You want your children to experience the same wonder that you experienced when you first discovered your country on its back roads. There is nothing like that. A true appreciation of the vastness and variety of America’s landscape cannot be gained from a geography class or a state district map.

You can’t stop replaying it in your head: the memory of sitting in the cab of a truck with your father and grandfather, watching Michigan become Canada, camping and fishing in the truck, your grandfather chewing tobacco, visions of bass silver dancing behind your sleepy eyes.

Or the time you rode the train from Philly to San Francisco with your grandmother, playing rummy in the dining car, pretending to surf in the smoking car while your grandmother ended up with another Virginia Slim.

Your mom, filling the tank of the Cutlass, her silhouette in cowboy boots carved against the rainbow of the sunset over the Nevada desert. She gives you a Pepsi in a glass bottle, but you really want her to hand you the keys.

The time has changed. You’ve changed. You never chewed tobacco (okay, once, but it was disgusting), and you quit before your kids came on the scene. Seat belts keep him from making a playpen out of the trunk of the truck (which is a good thing), but he still loves the open road. The road opens. And now you have these kids, and you love them, and you want to put these two loves together and drive off into the sunset, literally.

Here are a few ways to make the most of your epic family vacation.

1. In the weeks leading up to your trip, watch road trip movies and read classic road trip literature. easy rider. Travel with Charlie. The Muppet Movie. Easy Rider may be too much for the little ones, but that doesn’t mean you can’t select an hour of film of your favorite scenes, to give them an idea of ​​what the adventure that awaits you means.

2. Tell them your stories, teach them your silly songs and games. Start this before their trip, to get them excited. When they’re finally on the road, everyone can sing together the “old” songs that resonate with their childhood experience. Beat Barney’s theme song for the millionth time in a row.

3. Bribe them with a map of the state quarter. Really! Collecting coins is a classic hobby. Your little mercenaries can benefit as they learn about the states you drive through. State neighborhood maps are great, anyway, a keepsake (and investment) they’ll love.

4. Pack a duffel bag for each child filled with age-appropriate goodies such as crayons, markers, pads of paper, tissues, hand games, and small toys. Get a new one every hour. If you’re really on your game, wrap each small gift individually. The delight derived from a constant influx of gifts to open cannot be overestimated.

5. Pack of healthy snacks and drinks. Street food seems great at first, but in the end, it’s nobody’s friend. It costs too much, it makes someone sick, and it certainly doesn’t build strong bones or healthy bodies.

6. Make lots of stops along the way! Fill out that state quarter map! Take a lot of pictures! Are we forgetting something? Hit the road, Jack, Jane and Junior! Drive safely and have the time of your life!