Jun 30, 2011
Our Road Trip Packing Solution
So remember when I asked you if car toppers or car backpacks were preferable? Well, turns out God had another answer. I should’ve known better than to just give two choices.
By the way… isn’t it just kinda like God to color outside the lines like that? Kinda like, “Uh-uh, Molly Piper, I will not be bound to just two options for getting you and your family to Colorado. Uh-uh.” (Sometimes God’s a little sassy like that with me. Trust me, he needs to be.)
Turns out God had a hitch mounted cargo rack in mind! I didn’t list that as one of the options on the previous post, because, well…
- I forgot they existed.
- We didn’t have a hitch on our Swagger Wagon.
But God had other plans for that too! Many of you reminded me that cargo racks did indeed exist and testified to how great they worked for all of your travels, so I started looking into getting one. But then, someone offered to loan one to us! SCORE! So all we needed now was a hitch on the van.
Our friend Andy had just put a hitch on his Sienna, so he had the tools and the know-how, so he offered to help mount it. Turns out what we thought would be a one-hour job turned into a 3.5 hour job…but… Andy (his ever-patient self) made it happen. Thanks, Andy. You rock. Hard.
I’m just so happy that we’ll be able to pack most of our gear on the outside of the van. There’s something severely claustrophobic to me about riding long distances with the car packed to the ceiling and all around my feet. I hate it. So here’s hoping I can breathe a little freer this trip.
I’m just so thankful for small (huge?) provisions like that. We had very little money to spend on a packing solution, and this was seriously awesome. Hopefully I’ll feel the same after 14+ hours of traveling. Hey, at least I’ll have leg room! And I’ll be sure to bring my ear plugs!
Brill! Xxx
Hi Molly, I asked this over at Facebook, but have you seen Debbie’s tips on traveling with a large family?
http://simplediligence.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/traveling-with-large-families-part-3-packing-the-clothes/
Good for you, Molly- braving the trip! You’ll make great memories!
Perfect! Love how that worked out! I also hate travelling w/stuff all around me and am looking into this as well. Have a fabulous trip, can hardly wait to hear all about it!
Amazing how our God provides, if we will just let Him!
so glad! this is our favorite traveling solution for our family of six too. here’s my travel tip: wrap a tarp on the outside of your rack and secure it with bungee cords. them if it starts pouring you don’t have to worry. it also keeps those nasty traveling bugs off your stuff. hope y’all have a great trip!!!
Not to mention stuff in the car is a serious projectile hazard in the event of an accident. I also found that since we got our little guy a good quality comfortable car seat, he does not cry like he did last year when travelling. We recently went on a little camping trip with our 5 kids and we were packed in (without a roof rack, trailer or back pack!) So I am totally listening to your external packing solutions! Have a wonderful trip and may God go with you :)
We just returned from a massive road trip, and I am with you on the claustrophobia. It’s during road trips that I am thankful that we went ahead and bought out van even though it isn’t a necessity for us. We just seem to have so much stuff to pack.
I pray you all will have a safe, easy, and enjoyable trip!
You are happily in CO now. PLEASE blog about it. Would love to hear about how things are going. :)