We've done a lot of road trips over the years, and I've got some suggestions and recommendations to make your next one successful.
We live in Massachusetts, and travel New England extensively. We have also made the the 3000 mile round trip to Tampa Florida many times. I'll share our best hacks for young kids, to teenagers so you keep your sanity and still enjoy your vacation.
The easy way is to put a tablet in their hands and forget about them. That does not work for us. I like to make the trip memorable, fun, educational, while interacting with everyone in the car.
For longer trips, i start on the road just before bedtime so they sleep the beginning of the journey.
Kids have short attention spans. I try to keep them engaged for 30 minutes at a time. Here are some in expensive recommendations for you. Some require interaction and so.e they can do on their own. I suggest mixing them up so you can relax and not have to entertain all day. 😁
We fill a large "grab bag" of activities and when they start to get restless or bored, I allowed them to pick from the bag. We did this every 30-45 mins or so depending on how engaged they are with the previous activity.