Long distance trip - need your advice please

We have two children, and we love to camping Oregon, it's about 8 hours away from us, but that trip, towing, restroom breaks, etc is usually about a 12 hour trip. We go for it. We want to get to where we want to be vacationing, and just go for it. we have snacks and drinks in the car, car bingo, other games, etc.

Once we are in oregon, we usually change campgrounds every 3 or 4 days and only drive 100 miles max between them, to the areas that we've decided we want to stay.

Our children are very easy going, and just enjoy the journey as much as we do. Now, I have friends who would never be able to go that far in one day because their kids would throw a fit....or drive them nuts. I think it's all in their "training". HAHA

One key to traveling with kids is get them electronic devices to keep them busy. Between movies, games and music they can be intertained for hours. As stated earlier, if you leave early you can have many miles in before they even wake up.

My kids are grown, but the 2 and 4 yo grandkids need to get out of the vehicle every 2 hours to blow off steam. It feels good for my old legs to get out and move around as well. I like the idea of starting very early in the morning and hope that the kids will stay asleep for awhile, then stop at parks as needed so that they can run around.

wE DID A Houston-WDW (Disney)trip last year (about 600 miles), and did it in two days. We thought about stopping on the way and popping up, but decided to stay in a motel instead, about 3 hours short of Orlando, the thought of popping down in the morning, possibly in the rain, killed the idea of popup overnight. so we did about 12 hours the 1st day and 3hrs the 2nd, and arrived early enough to Ft. W to set up and relax a bit before doing the Hoop-de-doo review. Of course we do not have little ones, ours are pretty grown up. Hope this helps, and hope you have a wonderful trip!

Thank you everyone for your input!!!
Your experience and wisdom is priceless!

I have called my brother, he live 4h away from the Banff and he want to join the trip as well! so I will crash at my brother house after the 10h drive, get a good night sleep (and he will take care of our little ones) and we all go the following day together!
he also has 2 small kids so our little ones will be happy and busy!

He also been at the Banff many times before, so he know his way around! :)

Again - Thank you for everyone input!

We did a lot of traveling with our two sons, from the time they were little. We never considered driving overnight as we've never believed you can do it and really be safe. That's our opinion...what others do is up to them. I would split the trip into two days. Then, enjoy each evening on the road. Let the kids blow off some steam, have a campfire and have some fun. And, you won't be so tired when you get to your destination.

I have a slightly different take. I've powered through long drives with kids not towing and it was fine. Leave at 0400 and you're a couple hundred miles away before they wake up.

You are towing a popup that needs to be factored as much as kids. I've spent 60 days on the road with kids in a PUP.

Kids are older now and we are efficient. We can get the PUP set up in 20 minutes, less if the sight is really level. Take down is minimum 30 - haven't managed to perfect that but PUP is old and can be contrary getting top level and locked.

1. Tires: are your tires less than a couple years old and have they been in the sun? If so change them. Either way, more breaks and shorter days help them cool off. (Ask me how I know!)

2. you really need at least one stop considering your distance. Due to setup/takedown time, arrive to give yourself time to complete that in the daylight. In summer, that means you can still drive 8-9 hours. We would travel 2-3 days straight between destinations which is a little different but you still don't want to be blitzed when you arrive at your destination. With older kids, I preferred to pull into a campground by 6:30pm for an overnight and my attempted, self-imposed deadline was 8:00pm which meant we could sit down by 9:00pm and have an hour to decompress before going to bed.

YMMV

I have twin 10 year old boys. We have never let the kids dictate what we wanted to do. Before anyone calls DSS, that doesn't mean we don't respect them. They were just raised from the get go to know that they are kids.

We make a 10 hour drive at least once a year to see Grandparents. We've always done it in one stretch and have never heard a peep of complaint from the kids. We also did a 6k mile trip last summer that included 5-6 days of 600+ miles. They had an awesome time in the truck. It was family bonding time. We didn't fight, complain or act like we were all strapped into purgatory. It's all about attitude.

I think growing up in a large Italian family had some benefits in this regard. I get mad as hell for 2 minutes. Speak my mind and then let it go. Really let it go. On our long trip, we had a bearing failure. I cursed on the roadside for a few minutes and then immediately started looking up what there was to see and did that while we waited on the repair.

You don't say much about your age or your personality. Judging from your vehicle alone, it says you are up for adventure and will pay a price for it. That said...I'd make the drive in a day and enjoy my extra 2 days in the place I wanted to be. This whole "enjoy the journey" stuff is for people that have the time. Usually, working people with kids need to get where they want as quickly as they can.

I'd break it up. Me and my wife drove 19.5 hours straight once and it sucked... With little kids you should bet on stopping half way through, and probably quite a few bathroom/food/stretch breaks... Good luck and most importantly, HAVE FUN on your trip!!

leave early, drive 8 hours, stop early at a kid friendly campground and take the kids to the pool or playground, have dinner and a good nights sleep and leave early the next morning.