aem
Stopping at restaurants can take up a huge amount of time. An 8 hour drive can turn into 10.
We drove across country every summer. The trick with kids is to get an early start to the drive. I mean daybreak. Kid sleeps for two hours in the car. Stop at a park or rest stop and have breakfast. For us, these car trips were the only time Mom would buy Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Flakes cereal instead of Cheerios or Total or something healthy. She'd buy a small container of milk at the 7-11 for the cereal. Don't bother trying to pack leftover milk. It always spills. Lunch was a stop at a park, where we were supposed "run our legs off." Mom would set the picnic table, and we would play on the swings. We'd eat sandwiches and homemade cookies. The lunchbox went right back in the trunk of the car, and we were off again. We could get exercise and eat lunch in about 30 minutes. If you go to a restaurant, you have to sit still, when you don't want to. We did stop early at the end of the day, usually at a motel with a pool so we could swim while Mom and Dad had a martini. Then, we'd go out for a hamburger and go to bed early. Same thing the next morning. Mom brought the coffee pot and it started the brewing at 5 a.m. for her and Dad. We, the kids, were placed in the back seat, still sleeping, in our jammies. When we woke up, we'd already traveled 200 miles.
Mom made chocolate drop cookies with chocolate frosting for these trips. This is the only time she made these kind for some reason. Perhaps, she felt they held up well in the "lunch box" for two or three days.
Karen
