How we survive the long drives

Over the past three days, we've driven 397 miles (Park City, UT to Casper, WY), 392 miles (Casper to Murdo, SD) and 591 miles (Murdo to Iowa City, IA) - long miles with three kids in a truck. I thought you might be interested in how we spend our time on the long driving days...

When we set out, Jen and I established a rhythm of 5 different activities for an 8 hour driving day. We're flexible, of course, but in general an 8 hour driving day would include:

• 2 hours Learning Time, during which Jen or I would work one-on-one with each boy for about 30 minutes while the others do educational games or activities. 
• 2 hours Free Time, when the boys can choose what activities they would like to do (usually games on the iPad or Kindles). 
• 2 hours Movie Time, when they can all watch a movie on the DVD player. We brought a number of movies with us and have used Redbox to give us new choices. 
• 1 hour Quiet Time, when they can read or play quietly with their toys but cannot have any electronic devices. Our hope is always that they'll fall asleep during quiet time, but it doesn't always happen!
• 1 hour Team Time, when we play all the usual road games, sing songs, read a story out loud or whatever else comes to mind. 

Overall, this rhythm has worked pretty well and given us some variety and structure as we tick off the miles. The kids have embraced it and every time we get in the car now they ask what "time" we're doing - even if it's a short trip to the store! I wonder how long that will last once we get home...

In terms of technology, we brought 2 kindles and an iPad with us on the trip. The kindles need a wifi connection, so we redid our data plan so that our iPhones and iPad can be used as personal hotspots. There have only been a few days that we have been completely without a cell connection, so that plan has worked fairly well. 

We've had our moments along the way, but in general, I think our driving strategy has worked pretty well. Lots of good lessons learned to take with us on future trips!