How to Survive a Cross-Country Camper Trip with Kids
My family decided to drive from Central Oregon to Maine on our first cross-country camping road trip this summer. Maine held extended family and a memorial for my grandfather, who passed in 2020. We wanted to be with our family for the memorial, and flying with two kids under the age of 10 sounded worse than driving across the country -- can you believe that! But, honestly, we do love our camper and love road trips. If you don’t like either of these things, you may want to rethink the cross-country trip idea for your family.
Niagra Falls with my crew.
There was so much I learned from this adventure that I want to share with you! Hopefully, you find some of it helpful, and funny, and maybe a little cathartic -- if you’re currently planning a next long road trip with kids.
Disclaimer: I drove the first half of this trip on my own -- with two kids and our labradoodle. So there are things in this post I will call out or explain differently due to being on my own as a parent for the first half of the trip. Luckily, my hubby flew into Maine and joined me, just in the nick of time, for my sanity to stay intact. 😜
So let’s dig into it!
What We Did Right
Plan on Staggered Days
I read a few blog posts and talked with several friends who had made cross-country road trips before planning our route. We had a time limit working against us because we needed to be in Maine for a family event on a specific date. Also, my husband could only take one week off of work, which definitely affected our trip home. One thing I would do again is staggering the long drive days, with multiple nights at one place.
If we drove seven hours or less, we stayed one night. If we went eight hours or more, we stayed two nights. I only had one day where we drove over ten hours, from Nebraska to Lake Erie, New York. Staying two nights was such a blessing after that long trek. We stayed two places for two nights on the way out to Maine and two areas for two nights on the way home.
Stay at KOAs (or someplace with a pool):
I am all about staying off the beaten path when it comes to travel. Still, since I was alone for half of this trip and wanted to make sure we had something fun for the kids to do at each place we stayed, I decided to become a KOA member and book all of our campsites at KOA locations. I would do it again without hesitation.
Every KOA we stayed at except one had a pool and a playground. The staff at each location was friendly and accommodating. We felt safe everywhere we visited, and the bathrooms were clean.
Nothing is worse than feeling disgusted or unsafe where you are staying when traveling with your children. I felt safe, and the kids became excited as we made our way across the country to see “what the next KOA” would hold.
We also received a discount at each location for being a member of the KOA club, which ended up being a great bonus!
Side note: If you are staying in hotels or booking at mom-and-pop campgrounds or RV parks, make sure to look at the reviews in advance, and be clear on their check-in and check-out policies.
Prioritize Fun When You Arrive
There’s a lot of windshield time that goes into a cross-country road trip, and it can wear on the adults and the kids. Our children were total champs, but it was still a lot of time in the car. The biggest lesson I learned early on in the trip?
Drop everything as soon as you get to your campsite, and explore the campground. We would pretty much leave it all right when we got in and head straight to the pool or playground and get some energy out. Both the dog and kids would be back to normal in about 30 minutes, as long as they could do this.
Create a Roadtrip Ritual
Before we left, I decided to do a couple of things to reward the kids and commemorate the states where we stopped. This ended up being one of the most fun parts of our trip. At each spot we camped, we would buy a refrigerator magnet. Fortunately, every campground we stayed at had a cute little souvenir store which made it super easy. The kids loved picking out which one, and we found a spot in our camper to put them up, which was awesome because we got to see the states add up as we went. I also let them pick one gift out on our drive to Maine, one when we were in Maine, and one on the way home.
Stagger the Screen Time
I’m not one to judge it comes to screen time while traveling -- you have to do what you have to do -- but I noticed after the first day that the kids would get extremely screen-tired after a couple of hours in the car. Also, half the reason we wanted to make this road trip was that it would be wonderful to see the country we live in, so I didn’t want them to miss out because they were staring at their screens the whole time.
Because we had so many hours to tick down on our drive-days, we started taking one hour off the screen for every hour watching. The kids complained about this plan and wanted to continue zoning out when the hour would be up, but that left them wanting more, which made the drives (yes, many of them) more manageable. Plus, they were “forced” to look out the window and take in the sights or play games with each other during the off times. Win, win!
Let Timelines Lapse
We had a pretty strict timeline we had to stick with, which made some of the days long. It felt like time would start to warp on these days, and our arrival to the campground would keep getting further and further away. That’s when I decided we would just get there when we got there. We’d stop as many times as we wanted. I tried to find a playground for at least one of the stops along the way, and taking an extra hour to get out of the car was critical to our mood and happiness indicator. It just wasn’t worth it to push and push to the point of utter exhaustion.
Pack Your Lunches
One way we saved a lot of time on the road was by packing lunches the night before. Having a camper or RV makes this super easy, and it’s so nice not to have to stop and go into a restaurant or fast food place -- which can easily waste an hour or two. Some days we ate while driving, and others, we stopped at a park and played while munching on our sandwich lunches. I appreciated how much better I felt, compared to other trips, because we weren’t eating junk food for every meal. Note: Bring a small cooler so you can keep lunches and snacks in the car with you!
Book in Advance
Although some might love the unpredictability of just driving until you want to stop, then finding a place to stay, I was happy we tracked our anticipated journey for each travel day and then booked a place to stay in advance. It saved me a lot of anxiety and allowed me to look at reviews and things to do in the area before we arrived.
What We Would Change
More Time
Definitely, definitely, we did not have enough time at each place we stopped. Honestly, all of the towns and campgrounds we stayed at were interesting and beautiful in their own way, and our ongoing refrain became, “Oh, I wish we could stay longer!”
To do this trip right, I would add another week -- making it a three-week adventure and spend more time exploring each area.
Call for Suggestions
You can easily do all the research online, think you’ve got the lay of the land, and miss something unique and only locally known. Fortunately, we discover a few beautiful spots off the beaten path. I would, in the future, call each campground before staying there and ask, what to do, see, and eat before arriving!
Bring Less Stuff
We brought WAY too many toys and clothes. Because there are laundry facilities at most campgrounds, it makes sense to pack as light as possible and do laundry every couple of days. I definitely would not bring as much on the next trip.
Also, things like dolls and stuffed animals just take up space, and at least my kids didn’t use them to play all that much. On the other hand, coloring books and chapter books were a lifesaver! Our daughter read a new book from start to finish on the trip and felt super proud of herself for doing so.
Do More at the Campsite
If you end up staying at KOAs on your trip across the country, keep in mind that there is a lot to do in these campgrounds. Some have events or bikes you can rent. Some have mini golf and restaurants on-site (mostly food carts, but still good!). Next time, we will stay at least two days at each campground and do one day of local exploring and one day of campground activities -- at minimum.
The Route
I’ve included a map below with our route to and from Rockport, Maine. We chose this particular route for a few reasons.
I was driving by myself with our two kids on the way there, and being safe was of the utmost importance. This route didn’t take us through a whole plethora of sites, but we still felt like we were able to see some cool stuff -- not generally on the tourist map!
We wanted to see more sites and stop to see family on the way back. Hence the swing through St. Louis. I would only recommend our “way-back” route if you have two drivers. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to stay awake and sane.
Map of our Cross-Country Camper Trip to Maine and Back.
Favorite Places
There were so many fun and wonderful stops along the way, but places I highly recommend and would visit again include:
Lake Erie, on the New York Side - I had no idea how beautiful the Lake Erie shore along the New York side can be. There are little creeks everywhere that run into the lake and lots of spots to camp. I wish we could have explored more here.
Niagra Falls - If you take the route we did, Niagra Falls is on the way! I recommend stopping and snapping a few shots. It is an easy one and doesn’t require an entire day.
Camden, Maine - Rockport was where we stayed, and it’s only five minutes or so from Camden, Maine. We experienced some of the best coastal areas here. And, we were able to find fresh lobster and other seafood easily. It was some of the best food of the trip here. The shops are adorable, and the coastline is stunning.
St. Louis Zoo - We passed through St Louis to see family that lives there, but the best surprise was our trip to the Zoo! Their free Zoo is incredible and was worth it to visit.
Mt. Rushmore - If you haven’t seen it, you must! A historical, and stunning piece of art, Mt. Rushmore is worth a stop. And, it’s basically on the way to Yellowstone -- if you’re coming from the East Coast. The thing I didn’t realize was how great the surrounding area is for hiking and exploring. We want to go back and spend more time there.
Yellowstone National Park - If you only have one full day to see this park, which was the situation we were in, I recommend listening to a few podcasts from Explore Yellowstone Like a Local. The host gives lots of helpful information and even has an episode about doing it in one day. Just plan to be in the car a lot! If you can, spend at least three days in the park.
On the Road Survival Tips
Cook Your Dinners
If you can cook, I recommend doing that for dinner rather than getting takeout or going to a restaurant. I thought it would take up a lot of time to cook, but the few times we did something else, the food wasn’t as good, and it took just as long. Here’s a great post with Make-Ahead Camper Meal Ideas from Trekkn.
Bring a Clothesline, Portable Laundry Basket and Shower Tote
I wish I would have brought a clothesline. There were always wet things to dry and not enough space to do that easily.
We were grateful we remembered our portable and foldable laundry basket. I was able to drag it to the onsite laundry room easily everywhere we went.
If you are showering yourself and a child or two, make sure to have a big tote bag for towels, clothes, and toiletries. Those are things you don’t want to have to put on the floor.
Do More When Fueling Up
We got into a groove where we would get more snacks, go to the bathroom, and take the dog out to pee, all while filling up. It was a significant time-saver.
I hope you have as much fun on your cross-country trip as we did. It indeed was the experience of a lifetime. The kids had fun most of the time, and we were able to visit 19 states, see some really incredible sights, and spend time together! All in all, it was the perfect trip.
