get up and repeat the next day and the next. I will never, ever, ever stay at a hotel without a pool when my child is with me.
You should add that rest area to the Pit Stops for Kids Site because I bet some other families would be very happy for that kind of break…farmer’s market and big grassy, play area sounds perfect!
So here’s a question about the pool. Do the suits dry before heading out the next morning? I remember the thrill of swimming in motel pools during long family road trips as a kid, but strangely we haven’t done that on any of our recent trips with our own kids. I can see how it would be a great way to release energy and ensure a good night’s sleep for all. Need to start doing that.
Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly.
Lucia’s last blog post..Travel Photo Friday: Wild Florida Ride
Great question Lucia – the suits aren’t dry when we leave because we always go for a swim in the morning too (we get the wiggles out before a long day in the car). I always pack a plastic bag and put the suits in there – then I wash and dry them when we reach our final destination.
A great first day on your road trip! The fresh fruits and vegetables look so lovely.
Amy @ The Q Family (Dreaming of: Cruising)’s last blog post..Thailand in A Day at The Ancient City
I completely agree on your point about a hotel pool – has saved my sanity more times than I’d like to admit!!
Hey, another choice you might consider – as well as having books and toys – is audio-books. When I traveled alone with my kids once, I put Superfudge in the cd player in the car as we left just to get them to settle in. We all laughed so hard and played it again and again through the trip (“money, money, money”).
This has turned out to be a good habit. When we last left Whistler for the 5-hr drive home, the kids were bickering about who could read which book and so my DH put on the cd he had been listening to. You’re not going to believe this, but three hours later we were all still transfixed by “Lectures on Byzantine History”.
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Funny you should mention this wandermom – I did have some books on CD (including the first in the Redwall series, which I was quite looking forward to. But our CD player gave up the ghost five minutes after we left home! It’s our fault really, as it’s been threatening to do so for months, but now we’ll be spending part of our time in Wisconsin shopping for a new car stereo. Because I never want to spend two days in the car without one again!
And Bridget – we did have a really rockin’ CD we’d made that had several songs by the Ramones on it. Alas, we haven’t yet gotten to listen to it all the way through. Hopefully we’ll do so on the next leg of the trip.
that really is smart, to get kids out and move around a bit. lovely photos!
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Cherry and blueberry bread ,a nice breakfast treat. Colourful pictures.
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What a great discovery. Hope I make some of my own on my road trips this summer. I find a strategically chosen stuffed animal and a baby bottle does wonders with the younger set. Really loud fun rock music does to.
Bridget Smith’s last blog post..Photo Friday: Camp Pendleton Stables
If you geocache, you’ll find a number of caches hidden in rest stops as well (another great way to get out, walk around a little bit). Rest stops are a popular place to hide caches that have Travel Bugs in them (trackable trinkets that like to travel around a lot).
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Dominique, I’m afraid I don’t know much about geocaching – I’d love to hear more!
I remember when we traveled through Argentina as a kid, I would see kids playing soccer by their toll highways all the time. I’d ask my grandpa why they did that, and he said that’s as close to a nice, green, open area as they got.
This picture reminded me of that.
Sounds like your trip is off to a great start, good luck with that stereo, you’re going to need some Ramones for sure.
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When I was a little girl my Granny would tell me about her cleaning lady, Mrs P. Mrs P’s idea of a good day off was to pack a picnic, catch a bus to the nearest thing they had to a motorway in 1950′s England and sit on the grass verge watching the cars go by! I guess for some people the destination isn’t everything.
It sounds like your trip is going well, I admire how long your children sit nicely in the car.
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A great beginning to your road trip. Hope it ends on a good note as well. All the best! So whats your last stop?
Kathy – We’ll be spending this week in Wisconsin, and then it’s on to Kansas City, Saint Louis, and finally Bardsville, Kentucky (home of the Stephen Foster Experience) before going home.
We started packing a cooler and breaking at rest areas on a trip to Disney to save money. Now we do it all the time because 1. It’s healthier, even when we pack a bag of cheetos, 2. There’s more room for 3 boys to run around (or play catch) 3. It’s faster to get in and out which is nice on a long road trip. Maybe we should combine our efforts and put together a list of the “best rest stops” in the US. That would be a useful list. Thanks for sharing.
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Sideling Hill Service Area is probably my favorite service area on the PA Turnpike, and the only one you can get to going east or west. I just love the view of the mountains in the Middle of PA, away from Pittsburgh and Philly. If there were jobs there, that’s where I’d live.
Gary