• Plan on a 20 minute stop every 3 hours. Occasionally you can stretch it to 4 hours or the kids may need a potty break (again!) after 2. If you plan this time into your schedule, you'll feel a lot less grumpy about making the stops and the kids will be happier with the breaks in the monotonous driving.

• Snacks: I have not found the "perfect" in the car snack (if you have it, tell me!) Everything will have a wrapper or core or peel or stick so you'll be dealing with trash no matter what. Pick a snack based on your tolerance level for messiness and uh, healthiness. (You want kids hopped up on sugar strapped into carseats for another 6 hours? I'm not responsible...) I usually go with nutri-grain cereal bars and fruit snacks. The boxes are easy to keep in the van at all times unlike chocolate that can melt or fruit that goes bad and rolls around. While there is a chance of getting mashed into the seats (but doesn't everything run that risk?), the kids like them enough that they eat them quickly, therefore reducing the mess. I prefer small water bottles (refillable!) with sport cap tops instead of juice boxes because someone always looses a straw or squeezes the sticky liquid out on themselves.

***WARNING*** Drinking liquids will require a potty stop within in an hour or two. You can usually get by for a few hours if less than a juice box was consumed. If possible, limit liquids or give them close to when you'll be reaching your destination or another planned stop.

• A tip about interstates, try to find an easy off/easy on exit where you can see the McDonald's or gas station from the interstate. There's nothing like pulling off and finding you need to drive 10 more miles to the advertised place or you have to do some strange reverse cross over ten lanes of traffic after a twenty minute stoplight wait to get back on the interstate. In Pennsylvania on the West Virginia border, there's a McDonald's in a gas station with a nice family restroom just off of I70 (I'll check the exit number tomorrow). Score!

• Start with a clean car: There's nothing worse than trying to find Baby's blinkie when he's screaming at the top of his lungs at 85 80 the speed limit in a mess of Little People toys and fast food bags.
• Stock the car with essentials: paper towels and baby wipes (for spills and messy kids), plastic bags (for trash or the dreaded motion sickness puke), bottled water, extra blankets (for cold children when the heat is on high or as a quick picnic at a park), windshield wiper fluid, and a map (even if you know where you are going, it's a good back up distraction for your oldest).
• There will be fighting. There will be yelling. Hey, it's a "normal day just in the van" remember? If possible, space the kids an empty seat apart (why do you think I drive a 12 passenger van?). Attempt the game, "who can go without talking the longest?" Change the music (or turn it up louder *looks innocent*). Hand out different books or toys. Try a snack, "chewy stops the chatter." If all else fails, it might just be time for a break to run off extra energy (make it a potty break too!).
• While we're on the subject of potty breaks, have your kids go to the restroom at every stop. Even if they think they can't "go", have them try. There are few things more frustrating than stopping again in 15 minutes because one child didn't pee at the last stop. A friend asked what I do when I'm traveling alone and the boys refuse to go into the women's restroom. Depending on the situation, I either make them go into the women's restroom anyways (works best if it's just the one room with toilet or if I have to pee) or I step into the men's restroom and make sure no one is in there. I then block the door and don't let any guys in until Zach and Kyle are finished. Seriously. You don't mess with me and my kids' safety (I do the same with the women's restroom by the way). I really need to get behind the "Family Restroom" movement, remind me to do that when I have time.

***NEVER TAKE THE BABY OUT HIS CARSEAT WHILE THE CAR IS IN MOTION*** I don't give a crap if you've done it before and everything was okay. There will be the one time when some other yahoo doesn't look before changing lanes and we've all heard what happens when a football player tries to hang on to a 8 pound bag of sugar in a car crash. DON'T DO IT. For the sake of everyone, take a few minutes to pull off the road. Really, arriving 20 minutes late or the loss of life? Don't take the risk.

• Pack extra of everything. You should be used that by now: extra diapers and wipes, extra formula, extra changes of clothes, extra blankets. Sure you could just pull off at the next exit and buy more but what happens when the interstate closes due to a crash and you're stuck in parking lot conditions? You'll thank me then.
• Line the carseat with a thin blanket (those swaddling receiving blankets work well for this). It won't affect the safety of the carseat but gives you another layer that may ease clean up of an exploding diaper. On the same note, extra plastic bags for dirty clothing items will be helpful along with a damp washcloth (in another plastic bag) and Febreeze.
• Toys. Bring them all. Pack two of a favorite if you have them. Change them out when the Baby gets fussy. This is when it can be helpful to seat your older child next to the baby on Toy Retrieval Duty. And she can tell you if the baby is sleeping or choking or actually *gasp* happy.
• Stick to your schedule if you have one. This may mean waking the baby to eat when you stop. He'll probably fall back asleep when the car is in motion again. You'll arrive with a less cranky baby because he won't feel the demanding need to eat the second you arrive and just want to unwind and unpack. Or he still might but your odds are better if you stick with your original schedule.