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When my wife and I decided to celebrate my daughter’s first birthday in Ohio with the family, I was stoked to share this day with those closest to us.  Then I started thinking about logistics: a twelve-hour drive with our little monkey girl who can’t be contained was looking a bit grim.

Driving 720 miles from South Carolina meant not only giving up my shorts and sandals, but possibly my sanity.  Thankfully, I am blessed with a great wife who is a planner.  She took care of almost everything for our daughter.  My job was to figure out how and when we could get there with the least amount of pain.

Option one was to fly from our small airport to our hometown small airport.  It would have been quick and I think the little one would have enjoyed it.   Then, as I stated before, my wife was gathering all the necessities, and an infant does not travel lightly!  Therefore, we were looking at a mortgage payment in bag fees alone.  Next.

Option two.  Drive home.  Another great gift of mine is foresight, and I saw twelve hours of a fussy baby and a stressed wife.  Then my wife came up with a great plan: drive through the night.

On D-Day (drive-day) we went through all the same motions and routines of putting the little one down for the night.  Then instead of laying her in the crib she went into the car seat.  I had some music on my iPod, and she snuggled right in for the ride.  She slept the entire way, except for a brief awakening when I stopped for gas.

If you have the ability to stay up all night, this is the way to go.  I simply stayed up the entire night the day prior, slept all day, woke up, packed the car and hit the road.  If you are not used to staying up all night, try a night or two at home first to see how alert you are.  Day wakers, there is nothing wrong with driving a while and then stopping for the night.