Topping off our study of U.S. History
was a 5-week Early American History Tour 
through the eastern United States.

This length of trip for our family of four
(myself, the only adult,
plus my 13-year-old, 11-year-old, and 7-year-old sons)
required a little planning and preparation.

Here are some things I did to make our trip
affordable, manageable, and memorable.

    • Before departure, I cooked two week’s worth of main meals and froze them in reusable microwave-safe containers.   They kept the cooler cool, and as the meals thawed, we heated them in the hotel microwave for dinner.

    • Instead of ice for the coolers which make a mess when melting, I froze water in storage containers or water bottles.   When it thaws, we have fresh cool water to drink. We refroze water when able.

    • I took advantage of times we had a stove (military bases, camping) to cook extra dinner food which I then stored in storage containers.   We could easily heat up dinner in the Take-alongs at our next stop (all our hotels had microwaves and fridges in the rooms).

    • We ended up using our backpacks for several changes of clothes to take into our lodgings at night.   The duffles/my suitcase stayed in the vehicle and were used more like a “closet.”

    • We would purposely stay in a place with washer and dryer about once per week to do our laundry.   For us, military bases were great because the washer and dryer were in the rooms  (I was a reserve officer in the Air Force).   Hotels also worked though were not as convenient.   We could also have tried to find AirBnBs with such facilities.

    • One can make reservations for many of the sites, especially in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.   Making reservations assures you entry and helps you avoid long lines but also locks you into being at a certain place on a certain date.   If you want to tour the White House, reservations are required and must be made in advance through your senator.   Because we had a flexible schedule, we did not make reservations for anything except the White House.   Even without reservations, we were able to see everything we wanted by going “Space Available.”   However, we also did not travel during the summer when sites are the busiest.

    • I kept a journal of our trip.   Every morning before the kids woke up, I would get my cup of coffee and sit down with my computer to record our adventures of the day before.   This made creating a scrapbook of our trip very easy when we returned home.

    • We camp simply.  On the nights we camped, we only unloaded our sleeping/bedding gear.   (Our oldest son ended up preferring to just sleep in the van.)  This made setup and tear down of our site very quick.   All our personal effects (backpacks, toiletries, snacks) we left on the seats in the van for easy access.   Our food boxes were at the back of the van, so I just backed the van near the picnic table to make our “kitchen.”

    • I’m so glad to have had my computer. I kept my journal, downloaded my pictures, and looked up additional information about the sites we were visiting.  We also streamed movies which was a nice winding-down activity in the evenings after a busy day.  I wish I had brought an HDMI cable to hook the computer up to the TV in our lodgings.