In the summer of 2016, the Calhoon family decided to go on a family road trip to rival all road trips.
Cameron Calhoon, a USAF loadmaster based at Herbert Field, Florida, his wife, Vanessa, and their two daughters went on a month long trip out west to California. At the time, their daughters, Abbygail and Clara, were only seven and one. Actually, the Calhoons celebrated Clara’s first birthday on the trip at Yosemite.
While traveling with young children may seem daunting to the average family, the Calhoons enjoyed the trip and plan to go on another big road trip this summer.
From the Gulf Coast to the West Coast
The Calhoons chose to go out to California so they could visit Cameron’s parents and grandparents. Instead of flying, they hooked a camper up to their car and base hopped all the way to the west coast from Northwest Florida.
On their trip, they checked out Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Lakes. Vanessa explains that it was really incredible to take their daughters west of the Mississippi River and show them the mountains and desert. Additionally, she says that one of her favorite parts of the trip was when they saw the Trail of One Hundred Giants in Long Meadow Grove, California. On the trail, they saw Redwoods that were approximately 1,500 years old.
Another highlight of their trip was celebrating Clara’s first birthday. Vanessa explains that they actually ended up tailgating on the side of a mountain in Yosemite National Park to have cake. It was definitely an exciting and unusual way to throw a birthday party.
While a month may seem like a very long trip, Vanessa explains that Cameron saved up a ton of leave over the past few years, so they decided to make the trip span a whole month so they could get the most out of the experience. It also helped that they chose to go over the Fourth of July because he was able to add a few more days off from the holiday weekend.
Going on a Road Trip with Kids
After traveling across the country with young children, the Calhoons are considered road trip pros. Vanessa explains that pacing yourself is the key to a successful road trip. “Take it slow and easy and expect it to take twice as long as the GPS tells you it will,” she says. She explains that traveling with children will just always take longer than you think it will, so prepare for a long trip and bring plenty of snacks for the road. They also recommend bringing activities to occupy little ones in the car while driving.
Camping Across America
Using a camper definitely helped the Calhoons save money on their trip, especially because they jumped from FamCamp to FamCamp most of the time. That’s one of the perks of being a military family. There are plenty of military family campgrounds to choose from (and typically run a lot less than regular campgrounds), and because they had a camper, they never needed to stay at a hotel. Camping is also a great way to expose young children to nature. Vanessa explains that they saw a ton of wildlife on their trip and even a few deer in the middle of one of their campsites in Aspen.
However, sometimes they did have to get a little creative with their rest stops. Since they had their own camper, they were able to stay in some pretty unique places. Vanessa explains that they stayed the night in a Walmart parking lot because Walmart allows people to take rest stops there. “It’s much safer than a truck stop,” she explains. Additionally, they actually ended up spending one night on the side of a mountain while traveling on the Tioga Pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
According to Vanessa, you’re definitely going to have a ton of family time when you’re all in one car with each other. “You’re going to get very close and intimate with each other,” she adds, “It definitely brought us closer together.” Overall, Vanessa says it was a really positive experience, which is why they are planning a trip to June Lake Loop in California this summer. This time they will actually have a new addition on their trip as the Calhoons actually have a newborn son, Cameron, now.
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