Stopping for a crazy road side attraction is something we love to do on a long car trip.  Take a break and give yourselves something to talk about for the next leg of your journey.  I’ll tell you where to find these amusing sights and how to make the most of your stops…

Read the entire article and see some of the crazy road side photos I’ve taken with my family at Oddities Attract – Side tracks Remind You that Half the Fun Is Getting There.

What weird roadside things have you seen lately?!

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More fun ideas for the road — check out this video of some travel games you can make with paper plates!  Make them in the car, or make them at home to bring on the road with you.

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It’s time to share some of YOUR favorite car travel activities!

“We enjoy passing around a fake mike, as we take turns being the solo singer to the radio or cassette tunes! Sometimes we will unexpectedly lower the sound to make the singers voice really stand out.”  (Lin)

“A great car activity for children ages 5 (with adult help) and up, is to make a pot holder on a weaving loom! My 3 sons, ages 5, 10 and 12 all three enjoyed picking out their own colors and designing their own pot holder to give as gifts to grandparents and friends when we returned home from our trip!  They also make neon colored material for the weaving looms. You can buy a whole bag for under $2!” (Johna)

“Whenever we hit the road, we are always sure to grab a bottle of bubbles.  We turn on the car fan, hold the bubble wand in front of the vent, and voila! A car full of bubbles.  The bubbles generally go straight toward the back of the car, and are barely a distraction to the driver.  This is great fun in traffic, when we not only amuse ourselves but so many drivers alongside us.  And their happy grins
are a great amusement in themselves!” (Elaine)

Thanks Readers!  Keep sending in your ideas!  ~~Laurel (Roadtrip Mom)

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Recipe:

• 6 Girl Scouts
• 1 Girl Scout leader
• Field trip to the local food bank to do community service sorting canned goods
• Large helping of silliness and giggles

Final product:    Minivan with barf on the floor.

Since I first posted my story on Carsickness Blows, where I sing the praises of a wonderful product I had recently obtained, I had not yet had the opportunity to even use it.   ….Until now.    On a recent Girl Scout field trip with my minivan full of giggly girls, the laughter got a little bit out of hand until one of them finally lost it — all over the floor in the back of the van.    The mess was everywhere, but I had no fear.

In fact, I was secretly delighted.  At last I had a chance to try my Yak Pack, a clean up kit for car owners who travel with kids prone to erupt into bouts of carsickness.  The first thing I did was pass the darling Girl Scout the puke bag, so she could contain any further barfage until we got home.  Once the girls were safely delivered, it was time for the real test.

During the cleanup, I used the little scoop to remove most of the chunks while wearing the nifty non-latex gloves (my favorite part!!).  Then I sprinkled the absorbent powder that did a fantastic job of neutralizing the odor.  When it dried, I was able to vacuum it all, and my car smelled good as new!  It even passed my daughters’ sniff test.  To be honest, my minivan never did have that “new car smell” since I bought it used, but the point is that it didn’t smell like vomit anymore.

I have enough of the absorbent materiel left over for a future cleanup should it ever be necessary. And given the fact that I will be hauling children around in my van for many years to come, I’m sure that the upchuck will abound in my days to come.

Yes, Virginia – there is a cleanup kit for carsickness.  It’s the Yak Pack.  I give it a thumbs up!

….Read more for tips on preventing carsickness

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Here’s a twist on the old classic game of Rock Paper Scissors.   It’s called “Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock.”

Everyone knows that paper covers rock. But did you also know that Spock vaporizes rock?  Or that lizard poisons Spock?

With the number of possible outcomes increased, this version of the game is sure to hold the attention of your anxious crew.  It can be a little complicated at first, so you may want to print the simple diagram that I posted with the instructions.

See the complete article on How to Play Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock that I have posted on MomsMinivan.com.  With this game in your bag of tricks,  I have no doubt that you can drive long and prosper on your next road trek!

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One of our favorite places.

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If you are taking a road trip to Florida, then I have someguide books that you can’t leave without! These are driving guides that give you Exit by Exit information all along your route.   Both books include maps, trivia, restaurant info, local radio stations, phone numbers to campgrounds off the interstate, traffic info, sights to see,  and a lot more.

If you’re driving down the East Coast, then you’ll need Drive I-95 (Spiral-bound) by  Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner. This will take you from Boston to Miami!

But if you are coming from the Midwest or MidSouth, you’ll most likely be driving on Interstate 75, so you’ll need  Along I-75 and Along Florida’s Expressways by Dave Hunter. The first book takes you all the way from Detroit to the Florida border, and the second takes you all the rest of the way along I-75 through Florida.

These books are all Spiral-bound, so  you can flip them over and follow along easily as you drive. Each page contains 30 miles of freeway and has all the roadside information  laid out with easy to read maps. The second half of the books has the maps flipped for your reverse trip home.

I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the front inside covers where the key to the map symbols is located so you don’t miss a thing.

I had Drive I-95  with me last summer during a road trip up the East Coast, and at one point we made a decision to stop for the night sooner than we expected. It was so easy to flip to the current page, look for a campground just a few miles ahead,  call ahead to make sure they had room. We were able to pull over and take a much needed rest for the night.  I could have never found a place to stay so easily and so spontaneously without the aide of my road trip guide.

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Mad Libs. I have recommended this as a great car activity for many years. Recently we found a way to enjoy them even further.

My daughter pulled out the Mad Libs tablet that we used a few months earlier on a previous trip. She began to read some of the stories that we had already completed. They were HILARIOUS — And much funnier than they were the first time. This was probably due to the fact that the crazy words were a complete surprise this time since we didn’t remember them.

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Overheard conversation between my two Darling Daughters –

DD1:   Mom!   She’s breathing my air!

DD2:   Mom!   Tell her to stop touching me! (laughter)

DD1:   Ummmm,  technically,  if I’m touching her, then she’s touching me!

….because, according to the laws of physics, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Ha!

Me:   Is anyone writing down this conversation so that I can post it to my blog later?

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This is a photo of the scariest thing I have ever seen on the road. What’s scarier is that it’s inside my own minivan! This may look harmless to you, but you are not sitting in the middle of this heart clenching scene where I was when I took the photo and was completely white-knuckled. Don’t see what I’m talking about? Look harder…. It’s….

…… MY TEENAGER behind the WHEEL!

That’s right. His driver permit was obtained today.

Learning to drive is such a huge rite of passage, for the teen and the parent! Is any parent ever ready for this? I swear it was just last week when he was in kindergarten.

Seriously though, I am signing him up for a Driver’s Ed road training class, and he is taking a safety course as well. Not only that, but he told me himself that he plans to be a “good driver”. I guess we all were new drivers at some point, and I’m not going to last very long if I hold my breath every time I hand him the keys now, am I? It’s time to cowboy up and accept the fact that this day has finally arrived.

ATTENTION DRIVERS OF NORTH AMERICA: A new driver has taken the wheel. You have been warned.

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