Cross country road trip with 2 1/2 year old

Last summer, when my granddaughter, Ashlyn, was two and a half, she and her parents drove from Utah to Texas, to visit her dad's birth mom and family. I've had lots of experience traveling with little ones, when my kids were small, and also traveled a lot when I was a child, since my dad was in the military. I made a bag full of things that whichever parents wasn't driving could use to play with her in the car. She was starting to learn shapes and colors, so I got out a bunch of fabric scraps and made little pillows of different colors and shapes. I made two pin cushions and put some of my quilting pins in one, so that they could use it for counting by moving the pins from one cushion to another. That was something she and I had started doing when she was here while I was sewing. (Of course, the pins were not for her to touch.) I also got out some old socks that I couldn't find the mates to and made hand puppets, with yarn hair, button eyes, etc... They weren't fancy, but they were cute, and she loved them. Something my parents did, when we were small, was buy little presents, and wrap them, one for each day that we would be driving. When we started getting bored, each morning, we would get to open a present. I did that with my kids, too. Little matchbox cars were one of our favorites. Of course, snacks help a lot, but you might want to cover your back seat with something, first. Of course, whenever you stop, try to find a place that has some room for him to run and get the wiggles out, as much as possible. It isn't the easiest thing, taking long road trips with little ones, but it doesn't have to be an ordeal, if you are prepared! Have a good one!