Tips for Families on the Road

22 Not-So Obvious items we recommend for the wayward traveler

1. NATIONAL DIRECTORIES: Handy guides for your favorite stores. Pick up copies for truck stops, motels, and campgrounds. You'll find Wal-Mart locations listed in the back of Rand McNally Road Atlas, Wal-Mart edition. Kinko's provides a national directory at all of their stores, as does Barnes and Noble Bookstore. If you can't find directories at the stores you may be able to get the information at their Web sites. We recommend making paper copies of the ones you frequent to keep handy.
   There is also an online database at Discovery Owners Assoc. which you can use with your computer map program.
2. MAP COMPUTER PROGRAM: Don't know how many times someone told us "turn left at McDonalds" (last time I checked there is a McDonalds on every corner), "it's down by where the Jones's place used to be" and our favorite: "You can't miss it!" - Yeah, right! (Tried both of Rand McNally's versions and were much, much happier with Microsoft's Streets and Trips.)
3. GPS: GPS stands for Global Positioning System. Life got a whole lot easier when we added this baby to our arsenal. Now, as we are heading down the road we can be reasonably assured that we are on track. Also, a must have for geocaching!
4. TWO-WAY RADIOS: Highly recommended if you are taking two vehicles, and extremely useful even if you are not. We use them while shopping, at museums, setting up for our shows, and anytime we'll be separated. Gives you peace of mind when you are apart. They are handy in emergencies too. Just bear in mind the supposed 2-mile radius is a joke; in most cases they work up to two blocks.
5. FIRE EXTINGUISHER: Obvious? Perhaps. But we learned about this the hard way. On our first trek across the country our motorhome caught on fire as we were on the highway. If it were not for a quick thinking truck driver and his fire extinguisher (plus a couple of others donated by other passing trucks and some left over bath water) we'd have been up in smoke. We learned our lesson and have since carried an extinguisher, and have returned the favor by donating them to three or four other burning motorists.
6. AAA EXTENDED PLAN or ALLSTATE ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE: Be sure to get RV coverage, if you drive a motorhome or tow a trailer and if it is available in your state. We found out the hard way that you have to request it. Also, request the extended coverage plan; the normal plan which covers towing up to 7 miles doesn't do a whole lot of good when you're stranded in the Sierra Nevadas or Mojave Desert. Take advantage of their tour books and maps (lots of great info about where you're going, wonderful for those on-the-road geography and history lessons). And be sure to take advantage of their diagnostics testing for your vehicle -- could save you a lot of trouble down the road.
7. DRY ERASER MARKERS: or Crayola's Window Markers. Use them to write directions in shorthand on the front window. You can see through it and the driver doesn't have to take his or her eyes off the road to look at a map or a piece of paper with scribbled directions. Also, great for little back seat drivers who can use them to make art, play tic-tac-toe or do math problems on the windows. Please Note: Markers don't show up at night. Use odorless markers. Limit your writing on the front window to a space no bigger than the area under your sun-visor.
8. INVERTER: This device adapts your vehicle's battery power into AC current. Useful for many things. We run our lap tops, sound studio and an electric guitar amp off of it while tooling down the highway.
9. MAIL FORWARDING SERVICE: Need to know how to get your mail delivered while you travel? P.M.B. (Personal Mail Box) outlets provide mail-forwarding services, which a Post Office won't. Whenever needed we call in and have our mail forwarded to us c/o General Delivery in whatever town we happen to be in.
10. NATIONAL PAGER AND VOICE MAIL: A must for conducting business on the road. We have an 800 number, which people can call and leave us a message and not incur any charges. We are paged immediately and can return the call.
11. WEB ENABLED CELL PHONE: Hello 21st Century! With our cell phone we can take photos and post them online in seconds to share with friends and family, we can also check and send email, do Instant Messaging, read the news and weather reports online and it works as a phone too! All of the web browsing is included and the unlimited weekend and night minutes are a great boon to a teen with friends scattered across the country. And with some additional software we can get our lap tops online via cell phone in our tent. Ours is a Sprint PCS phone. Be sure to check out Google's application for maps. It's free and it is awesome!
12. PHONE CARDS: Necessary evils (Thanks to the FCC surcharge when you use them at pay phones). But they do beat the days of running around with $15.00 worth of change in your pocket. And yes, you should have one even if you have a cell phone, there are times when you will be out of cell range no matter how inclusive the service map appears to be. Office Max and Staples are your best places to find good deals on phone cards. Be sure to read the fine print. You get a better deal if they round off to 6 seconds, instead of minutes. If you see one of those one-cent-a-minute deals, it is too good to be true.
13. FREE WEB BASED EMAIL: We use Yahoo and Gmail. Even if you already have a non-web-based email account, we recommend getting one of the free email accounts for those times you can't access your server (and there will be "those times" ). You can have all of your email forwarded to your other account, or vice versa. Both Yahoo and Gmail are easy to access and read with a web enabled cell phone.
14. ONLINE FAX SERVICE: If you are running a business, and you have Internet access (even if it's limited) sign up for a fax number with an online company. Wonderful, especially when there isn't time to have mail forwarded. This is how we do all of our contracts.
15. PDA: (Otherwise known as Kimberly's brain) She uses it to keep notes, travel plans and directions, contact lists, read downloaded email.
16. STOVE(S) AND ICE-CHEST: We use both a camp stove and an electric hot plate. For those who choose not to drive an RV, and prefer not to dine out every single day, both are essential. Keep food cold by buying frozen food, not ice. Ice turns into a watery mess. Just be careful around frozen blueberries.
17. COFFEE PRESS OR TEA BALL: If you're at all particular about your coffee, you'll soon discover that one man's coffee is another man's cup of dirty dish water. OK, we're guilty of snobbery (obviously we spent a week too long in Seattle). We couldn't survive without our coffee press and cones (and tea balls for those of us who scoff at tea bags). Coffee makers require electricity, which isn't always available at campgrounds, or if you don't want to run your generator in a parking lot. Hot water is readily available at truck stops, and convenience stores.
18. WATER JUGS: No telling how many ailments we'd have picked up by now if we didn't drink bottled water. You can find water refill machines at many grocery stores.
19. LIVE-IN MECHANIC: Lucky you if you have one of these! We are both mechanic dunces, and are constantly on the phone with one of our fathers trying to figure out what is making that "ezzzzzzzzewhhhhhppp" noise. Oh the money we could have saved, if only!
20. BOOKS AND STORIES ON TAPE: Learn and be entertained while those miles whiz by. Your radio cannot be relied on when you're traveling long distances. We've enjoyed hearing many classics driving cross-country. Takes your mind off the monotony and exposes your young ones to literature. Lots of great storyteller tapes available out there too. Like, oh say, the Act!vated Storytellers.
21. SQUIRT BOTTLE and/or MISTER: Broken air conditioner? Keep a spray bottle handy to chase away the heat. You can also find personal misters that you fill with cold water and pump up by hand. Great for taking along on hikes.
22. BABY WIPES and WATERLESS HAND CLEANER: Quick and easy way to keep those dirty hands clean. We still use them daily and our "baby" is now 17 years old. Hand sanitizer is also a good thing to have on hand.