Lets see; baby, toddler, old vehicle, baby bottles, diapers, snacks and 2 AM feeding. I see this as a one time trip until the kids are much older.
I would keep excursions with a toddler and an infant to walks in the park near your home and help you might need in an emergency. Taking care of two dependents this young while traveling, requires more planning. I would never think of driving a car any great distance with an infant who needs lots of care and a toddler who needs lots of supervision with an unreliable vehicle. Each can get into trouble in a heartbeat, one by illness and one by choice and one, the car, by your poor choices. With all due respect, I do not think vacationing, with children this young in any vehicle, let alone a piece of junk, is worth considering without more thought then you have put in. Most have already said as much as gently as possible. Personally, I think you put your children at too much risk.
An adventure for you can easily turn into a traumatic experience for the young ones. How many other adults are going to be there to help care and supervise ? Haven’t heard anything about that…I may have missed it but if it’s you alone, no car or truck is a safe travel with just one adult and two kids this young.
Frankly, I am a little in wonderment by your reference about “towing your infant and toddler” around.
Thanks for all the helpful feedback!
To (potentially) put some minds at ease: my husband is mechanically inclined, but can’t always travel with us. I do always carry full AAA and don’t typically venture beyond where I can seek out help, should I need it.
I appreciate your good ideas–thanks!
AAA is a great thing to have, also a Cell phone (Assuming there’s coverage where you plan to go) Whatever vehicle you decide to look at I would suggest finding a mechanic who knows that brand/model of vehicle and would be willing to assist in weeding out the bad ones. You will want someone to help make the vehicle as reliable as possible. There are conversion Vans in your price range on the market but most that I can find are in Oregon (A couple different Ford’s) these full size vans use the same engines more or less as the pickup trucks of the same brand so a Chevy van will most likely have the 350 V8 which is as common a motor as you can get. A Ford conversion van in your budget would probably be a 302 or 351 V8 also very easy to find information and parts for.
Check into renting a small RV for a weekend just to find out how well the kids do on a road trip and to get an idea of what your fuel costs will be. Some of the companies i’ve found with locations in the Seattle area include insurance and at least during the winter/spring more than the first 50 miles before you start paying per mile.
I wouldn’t especially want to be making this trip, but I spent several weeks every year in a 1960s station wagon with three siblings. We were doing that when I was a baby and also my younger sibs later. There were four of us under six one year. Cars back then were not very reliable (though ours was fairly new to start out) and our first SW didn’t even have seat belts. Then we were staying in motels, but by the time I was seven we were tent camping. My youngest sister was three.
Anyhow, I loved every minute of it. And yes, we did sometimes have breakdowns, though nothing that delayed us more than two days (Salina, UT). Back then every little town had a garage or two that could pretty quickly fix a common domestic car. But we were mostly driving in the West where the distances between towns were a bit of an issue.
Now I’d be a lot less bold than my folks were, but back then we didn’t have much choice. All the relatives were back in the Midwest and the grandparents were due their annual visit. People didn’t travel by air casually (we couldn’t have afforded it) and my parents loved sightseeing. Plenty of other families were out there on the road with us, plenty in older cars or with even more kids.
If you can’t afford any more than you’ve budgeted I’d worry about getting stuck, but that’s just a nuisance, not a disaster. Cosmetics don’t matter a bit. Just be sure it’s reasonably safe and have fun. I guarantee you won’t be the only people driving an elderly van.
I wouldn’t especially want to be making this trip, but I spent several weeks every year in a 1960s station wagon with three siblings. We were doing that when I was a baby and also my younger sibs later. There were four of us under six one year. Cars back then were not very reliable (though ours was fairly new to start out) and our first SW didn’t even have seat belts. Then we were staying in motels, but by the time I was seven we were tent camping. My youngest sister was three.
Anyhow, I loved every minute of it. And yes, we did sometimes have breakdowns, though nothing that delayed us more than two days (Salina, UT). Back then every little town had a garage or two that could pretty quickly fix a common domestic car. But we were mostly driving in the West where the distances between towns were a bit of an issue.
Now I’d be a lot less bold than my folks were, but back then we didn’t have much choice. All the relatives were back in the Midwest and the grandparents were due their annual visit. People didn’t travel by air casually (we couldn’t have afforded it) and my parents loved sightseeing. Plenty of other families were out there on the road with us, plenty in older cars or with even more kids.
If you can’t afford any more than you’ve budgeted I’d worry about getting stuck, but that’s just a nuisance, not a disaster. Cosmetics don’t matter a bit. Just be sure it’s reasonably safe and have fun. I guarantee you won’t be the only people driving an elderly van.
But, without two adults ? With one, you go nowhere, do nothing, including going to the bathroom without all them( toddler and infant) in tow while traveling; and, neither can either of them.
It’s hard enough managing an infant and toddler around the house with everything available. We all did it at one time out of necessity, but just going for a walk with both kids and no other adult takes planning and a home base. You will need a “home on wheels”. Managing a trailer is out if the question and mobile RVs are too expensive. Living out of a motel…then driving from one rest stop to another and hope to see a few sites on the way ? I don’t see an inexpensive or enjoyable solution.
We are getting some excellent “guy” advice ;=) from guys not considering traveling with the smell of two sets of diapers “stored” in the back or in a pop up tent camper. This post is a one line…no can do ! @VolvoV70 has the best idea…wait till the kids can help mange themselves.
Thank God you have a Husband,my vote is to rent a camper when you need one and focus more on day trips(Guys most people deal with diapers immediately-I dont think the Wife and I ever used the window down disposal method)-Kevin
“Thank God you have a husband”
@Tgram. But can’t always travel with us
There is no “one size fits all” approach to this. Like it or not, all kids are different. Some require more maintenance than others and although no one will admit or possibly recognize it, they run the extremes of passive angels to terrorizing hellions. Before passing judgement on whether or not this woman can manage two children on the road, keep that in mind. Personally, I would have no issues managing some of my friends kids but others…no way!
We went on all kinds of camping trips when I was a toddler along with my two older brothers. None of our cars were particularly reliable but we managed. I recall one time when the trailer hitch broke in the middle of nowhere and a farmer welded it back together for us.
Storing dirty diapers?!? That’s what gas station and McDonalds garbage cans are for! I’ve driven with the bags tied outside the car for shorter excursions…
Think Nemo, if nothing ever happens, it’s a pretty boring existence for little junior. Not advocating taking serious risks to safety but raising a bubble boy is the other extreme…
@VOLVO V70 and myself I guess are the only ones who think that one guardian cannot safely or easily manage a toddler (a young child who is just beginning to walk. and in diapers and an INFANT who can’t walk and in diapers ) ON A CAMPING TRIP ?
Your telling me then my good friend @TwinTurbo, toddlers and infants " run the extremes" ? BOTH need constant supervision. Your example is one toddler and TWO guardians I don’t feel is the same or is any other with two parents that “GUYS” keep running out there.
You need a house or a large RV with just one guardian, unless as Kevin says, you throw everything distasteful out the window.
"Storing dirty diapers?!? That’s what gas station and McDonalds garbage cans are for! I’ve driven with the bags tied outside the car for shorter excursions…
So that works for taking the camping trips to the MacDonalds parking lots. What about national parks,that must be fun for one person to manage.
No one is saying it can’t be done. it just won’t be done more then once alone with one adult alone.
So, advocating that infants and toddlers be supervised is raising them in a bubble ? I thought that was just good parenting.
@Dagosa,I’ve seen some mighty men cringe when it comes to dirty diapers and changing infants,just grin and bear it,its not the end of the world,I wish Tgram a lot of luck and I would advise Her not to advertise the fact She is traveling by Herself with the young’uns,hope She packs a pistol and knows how to use it,people can behave strangely when oppurtunity knocks(always file a flight plan and have check in points,the beautiful world outside can turn savage in a heartbeat,we’ve had some bad unsolved things happen not to far away(beware"mal dictum") God bless you Tgram and be safe-Kevin
Kevin
You bring up another very important point. Traveling through an area is one thing, but camping out and staying in one place by yourself with two totally dependent kids that will take all of your time, can put everyone in jeopardy including a young mother. Having to provide protection while around a toddler and an infant all of the time, or should be, is a pretty precarious situation in and of itself. There are a lot of contingencies we never think of. My feeling is, if you think you might need a gun, you don’t go. Any scenario you can come up with where a firearm is necessary to legally carry in the presence of an infant and a toddler, is to be avoiding at all cost.
So Kevin, your point indirectly is well made. A single women traveling by herself and camping has reason to be cautious. Now, with the inclusion of two small children, her level of cautiousness needs to be raised. But, the measures needed to insure the family’s safety by carrying a firearm, even legally, puts them another step closer to putting everyone in harms way.
Dont know Dag,think it was Samuel Colt who talked about the equalizer,sometimes you cant depend on the “Bobbies”-Kevin (of course if you dont have a gun,you cant get into trouble with a gun)
If I hadn’t grown up with four small kids and two adults spending weeks on the road together, I’d say hell, no. But it was fun for all of us. My parents loved their vacation trips, and there were plenty of similar families out there with us. My mother rode in the front seat and rarely had to intervene in what we were doing in back. If a diaper needed attention, we pulled over at a gas station or city park. Babies do not need constant attention. They aren’t fragile. Back then (the sixties and seventies) we did have car seats for the littlest two kids, with the smallest up front in the middle of the bench seat. The second smallest was strapped in a booster seat in the back (at least by then we had seat belts.) They were about as safe as anyone was in a car of that era.
Now it’s a lot easier. She’ll have her kids nicely restrained in their child seats. She’s a mom and I’m sure. she knows how to manage two kids at a time. I suspect she does it all the time. The world is full of single parents, dome with more than two kids, and this mom even has a husband who will sometimes be with them. It’s really not that difficult, especially if she has basic cooking facilities and comfortable bedding. The only vacation days I hated were when the weather was bad, but we had a tent and stuff, not a van or camper. Contrary to all your dire predictions my parents didn’t swear never again after the first time. We went with my mom pregnant, we went with infants, we just went, three weeks and thousands of miles per year. It is not impossible or unpleasant (if your kids aren’t brats), and if your kids grow up doing it those trips will become an important part of their lives. In addition to the long vacations we also spent several long weekends each year in the mountains above LA, playing in the streams and going on hikes. No one ever got seriously hurt on any of those trips (including three weeks camping our way to Mexico City and back in the seventies. That was a bit adventurous, but my mom was a Spanish teacher and loved the place.
So, Mom, I like your spirit. Seize the day.
Again, another example that always includes two adults and kids of unspecified age. A woman vacationing with an infant and toddler. " it’s really not that difficult" male perspective.
We certainly have some differences in perspectives. Now my great great maybe even 3 greats had a diary of crossing the country during the gold rush of 1849. Some of the tales of people and horses poisoned by drinking bad water, Indian attacks, crossing death valley in a covered wagon, no ac of course, and even coming upon the remains of the Donner camp, Blizzard stranded people that resorted to cannibalism to stay alive, he wet on to create a mineral water company in San Fran destroyed by a City wide fire, ended up taking a boat to nicaraugua, going across land and finally picking up a boat from there to Boston, ie get home. Every now and then I think of how people are so used to a padded environment that if it were only 150 years ago… many of the current concerns would pale in comparison to need to survive day by day. Sure I have lived the bohemian primitive life, some of the pains suffered have not numbed, and remain a constant as I did it once and I can do it again, but I love a hot shower, water in the house, a bathroom, and a grocery store, remember 150 years was not that long ago, and I like many if we loose the power grid are not able to work, eat, shop, etc.
Women, often alone, manage to raise families. 24 hours per day. Yes, mine is a male view, but I know well how my parents contrived to travel for thousands of miles per year with four small kids and far more primitive gear than a camper van. My dad did most of the driving and heavy lifting, and my mom everything else, which on a long trip included shopping, laundry, and other things that don’t come up in a long weekend. The kids were expected to behave and mostly did. We were doing fun things so why not? We had somewhat different interests so during the trip planning, when we were a little older, we all researched places that especially interested us in whatever part of the country were visiting. From about eight I was chief navigator because I so loved maps. My siblings had other interests, many developed during previous trips. My brother, an historian, always wanted to see battlefields and my geeky brother loved science museums. The OP’s kids are still young, but even little kids love the outdoors and can learn how to enjoy it responsibly
My, we used to look at camper vans and even tent trailers with such envy. That was the easy life! I hear people worrying about diapers. That’s a big deal? We didn’t have disposables when we little. What parent with two young kids isn’t accustomed to changing diapers when they’re out and about? Feeding, same story. You keep the foods simple (my mom got carried away sometimes). It’s the slightly older kids who have excess energy to burn. Every lunchtime we’d find a city park, eat our sandwiches, and play in the playground until we were tired. Back into the car until five or six when we pulled into that night’s campground. On the longer trips where we were trying to cover miles, there would be several days of breaking camp, driving five hundred miles, then setting up camp yet again. Hope it didn’t rain. In the scenic/historic areas we’d spend a few days before moving on.
It was great fun for all of us. My mom maybe most of all as she loves to travel and my father did most of the driving. Later they bought a small motorhome that did great duty before my dad died. Mom feels really bad that her traveling days are finally over at 85.
From what the OP posted I don’t think she’s proposing anything as ambitious as what my folks did. A few days or a week in the civilized Pacific Northwest, where there are some beautiful and well equipped campgrounds, both way up in the mountains for use in summer and along the coast for a slightly longer season. Beautiful scenery everywhere.
@dagosa I quite clearly stated we had two adults and four children with not much over five years from oldest to youngest. We traveled every year from when my oldest brother was born until we had all left the nest. Two very small kids was the norm for a decade, with sometimes older ones. We weren’t strapped into the isolation chambers that now pass for child seats, though we had much cruder kinds that kept the youngest two in place. What is all this constant attention babies seem to need? Every squawk does not need immediate soothing. Diaper changing can wait until the next gas station, rest stop, etc., feeding is a regular activity. It’s the ‘terrible twos’ I’d rather skip, but I know kids who get through that period OK.
Why are we not giving the OP the benefit of the doubt? She knows what her kids are like. She also has a husband who will sometimes be along. This all sounds pretty simple compared to what I’ve seen, with tents that never dry and air mattresses that won’t hold air, and cars that were far less reliable (than even a twenty yo van.) And safety? Violent crime rates were higher then (but not high at your average KOA) and vehicle safety was a joke. We took a few risks and nothing worse happened than my father putting his hand into a wasp nest on the bottom of a picnic table.
Violent crimes were worse then?Not around here by a long shot,it seems to me like the 60’s and 70’s were a kinder less regulated time,we have a lot more laws and police now and to be honest I do not feel one bit safer today if anything worse because people have so much free time and are so mobile now,the unsolved cases would set you on edge. I guess you may be going by statistics,the lawmakers will pat themselves on the back and tell you how much better things are ,but I really have to take it with a grain of salt,statistics?Remember all these signs at these work places?" no lost time accidents for years" maybe the percentage is down,but remember the population is a lot larger today-so I say"caveat emptor" and be careful lone parents-Kevin